Surprise surprise - Kirsty has a Mini Sausage Roll in the oven! Discuss the Archers here

[PseudoBadger]

Happy New Year to you all.

Lightbulb! So the person spotted hanging around Blossom Hill Cottage was Stefan!

Yes! Everything slots into place!!

Everyone who moves to Ambridge is changed by the experience!

They almost always start out as caricatures - Sid, Jack, Lynda, Jim, Charlie, Matt - and over time their edges are softened and they become more rounded.

The exceptions are people like Rob who arrive sounding vaguely "normal" and then evolve into monsters.

The running off with her money was when SOC was there though and a lot of people felt it was a bit ooc for Matt. He wasn't nice but I don't think he'd do the running away thing twice to Lilian.

Just listening to the hospital scene

They treat Jill like a child and pip is quite rude to her really

It's not unusual for an old person to get defensive when they have an injury as it often makes them fear for their independence as well

Lightbulb! So the person spotted hanging around Blossom Hill Cottage was Stefan

Of course. I completely forgot about Stefan. I bet Rib kills him and it all goes a bit Misommer murders.

Has there ever been a murder?

In the olden Archers days, didn't a game keeper shot a poacher dead, and was found not guilty (accident)

No, we don't want a murder!
We need Stefan alive to testify.

Is it just me who finds so few characters in The Archers actually likeable at the moment?

I like Neil, Kirsty, Adam (don't know why as I hate the way he lives under Brian's tyrrany), Ian, Fallon, Harrison and Johnny.

My favourites are The Button girls.

Just listened back to Friday's episode and - was it just me or did they say the editor was Huge Canoe Jones?

Henceforth, he will always be known as Huge Canoe-Jones!

I really like the Button girls too - I think they should have an episode just to themselves - just sound effects, no speaking. They could get up to all sorts, mostly against Rob. I like Johny too.

Huw Kennair Jones

Johnny is the most successful new character in recent years - well acted as well

Killings in Ambridge:

1. Tom Forrest was tried for manslaughter after his gun went off by accident and killed Bob Larkin in the woods, where Tom had found him poaching. To'm was the gamekeeper before George Barford. He used to do the intro to the omnibus. He was also brother to Doris, mother of Phil, Christine and Jack Archer. Bob Larkin was a ne'er-do-well and Clarrie Grundy's great-uncle. (She was a Larkin by birth and Bob was her grandfather Ned's brother.) Tom was found not guilty.

1. Clarrie's dad Jethro (Ned's son) died when helping David Archer trim overgrown trees. A branch fell on his head. David thought it was his fault but it was treated as an accident.

(How Clarrie maintains such a positive attitude to the Archer clan in the face of these two events is a bit of a mystery.)

1. Richard Locke was reported to the GMC after one of his patients died and her son accused him of unduly influencing her will and not providing her with the best possible care (she'd left Richard £10,000). He got off with a warning to improve his record-keeping around controlled drugs, as he had not properly accounted for all the morphine he'd prescribed for Mrs Barraclough in her final weeks dying from cancer.

There have been other attempted murders - Clive Horrobin setting fire to Woodbine Cottage with Jill and Christine inside, for example.

And then there was Custardgate, of course...

Killings in Ambridge:

Can I mention David and badgers?

Please do!

Alert!

The archers twitter feed just tweeted a link to 'dementia in farming families' on Farming Today

Just saying
Jill

So do we think Huge Canoe has a list of storylines he's been fuming over having been left hanging, and is starting to tick them off?

Excellent double-entendres in Ambridge Observer today

Justin Elliott, chairman of Damara Capital, has announced he is stepping down from his role as patron of a number of Borsetshire charities and business organisations.
‘My husband has been spending far too much time on local affairs,’ said his wife Miranda. ‘I’m afraid his social secretary, Lilian Bellamy, got him in too deep and the effort has been taking it out of him. But I am in charge of his diary now and I will be ensuring that Borsetshire, and especially Mrs Bellamy, will be seeing a lot less of him from now on.’
Mr Elliott said he hoped the good causes he has been involved with would not be too disappointed. ‘Since appointing Mrs Bellamy I have gained an intimate knowledge of Borsetshire life and I am not the kind of chap who likes to pull out at short notice,’ he said. ‘But once Miranda’s ski instructor gets over his hip replacement, I’m sure her attention will be diverted back to Courchevel and it won’t be long before I’m back in the saddle.’

Just caught up after listening to Friday's episode. Oh good, another of the tangled strands from the past being pulled!

Not sure what would happen if Rob tried to tough it out and not pay Stefan - if the latter told Justin, I don't think anything would happen right now because Justin wants Rob as his dirty henchman in his machinations with BL and Home Farm.

I haven't read the whole thread so sorry if someone's suggested this already - what if Rob attacks Stefan (no permanent damage therefore able to give evidence) and gets himself convicted for that plus who knows what else.

Or are we building up to Rob killing himself? Not sure whether he's really not coping with life or whether all the talk about how sad he is not to see Jack etc is to get people back on his side and is all manipulation.

Rob isn't the type to kill himself - blames others for his predicament not himself so it's the others he would hurt

We can't have another one of Helen's DH committing suicide.