Okay, So Archers Extra - What do we think?

[GrendelsMum]

I wasn't very convinced by the opening scene with Alice and her uni mates. What day was it? Does it go over several days? Why were they drinking vodka shots one minute and then studying the next?

The Jamie one works better, I think, as we know who Marty is, even if we don't know Steve.

Sorry to come in late, but I also want to defend the folky version of the theme tune. And having googled it I see it's got pedigree: Bellowhead. Should be the perfect match with MN, given that it's been arranged by Jon Boden

acekicker Is SATTC Sex and the the City?

SATTC is 'Shakes Ambridge To The Core' it was the short hand for the big New Year's episode ie when Nigel went sliding off the roof. I must admit I kept thinking Sex and the City too for ages when I read it.

On reflection the theme tune isn't jarring quite as much as it was, I can see it's got musical merit but it just doesn't seem to fit with what Archers Extra is all about. I haven't listened to all of this weeks episodes yet - for some reason they're not coming up on Squeezebox iPlayer so I've got the podcasts to listen to at some point...I've heard half of the Tuesday one and am bored beyond belief by Alice and Chris already, is it still foreshadowing terrible events for Jamie?

Hmm, yes, I suppose it would have had to be Sex and the the Village, anyway. Chris and Alice boring, Jamie boring, whole lot of them boring, I'm baffled as to why I listen

Sex And The Tedious Tiny Village ?

I would have hoped Alice would tell the oik sharing the house in Southampton to simply feck off as she is married, not chatter to him on the phone like she wants to share his bed!

As for Jamie, Cathy, Fallon and J's "mates", sooner things explode the better. Seems to be so dragged out as to how Jamie needs to buck his ideas up and change friends sooner rather than later... Hope he gets a real kick up the arse soonest, from PC Plod, if no-one from the village!

Oh dear, what a naughty twist...

Looking at how the schedule is looking it has become the dumping ground for R4 tat. I guess the BBC are going for maximum profits by bringing out the good stuff as DVDs or purchasing downloads.

How do you come up with "dumping ground for R4 tat" ?

As far as I can tell, the vast majority of material is the type of thing which Radio 7 had anyway.

With the cuts in CBeebies type storytelling and junk, they may have added a few more repeats but the additions of DID revisited and the Ambridge Extra 'experiment' are two brand new items (not sure how many more items are actually brand new - they have changed the presenting team and perhaps added some I've not come across yet).

I've only just heard my first AA - . I agree that listening to Alice et al at uni is like listening to old people trying to be cool. Maybe that's how Alice really is, though?

I love the theme tune - best thing about it! - and am chuffed to learn that it's Bellowhead.

Haven't heard Tuesday's yet but where the hell have they got the Chaz-as-dodgy-loan-shark plotline from... aside from it's horrid 'soap' aspect (does that kind of thing really happen?) it's adding to my fear that they will have to start crossing over AE and TA, otherwise how will they ever explain Chris being battered with his own tools when he (inevitably) fails to repay the loan. Ditto how will they write Alice out when she perjures herself for Chaz and gets sent down...

Chaz is awful isn't he? The actor I mean! And I HATE the way Alice talks. Liking stroppy Jamie a lot.

Agree, Bellowhead theme is the best thing about it!

Ok - I'll admit the theme tune has grown on me. I've listened to two weeks worth of AE and TA in the car this week (podcasts) and have decided that I actually like the AE theme more.

I am however sick to the back teeth of the bits with Jamie in, it's like when I used to catch occasional episodes of Grange Hill as an adult, I'm just not that interested in teenagers and their fictional drama. I still think they're heading for a big 'disaster' or 'shock' with Jamie which will involve a fatality (possibly not Jamie though) or a dreadful accident - I'm intrigued to know how they'll handle that in TA though...

Are the peopel who only listen to the non digital version only going to find out about Chaz and the loan to Chris when he repossesses the van?

This is the bit I'm struggling with...ditto when presumably something dreadful happens to Jamie as part of his gang initiation...

I guess they'll have to use the device of people talking about what happened in The Bull/village shop etc to explain what happens but I suspect it will feel very clunky.

Ah, Chaz is doing a runner! That'll sort that out.

Will Chaz murder Alice in a jealous rage? That'd be fun!

Chaz is doing a runner and Jamie is being rehabilitated? Is all a bit tiresome IMO.

I haven't listened to the clip here but I thought the written bit about swearing was interesting - explains why the teens all sound wrong! www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thearchers/2011/06/swearing_in_the_archers_and_am.html

And how are some of the kids so posh? Phoebe over-enunciates everything!

So what happens now? Do we wait til the next series of AE to find out what happens to Chaz and all the boring complicated Fallon,Harry,Rhys,Kirsty nexus?