Old (Hall), New (build), Borrowed (money). Will Ambridge be feeling blue the morning after? Discuss The Archers wedding and the aftermath here.

[PseudoBadger]

Roll up roll up for The Wedding special from Catheter Hall. Is the lark flying high? Will Krusty jam that ring on the porky finger?

Yes, I could see how it could happen. Hayley has probably got so fed up with hearing about the wedding that she has for many months been saying 'Oh really? Mmm.... yes, I suppose so... ' without actually hearing a word Roy has said.

Tom probably wouldn't have been too bothered by it if he hadn't already been wound up about his fake-Johnness.

I think Pat and Tony would always have been bothered by it. A bit clunky, but let's not forget they only have 12.5 minutes a day to get all this across.

Sean O'Connor (new editor of TA) on Feedback this afternoon. Looking forward to that.

I think Tom's heading for a complete breakdown. Worst part was 'I've loved you for 15 years'. Poor Kirsty.

Not entirely "poor" Kirsty. I'm not sure "loving" someone for 15 years, and thereby being dishonest both to them and to their partner - and to every partner you've had yourself since you split up with the adored one - is unreservedly a badge of honour.

I said, about a dozen threads ago, that any sensible person in Kirsty's shoes would have left the area and found a new life after being dumped by Tom the first time. Hanging around, pretending to be friends with his gf, cultivating a close relationship with his sister.... It was all wrong.

Of course Tom has done something terrible but Kirsty has to take some responsibility for placing herself in that position.

So the synopsis I read said she ran screaming from the church.

Do you need to run screaming down the aisle to get out or is there a back exit from a vestry?

There must be a back/side exit because Tom came in without being seen by the congregation.

I found the vintage tractor ridiculous, Roy was best mates with John, how could he ever look at a vintage tractor without remembering the tragedy?

Perhaps that's the point.
The rest of the world was very sad when John died but got past it (eg see Hayley). Bridge Farm have it as a HUGE millstone round their neck. They never dealt with the death properly at the time and it is still messing up their lives 15 years later. And will continue to mess up all their lives for the foreseeable future. They need therapy.

when i was in the church choir when i was little there was a back entrance to the vestry, i think it's usual

(weddings were fantastic - you earned £3! a fortune when i was 7)

kirsty also got to the vestry without going through the nave so she must have used that route too

Oh that's disappointing. I was imagining her running back down the aisle at full pelt while she was doing that wail

I imagined that too EverybodysStressyEyed.

Can't wait for tonight's episode though i have friends coming for dinner. Perhaps i should suggest they arrive after 7.15pm...

I imagined Kirsty in an anguished, deflated heap, collapsed in the corner. Her wailing being halfway between a toddler-style meltdown and the witch-of-the-west "I'm melting ..."

i didn't imagine her running anywhere either, but maybe that's what was intended

if it were me i'd want everyone to disperse from the church so that i could leave unobserved

TA being puffed on Yahoo as something Americans might like to get into. Gosh!

I see that the article linked in my last post is originally from the Daily Beast. I wonder who wrote it, as it's a really good appreciation/summary of The Archers. Will root around and see if I can find out...

Written by a Brit, defo

it's very good!

Yes, except for mis-identifying Lynda as the village gossip and accusing her of 'bitching'.

Oh that is an excellent intro to TA! Thanks for the link Mimsy

Although I'm hesitant about attempting to encourage an American audience. Mr O'Connor hasn't yet reached the god-like status of Russell T. Davies in my house - but look what happened to Torchwood when they tried to make it popular across the water. I'm still cringeingly, face-palmedly embarrassed - and I had nothing to do with it.

I think they've more sense than to alter it for an American audience - it should be perfect for PBS-lovers as it is.

On the old BBC TA MB, there were a few people who listened from the US. Most were expats, of course, but there were at least two who had never lived in the UK and had only started listening to The Archers thanks to the internet.

Yeah... I know a fair few US people do listen, but if the BBC decided to actively seek out a new audience there they absolutely would start having meetings about how to make TA "more understandable" or "more accessible".

It would be awful.

I wouldn't worry, Zero. I really, really can't see The Archers as something the BBC itself would try to promote to overseas listeners. I hope I'm right about that!

This is a link I found on the BBC blog to an Ian Hislop documentary which features a visit to the TA studios and a quick chat with Tamsin Grieg. Good fun too. It starts about 35.5 minutes in.

I do think they've been very cunning with the blog over the past week. Every day I was clicking for pictures of hopeless wedding outfits to cackle at. Not a sniff. Only John. John as a boy, John with Sharon... And Cranford Crystal.

Evil.

someone just pointed out on the facebook page that Alice, being an engineer, would have been entirely aware of the properties of helium balloons v ordinary balloons

Ok, I'm a fairly recent archers listener. What's this about John and the tractor?