Sack the Sock - put a sock in it or pull your socks up - frankly we're a bit sick of it. The Archers is shit, discuss it here.

[PseudoBadger]

I have it on good authority that this is the thread that people enjoy more than the programme it's about

I think I've got the concept right but was Pheobe defending her father against Kate a BOOP point?
Are we lining up for a tearful reconciliation with Roy when she finds out why Kate has come home?

I hope so Phaedra

Would be nice for her to see one parent showing remorse!!

Talking of Roy, is anything going to come of his tearful phonecalls to nearly every female he's ever known over New Year?

So many people have gone AWOL between Christmas and New Year. Roy, Jazzer, Heather.

More rhyming brilliance please! I sang along.

The heavily flagged introduction of Fran makes me think Adam & Ian aren't coming back from Miami hence we have another gay couple forming. This also makes me even more convinced that the sale will founder and they'll all stay in Ambridge.

Kate & Phoebe's scene together was very Abfab and very good but Phoebe's in a dreadful situation not only with her self-absorbed parents but also cut off from the sister she loves.

I did like the mention that Tina's in a foul mood after Helen's visit.

As for Roy, if Lizzie has listened to her voicemails over the past week then she's not exactly rushed to his side from wherever she is. A maudlin self-pitying man is not sexy.

A fusion of the Archers and musical theatre - first ppeat pops up on a thread about Mary Poppins last week and now Psuedo is channelling Rogers and Hammerstein! Bliss. Psuedo I think I love you.

There saying it "Hadley Hoff" not "Hadley Hay" aren't they? Shame, as we could then have had

"and then I say, Hay yippy Hadley Hay!
Cows will be fine, will rehome ya
Off to Prudder, OK "

Oohhhhhh I thought Pip fancied Fran too! I don't think Amy is a lesbian though, I thought she had a fling with a married man and confided in Alice...although that might have been on Xtra!

One of my favourite tunes:

I dreamed last night I got on the road to Prudhoe
And by some chance I had brought my cows along
And there I stood, and I hollered, "Someone pay me"
But the villagers they knew right from wrong

For the village all said
"Sit down, sit down you're rockin' the boat"
The village all said
"Sit down, sit down you're rockin' the boat

And Justin will drag you under
By the waxed lapel of your farming coat
Sit down, sit down, sit down, sit down
Sit down you're rocking the boat.

Has Tom even contacted his erstwhile best man since his return? I mean I know he's been busy but still...

Excellent Pseudo what a star. I'm going to have ear worm all day now!

Ambridge: the musical (or perhaps: Ambridge! ) has great potential

Definitely Ambridge! Petula . Am looking forward to that one touring the provinces before it hits the West End.

We could do this! We could start with a Fringe show at Edinburgh

Just listened to last nights episode, found it hard to differentiate between France/Pip and a very pissed up Kate - maybe I live a sheltered life, but I don't know anyone in RL who talks like them.... Pissed up Kate was truly awful, as if poor old Feebs doesn't have enough to cope with.

It sounds like it will be the nitrates which may bring the sale crashing(predictably) down

Poor cows. Of course they miss human contact. Still firmly unconvinced about Franchester Fran's "figures"!

I don't think there's ever been a gay woman in TA. Years ago when Helen was not long back in Ambridge from cheesemaking college she began behaving secretively and on the old BBC TA messageboard, which I'd just discovered at that point (happy days) there was much speculation that she was having an affair with a woman - however, it turned out to be Greg the Grim Gamekeeper.

R4 had this as a BOOP point, but for me it's a WALpoint: we didn't have to attend JD's party, that was relayed. What a missed opportunity to have Brian, Jennifer, Matt, Lilian and Peggy all in a room together. I miss Matt.

SOC is going to be on Feedback in February. If I get round to it, I plan to send in a few points they could put to him.

Was the woman who led the campaign against the mega dairy possibly gay? Perhaps Carol might turn out to be bisexual when more tales of how she behaved during her open marriage start to emerge...

I was surprised at Kate being quite so ready to drink drive - that is a new depth of awfulness, even for her. Well done Feebs. I wish she'd have told Kate how much she missed Hayley as well as Abbie.

Just heard (BAFTA nominated) Felicity Jones chatting about her Archers history on Today. Interviewer floated the idea of an Archers film!

Careful what you wish for.

Yes, I heard that too. I recognised the voice!
I've been wondering whether all this talk of selecting new Archers actors based on acting training and looks would mean it becomes televised!

"Visualisation" seemed to be the big thing that Gwyneth Williams wanted to sell for R4 when she was on Feedback before Christmas. (I know I've taken her name in vain a lot recently - possibly because I thought her understanding of "radio" was fundamentally unsound ...)

It's completely likely that they'll want R4 to be go the way of R1.

I loved the conversation between Kate and Feebs. The only disappointing thing was that Phoebe didn't point out how incredibly hypocritical it was of Kate to criticise Roy for his infidelity (or was Kate's affair while Phoebe was in SA only on AE?). And I did think the drink-driving was slightly OTT unless of course it's one of those things that people do in SA.

Amy's affair with the married man was definitely on TA proper.

Helen's character is brilliant. Much as I dislike her, she is fabulously well-rounded and believable.

OddFodd I was wondering whether the drink driving was a SA 'thing' too. Or just Kate.

The Kate/Feebs scene was brilliant. I love Helen and her interaction with Cross Tina and how that fed through to the interaction between Kate and Tina later on. Very consistent.

Kate is brilliant. Dreadful woman but she does make me laugh.

She's going to get stopped by PC burns isn't she

Oh you're right Gypsy, it was a married man that Amy was seeing.
I just had it in my head that it was a difficult relationship to go public with.

The only 'happy' solution for Phoebe is for Roy to move out of the marital home and let Hayley move back in with Phoebe and Abby before H gets too settled in Brum to want to come back to Ambridge. I doubt if Kate will let P out of her clutches now though.

It's an irony that Roy was so anxious about Tom when they all thought T was suicidal last year yet Tom doesn't seem to have spoken to Roy at all since his return.