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[PseudoBadger]

New thread!

Brenda may have ditched him but there are few single available men in Ambridge and beyond .... We have Tom, Jamie (tad young), if you forget Lilian technically theres Matt (way too old) and of course Rob is supposedly married ...and even Kenton spoken for. Omg i forgot Jim - enough said!

BTW why is there no Drs Surgery anymore - great opportunity for new characters and allsorts of intrigue. I must be showing my age but TA isnt like it used to be, sadly.

Very late to this but WRT people earnestly researching the plight of, ahem, fictional (allegedly) characters.....when there was the great rumpus over Lizzie getting her share of Brokefailed, and again when Caroline was agonising over buying Grey Gables from Jeck, the late-lamented Discuss The Archers message board on the BBC site was rammed with professional accountants, mortgage-brokers and solicitors eagerly offering opinions and explaining the reasons for their conclusions, with elaborate workings-out.

There was something very heartening about it, somehow

I find it disheartening. Because between us all we come up with far more plausible, complex and enthralling storylines than at least 80% of what is actually broadcast. One cannot help but be disappointed.

@Somethingyesterday

I find it disheartening. Because between us all we come up with far more plausible, complex and enthralling storylines than at least 80% of what is actually broadcast. One cannot help but be disappointed.

In a similar vein, I caught some of the Channel 4 programme Gogglebox last night, which is real people watching the TV you have watched over the last week (cross between the Royle family and a reality show) They watched the x-factor, downton, a clip of the news with the godfrey bloom story and you saw their reactions to it - it was funny but moreover I found it interesting that we all KNOW how predictable it all is. (e.g. girl group auditioning on x-factor say they are bestest friends and then Gary Barlow only likes one of them and she has to strike out solo) Everyone saw it coming!

Brenda really was a sarcastic bitch to Tom though.

if we don't hear an on air reference from Kirsty re Tom shagging around and dumping her last time round I may stop listening.

I do hope the SWs are going to round off the Martyn storyline with him getting his comeuppance, preferably via someone checking the golf club accounts. It would be so disappointing if they just let it fizzle out.

Olivia Yeah, even I (TV refusenik) managed to watch that particular episode... The only difference is that we have all learnt to be cynical about TV - we expect to have our intelligence relentlessly insulted. With TA I keep listening in the hope and belief that "one day it will be good again" - and in the meantime try not to feel personally hurt when they keep sending out rubbish that would shame CBeebies.

(Perhaps there never was an actual golden age - it may be that I've enshrined a dozen brilliant bits from several decades and now imagine it was endless summer in the past.)

JMcJ Don't hold your breath...

nenny But drawing a complicated plot to a satisfying climax is so 20th century. Fizzling out is the new... whatever. Think of all the completely superfluous business with Paul's family. Went precisely nowhere. Although there was a rather cryptic reference to "the painting" yesterday from Jolene. No doubt to set up another needlessly complicated story.

I hope Brenda isn't around for long - we don't need new characters, BeaLola, we need to dispose of a few. Starting with Brenda.

That awful voice has me reaching for the off switch. It's even worse than Ruth's.

Tom and Kirsty will do fine for me - and at least Kirsty doesn't have delusions of grandeur.

Yes campion I like Kirsty too and I reckon Tom has grown up enough to appreciate her now. IMO and E it's normal to have relationships that go round the houses for a bit before the proper settling down happens.

Well Brenda is now way out of his league so Tom will have to settle for what he can get.

Despite my general jadedness I loved Brenda jetting in to sprinkle a little London glitter on the Ambridge peasants. Hilarious. And - as someone speculated up thread - I can now see her as the future-Lilian; living a glamorous life elsewhere and popping in now and again to shake things up.

Does anyone have any RL experience of how realistic the Darryl homeless storyline is? It's been bothering me and I can't work out if that's because it doesn't seem to ring true (homelessness does not feature in our rural village) or because if it is realistic then it's really shocking.

I don't know tall but I felt sorry for Shula and irritated ( unfairly) by Darrell.

But vom at more Helen and rob lurving.

TallG - as someone else said way down the thread, the thing that's irritating is that IRL Darryl wouldn't be unemployed for weeks on end because good carpenters (and we've never been told he isn't anything but very skilled) are rarely out of work.

But yes, hostels can be horrible, dangerous places :(

I've always thought it was really, really unlikely that Brenda was called Brenda (does anyone know anyone called Brenda in the UK under the age of 50?). And I can't imagine someone glamorous being called Brenda either. There was 90210 I suppose ...

Couldn't understand why Caroline didn't slap Oliver round the chops in this evening's episode. All that relentless bonhomie and optimism, how does she resist pointing out to him that he told her it would be absolutely fine to appoint a general manager they didn't know without checking his references?

kiri

My joiner couldn't make a living out of it, so set up his own windowcleaning business, and is now doing much better. He used to do a bit of woody work as well, but over the last year has got too busy and has stopped. I imagine pickings must be thin for anyone clinging to the trade, as there is not much building work or refurbs going on, and plenty of people looking for work.

So I was right then? "They" want to shut down Grey Gables?

Because the cool new listeners are more interested in Jamie and Rosa? Or because they just don't know what to do with posh middle-aged people?

This is rubbish.

And yes to the pointless optimism.......

Ed's turned out to be a good lad.

I stand corrected PJ - I thought with Amside etc, Darryl would be made. He certainly seems to have more skills for finding regular employment than many of the characters :o

I hope they don't shut down GG - it's the only place where Linda really gets to shine and sniff with any regularity

Also why was he asking mr.loverman rob for a job - I know that the mega dairy is huge but thought Darrell did carpenter etc so quite what he thought rob would offer bears me.

I thought whole ed being nice plot showed Jo getting back to something like himself.

ah, but he fell out with Amside after trying (unsuccessfully) to stand up to Matt who bullied him into making that old rented house a deathtrap, resulting in the death of the tenant so Matt could make more money out of it vacant.

Fagash Lil's bit on the side builder has pegged out

The only other offers of work we heard about were from an old jailbird acquaintance, doubtless trying to tempt him into a life of crime.

Aww Bartleby.....standing all forlorn under the tree.....that's made me cry!

Yay Bartleby and Joe reunited. Happy now.

If I were Clarrie I 'd be feeding Bartleby but a sweet way to get Joe back to his old self.

I don't reckon they'll actually CLOSE GG though Something do you? Unless they reckon LL is enough posh type hotelry.

Surely a good carpenter can do a lot of other things ?

Why is George so posh???

Re TG's query above - am I the only person who sees a vicious right-wing agenda in the Darrell story?

First they made it about someone who "deserves" misfortune - history of prison, involvement in criminality and animal cruelty. Then we have even the Vicar speaking of him as if his homelessness is a "lifestyle choice" that he could be persuaded out of through counselling... Now we see him getting into fights, being extremely aggressive and potentially dangerous - "oh, it's all right, he didn't hurt me..." He is clearly outwith decent society.

I'm sure, if asked, they would say they had done their research. But I rather wish they had tried asking outside Conservative Central Office.