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?

I turned it off. Just wasn't doing it for me.

I have a confession . I've found another love...it's Jed Bartlett and all the democrats in the West Wing. I've mostly forsaken 7.05 pm for the delights of 2 or even 3 WW binges and I've got 4 more seasons to go.

Hopefully by the time I'm done pantomime Kate and Hazel will have fucked off back to wherever, Tom and Kirsty will be reunited and Rob....well...he'll be on the slow boat to China or to quote my dear dad, when asked where something had gone, half way to Ringsend dump.

I wasn't too keen on the ferret farce. It was a bit too much like standard sitcom fare. We had to really work to suspend our disbelief that Roy wouldn't immediately realise the Grundies were up to something. And surely Eddie knows that a fieldmouse is only about a tenth the size of a rolled-up man's sock?

Mmmm ... The thing is (away from the bit of his life that's unaccountably broadcast on radio) Roy does have quite a lot to think about atm. And he's had Grundys loitering and lurking around GG for a couple of weeks now - long enough for him to have learnt to turn a blind eye. Perhaps the majority of the flood guests behave slightly unconventionally or with less circumspection than the regular clientele?

(Perhaps I'm slightly more tolerant as I don't really see sitcoms on TV nowadays.)

errol

Maybe Roy realises the Grundies must be up to something but it's so baffling what it could be that he's decided to just go with it. Especially as Ed is involved, so it's not likely to be something actually dodgy.

I don't see many sitcoms either, but this reminded me of 70s stuff like Terry and June. I can just see it - Terry's ferret escapes on the day that June has invited her friends round for a tupperware party, with predictably hilarious consequences.

But Joe actually keeps ferrets - which (as Errol's post reminds) we've previously seen in a more serious context. Surely that's the difference? They're integral to his character, not something dredged up for a single episode and then forgotten.

And who hasn't smuggled a pet into somewhere they're not welcome?

Poor Daphne. Hopefully she's found herself a discarded breakfast tray and having feasted on leftover bacon is neatly curled up under one of those metal meal cover things. I just hope she doesn't accidentally end up in the dishwasher.

Totally agree zero. There's nothing far-fetched about Joe's ferrets - they haven't just been brought in for comedy purposes (though there is something intrinsically comic about keeping ferrets). What is more fetched is that we are supposed to imagine Joe in a succession of pantomime costumes - tiger onesie, novelty slippers etc. I accept that he has lost all his clothes in the flood so the SW have taken the opportunity to dress him up, but the ferrets don't fall I to the same category. They are a constant - and last time he lost his home they suffered a much worse fate.

So essentially Daphne is Joe's dæmon?

Was impossible not to understand when he, previously, wanted to smash the ferrets' heads in. Now the poor man has been wrenched away from home and possessions and forced to dress in cast-offs ... It's no wonder that Daphne is lost.

I hope that Daphne will shoot up Rob's trouser leg in order to increase the tension around the paternity issue.....

errol at Daphne curled up under one of those metal meal cover things

I feel the sitcom theme will be extended when Basil Roy serves a guest at dinner and removes the cover with a flourish to reveal a well-fed Daphne and some crumbs on the plate

at the thought of a comedy ferret gnawing at Rob's vitals.

I quite enjoyed all the comedy-ferret-capers but why is the ferret called Daphne? I know they're usually named after figures in popular culture (e.g. Adele, Grant & Phil etc.) but I can only think of Daphne from Neighbours, which seems unlikely as she died about 20 years ago. Are there current high-profile/ low-culture Daphnes I don't know about?

Given Joe's newfound enthusiasm for the more outré wardrobe perhaps it's Daphne Guinness ...

Maybe he had 3 called Mitzi Daphne and Lulu after the dogs from Trumpton

Zero

Watermelon Daphne was on Eggheads it's obviously an old VERY intelligent ferret I keep meaning to google her to discover where she's gone..... praps she'll turn up in Fawlty Gables

Ah good, several working hypotheses there. I wonder how long ferrets live for, Joe does seem to get through them at quite a rate.

I do like the idea of Joe sharing the catwalk with D. Guinness. Maybe they could have another fund raising fashion show?

zero

920 posts (921 now!). Suggestions for new thread titles? Reference to vegans and tiger onesies maybe? Oh God, amazing horrid thought - maybe Joe in a tiger onesie could be Lillian's new Tiger!

Ooh Brian's a real dinosaur;I LOVE quinoa it can taste lovely,in fact I've just made a quinoa and pesto salad it just soaks up flavour like rice ;esp when it's warm. But then I like tofu too, Ruarhi can have tofu sausages.

Why can't Kate cook for the carnivores? Everyone else has to pander to her needs, so why can't she cook something that would delight them.
I like Fawlty Gables Ppeat. would Lynda be Basil?

I love quinoa too, and I saw an article recently about growing it in the UK, so I'm expecting Adam to get into it as part of his erosion-defeating efforts.

Everyone else has to pander to her needs, so why can't she cook something that would delight them.

Because this is Kate, not normal people.

Anyway, if she's a good cook, it won't matter - I went on a yoga holiday a while back, and the food was vegan and excellent and filling and delicious. Can't help suspecting Kate probably isn't that level, though.

Isn't Kenton sneaky?

Wrong footing his bro and sucking up to Jim (who might perhaps invest in the Bull?) all at once.