Ambridge is in the doldrums. When will Pip pop? Does anybody even care? And Anisha’s off, leaving Rex in the (pig) trough? Discuss the Archers here.

[PseudoBadger]

Sorry about the title, nothing particularly inspiring in the storylines currently

No spoilers please, there’s a thread for that.

Odd now to think that 20 years ago Phoebe seemed a pretty out there choice from Kate.

Ok. Am placing a bet on Felicity for a girl.

No ideas for a boy.

Surely the parallel to Felicity is Tim?

Maybe she’ll go for Harper in homage to Ruth’s Alma Mater Harper Adams

James - possible because James Bellamy is rarely mentioned and Jim Lloyd is always Jim

And Jamie Perks got lost in a strange land at the top of he Magic Faraway Tree when he was doing some tree surgery.

I had totally forgotten Jamie perks existed until I read that

I thought Pip was very shirty with Tobes, and her mum: Can we stop walking now? delivered very tersely, rather than I'd like to sit down now.

Indeed Gasp0. I rejected it because the thought of Pip and Tobes coo-ing ‘Timmeeeeee’ all around Ambridge for the next twenty years is just too horrible to be contemplated. (And none of his other names work.)

Solomon Fairbro-Archer would be an awesome combination of family tradition (three families) and hipster coolth. A name to conjure dynasties with. James and Leonie would be well jel.

Last night's episode demonstrated how this storyline really shows up Pip actor's lack of acting ability.

Rain in Borsetshire during a prolonged heatwave, with drought declared in a nearby area.

Tbf enough rain to stop the combine isn't enough to break the drought. I think last night's conversation between Tony and Jonny about feeding hay to the calves because there is no grass was a topical insert about the drought though, can't believe they would have scripted that a few weeks in advance. We have been feeding silage for a week here :-(

I liked Brian helping Adam sort out the combine and the pickers though, it showed his practical side and that he is still part of the business.

And Ben has come out of the cereal cupboard to learn about harvesting cereals driving tractors!

Am I allowed to say how extremely irritating Pip is?!

Ruth still managed to get in a dig about Josh, too. So the family pecking-order was beautifully demonstrated. GoldenPip can do no wrong, Ben's fleetingly out of his cupboard, Josh is forever the scapegoat (with Tobeeeee bringing up the rear - I'm no fan of his, but I hated that bit where Ruth & the Pipster smugly agreed on how useless he was).

Remind me again exactly how it's Tobeeeee's fault that whatever contraceptive methods they were using failed, and Pip then backed out of having a termination? Isn't having this baby her choice? And she's made it very clear she doesn't want Tobeeeee as a life-partner. And yet she and her awful parents miss no opportunity to make him feel like a worm.

They're all dreadful.

Oh, and another thing.....……weren't they only DTD in the first place because, despite having broken up, she persuaded him to get back together on a purely, ahem, physical basis?

You can tell I'm a mite disgruntled with the miraculous mother-to-be. It was so much more restful when she was silent for a while.

OH, Noah Archer. Just got it

But did you notice the key line? From Ruth to Adam "He's only 16 but you should Ruairi should have a voice"!

I can't wait- and maybe Ben too.

Ben is named after an uncle of Ruth's. SW was cooking rice at the time.
Jamie Perks is also Jamie Benjamin.
So James is out for the baybee. James Bellamy, Jamie Perks and Jim Lloyd are enough Jameses for the village.

There is hidden meaning in Basingstoke? Sorry, catching up. Was basingstoke Importance of being Ernest/baby/handbag/Margaret Rutherford? It would have been topical to G&S audiences (except for MR)

It was Worthing.

Oh I gave two good friends of mine a book about Oscar Wilde's time in Worthing - very interesting!

So what is the hidden meaning of Basingstoke, then? I need someone to put me out of my misery - I've even been on the website "It's basingstoke not Boringstoke" and am none the wiser. Apart from the fact it was mentioned in Henry IV pt 2: "Lord Chief-Justice "I have heard better news."
Falstaff "What's the news, my lord?"
Ch-Just "Where lay the king last night?"
Gower "At Basingstoke, my lord"
Fal "I hope, my lord, all's well: what is the news, my lord?""

John Finnemore was quite definite we shouldn't refer to it as Amazingstoke when he did his show at the Anvil last month.

www.gsarchive.net/ruddigore/web_opera/rudd23d.html

Thanks for the link.

The (insane, possibly brain-damaged, pitifully vulnerable) protagonist of Hanover Square imagines Basingstoke as some nirvana where all his problems will be solved. As Nick Hornby, native of Basingstoke, responded in a review of the book, "Good luck with that one, old son!"

Pip seems to mention sweat more than anyone else. Ugh.

The (insane, possibly brain-damaged, pitifully vulnerable) protagonist of Hanover Square imagines Basingstoke as some nirvana where all his problems will be solved

What a miserable book that is but it's Maidenhead not Basingstoke.