The Archers: Discussion #84. New Year and some of us are still listening even if we don't know why.

[DadDadDad]

New posters welcome - with your fresh views and burning questions.

Old posters welcome - with your jaded views and knowledgeable answers.

But new posters feel free to be jaded, and old posters feel free to ask questions!

How is the Pip storyline going to play out and do you care?

As usual, if you want to mention the advertised storylines for future episodes, there's a separate thread for that - no spoilers here, please.

Just imagine we're all sitting round a table at The Bull -->

That map of Brookfield is really interesting. Am I right in thinking it is bisected by two roads, a river and a brook. It's a terrible shape for a grazing type dairy farm, whenever they get the cows they have to cross them over the road, and sometimes the brook or river too. they need to smack a new parlour right in the middle of it, never mind updating the old one! I'd say Marneys would be the best place, giving them a good chunk to graze with no roads or rivers to cross, and right on the side of the road for the tanker to collect the milk. far too overinfested

I'm going to Academic Archers too.

I thought Jenny had been drinking too much of Carole's tea the other day.

I'm not sure if I'm imagining it but the idea of builders dumping something in an old pond sounds vaguely familiar.

FelicityLemon thank you for the map. I'm going to commit it to memory!

The map that FelicityLemon posted doesn't, to my eye, seem to match up to the one that I use but hers is very detailed which gives it some credence (notwithstanding dfw's very valid objections). Do we think that Brookfield has changed shape over the years?

Goodness, that went on forever ...
And so downbeat for a Friday evening. Oh, I much prefer a gentle episode like that to the "exciting" ones we've had recently. It says something for the nonsense we've got used to that the prospect of Brine going to prison seemed rather on the boring side.

But that's the thing - I didn't find it gentle. Rather stressful and a bit unrelenting.

Perhaps I was just too tired to appreciate it.

Yes, it was emotional, but it turned my mind towards thinking of characters and how they'd react. Toby/Bert I found quite emotional, and now Bert has become "wise elder" instead of comic poet, he's a much better character. It was a relief to have no ambulances, no people teetering on windowsills, no shouting, no screeching of tyres - all that makes me wonder idly what's going to happen next, as if it's some sort of games show. I'm interested far more in character than plot.

At the first Academic Archers, there was a paper about mapping Ambridge - in summary, maps Iver the years have shown there to be a certain level of flexibility about the position of Lakey Hill, the course of the Am and so on. Many geographical features are not as fixed as you might normally expect in other (less-fictional) locations.

So if you're a little confused, or can't quite picture where something is - it's probably not just you.

The map is from a book authorised by the BBC so should be accurate. That said it doesn't account for the magic geography fairy!

ppeat yes I change my mind but not on a daily basis on big life changing stuff!

The map is from a book authorised by the BBC so should be accurate.

But the BBC appears to have changed its mind over the decades.

Now here's some random archers trivia for a Sunday morning, I don't think I've heard it before... The post below about Charles Collingwood led me to a random Google of his name and then Judy Bennett... (Shula)

Did you know, (according to Wikipedia anyway) that she is a cousin to Colin Skipp (OldTony) and niece of Patrick Troughton, and therefore cousin to David Troughton (NewTony)? And of course Shula and Tony are cousins too...

dfw

I may have to stop listening now.

Hollowtree was converted into flats a few decades ago, but there was no sign of them when the Fairbrothers appeared.

Oh god, I can't stand Will.

And I love Ed 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Ed no longer mentions the texels. Who is going to take care of lambing if he's working full time at Home Farm?

Will was far too heavy-handed but he has a point- the way Emma waded in and demanded answers in an aggressive way was all wrong and showed immaturity/lack of experience. Which was absolutely in character. Interestingly though, I think Brine might have cut her some slack and engaged with her if Will had not come over all henchmanlike.

I also enjoyed Brian massively on the defensive the other day when Adam had called the insurers, very well played by CC when it became clear that Brine was actually hiding his head in the sand and shitting himself.

Also chuckled a bit at Ed “why are they asking you Em, what’s it got to do with you?”

“Cos I’m a parish councillor Ed”

“Oh yeah...”

Ed does need to realise that it'll hardly help Emma's credibility as a councillor if she's seen as needing a man to do her job effectively.

I just wanted to say I love the insight from dairyfarmerswife into why Brookfield wouldn't work well as a dairy farm. Thank you for that (and all the other insights from you lovely knowledgeable people)!

Love Brian, he's by far the best character in TA.