The Archers - It's not about the money, money, money, think about Jill's honey, honey, honey, Justin wants to farm by satnav, forget about the prize tag.

[PseudoBadger]

Will The Dopeys have buggered off by the end of this thread?
Will Tom finally reach home, after weeks of trekking through the tundra?

Where the hell are Cathy and Jamie????

Thanks for the new thread. I haven't read it all yet (sorry!), but I just wanted to ask - does anyone else think that Rob's voice sounds like Iain Duncan Smith's?

So are we meant to interpret Uncle Tom (not) in his Cabin as the guy who sells out (presumably from organic to the mega-intensive dairy), or as the Christ-like figure who gets betrayed (i.e. "sold down the river" - presumably by Rob) and stays true to his faith until the end? Hadn't thought about the fact Uncle Tom's Cabin is now interpreted from a diametrically opposed viewpoint, as compared to how it was seen in the C19th.

But but but....the woman on R4 interview said DnR would not leave Brookfield , did she lie??

Guess who the new Tom actor is? Whoever guessed Donald Sutherland's grandson was heading in the right direction.

William Troughton, son of David Troughton.

I for one am far from impressed by this extraordinary nepotism.

I think new Tom has sexy voice :)

Oh wow - so we get one actor replaced by an actor with links because they are allegedly better. Only to find they are actually a bit rubbish.

How depressing.

And they really need people with more distinctive voices

Picking up on the spy messages, has anyone considered that TA might have been conceived as an entire programme for spies? Starting as it did during the Cold War...All the agricultural information as the cover; now that it's over & Facebook & Google hold all our secrets, TA has lost its relevance and been downgraded to mere drama status et voila! SOC!

Kind of cute to have a real father and son, I guess. Will be interesting to find out how they play together.

He sounds a bit like Daniel Radcliffe

Probably not fair to judge somebody on the first minute or two of recording, but he did sound very wooden. I just don't get this. Why replace Tom Graham at all? He was good, he knew the part inside out and he had a voice that could easily be distinguished from all the other males. Given all of that, the decision to replace him with David Troughton's son is really, really dodgy.

Not going down well on this BBC blog or on Twitter.

PS Photo alert for the BBC blog, as usual.

Which reminds me, Errol, that we already have (or perhaps had) a father and son on TA - Mike Tucker and Will Grundy.

Given that the commanders of nuclear submarines are supposed to infer armageddon by the absence of the Today program(since this obviously means that the End of Civilization As We Know It has occurred), they obviously must all be equipped to pick up R4 so the schedule is probably riddled with coded messages. I'd put them all in Woman's Hour I think.

Ahem, I did mention that D. Troughton had a son in the profession some time ago when we heard Tom was being replaced.

Mimsy - but not actually playing father and son.

Two Troughton sons in the profession, I believe. The other one is called Sam.

And yes, Errol, not playing father and son. Not the only arguably nepotistic bit of casting - Daniel used to be played by Dominic Davies, son of Keri (scriptwriter, previously producer).

Well, that'll be handy when Carol's coven raises the spirit of John but gets the wrong one.

"Will’s older brother Sam is also an actor, well-known for Shakespearian roles." Watch out Kenton!

At least this way Tony won't be so confused after all.

I like the idea of TA as a cover for spy messages.

Where would Tom have flown into from Canada? Has he come all the way from B'ham Int and not dropped into see his parents at the hospital? Or would he have come into HRW and come straight up and across and somehow missed Brum? (I need a map) If I were overinfested which I am not I could look it up, I know. Just hoping someone knows this already.

If Tom were real, that is. I know he's not real .....

I guess sending a quick text to say he was on his way was too much trouble...

He probably landed at heathrow but I would have thought the train would have gone to Birmingham and then change. So why he didn't pop in to see his at deaths door father is beyond me.

Tbh if it wasn't for this thread I would have stopped listening ages ago

I assume he's hired a car. I don't imagine the train service to Hollerton is very good, esp in the evenings.

But how will he return the car without extortionate cost?