The Archers: Tally-Ho for the Hunt Ball! Will Justin return from Scotland with the Gay Gordons? Will Adam feel a right Charlie? Discussion #81

[DadDadDad]

Thanks, R4, for the title (again!).

I'm your temporary host while PseudoBadger is on her sabbatical / prison term / secret mission.

Old hands and complete newbies all welcome.

Spoilers (eg Radio Times descriptions of future programmes) not welcome.

When will Matt reappear? Before / during / after the wedding?

The floor is yours...

I liked WarHorses of Letters! (Oh, my horsey god!) and - Living in Squares was it?

R4 themed punishments: Anne Atkins on TFTD. Jane Garvey's lazy journalism/interviewing ("So then, technology: what do women about it? So then, sport: what do women think of it? " - basically, her follow-up/opening to all subjects. 'Cos wimmin are all the same. Honestly, I don't think she ought to get paid the same as some of her male counterparts, not because she's female, but because she's a crap, lazy journalist. I also hate John Humphreys and wish the BBC would retire him and pay Sarah Montague and Michel Husain more instead. )

Just a Minute. Melanie Phillips on Moral Maze. Home Front. That consumer programme - Moneybox?

I enjoy the moral maze!

Cromwell Lazy journalism is endemic not just on R4. The BBC seems to want to join the race to the bottom . I heard a R3 DJ woman being interviewed yesterday on Steve Wright saying that no one would mind a theme tune (a la R2 ) being used on R3. I thought 'HA' I wonder what her listeners would think!

They're all babies now. Speaking generally of course.

I liked WarHorses of Letters!
Yes! But try explaining to your husband (who doesn't like R4) what you are listening to, much eye rolling from his direction.

Did you like all of horsey series though? First series ok

I like money box and home front

CAS awful. That would be cruel and unusual punishment indeed for me. I could get through the Moral Maze by shouting at the radio. Any Answers and all other R4 phone ins are dire.

I like John Shuttleworth, always have. Nerdy fact of the day: Graham Follows was Jilted John (this might mean something to the over 50s) and does all the voices on JS, not just John's.

Gloomsbury v funny but probably running its course now.

Ed Reardon very funny indeed.

Best R4 comedy series of recent years: Cabin Pressure. John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme is also vg, new series coming soon. His two-hander dramas (Double Acts) are marvellous. Basically, the man is a genius, and appears to be a thoroughly decent human being as well.

Tim Vine - not my cup of tea at all. Neither is Alex Horne.

I like Mark Steel's in Town.

Or even Fellows.

I think it's pretty obvious he does all the voices!!

I think many of these comedies can wear a bit thin where they are based on a central character, and the humour is largely derived from something peculiar to their character - eg CAS's self-important misinterpration of the world around him, or ER's explosive misanthropy. I enjoy JS, but I suspect I will tire of his low-brow, cheesy shtick (I sing along with glee to "the nets have been washed, the cushions plumped, the air freshener refill activated..." but it will get boring eventually).

In Cabin Pressure, it wasn't about one character, but the permutations of how those characters interacted and the crazy situations they were placed in, so it kept giving as a comedy. (Also, it had a very good cast).

So Shules, Al, Joanne and the sacked Roberta (see, there are staff in the vets) are going down the swanee ?

No, Denise works at the vets, when she's not off sick. Roberta was a stable girl.

I must be a lone grumpy sod, I hate most of the sitcom style comedies: CAS, ER's week, Warhorses, JS, Clare in the Community, the Snails one, Shedtown, the Medieval one, the one set in the American War of Independence, the one about a man reliving Gulliver's Travels, the one where a man's always on the phone to his parents, Getting Nowhere Fast, the one where a group of teenagers try to set up a political party, Dave Podmore ... they are ALL dreadful IMO.

The only bearable ones are the one about Satan; Fags, Mags and Bags; and the one set in the museum. And even those aren't great but they just meet the threshold for me not switching off the radio when they come on.

I don't even like Cabin Pressure or Double Acts, that's how much of an evil witch I am. Although I love Souvenir Programme. I really love most of the comedy panel shows, except Just a Minute.

I still miss cabin pressure terribly 😢😢

I don't even like Cabin Pressure

Oooh, the last time I was barred from anywhere was Pizza Hut as a 13 year old (don't ask!). I'm excited ... although clearly not au fait with what barring means since I'm still posting.

If it doesn't just count as 'keep digging', I don't dislike Cabin Pressure either, I just don't actively like it. It's acceptable background noise.

Cabin Pressure is a work of genius.

As is the exam question sketch from Souvenir Programme ( they are all good but that sketch was outstanding)

Fags mags and bags is sublime. Was it John Finniemore's souvenir programme that had the archers parodies "oh hello, I;'m one of the men that sounds tired all the time" just captured Tony and David and Robert and Adam perfectly

Oh Fink for you .

I LOVE Just a Minute to bits! Esp. with the right people on it. Gyles Brandreth, Paul Merton, Sheila Hancock and Lisa Tarbuck. Brilliant!

Was having a conversation last night about how the 6.30 comedy has gone down hill - I'm sure there used to be more, and better, sketch shows, and now it seems there's a lot of programmes that are variations on one celebrity patting another on the back.

Of the three Monday things, JAM is good, Unbelievable Truth mixed, and I loathe ISIHAC. On Fridays, you get a little respite with Dead Ringers before it's back to 'I have shoe-horned a long and self-indulgent bit of my stand-up to be a response to this question about the news', of which the only good bit Miles Jupp, and the Now Show, which is increasingly lame.

The worst thing of all, lately, was bloody sodding awful Victoria Coren 'talking about cars' and saying how amazing another celebrity was. Piss-weak pathetic attempts at 'parodies' of old car adverts were the worst bit.

It's like it all has to be 'good for us' instead of funny, challenging, or original now!

Rant over.

Yes, that's it, Swannykazoo. I love those. Here's one.

Ahem! Anyone fancy talking about The Archers?

Seems like you and everyone else are more in the mood for a bit of digression right now Dad - it's always been allowed

Yeah, but if Pseudo pops in and sees what chaos is being perpetrated, she might blame me as the thread-starter.

But, yep, can't stop anyone digressing, and I'm not seriously going to try...

I can’t now recall what it is, but today’s 6.30 slot brought a favourable response from me. I was late to Cabin Pressure and keep meaning to work out who everyone is. The family love it. Well, husband and three of the offspring do. I mostly like Any Answers - it doesn’t stop me shouting at the radio though. Jonathon Dimbleby annoys me and l‘m usually heard shouting at the radio and at least one guest. I like Victoria Coren‘s prog. I don’t like her husband. I find the moral maze. Hugo Gryn was a huge loss to that prog and it’s never recovered IMO.

Anyway - TA? Na, can’t be arsed.

Andy Hamilton. Loving it.