Come in to The Archers thread - we've redecorated! Take a seat in that distinctive yellow chair and discuss events in Ambridge.

[PseudoBadger]

New thread for tonight's episode.

Do you like the decor then? My 'personal' assistant did it.

Gas - I meant more a perceived slight than necessarily one borne out by experience

My friend is no different to most of us in back ground but she feels she isn't taken seriously with no real reason IMO

Gasp that Whittingdale needs a good slap but that's just what he's after, of course.

WTF Pat?!

What staff have they lost to make the business go from successful to disastrous at the fault of the unfeeling CPS?

a) Helen. About to give birth so probably not up to much cheese making. Also, having spent the previous 8 months barely allowed to work, how noticeable is the withdrawl of her labour now?

b) Rob. Yeah, clearly the fault of officious judge that he's not back running the shop yet.

c) Jazzer. Again, now that I can see things in their proper light (thanks Pat), quite obviously the court's fault that he's not working.

Why can't the law just see the big picture of how the whole business is affected by their decisions! Umm ...

Thanks selsigfach, it really is most peculiar - wonder if SOC is planning A Midsummer Night's Dream as his swansong

Thoroughly enjoying Gasp0de's reminiscences and Vango gets my vote for Editor too

Maybe his swan song will be his audition for dr who and the village will be taken over by daleks

Nothing would surprise me (which is kind of a problem)

Fink - quite agree, and of course Rob was Helen's replacement for the shop, so they've only lost one person, and I'm sure Clarrie or Emma would be grateful for the extra hours.

I'm mistaken - Mary Berry wasn't in Houseparty.
In this scene they seem to be cooking up a hash cake

"Pat there, pissing off the listeners even more. She quite clearly thinks there needs to be a special clause in the laws on bail which requires that, no matter what the charge involved, her daughter should automatically get bail so that she can come back and make cheese."
Sounds reasonable, for blessed are the cheese makers

Ah AnnieNoMouse, you were listening to The Food Programme today. It was all about Cheshire Cheese. I think.

I've been listening to The Archers obsessively for over 20 years!! (I used to tape the omnibus on tapes and listen over and over again!!) I have NEVER deliberately missed an episode... I'mI'm afraid I have reached that point! It's not the storyline.. I get it... These things take time to resolve in real life and I recognise that they want to be true to the scenario that many women find themselves in.. However I just feel that the writers are deliberately stringing it along for the sake of "drama"... The ridiculousness of it all.. The wailing... The whining... The down right nastiness of it all... I'm really pissed off... Not listened to tonights ep... But if it's got bloody pat wailing away again... I don't think I'll be rushing off to listen!

I'm sooo sad... As soon as 6.55 hits... My weekly regime has been sneaking off upstairs and hiding from kids to listen... Now?... Can't be bothered... I hope they sort it out.. I'm fed up and tired of all the wailing!!

Sorry... Rant over!... Giving myself a !!

You are not alone, Bea. The Archers is ruiining my otherwise largely enjoyable listening of R4. There are a few exceptions, but none so vitriolically awful and abusive as TA. As a survivor of DA, or whatever you like to call it, I am tired of the bleating and whinging. I have heard it all before. Once is enough. SOC doesn't get it. He just doesn't get it. I really don't care any more. It is now a story of how an editor can abuse the 5 million listeners and get away with it. I don't want to be part of that.

I take it there has STILL been no further mention of the fairy grotto then?

I thought that there had been a mention tonight? Wasn't Emmur talking about Ed making dolls house / fairy furniture to put in the Millennium Wood for Keira to find?
I predict they will be seen by Josh's TV woman, become a huge hit and revive the fortunes of UpCyclingRUs.

Easy!.. Good! Not just me then! It's just getting beyond... "this is great drama!! And I see what they're doing!" its the Archers!! Not bloody Eastenders! (I know! I know! It's been said a hundred times!)

Do you think they?... SOC and The Powers That Be (TPTB - throw back to Buffy days!!) read these threads and think.. Uh Oh!... We're pissing them off.. Let's tone it down...? Or is that just wishful thinking!

I'm going to start a Twitter campaign #BringBackTheFairyGrotto - anything but this relentless misery!

Found this blog post from a former court reporter about what and when the media can report on the case - thought it was v interesting. Could help with your interview **Vango davidbanksmedialaw.wordpress.com/2016/05/04/reporting-restrictions-in-ambridge/

We the listeners are being put in the position of Helen. We are being abused as she is. We bleat away in silence. I really don't think SOC cares. I think SOC has his own agenda and we the listeners are his victims. I am no longer interested. Come on Vango. Go Vango Go!!! I have lost interest. I also feel let down and annoyed.

Agree tiger

I read the synopsis on lowfield but I'm only really interested in when this is going to end.

The guardian interview also confirmed to me that he doesn't really understand women but likes to think he does

To be fair, I think a lot of us men have been in that state - the alternative state of course is not understanding women and being fully aware that's the case!

Bea you are definitely not alone.
For decades a hushed reverence has been obligatory in the Pear household at 7:03.

I have just started actively avoiding The Archers for the first time ever, and I would like SOC to know about it.

What Sean knows, to our misfortune, is that his core audience really are 'radio addicts'. Try though we may, most of us are struggling mightily to wean ourselves off what is becoming a damaging habit!

But ultimately he's the loser. He's squandered a brilliant opportunity. Imagine how gripped we'd be had Helen made her escape and taken refuge with Kirsty? Who's side would Pat be on? Who would Helen's supporters be? How would the other residents line up? Where would Usha stand? Would Jill have enlisted Anna's help and what would Peggy think? What would happen to H and R's finances? To Henry? So much material. All irrelevant now. Poor Sean. He really could have made a difference. We were on board with the awareness raising, painful though it's felt over the last couple of years. Now we just can't wait to see the back of him.

I stopped listening to TA weeks ago & I find I'm turning R4 on less & less. 6.30pm on Friday, ipm on Sat if I can remember when it's on, & 6.15pm on a Sunday, are almost the only things I listen to now.

Between what SOC has done to TA & the ludicrously Tory-biased news I've pretty much had it with R4 now

I don't know how to tweet threads (am not on twitter) but surely this one deserves being flagged up.

I predict they will be seen by Josh's TV woman, become a huge hit and revive the fortunes of UpCyclingRUs

Oh, I do hope so R4 - we badly need something new to talk about.

Yes Vango. Very much. Such. A. Waste.

I'm going to make a fairy grotto at the bottom of my garden.

We all need to do it and post pictures.

Take our minds of Pat's caterwauling and entitled attitude. If only she'd stop bewailing the fact her daughter isn't waltzing around making cheese and free as a bird after stabbing someone, and start talking to people who understand DV, maybe she can make a bloody list of DV incidents she can testify about!