Can you remember your first (or at least a very early) Archers Episode

[daisychain01]

I'm really made-up to find this board so I can chat to everyone about the Archers. Not exactly a closet fan, but only me and DM listen so nice to have a proper MN style chat bitch about Hell-in etc

The first few episodes I heard were in around Spring 1999 while I was decorating and wanted something good to listen to while I was stripping wallpaper (mind you, DP says its like watching paint dry but what does he know!!)

I remember The Grundy's were going to be evicted from their farm and they ended up in Meadow Rise.

Some of the early SLs I enjoyed were things like Hell-in and Greg, Roof getting Pg with Ben, Daniel being formally adopted by Allistair, the steamy love scene between Jolene and Sid, and quite a bit later the Siobhan and Brian scandal. Oh and the other scandal was the lady Vicar having a non -affair, and getting transferred away from St Stephens to a different parish, shock, horror!

So what were your earliest memories of TA and can you remember where you were, what you were doing?

Sounds a bit like Where were you when you heard Princess Diana had died!

[AllMimsyWereTheBorogroves]

Hello, vixsatis! (Good name.) Marjorie was great! Nelson was my all-time favourite character.

[vixsatis]

and a bit of a soft spot for Marjorie Antrobus

[vixsatis]

I have been hooked since I was an au pair in France in 1984 and Radio 4 was the only English language entertainment available. David was engaged to a girl called Sophie Barlow and she and Lizzie had the whole village sewing for a fashion show they staged. Clarrie bought a posh frock. Loved Nelson Gabriel and the Brian/Siobhan story

[JessieMcJessie]

I remember Jenny getting pregnant with Alice and worrying about Down's, and Kate going missing and Brian and Jenny having to go and identify a body. I remember Christopher being born with a hare lip.

I think my earliest memories are of the annoying voice of David's girlfiend Sophie, the first time she was around, not when she reappeared around the time of Ruth and Sam.

I think it was Lizzie who worked in the wine bar with Nelson, wasn't it?

[ElectricalBanana]

I used to listen when I was a medical rep ( driving around a lot) and that was in the 1990s.

But this got me thinking.... I was wondering when the last time I saw some of the big soaps.

Emmerdale farm being the one I haven't seen for years. Last time I saw it Mr Wilks' house had burned down and he had to move into the Woolpack with Amos.

God knows when that was...

[TypicaLibra]

Another here who entered into the world of Ambridge in childhood by osmosis but remembers very little from then.

I listened intermittently around 2005 - I remember when Tom dumped Kirsty for Tamsin the supermarket buyer and then it all went pear-shaped very quickly. Also from those times remember Sam the cowman initially causing ructions by persuading David and Ruth to stop using Alistair and move to a specialist dairy vet he knew.

Then I started listening again properly I think it was in early 2009 - the onset of the SFO investigation into Matt and Chalkie's company. In fact the Matt-Chalkie fallout was a storyline which fizzled out rather frustratingly. Remember the riding whip in Lillian's car? Their burglar alarm going off? The motorbike with disguised rider spooking Lillian's horse a couple of times? We never did discover for sure that it was Chalkman, and AFAIK there were no further ructions when he got out of prison.

[kernowal]

Thank you! I used to fudge working from home or driving between clients after lunch to get my fix.

[AllMimsyWereTheBorogroves]

1998, I believe, kernowal.

[kernowal]

When did John get squashed by a tractor? I was definitely listening by the time we got around to the Roy/Kate/John days.

[BorcestshireBlue]

I've listened to The Archer since I born (early 70s), but the first thing I can actually remember is Susan going to prison, which I have just discovered was 1993!

[AllMimsyWereTheBorogroves]

Oh yes! Didn't he chase her round the swimming pool? She confided in Jill who did something I can't now remember - had a discreet word with Brian? you'd think I'd remember that, but I don't - anyway, whatever it was, Brian left Betty alone after that.

Betty was the cleaner and upset Jennifer by putting the fish knives in the dishwasher. They had bone handles which were spoiled, I think. Jennifer's fault for not making her requirements clear!

[Dirtybanana]

Does anyone remember when Betty worked for the Aldridges and Brian tried it on with her?

[Dirtybanana]

I seem to recall she came home from hospital, said she was feeling a bit tired and went upstairs for a nap but didn't wake up.

So long Betty - hope you enjoy counting out change in the village shop in heaven!

[AllMimsyWereTheBorogroves]

Hello, stow. No, Betty had a heart attack. I think she was in hospital for a bit and then had a second heart attack a few days later - can anyone else remember?

[stowsettler]

I've only started listening in the last 7 or 8 years. I think around the time that Betty died. Was it in a fire?

[cheminotte]

Aww thanks Mimsy - such a shame we don't hear more of her really.
My mum is like yours - listened to it when I was growing up but seems to have lost the habit. The only person irl who I occasionally get to discuss it with is an aunt who lives abroad, doesn't listen to it regularly but is happy for me to update her on the goings on.

[AllMimsyWereTheBorogroves]

It's an odd thing, but when I was growing up my mum often had it on in the background but never commented on it as far as I can recall. She has followed various TV soaps over the years (Crossroads! Emmerdale! Doctors!!) and not held back about those so I can only assume TA wasn't really holding her attention. She was a very intermittent listener in the 70s (lightweight!). She finds it very odd and slightly amusing that I am so fanatical.

[ErrolTheDragon]

I'm another who had it on as a background to childhood - 60s-70s - can't remember when I first started really listening but do recollect Mum tutting about 'people complicating their lives' (ie nooky out of wedlock) and wondering why we listened to people arguing all the time.

[AllMimsyWereTheBorogroves]

Cheminotte, Hayley was born in 1977 so I think she's your closest match! Helen is two years younger.

[AllMimsyWereTheBorogroves]

I think it was Debbie who worked with Nelson for a little while after she dropped out of university.

Debbie is of course so astoundingly bright that she picked up not just the antiques business but also industrial-scale arable farming just like that. No specialist training required. No wonder Adam is bitter. He got his degree and worked for years in Africa and Brian treats him as a glorified farmhand and Debbie like agriculture's equivalent of Steve Jobs.

[IndridCold]

I started listening early 80s (same time as Mimsy!) and can remember Aunt Laura living at Ambridge Hall. Neil and Shula had bit of a thing, but then he got Susan pregnant and they 'had' to get married.

Didn't Lizzie once run an antiques business with Nelson Gabriel?

< sighs nostalgically >

[MyICDiscalledsparky]

I was pregnant at the same time as Ruth with Pip. Anyone remember Ruth nearly running off with the farm manager? I also remember Jazzer being brain damaged after taking ketamine which also seems to have miraculously got better.

[Lilymaid]

I can remember Lilian and her first husband, Nick - very steamy! May have been when I was at school.
Then Shula and her wrong A Levels - she wanted to be a vet but didn't do science, so scriptwriters had to change tack and send her off to Rodway & Watsom
And Jill having her hippy period in the 1970s.
We used to listen at university and fantasise the storyline ....

[BasketzatDawn]

Yes, of course the 80s. Neil and Susan have just had milestone anniversary too?

I think some of my DC were born same year as TA characters. I can recall being pregnant at same time - def Ruth A for at least one of them, but not sure which. I think Daniel same age as ds1.

[cheminotte]

So who is my age then? I'm 37. Helen is only about 32 I think? How old is Hayley? I'm a bit jealous of mumsnetters with dc born the same year as an Archers character.