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

984 replies

DadDadDad · 02/12/2017 14:06

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. Xmas Smile Archers

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

OP posts:
ChocolateCakeandTeaPlease · 04/12/2017 07:58

I'm a relative newby to TA having started to listen during the Helen/Rob stuff. I have some questions. My main one is what happened to Jezza/Jazza? He is still mentioned from time to time but we never hear from him. Did I miss him being written out? Are they doing the same with Aneesha (the young vet)? Do they write out all Scottish people?

ChocolateCakeandTeaPlease · 04/12/2017 07:58

I'm a relative newby to TA having started to listen during the Helen/Rob stuff. I have some questions. My main one is what happened to Jezza/Jazza? He is still mentioned from time to time but we never hear from him. Did I miss him being written out? Are they doing the same with Aneesha (the young vet)? Do they write out all Scottish people?

extinctspecies · 04/12/2017 08:00

Well they are going to do something to draw out the Pip pregnancy drama somehow aren't they? On Friday she announces she's pregnant, the following episode that she's having a termination. They will get more drama out of it than that won't they or what would be the point?

It's really shit writing.

1sttimeunicorn · 04/12/2017 08:12

Well I say long term but I suppose I’ve only listened for a few years. I agree about the vet and jazza - I assume they aren’t coming back.

Gruach · 04/12/2017 08:13

Jazzer is still around Choc. Still complaining about his rubbish working conditions, still lovely to the pigs, still lodging with Jim. I do wish they'd find him someone nice ...

I've been puzzled sometimes by why Aneesha has to be away so often. It's not necesssry to the plot, so I guess it's actor availability. Is she on TV or busy elsewhere?

BurnTheBlackSuit · 04/12/2017 08:20

Pip seemed to know all about Elizabeth's abortion (unless I missed the big reveal when she told her). How? And why?? Whilst Elizabeth shouldn't be ashamed, past abortions aren't usually discussed with extended family members who weren't even born when they happened...

EBearhug · 04/12/2017 08:30

Actor availability can mean the actor just doesn't speak for ages, rather than is away in the storyline. Like last week we heard U-shaped for the first time in I don't know how long.

That list in the TA site doesn't include John & Sharon. (Which my phone autocorrected to Saron. I don't remember her as that bad...)

Vango · 04/12/2017 08:32

Wouldn't it be fantastic if she took a practical decision, had a termination, told nobody and got on with her life?

Well no. Because from a Radio drama point of view, it would then be entirely pointless. And we'd all be complaining about another potential dramatic storyline being dropped. Unless Toby found out after the event and told David/Jill/Ruth.

R4 · 04/12/2017 08:36

I've been puzzled sometimes by why Anisha has to be away so often.

Same here but I have been enjoying her absence. Characters often go AWOL eg neither Kathy nor Jamie have made an appearance recently. Kathy gets mentioned in passing but I don't know that last time that Jamie got a name-check.
The most famously absent-but-still-here character is, of course, Debbie. It would be nice to hear her again at Christmas. It should become an annual treat for the listeners.Grin

Gruach · 04/12/2017 08:36

True EBear - but I was assuming they'd just come up with a coherent background story that could carry on into the future to cover all eventualities. I'll be interested to see if Aneesha away in Scotland is revealed to be crucial to the plot.

EBearhug · 04/12/2017 09:22

She happened to meet a bloke called Charlie, who had once been in Ambridge, and in between asking how Adam was every minute, turned out to know Justin Elliott and mentioned this thing that happened, and probably Harrison ought to know, but he's probably found out already... Cue weeks of us knowing, and Harrison failing to find out said crucial piece of evidence.

HarryBiscuit · 04/12/2017 09:43

Aneesha has been in a few TV things recently (Line of Duty etc) so maybe she got another better job and will be back once it's done?

I'd forgotten about Jamie! What's he supposedly up to? Last time I remember he was doing work experience with a tree surgeon or something.

Greebz · 04/12/2017 09:48

Am a newish listener. Just seen another webpage linked from that site, called 'a history of being gay in Ambridge'. Just wondering if there are any lesbian characters aside from Anna? Or any bi characters?

FreshStartToday · 04/12/2017 10:00

Ah - I think I can answer the not-speaking-for-a-long-time question. I seem to remember reading about a hoo-ha over changes in contracts for the actors. Originally the actors had long term contracts but some time ago that moved to much shorter contracts. So Kathy/Usha/ Aneesha will now have a week's contract, or a month's contract, and be used lots in that time, and then have to disappear until they are next needed. It was more cost effective that way apparently, but leads to some strange story lines, or to the script writers simply having to avoid someone for a while.

MrsLandingham · 04/12/2017 13:20

So have any babies in TA actually been planned, then? I remember Jennifer and Brian deciding to have Alice, and obviously the Thin Controller chose to have Henry - and Rob forced to have Jack - but has just about everyone else been conceived by accident? Shock

EBearhug · 04/12/2017 13:24

Dan was definitely planned.

Ceto · 04/12/2017 14:03

On the other hand Pip not keeping Ruth's first grandchild and Jill's first great grandchild (with Elizabeth's connivance) could lead to years of festering bitterness.

I can't see Jill being too bothered about a Fairbrother great grandchild, to be honest.

Ceto · 04/12/2017 14:05

Maybe we'll have Toby coming over all paternal and making a massive fuss about Pip having a termination. I know it would be wildly out of character, but that's never stopped them before.

Gruach · 04/12/2017 14:08

I can't see Jill being too bothered about a Fairbrother great grandchild, to be honest.

It would SJTTC ...

Original poster
DadDadDad · 04/12/2017 14:13

(For those of you just tuning in, I believe Gruach is riffing on SATTC, which stands for "shock Ambridge to the core", the tag that a previous editor used about Nigel Paaaaaaaaaaargetter's death Grin )

OP posts:
LillianGish · 04/12/2017 14:35

Poor Kirsty miscarried because they needed to keep her in the story but couldn't be bothered with an actual child - This. The SW seem to find it extremely difficult to keep up with children once they are born. I think we listed all the disappeared on the previous thread - even Henwee and Jack are a bit sporadic. It's OK with peripheral characters (Nic and Will's kids for example) they can get away with a few throwaway lines, but with a central character like Pip - well there's only so much room in the cereal cupboard at Brookfield.
I think what would be interesting would be to use it to expose 'affordable' for the sham it is - yes! Like the developers who get planning permission for prime spots in expensive areas on the understanding they build a percentage of affordable housing and then build that affordable housing in an entirely different part of the country - so million pound apartments somewhere in central London with the "affordable" bit being built in Slough.

Ceto · 04/12/2017 15:29

I meant to say that I couldn't see Jill being too bothered about the termination of a Fairbrother great-grandchild pregnancy, rather than not being bothered about said great-grandchild's existence.

AuldHeathen · 04/12/2017 15:33

I think Keira Grundy was planned, as was Will and Nic‘s little one. She‘s Holly or Poppy. The one she isn’t is actually their dog‘s name. I like names that suit humans as well as animals. Actually l don’t care, but still can’t remember which is which.

I suspect several 2nd children are planned, that once the first is out, parents are likely to choose to have a 2nd and/or be pressurised by family. See lots of MN threads. That means Josh Archer was probably planned. Ben of the cereal cupboard wasn’t though - we were present antihistamine conception, lucky us. Jamie Perks was unplanned. I remember that fuss too. What other children have been born in Ambridge in the last 40 or so years? My mind is blank. There do seem to be a lot of couples without children.

Abra1d · 04/12/2017 15:35

You mean a virgin birth, you old heathen? 🙂

Ceto · 04/12/2017 15:42

Bethany was another unplanned child.