Elves have needs too - will there be a pheasants' revolt? Discuss The Archers here

[PseudoBadger]

I've just browsed Lowfield for the first time - they really don't like Pat do they!

But, to be fair, Fallon and Kirsty scheming to sort out Jazzer and Tom has been flagged up earlier this week - so when I heard that trailer I did assume it related to them and not Hellin.

I wasn't sure if it was a joke or not. If it was then it was pretty shit. It should have been "now eat up your ploughman's before it gets warm."
Jazzer is a pie&chips sort of person anyway.

It was a joke.

Pip's ignorance of cattle going up to summer pastures is astonishing.

She and her beaux are terrifically bad actors.

I got really excited by the mention of transhumance. When I learned about it geography at school I thought it was one of those academic terms that no-one would ever use in real life. Bit like Latin.

Someone way back on here predicted the demise of Matthew and Pip to make way for Rex Fairbrother - thus returning Phil(lippa) Archer and Grex Fairbrother to Brookfield. Matthew and Pip breaking up by text would have been enough for me - I thought his return and all the love declarations were totally unnecessary and tedious (or was there supposed to be a bit of dramatic tension where we thought they might get back together?) There hasn't been any proper dramatic tension for ages - too many plots you can see coming a mile off playing out entirely predictably. The most demoralising aspect of the whole debacle is that it means we are stuck with the Fairbrethren as the future of The Archers. What a missed opportunity to off-load Pip for a few years or even longer Debbie Aldridge style.

Not sure it will be a Fairbrother liaison. I think it's all about Pip and BF.

I'm sure someone suggested many moons ago, Pip getting pregnant and uncertainty over paternity. Maybe Matthew was there to et her pregnant (he can't do that by text) then tonight she'll DTD with which ever Fairbretheren is flavour of the week.see I really can't be arsed to remember which one is which

Thanks for the new thread Psuedo, another great title

I don't think I could bear another pregnancy sl after Jess and Helen

Crikey, I hope we don't have to go through that again redshoe. Or do you think the current crop of SWs aren't aware of the Will/Emma/Ed and George paternity storyline?

Next to be pregnant should be Alice anyway. I'd like to hear from her again. I was going to say that I'd like to see Jenny and Brian with grandchildren and then I remembered Kate's long forgotten babies! 😳

Alice? Who the fuck is Alice?

Pseudo! Do you mean to tell me that you have been living next door to listening to TA for 24 years and you don't know about Alice? There's a big limousine on her drive ... oh, wait. My mistake, that was taxi for Matthew.

Vango - I really couldn't cope with it

Psuedo R4 I'm blaming the pair of you for the stupid song going round in my head consider yourselves told off

Did we ever find out what Gideon weighs ?

About 7lbs body & 10lb horns.

About 7lbs body & 10lb horns. Haaaaaa!

Fink Pseudo R4

A thought has occurred to me this morning in light of yesterday's fairly low-key episode. (I reckon that it was fairly representative of how things often were before Hel/Rob. A nice little feud between Tom and Jazzer. Fallon and Kirsty concocting a plan. David and Ruth reminiscing about their own romance etc etc.)

What worries and slightly annoys me at the moment is that I can't help but suspect that the SWs are spending a lot of time researching forums/comments/listener feedback and using it to adjust their planned story lines to maximise the ratings and the rage. All in a way that couldn't have really happened much before when I imagine that story lines were properly planned. Given that the scripts are written such a short time in advance, I'm beginning to feel that the long-term nature of the programme is being sacrificed in favour of these shock (and often inconsistent) events? So every time we comment on something that seems most likely (e.g. Rob is Ethan's father) someone reads a discussion somewhere and decides "Ha! Let's change the plan......".

I think what I'm trying to say is that I'm not confident, despite Sean's assertions to the contrary, that there is any long term plan yet, even as far as Helen's trial is concerned. So maybe if enough of us start to say "It's obvious, she's going to be imprisoned for a looooong time", all might turn out ok for Bridge Farm?

"It's obvious, she's going to be imprisoned for a looooong time"

Well that would work out OK for me.

Aww, not for me R4. I want things to run smoothly at Bridge Farm. For Helen to go back to being her annoying smug self but to somehow manage happily as a single mum of two. I'd like Tom to be a success in whatever he decides (I like Tom) and for Pat and Tony to have a pleasant retirement. And for Johnny to pass all his exams and get a proper job on the farm.

I wouldn't mind the odd potential disaster: another e-coli outbreak, question marks over their organic status, rows about Helen's demands and love-life, a revival of the burger van etc.

I really don't understand why everything at Bridge Farm has gone down the pan now that Helen isn't there. So the shop is closed, the pigs have to go, Tom is acting like he's having to run the entire of Borsetshire single handed....

But Helen made cheese right? And rob helped out in the shop? So I can see they'd be stretched in the cheese making department and would have to take someone on in the shop to cover the shifts.... But Tom is acting like there's no way out of this.

Take Jazzer back, take on someone in the shop and stretch a bit to cover the cheese making.

Problem solved?

And why isn't Neeeul stepping up his 'managerial' duties in Jazzer's absence? Come to think of it, why hasn't he spoken to Tom about it? Are N and Susan off on another cruise without telling us?

I still can't understand why neither Jennifer nor David have mentioned Rob's role in blocking the culvert during the flood.

Meanwhile on EastEnders, there's been a self-inflicted euthanasia by overdose, a wedding, the return of the prodigal son, a child inflicting life-threatening injuries on its mother with a hockey stick, while also confessing to the murder of his sister and someone is in agony from smuggling drug filled condoms. All within about 24 hours.

It's all go.

I'm not a regular viewer but I have to admit it's more entertaining than TA at the minute. The acting is miles better, too.

I suppose that's the problem with Soc importing an EE style event into a gentle rural soap. It's like chucking a meteorite into the village pond. A hybrid genre that just doesn't work. At least Nigel falling off the roof was all sorted in a week or so, just a few fraught relationships in the aftermath.

All the usual storylines have paled into insignificance and I'm getting increasingly irritated by what would have been entertaining before the stabbing drama because they get in the way of its resolution.

What's frustrating is that, with the exception of Kirsty (and even then in only a vague sort of way), we haven't heard a single character even speculate about what might have happened on the night. No "well I always thought Helen was a bit fragile" or "I never liked Rob....remember when....". I'd LOVE to hear a scene with Ian. It's all very well guessing that these conversations are taking place off-air but they're vital to the storyline and without them it's not working for me. I appreciate that 'life goes on' but it's a small community and I am amazed that the characters are more absorbed in other things that the Hel/Rob situation barely gets a mention.

Where is Susan 'they can't treat you like that. You're management'

This is Neil's livelihood and we are supposed to accept that he's just shrugged his shoulders and walked away.

They managed to run the farm and ambridge Organics just fine when Tom buggered off so I don't understand why it's suddenly such a problem.