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.

Who is Joanna van kampen related to?

Will is played by Philip Molloy, whose RL dad is Terry Molloy, aka Mike. So it's not altogether a new thing. Daniel was played for years by Keri Davies' son Dominic.

Oh, and of course Lucy Davis who was Hayley for years is the daughter of Jasper Carrott.

Yes - but weren't oldtom, oldpip, ed Etc from local groups

To be fair to SOC (she says through gritted teeth), I took that part of his blog post as a compliment to our listening skills.

However, the story that seems to have intrigued listeners most has been the slow burn tale of the relationship between Helen and Rob. Is he the tall, dark, brooding man of romantic fiction? Or are Rob's traditional values and un-reconstructed attitudes indicative of something more sinister? I've been amazed by the extraordinary response from the audience to Rob's casual comments to Helen about her hair - or her cooking. Surely only The Archers audience could be so sensitive to nuance, the slightest change in timbre of Rob's perfectly modulated received pronunciation?

It seems to me that SOC is the wrong editor for a radio drama. Does he ever listen to the radio? So the blame doesn't rest with him it rests with who ever gee him the effing job.

sorry "gave".

Hello I'm back everyone !Thanks for the new thread (which is of course old now)!

Isn't it funny how middle-aged, middle England has poured its collective imagination into a perfectly innocuous character?

might be another way of interpreting that extract Mimsy

I really wish now that I'd noted who was writing whenever Rob has been loathsome. Would be stupendous if SOC had a rogue SW who's writing for us. (Though noticing it might have jinxed the enterprise. Hope not ...)

I've not been paying enough attention to that, Zero , but my impression is that the writing has been remarkably consistent for that SL. It's almost as if the SWs relish the one really good, slow burn SL and save all their best efforts for it...

The Rob story started in VW's time. He'd had a fling with Helen then Jess turned up and he was ghastly to her. The fish kettle party was before VW handed over I think. Helen was besotted and ready to fling herself at him unconditionally even then.

This is by no means a complaint but Jazzer's accent is interesting. It's unlikely but endearing.
DH's family moved to England in the 70s as adults and all retained their accents except DH and his brother who adopted RP for professional purposes but revert if speaking to another Scot - or addressing a haggis!
The next generation brought up in England have not a trace of accent between them but do have some dialect words in their vocabulary. A zit is a pleuk (sp?), poorly is peelywally etc.

Interesting, enoch! We moved to England in the 70s when I was 9 and my brother was 6. I haven't lived in Scotland since (I'm 53 now) and I'm married to an Englishman so have definitely lost most of my accent. Some people claim to detect no trace of Scottishness in the way I speak, but I think they are people with a cloth ear for accents, frankly. I believe I do still have a slight but noticeable accent. It gets a lot stronger when I talk to my parents.

My brother lost all trace of accent very quickly after we moved, but has been living in Scotland for a long time and is married to a Scot. His accent becomes a lot more English when he talks to me, I've noticed, but his original accent came back very easily.

My parents never lost any of their original accent. (They're back in Scotland now too.)

As far as I can recall, Jazzer appeared in Ambridge for the first time when he was in his teens - he was a schoolfriend of Ed's. I don't recall ever hearing when he and his family moved south, but right from the start they all seemed so deeply rooted in Borchester/Meadow Rise that I've always assumed they'd been there for years. His accent seems unreasonably strong to me in these circumstances, but now that we see what happens when everybody sounds the same I am grateful to VW for deciding that a strong regional accent would be a big plus in establishing the character!

Maybe Jazzer will come back as David Tennant. I believe he's had drama training ...

Doesn't come from a showbiz family, though, Zero!

I seem to recall reading that the actor who plays Jazzer has lived in England since his school days (at a boarding school for the blind I think) and that he doesn't put on the accent to play Jazzer. I agree that his having kept it is implausible but it helps the radio drama and if Ryan Kelly was a real life example, not surprised they just went with it.

Jazzer was conspicuously absent at the Burns Supper though; just the cast saying he was putting away too much whisky and then we were supposed to reckon he was playing the bagpipes were we?

if he was boarding and his family still in scotland he would have spent a lot of time there

anyway, as you say, it is nice to have a distinctive voice so am willing to get over it!!

Now Pip and her 'journey through the british isles accent' needs work

Oh! You're right of course Mimsy - he has no chance then. Poor thing.

here it is! www.disabilitynow.org.uk/article/ryan-kelly-heard-not-seen

That's interesting Mimsy. I think you are more likely to change accent if you move as a child. It's partly a matter of survival!

I went from near Liverpool to Carlisle aged 12, very quickly realised that I sounded strange to my school mates and adopted a Cumbrian accent. My brother's children were born near Paisley and started school there so had a Scots accent until they moved to Essex where they swiftly picked up that accent. A couple more moves during their school years - back to Merseyside and hence to Yorkshire - have left them sounding somewhat hybrid but they do fit in anywhere.

My DD is Derbyshire born and now at uni in London. She adjusts her vowels during the train journey!

I wouldn't want to change Jazzer in any way and I hope we hear his dulcet tones again soon.

No! No! Wrong! Isn't Mr Tennant now part of an acting dynasty?

So you're out of luck enoch - Jazzer will definitely return in the guise of a more famous Scottish actor.

Plenty of people for SOC to choose from. This is just scratching the surface of successful British thesps whose parents were in the business!

Vanessa, Jemma or Lynn Redgrave
Joely Richardson
Emilia or Laurence Fox
Rory Kinnear
Toby Jones
Sam West
Sinead, Sorcha or Niamh Cusack
Emma Thompson
Benedict Cumberbatch
Rupert Penry Jones
Ed Stoppard

OK, from the British Isles, not British, hence including the Cusacks. Sigh.

...when she saw Harrison's BOOP point

toldmywrath ha haaaa!

Ugh I reckon Lilian is on her way out too .
I'm another one who is only continuing to listen because I enjoy this thread.

Hello again ppeatfruit!

I agree with whoever said it was ridiculous having Eddie completely clueless about Burns Night. Last night's episode was rubbish actually.