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 reckon teeeena is just a lazy so and so who didn't hire any extra staff and closed for long lunches and early starts

it's always the ones who impress at interview....

or rob is shagging her in the stock room every lunchtime

Portfolios! Fnarr! You've taken Charlie and his quickfire double-entendres to heart.

Ah, shiny new thread, thanks.

I'm still struggling with some of the very bland new voices. I spent a good chunk of this evenings episode thinking "who is that? Is it Tom? No, don't think so. Ah, yes it is. Or is it?". He had the least distinctive voice ever.

It's no good. We just have to accept that OldTom and OldPip have run away to that log cabin to make screechy, hectoring babies together.

I think it's more likely that with Pat and Helen preoccupied, Rob told cardboard cutout Tina to come to him with any questions, and he told her not to bother taking on more staff & didn't bother to let H know when stock was running low. "I didn't want to bother you." Which would explain why Tina is now pissed off at Wrath of Helen. It would be just like what he did with the potatoes, except with the aim of running the business down.

Not sure why Helen would agree to only discuss shop with him though - it's not HIS family business is it?

Im loving the archers at the mo.its a drama,its good to shake it up a bit
and am sniggering at the whiny ardent listeners moaning its all changed,too dramatic
Robotic milking will induce palpitations cause its not like ye olde woobly stool and bucket

BOOP point I like the new improved Tom, far less tedious than the sausage king

WAL (whiny ardent listener) point, I swear I'm going to end up committing a Pip provoked murder if I hear her/his god awful inflections and wandering accents again. What's more I'm sure pleading pip-provocation would be an admissible defense - you'd only have to play that NYE episode for the judge to fully sympathise.

SOC - I'm starting a piptition [geddit?] for a new New Pip. Who's with me?

For some reason when I hear newPip I think of her being voiced by one of The League of Gentlemen

Oh that so hits the spot.

I'm bored to tears with the Brookfield sale /Heather story. You could drain vegetables thorough the plot holes.

NewTom being concerned about RichJohn was a nice touch.

Have Kate and Leonie ever met? I'd love to hear that scene!

Someone mentioned OldPip's emphatic T's. The letter T is almost entirely absent from the NewPip's speech, except when saying 'roboTic'.

Tina has been embezzling maybe but, more likely, Rob has deliberately given her instructions which would result in poor sales. He wants Helen to have nothing of her own.
I don't think she actually agreed though when he told her to consult him only.
Tina has been employed for less than a year, I think, so she could be sacked. Freda, OTOH, could not.

Ooh, the Rob actor is very good, isn't he? (BOOP point!)

That "oh" when he came home to find Tom in his kitchen spoke volumes...

Regarding Pip, I don't find it that implausible that a few years at college and a year working away on another farm have changed her character from whiny teenager to go-getting fledgling young professional. I'm sure a lot of people change similarly around that age and life stage.

What did Ed pawn to buy Emma's birthday present a while back? It wasn't a ring was it?
Just thinking of why he seems reluctant now...

I don't think anyone here has raised any objections to robotic milking parlours . Presumably it's a realistic consideration for a dairy farmer to make

Yes.Having read thread i can see no objections to robotic milking.
I'm simply saying archers fans tend to be staid and vociferous in objecting to new plotlines.as demonstrated on various sites,and discussion on R4 feedback about archers

Gwyneth! How lovely to have you on the thread.

Best behaviour people - We clearly have the Controller of Radio 4 (and Radio 4 Extra) popping in to tease us.

Can I just say that I strongly object to robotic milking.
And cows kept indoors on sand. Who never see the light of day.
Never eat grass.

I guess I must be staid, ok fashioned, ardent AND whiny

Old fashioned..

So long as i can get cheap milk i dont care if its a robot or fembot what milks the cows

The only plot people are complaining about is the broke field nonsense (oh ok and the Roy/lizzie thing)

Tbh the more serious complaints are about the sound a like newbie's. dangerous territory for audio drama.

I don't know enough about robotic milking to form an opinion so that is a discussion I would welcome on this thread!

But in tv soaps characters change actors,fans adapt and accept.i dont think its significant that tom changed.still get the gist
Love the rob/helen story hes so manipulative and surely jess will reappear with his son?
The mungo name storyline was funny,the faux indignation
I think archers is high comedy at times,very tongue in cheek

guineapiglet it's possible that i would too if i knew more about it! but presumably it's realistic that a farmer who was moving elsewhere would consider their various options, so no objections to hearing it discussed on TA iyswim, especially as it's framed as pip keen on it but her parents more reluctant

i very much care about milk prices in the sense that i worry about them being very cheap and putting farmers out of business, but on the other hand i understand how for many people affordability is the priority

i love that we have our very own tame dairyfarmerswife on this thread too, brilliant insights into RL dairy farming!

I just came on here to say wtf has happened to Pip!? :o I'm a bit behind obviously... I don't manage to keep up with all the episodes, so when I heard it yesterday I was thinking "Who the hell is that?" It sounds like they've belatedly decided she should have picked up a bit of Ruth's accent... but only in every other scene.

It's not about new actors (although not quite sure why it was necessary for Tom and pip) but the fact we have ended up with a load Of new actors who all sound the same! It makes radio listening much more difficult.

It sounds like they've belatedly decided she should have picked up a bit of Ruth's accent... but only in every other scene.

Ah good, I'm glad someone else thinks this. I also hear fragments of a NE accent but only now and then.

Well of course robotic milking is very cost efficient(but expensive to set up/install/maintain) and means gamers can up the numbers game, less labour intensive etc. it reduces human contact with sentient beasts but more mechanisation means more progress in terms of quantity/price, not quality of life for the cows. I was told by farming BF that everyone should support milk framers on price by buying organic and this is in part supported by Compassion in World Faming, milk is usually a loss leader in supermarkets so farmers usually lose out or at least do not make profit. As a lifelong veggie, Animal Welfare ranks high on what I am willing to pay for and consume!

Bloody phone

FARMERS not gamers or framers FFS