SOC has soaked Ambridge to the core across a never ending weekend. Discuss The Archers post-watershed here.

[PseudoBadger]

Deluged damp squid or not? And has Peggy been assisted off the mortal coil by Rob yet?
And when will JD and Brian remember Debbie?

ppeat
On the endless night of the flood Charlie said to Adam that Rob should have kept that particular culvert clear, just before he almost drowned, so it seems to me that Rob is responsible for the up-keep of Berrow Farm.
Of course Charlie is responsible for the BL land as a whole and has hired a contractor to do this sort of thing so there will be a lot of buck-passing. Adam might even be implicated as he had the contract until a few months ago.

Zero.

Yes errol that's my point though - Charlie probably thinks ed won't figure it out but he has underestimated him

Maybe ed will whistleblow and we will get usha involved!!

Oh Ed that's not how you keep confidence.
All he had to say was, as an estate employee I cannot comment if you have any questions speak to Charlie. Says everything and nothing at the same time.

So what did Kenton do?

And is ed actually thicker than Charlie thought and broken the confidentiality agreement within a few days?

He begged money from Lilian dressed up as a first refusal to be in at the amazing revamp of the Bull, conveniently forgetting that only a few weeks ago he was going to buy/ bail her out. He really is a doughnut.

@mummytime

Re: Shula - I think she is being very careful in what she does say.

First time for everything

@ZeroFunDame

They've just been talking about pop-up libraries on Today and mentioned a telephone box. Whatever happened to all the plans and projects for the Ambridge phonebox? What is it doing now?

ooh we've got one of these in my ambridge village

Is yours a library Olivia? Or otherwise gainfully employed?

(If not, Fallon could pop round and upcycle it into a tearoom.)

We haven't got a phone box anymore in our village. The phone box was last seen being lassoed by a very large chain and towed off down the street. It seemed a rather intensive way to get one's hands on a collection of ten pence pieces!

We have a phonebox library a few streets away from us. It's just won an award. (SE London)

Yes enoch that came back to me vaguely, If Ed did spill the beans would he lose his job do we reckon ?

I thought Ed fielded Jim's questioning reasonably well. Perhaps fortunate that the Med. gulls arrived to distract J.

Kenton's only hope is that Peggy SOHMC soon and leaves Lillian a nice wedge.

It's the Mailbox thing tonight. If anyone else does go, I shall - in honour of my role of country mouse going up to town to see they fancy media types - be the one wearing my several-years-behind-the-times MN scarf. And red ballet flats.

Loved Susan's interjections there! If I heard correctly the episode ended with a very expressive snort from her.

Go Forth, R4, and represent your people.

David Archer...what a guy! Saviour of the farmland for the future. I am wondering where Adam and Brian's soil erosion conversation is going to lead. Will Susan end up working for JE. Or has she already been enlisted as an undercover agent.

I found David's 'speech' toe-curlingly soppy. I think I am going off TA. Susan was good though.

Godspeed in your ballet flats R4

We are all with you. Yea verily, even unto the depths of the land of the Dark Lord, SOC.

And yes, could just see Deeavid, manly jaw manfully clenched, slight moistness in the eyes, raising his head to gaze across the sodden fields of Middle England...

Looking forward to hearing from R4

Godspeed R4!

I thought David's speech was cringey too. Believable and in character, but cringey. A bit like extra-long complaint letters that would do better to keep to the point. I like how they didn't have to get extra actors in to play the councillors by saying that it was an opportunity for the residents to get their point across! (And quite right too)

Ah I managed to say the same thing

Do we all stay up late in our nighties with a single light on in the lounge waiting for R4 to come home?

Oh for heaven's sake. Stupid phone isn't behaving. I didn't mean to repeat Bore's Godspeed but it posted before I changed it.

I went to the Mailbox but it was all a bit disappointing. It was organised by a writers group, hosted by the BBC, with SOC etc. I didn't ask any questions because it felt rude to have a go at their honoured guests and, besides, I thought that if I started it would probably turn into a rant. Also it was supposed to be about the craft of writing, not TA plots.
The panel consisted of SOC, Daisy Badger, Graham Harvey and Tim Stimson. TS was the writer for the flood week (and AmEx).
The first question asked SOC if the flood was his idea. He said yes. When Roger Bolton asked him the same question on Feedback he said no. I so wanted to ask him about this but couldn't bring myself to effectively call him a liar in front of s room full of people.

SOC's explanation of the flood was his usual harking back to the 1950s. He said that, post-war, farming had to have Big Thinks about where it was going. The flood was not in itself the story; it was a metaphor. The story is the farmers' and community's reaction to it, thinking about where farming is going. The Brookfield clan were never going to go to Prudhoe, it was just a way of getting David & Co to think about what Ambridge / the community means to them. [edit: I haven't heard tonight's episode but it sounds like David is starting to express his Big Thinks]
They explained that they wanted the flood to feel dramatic while it was going on but not actually be the drama. If someone major had died then the death would have been what people remembered and they didn't want that. They set up various possibilities but drew back from the brink.

I had a bit of a chat with a fellow audience member who is an actor. He challenges you to remember him. He appeared for a few weeks (?late 90s?) as Steve Brady. He was a bit mysterious and seemed to have no function, apart from being mysterious in a barn! Anyone remember him?

Soc is such a pretentious twat