Robbieeeee! It's meee, it's Jessieeee! I've come home. I'm so cold! Let me in-a-your window. The Archers pay homage to Wuthering Heights?

[PseudoBadger]

A new thread in time for the film this morning.

Marking my place with the latest Nancy Banks-Smith A Month in Ambridge

In his interviews the new Editor has spoken about:

Fate (plot)
Tradition (bringing back or re-emphasising older residents)
Voices (bigger parts for voices he likes even if he has to twist a story into a curious shape to achieve it.)

So I guess character has fallen rather far down the list. Maybe it will be pointless from now on to speculate on what a person might do based on what we know of them already.

LOVE Nancy Banks-Smith.

"Helen has taken to domesticity like a duck, which involves making a lot of damson jam and saying, “Oh, poor you!” to the boa constrictor she is living with"

Can we all tell Sean Whatsit that we don't want plot driven stories? There's always been a delicate balance between 'listening to' and 'moaning about' TA, but it's getting ridiculous now. And I'm even crosser to find out he comes from near where I do...

I'm not sure he is capable of character driven given his cv

When the writing is good we moan about the characters and the story, when the writing is bad we moan about the writers. So there is always something to moan about! When it swings into moaning about te writers it suggests a problem though.

True, BYOS, but when you just can't believe that certain characters would do certain things, and when you stop caring about the consequences, then habit (and the fun on this thread!) may not be enough to keep listeners.

Aaarrgh! I'm at the theatre. Play doesn't start till 7.30 but it would look too anti-social to stick earphones in wouldn't it?

I got confused with all the elderly ladies then.
What happened...Peggy was discussing the Lower Bolloxley scandal with ...erm...who? Then Jenny turned up and interrupted them?
Then later Jill arrived on the scene and was filled in regarding the dastardly exploits of her daughter?

The "lonely" Peggy had a stream of visitors today, didn't she? Was it Carol she was discussing the scandal with?

I am so looking forward to all the "ohs" and "oohs" and "ahs" that Jill will inflict on Elizabeth. Unless she just goes Total Ninja on her and whacks her head off with a samurai sword. I can see it now - underneath Jill's Windsmoor twinset and Austin Reed skirt, she's wearing a skintight yellow jumpsuit, and she won't rest until she's expunged the shame which Elizabeth has brought on the House of Archer.

Peggy was discussing it with Jenny -who would be horrified to be described as elderly! Then Jill arrived and Jenny left. Then Carol joined having been reminiscing with Joe. And Peggy and Carol had to explain to Jill why everyone was suddenly enquiring after Elizabeth. I was glad Peggy was brave enough to tell her.

Brilliant Bluestocking :o

I'm really, really tempted to do some photoshopping ...

Kill Jill

Oh please do, OddFodd, I'd love to see your vision of a ninja Jill. Did she ever find out about Ruth and Sexy Sam the Plate Meter Man?

They are almost the only characters I can recognise/tell apart these days - Peggy, Carol, JD and Jill.

I think Jill might have lost her 'squeak' aka her sighing and ohs over this. She did sound terribly distressed. I felt quite sorry for her tonight. It must be quite galling to find your youngest child is a middle aged tart - and you were the last to know.

Isn't it Robert Snell's actor who is the GP? In an idle mo a few months ago, I considered starting a nosy thread on Chat - Does anyone have Robert Snell as their GP and is he lovely?

I don't think anyone knew about Plate Meter Man and Ruth except Kenton - and I didn't hear him tell anyone else.

I had to really think about who was the suicide risk of last Xmas. I must me losing my marbles ..... DON'T!!

D...D..D!!!!

BTW, talking of BYO snowballs to parties, when ds2 was born DH and ds1 came into the hospital to visit us - and ds was sitting in his pushchair holding a huge snowball on his lap. It wasn't much of a party really as the baby was sick and I was knackered but it did make me laugh at the time.

Pan pipes are Andean, they are NOT Mexican. I can categorically confirm that none are on sale in Cancun. I wonder if Carol, with her "girl and the puma" extensive interest in Latin American culture knew this but decided not to mention it to Joe? However I have a bad feeling that the SW think that they ARE Mexican.

Did I imagine it or was there a mention of Cathy? Susan saying something along the lines of hearing Cathy discussing something. I found Joe's reminiscences slightly contrived - as a way of reminding listeners about the history of Brookfield (one of the things I've always loved about the Archers is the assumed knowledge - so when you first start listening you have to find a long time listener to fill you in or come on here!) though I did laugh out loud at his recollection of the false teeth incident.

cathy was gossiping at GG i think?

Oh god another tedious reference to a character just "offstage" that they are clearly not going to pay to come on and speak their lines (Cathy).

It just feels so contrived. Am I imagining it, or was it always so?

It's definitely worse. The stupid storylines emphasise it. If it wasn't for this thread I probably would have stopped listening by now! My parents have stopped listening - they hatethe stereotyped old people taht they are supposed to feel a connectiob with. They dont feel like the archers is for them anymore. I know they want new listeners but I think they are throwing the baby out with the bath water.

Also, why was carol telling people about Brookfield?

Well I think I've found a clue as to how things might proceed. Mooching around Waterstones I have stumbled upon

Handsome Brute - The True Story of a Ladykiller by one Sean O'Conner.

It is the same one, I checked, and it was published in 2013....

In the summer of 1946, the sadistic murders of two women by the chaming but deadly ex-RAF playboy Neville Heath shocked post-war Britain to the core....

That is an exact quote from the blurb.