Archers star who lived in Leamington had dying wish for more people to smile

Sara Coward, 69, who was known for playing the role of Caroline Sterling in Radio 4’s much-loved drama The Archers for almost 40 years, launched the sm:)e campaign while she was in the last stages of terminal cancer.

Its aim is to point out the idea that just smiling at a stranger is often all that is needed to raise people’s spirits.

She hoped that the campaign would spread on social media, estimating it would take 2.5 million people to form a smiling line 1,000 miles long.

She said: “Welcome to sm:)e!

“This is a very important moment for me because I may not be around to smile much longer, so I wanted to leave as many smiles behind me as I can.

“I’ve recently discovered I don’t have long to live, but in the last few months I’ve found myself smiling more than at any other time in my life. Why? Because I have become much more aware of the random acts of kindness around me.

“Of course, it makes me smile when someone is being kind to me, and also when I see someone being kind to another person. But I’ve also realised how much better I feel when I catch myself being kind to someone else.

“It seems the smile factor works both ways!

“So I started an experiment to find out what happened when I just smiled genuinely at a stranger in the street. Sometimes they smiled back, which was great, but even if they didn’t I realised I still felt better myself just for smiling at someone.

“Then it occurred to me – just the act of smiling itself can lift everyone’s spirits. And that’s how sm:)e was born.

“Now I’m inviting you all to join the sm:)e campaign and find out how an act of kindness can have a tremendous effect on us all, whether we are doing the giving or receiving.

“I’m launching sm:)e while I still can, and dropping the invitation to you, like a pebble in a pool, to see how far the ripples can spread – hopefully throughout the world.

“Let’s get those ripples rolling!”

“Love, Sara.”

As well as her regular role in the Archers, on which she first appeared in 1977, Sara was a writer and stage actor, and spent eight years working for the Samaritans charity in Stratford.

She last appeared on the Archers in September 2016.

Many co-stars, colleagues and fans have paid tribute to her.