As another voice actor does a bunk in the night, is he watching them all with the eyeeeeeee .... of the TIGER? Bring back Matt unadulterated to The Archers NOW.

[PseudoBadger]

This is too much for me now. I need to meditate.

wah

And what a cock Adam is being. Not my fault. Charlie made me. I was drunk. It was nothing. I'd never hurt Ian....cheaters script through and through.

And Helen there was your chance "you think I should take the dna test" "yes, Rob. Yes I do" that's all you had to say.

When did Soc take over? If KD has been away since last July it was probably decided before Soc arrived

I think he has no concept of what The Archers means to people and how it can become woven into the fabric of your life.

For me , I first listened on a trip to Ireland with my then new BF, now husband. John's death resonated , as I've said before, really strongly as we too had a John who died in the same way, albeit before I was born. My children have grown up with it , there are videos of my son bouncing in his high chair to the theme tune. My mum was a late starter to it, thanks to listening with me on visits here and it is one of our shared interests.

I have known that I can dip in and out of it and still catch up easily and get stuck into the storylines. And the old ML board was hugely important, even as a lurker, in helping me to get where I am today.

I just feel sad that it is being dismantled and it really does feel like that to me. I almost wish SoC and the Bbc would just admit that they want to wind it up and do it properly rather than this piecemeal way that assumes we are fools.

I suffer from anxiety and the archers has always been my switch off valve between the work day and the evening to relax. Dh has commented recently that i've been much worse in the last six months and I am blaming SOC!

It does feel like a death by a thousand cuts. i said a few threads ago that it felt like soc had been brought in to kill it off slowly with no listener complaints

Thanks for the explanation re Costa rica, reading the blog a flit doesn't seem totally out of character for him but I'm sorry to see him go and feel the whole story had been under developed, especially regarding Lilian's earlier affair with Paul

What a steaming pool of slurry

Kate has always been unpleasant. When she was a teenager, she and her little gang, including a rather naive young Helen, tricked Peggy's wartime American soldier boyfriend into coming over to Ambridge. They wrote pretend letters from Peggy, asking him to visit. It could have been really awful for the American gent and Peggy. As it was, he was lovely and no harm was done, but Kate was just nasty.

The Helen/Rob story is getting increasingly scary. His smooth public face is cracking. He's going to hit her, isn't he?

More BOOP points for Harrison

SOC has been in charge for about 14 months. Kim Derham took on a full-time job at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School 5 years ago. He seems to have combined that with being Matt pretty successfully up to now, but I suppose it's possible he's finding it a bit much now. I doubt it, though.

Phaedra he definitely was inviting her to challenge him in public. He engineered the whole thing to belittle her worries about the test.

I think we should send Sock a collective letter from the MN Archers listeners group, we need a snappy acronym... Another character having a "rest" courtesy of the new regime, it really is incredible..Sock doesn't care about the fact that this is- was a credible community, where yes, there were daily events, goings on and problems, but not an every day pile on the misery/tragedy, er, just like Eastenders or the like.. Long time listener, deeply disheartened...
And WTAF is Ian??????
He will be joining ARSE
Soon, like the rest of them

Maybe it is wishful thinking, but is it starting to 'wash' less with H? She didn't sound that convinced about the shop thing. Also, with Kate, nobody accept Adam knows about her family in SA yet, but of course Feebs has been onto her half siblings on the old FB and that is being stored up.

Marking place

"She didn't sound that convinced about the shop thing" - maybe the actress couldn't give a shiny shit any more

They'd better have a good reason for consigning Matt back to Costa Rica - other than the obvious plot necessity that it will affect Lillian's decision on whether to sell the Bull to Kenton. She probably will want to - to raise cash and go to join Matt (noooo... we don't want to lose Pusscat too!) and yet more chickens will be prematurely counted.

It will affect Lillian's decision whether or not to sell the Bull but it will also affect how she feels about Peggy's will.

It's also only a couple of weeks since Brian was going on about selling cottages, sacking men and selling off machinery so won't Jenny start to feel resentful about Peg's assets going to Tom & Helen?

I have no idea what Rob's up to regarding the shop. It makes no sense to me unless that is going to become the straw that breaks the camel's back for Helen who can read a balance sheet perfectly well. A belittling comment about 'playing at shopkeeper' would make most women want to stab him.

Maybe it is going to be Eastendered and Helen will be up on a murder charge. The prosecution will point out what a good partner & stepfather Rob had been, always supportive, nursed H through a deadly disease so Helen could get plenty of rest, protected Helen from stress because of her precarious mental health, saved the family farm from going under etc etc.

The only witness who could testify to his mental cruelty and save her will be Jess.
Everyone else in the village will have moved away, been evicted, committed suicide, been trampled by cattle or died of whatever Carol's using to spike drinks.

Everyone else in the village will have moved away, been evicted, committed suicide, been trampled by cattle or died of whatever Carol's using to spike drinks.

Blimey, enochroot, it is starting to sound more like The Walking Dead, minus walkers. Though perhaps they will arrive in Ambridge soon, too.

Can't believe this.
Poor Pusscat

It's the RobHel story that is keeping me listening after over fourth years of loyalty.....

I don't normally go to TA website but they mentioned him at the end of y'day's ep, and so I went to look. Actor who plays Tiger's statement was v short and sweet

That blog about Matt's 'best bits' is bollocks and indicative of how much they've lost touch with the history isn't it - Matt was years out of prison when Lillian had the fling with Paul that led to the heavies and then the heart attack.

Can't believe they've written Tiger out, well actually I can but you know what I mean...

Olivia pleeease can you try to get SOC to do a webchat? Mumsnet Ambridgeites need answers!

Rob is being horrific this week.

@BoreOfWhabylon

Olivia pleeease can you try to get SOC to do a webchat? Mumsnet Ambridgeites need answers!

Will see what I can do. Make no promises though.

We should form a protest group and hold a jumble sale

Actually, while I mourn the loss of well-loved characters like Matt, I am finding the ramifications of all this upheaval in Ambridge very intriguing. I am a fan of Neal Stephenson after all! How could I not like a many-stranded convoluted plot?

Lillian's predicament might well force her to agree to sell to Kenton but what will happen when Kenton hasn't got the money because the B'field sale collapses?
Hell/Rob is endlessly fascinating of course and could well become entwined in the other plot because of Peggy's will.

I predict some sort of general denouement in Feb just before SOC does Feedback.