The Archers: Will Pip grow or Jill blow? Lil make her vow or Justin take his bow? Discussion #83

[DadDadDad]

TA (The Archers) annoys me intensely but I still have to listen
I think there is a possibility that we obsess about TA in a way that most listeners don't

If this is you (genuine quotes from earlier threads), or you're new and want to ask anything about The Archers, then this is the right place.

PseudoBadger started it, but we're going to finish it (er, will TA ever finish?)

The panto is meant to be Sleeping Beauty, but are you expecting farce (Mother Goose Pip) or tragedy (Puss Cat in Wedding Dress Boots )?

This should see us through to Christmas.

At the end of the last thread we were remembering recent successful marriages in Ambridge. How long ago was Ed & Emma?

But you know how to make real custard I seem to remember Bertrand ?
Roasts are mostly about timings which is maths, if I want potatoes ready at 1 what time do they need to go in, how much parboiling before that, how long to peel. Ditto for veg, meat, sauces.

The key thing about a Sunday Roast is to remember they were popular because you could do a lot of the cooking whilst at Church. A traditional Christmas dinner works on similar principles.

Of course we don't have one as it is too stressful for one family member - even if we did end up spending 5 hours at the dinner table in the end.

Well tonight's episode, which I listened to while others were engrossed in Notting Hiill (again) was disappointing. I was fully expecting Pip's big reveal and hopeful of the possibility of both Dopeys choking on a turkey bone.

I'm contemplating the prospect of Joe Grundy living to 100.

I made my first ever roast dinner a couple of weeks ago- and yes, I am a good cook! But I didn’t grow up with roasts and dp is brilliant at doing them. (Spiced goose today!)

I was fully expecting Pip's big reveal and hopeful of the possibility of both Dopeys choking on a turkey bone

Aye, we are a fickle bunch aren't we? Usually we don't want Pip getting airtime but , sweet as the Oliver/Grundy storyline was, the obvious sl would be a tee-total, non-blue cheese eating Pip on Christmas day.

The Tony and Johnny cooking Christmas dinner sl was ridiculous.

So what were Henry and Jack left to do on Xmas day?

AntiBoop I think there was a reference to Tom looking after them while the other men cooked dinner.

I don't get why Johnny was allocated to kitchen while Tom wasn't. Assuming they both pitched in with the farm jobs.

Tom was playing with the boys. I think I might have allocated jobs that way too-I reckon Johnny would have revved them up to an insane level of excitement. And Tom would have been soooooo incredibly bossy
In the kitchen.

Fair enough. It would probably have been a keffir Christmas left to Tom.

I'm assuming that the production team thought no one would be listening on Christmas night.

I shouldn't have bothered.

At least Tony produced a dinner with no more fuss than anyone not used to dong it would. No comedy "oh aren't incompetent men hilarious" stuff.......

I'm surprised knobs parents didn't show up wanting to see Gideon

It's all very well Helen claiming all the brownie points by helping out at the shelter, but the reality is that she can only do it by claiming free babysitting off her family. If anyone's due the brownie points, it's Tony and Tom.

I was also irritated at Helen assuring Pat it wasn't her fault she couldn't visit whilst she (Helen) was in prison. ISTR it was Pat's fault in quite a bit way - everyone told her not to go talking to the police without talking to the lawyers first, she decided she knew best, next thing she knew she was a police witness forbidden to communicate with the accused.

I was at a Christmas gathering yesterday with a very nice and intelligent 30 something woman who told me she 'quite liked' Pip. So perhaps P is a more sympathetic character to millennials than to people of my advanced age.

I'm a millennial and I think Pip's a bell end.

How did you identify the fellow Archers fan Poly ?
I’m sure I must know some in real life, but like me they seem to keep quiet about it.

Good to see how stirred up we have all been by tonight's episode ...

(What TA needs ... Steven Knight (Peaky Blinders) writing and Jessica Dromgoole directing ... We'd be racing through new threads.)

I liked tonight's episode. It was a very good compare and contrast with Linda; fabulously helpful with the goats but a nightmare in the Panto.

I liked tonight’s episode too. The goats were a genuine surprise.

I didn't bother tonight, I was too irritated by Helen and Pat polishing their halos by joining the multitude of middle class women "helping the poor" and avoiding cooking dinner for the many people they'd invited over by ducking out at the last minute.
Will is usually pretty mouthy so him keeping quiet about the dogs of a bloke who is only a friend of Justin, and a vague acquaintance of Brian and who deserved a bollocking was stupid. Also why couldn't Oliver have a quiet Christmas with his classical music and TV of choice? Alone doesn't have to mean lonely. He should have known better though and booked a holiday cottage as no-one is allowed a peaceful celebration of anything in Ambridge.

A lovely episode tonight.

Although are we being softened up for Lexi to be the surrogate?