Silence in court! Discuss The Archers and shout from the gallery here. Send him down.

[PseudoBadger]

What day is it again?

Well if tonight is SOC's last we need to crack open the
here

This might almost be my "that's it- no more Archers" moment. Massive kick in the teeth to the regular cast. Massive kick in the teeth to the listeners -he obviously just thinks we're "bread and circuses" fodder.

I think what really sticks in my craw is that this is so utterly contrived around one man's ego. I feel as though we've all been gaslighted.

God there's no end to SOCs ego is there? And didn't I say ages ago that Tam and/or Amy Williams would appear? Desolate I knew Amy 20 years ago. She was adorable rather than filthy gorgeous

But surely you want to see if it gets better, now he's gone, Bertrand?

I reserve judgement () while the jury's out. I think the proper cast will have plenty to do in the aftermath, whatever the verdict. If the special is well done and involves good discussion of the issues of abuse and coercive control then I'll forgive SOC a lot (not the hardly hoffing, that was just silly)

This isn't an everyday story of country folk any more, is it? It's more a story line you would have expected from the now extant R4 soap Citizens.

I think The Archers is about to jump the shark.

I mean, the big things in my village at the moment are:

1. Parking issues outside the Tesco express
2. Flower and produce show - one set of parents apparently makes all the stuff for their kids for the children's classes and wins everything all the time, basically by cheating (it is said).
3. Children's play area bring remodelled for the first time since about 1960.
4. Dog fouling on the village green.
5. Will the Post Office move?
6. Is it oil seed rape we are all allergic to or something else?
7. Book club demographic getting a bit old.
8. Shed and distraction burglaries. Was the guy caught on CCTV? How much CCTV can you put on the outside of your house before you break the law?

Seriously, I could write this stuff.

Boffinmum, you've just helped me to realise that I want to keep on living in the city after all 😀

What are you saying? That my life is ... provincial?

Two lots of two people had an affair in 2002, if that helps. They swapped partners! :.0 All still together, I think.

Oh, and a farm feed rep shot himself in 2006. The drink was getting to him and his wife had left, although few people know the last bit as they had covered it up.

In fact it rather shows up the fact that he has, throughout his editorship, spectacularly missed the point of the show. This a thousand times. I had been looking forward to an hour on Sunday - a bit like the film, but without it actually being the film. Instead it sounds like we'll be listening to a cross between 12 (well it will be 11) Angry Men and Tony Hancock with a cast of SOC's famous chums doing a novelty turn. The irony is that with the extra 45 minutes there should easily have been time for Anna cross-examining Knob, Neil's evidence, the judge summing up etc etc so that we could have heard the evidence that brought them to their conclusion rather than trying to work out who is who and what they are referring to in what is presumably intended to be the conclusion of SOC's much-trumpeted audiobook (essentially TA for people who don't really listen to TA).

Boffinmum, that bit about the farm rep made me sad. I might not want to live in a village but I like the thought of it being like your first post. Y'know, like Ambridge used to be before it got all stabby.

My only thought is that they might use ultra cheesy flashbacks as the jury are deliberating to fill in the gaps.

boffin in my village I encountered a case of coercive control just this week. I helped the victim report her partner to the police.
We also have book club issues - why isn't there a book club of middle-aged Mums in TA?
And the 2 longest-standing families in the village are at loggerheads over a planning issue and the nasty big local company exploiting local resources.

I think I'll be watching the live stream of A Midsummer Night's Dream tomorrow evening rather than listening to Eleven Angy People (Three of Whom are Silent).

Finallyhere Rob would have to be sponsored by a US company to get a work permit in the first instance. The company would have to demonstrate that he had specific skills and knowledge relevant to the job and that no US national could do the job.
Unless he had a Green Card ( permanent residency status) he would not be able to flit from one job to the next. It would take at least a year to get a Green Card. Takes longer now.
Not know about Canada.
Implausible storyline IMO.

Boffinmum at our village flower and produce show the judges made the decision they would only award prizes to the exhibits which were obviously made by a child.

We had a lesbian couple running our village pub which was the talk of the community for a while until they fell out, sold up and went back to London.

We had a big issue concerning electric fencing adjacent to a public right of way. A Middle class Mum, ( Linda Snell in the making ) swore she knew someone who was thrown off her feet by the charge from an electric fence, and declared it would possibly kill her toddler if he touched it !!!!!!

I am feeling my village issues are understood.

There is a surprising amount of alcoholism and gun related business around us. DS2 nearly got shot with an air rifle a few months ago as a friend was mucking about and had taken it out the cabinet without his parents' permission. It caused a bit of a scandal as if we had reported that to the police the dad would have lost his gun licence. So we had a quiet word with the dad and the boy was absolutely wind tunnelled. I don't think that will be happening again any time soon.

All the farmers around here are extremely odd people, very grumpy as well. It was the same in Lincolnshire including family members. Must be the isolation.

Heard about some groovy arson the other day as well. A large country house was burned down twice for insurance fraud. Second time they didn't pay out and it's now abandoned, apparently. Tempted to have a look one day.

Those of you who know Tam and Amy Williams will obviously be aware of this already, but I've just looked up Tam Williams and guess who his mum and dad are? Yes, that's right, Simon Williams (Justin) and Belinda Carroll, who as far as I can make out hasn't been in The Archers yet. However, Belinda is married now to Michael Cochrane (Oliver) and Simon Williams is married to Lucy Fleming (Miranda).

Was there really no male actor of the right age available except one whose family are already making a good living out of The Archers?

We quite often visit my partner's family who all have farms in deepest, darkest Dorset. We are always absolutely astounded by what goes on in the countryside; attempted land grabs (moving fences, and in one instance hedges) in the night, heated disputes over rights of way, machine theft, sheep rustling, not to mention a truly mind-boggling amount of adulterous rumpy-pumpy! And that's not the half of it. If the SWs spent a week there they would have enough material for years. Life in town seems rather pedestrian by comparison.

It's getting like Dr Who

The employment nepotism, I mean. Not the rumpy pumpy etc.

Land grabs are rife. We have one going on at the moment!