The Archers #93: The Flower and Produce show - who's going to get their just desserts. Freddie? Ellis? Russ? Pass judgement here.

[DadDadDad]

No, that's not a jokey exaggeration, this is really the 93rd thread in a series started by PseudoBadger five years ago! In fact, post number 90,000 in the "official" count will be made on this thread.

Lovers of The Archers welcome (along with the rest of us who have a more complicated relationship with the "TA" ).

One rule we try to stick to: No mentioning of future episode plotlines published in the Radio Times etc. However, once an episode has aired, say what you like!

What is going to happen to Freddie? And are we ever going to hear from Lily again?
I also am wondering what it will take for Kenton to apologise to Fallon...

I seem to be being advertised some kind of vegetable as an alternative to Viagra on this page. What are they suggesting about Archers fans?

The writing ought to be the character, yes. But it seems clear that (unless they’re determined to overthrow SOC’s aspirations) the SWs somehow can’t show us the Pip they want us to believe in. They want us to see the Golden-Child-Future-of-Brookfield but they consistently manage to make her irritating and over-entitled. (And with no hinterland whatsoever.) It’s not so much her own actions but the reactions of the people she’s associated with. We can’t like her because her parents are so nasty to her brother; because she’s Teflon coated and never has to suffer consequences; because we always have to hear how wonderful she is; etc.

With Hannah the script and the story seem to be one - she’s weird and unpleasant.

Am not liking Hannah at the most moment.

Is Hannah horrible to everyone or only Emma?
Why is she chasing the Reddimeal? She almost makes Pip seem only mildly unbearable.

If it's a choice between Hannah and Pip, can I vote for Helen?

What a smug patronising unpleasant sister she is. In fact when did Pat who I used to like back in the day, and Tony and Tom become such dull people?

I don't like Hannah but I'm quite enjoying her manipulation of Tom.

I seem to be being advertised some kind of vegetable as an alternative to Viagra on this page. What are they suggesting about Archers fans?

I just get ads for a fashion site called Missguided. Those are very nice dresses, ladies, but I don't think they'd do anything on me!

It sounds like the Ambridge Spare Room fairy was diverted from finding place for irritating teacher at Lower Loxley and has diversified (geddit) into farm land.

Bridge Farm, which has in recent years flogged off fields for farming, built a shop/cafe (presumably with parking etc) and already has a mixed economy still has space for a new dairy, trees, more cows (maybe at the expense of the anguses) as well as keeping everything else going.

I have to say I just don't get the Hannah character. I like the archers for its nuanced characters and general lack of aggro compared to eastenders etc. She doesn't seem to fit in at all. She's all round unpleasant and just picks fights all over the place.

I think maybe they are trying to do another Rob - because having someone eeeviiiill is a big draw and very dramatic. But only if there's a coherent plotline, and with Rob it worked because it crept up on us gradually, ad was well-written.

Hannah just crashes around being aggressive and pissing everyone off. However I wouldn't agree that most Archers characters are likeable. Well over 50% of them are very irritating or worse. That's part of the fun!

Why is Hannah so unpleasant to Emma? She's jealous of her position in the village, local, knows everyone etc. her father is her boss, she's on the commitee etc.

Also maybe she doesn't like other women who are better looking than her (or who she perceives them to be). That reason is difficult to verify, of course, being as the media is not telly

I can't work out why anyone would be so needlessly unpleasant to their boss's daughter or why Bridge Farm - already criticised for over-diversification - would think of diversifying in two further directions including rebuilding a milking parlour which they'd not long ago demolished to diversify out of milk . I'm happy that Johnny will now have a proper role looking after the new dairy herd, but it doesn't feel like a realistic development. Dairyfarmerswife what do you think? Would anyone get out of dairy to the extent of demolishing their parlour only to get straight back in again?

I was thinking that ppeat, Emma is apparently a widely acknowledged Beauty with a capital B.

Hannah is SO unpleasant it's really difficult to see where they're going with this.

LilG (sorry but I love your rapper name!) I've been thinking that. Did they get rid of their herd during SOC's reign? Is this another example of unpicking his nonsense and resetting the natural order in Ambridge?

How much did Bridge Farm pay for the cheese class/workshop building?

I would have thought a priority would be to use that space (hire it out etc) otherwise thats £0000s wasted on an unused space, before looking to diversify further.

Don't like Hannah either. I hope she doesn't end up with Tom or Jazzer for that matter, falls into the slurry pit and makes a quick exit.

It shows how very not 'wiv the yoof' I am because Li'l G made me think of the famous Duchess of Devonshire's mother's baby name for her, she lived in the 18th C and she was an ancestor of Churchill's and Princess Diana's .] I've got the biography.

Would anyone get out of dairy to the extent of demolishing their parlour only to get straight back in again?

Not really sure. I wasn't quite as addicted committed to listening when Bridge farm went out of milk. When was it? I suppose if at the time they couldn't see a future for the milk, perhaps because the infrastructure needed investment that couldn't be justified financially, that's a logical reason to go out.

And to be fair they are talking of going into micro dairying, just producing enough milk for Helen's cheese, as I understand it. That could be done on a relatively small scale with a much lower level of investment than is being talked about at Brookfield. A parlour isn't really necessary, they could use a portable milker like this rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F253744485169 for a small number of cows. I'm not sure how much milk Helen uses. Is she thinking of selling milk to the public too? I think the micro dairy is a much better fit for the farm shop side of the business than Tom's trees.

But why is Johnny being the new herdsman 'the best news of all' according to Pat? I did feel a bit sorry for Tom just then.

And is anyone really as confrontational as Hannah in real life? She sounds like hard work all round.

But why is Johnny being the new herdsman 'the best news of all'?

Consciously - I guess because Johnny had been getting itchy feet and wanting to go see the world outside the midlands/north of England. So they may feel he’s more likely to stay put if he has a proper stake in the farm.

Sub-consciously - it’s the mythical ‘rightful inheritor of the land’ thing that Lil’G alluded to a while ago. Wonder if he looks more and more like John ...

Jonny likes tractors, though not enough to work at home farm.

I thought the old milking parlour had been turned into the wondrous new shop, all brightly lit at Rob's instruction.

I think they have long wanted to keep Johnny there, but Johnny''s been getting itchy feet, partly because he's 20 and is aware there's a wider world, but also because he wants to do what is to his mind, proper farming, and not just food production (kefir, cheese, farm shop, possibly veg boxes.) Not to mention being the eldest son of the eldest son (the dead can do no wrong), and therefore the one true heir.

They didn't build a cheese class / workshop building, because tried 3 cheese classes, they weren't very successful so that was that.

But why is Johnny being the new herdsman 'the best news of all'? He is at last going to have a proper stake in the farm and a proper role. I forsee he will be a safer pair of hands than either Tom or Helen. Since John's death Tom has valiantly tried to step into his brother's shoes and live up to his legacy, but Johnny is the real deal (right down to his love of tractors which was what did for his dad in the end). When the character of Johnny was introduced I felt it was all a bit contrived, but I love the way his character has added to the Bridge Farm story and that the effect has been so subtle (in contrast to the Fairbrethren who I felt were equally contrived and who continue to irritate me).

That is exactly what Will was doing. He was indignantly insisting he was looking after his own family whilst Clarrie and Emma were looking after his house and kids most of the time. That was also the basis of his outburst when Susan had the temerity to organise the help rota - he didn't need it.

I think "was" is the operative word there. It was at a time when he was in a fog of pain and grief, and was desperate to live up to Nic's memory and keep the family together. Ultimately he admitted that he really needed help.

Thanks for clearing that up MrsArthur!

I too like Johnny LilG.

So Peggy liquidates her assets, remortgages her house and gives it all to Brian. She then dies and moany Helen and her other inheritors get nothing.

I suspect that, if it happened, Peggy would be canny enough to tie it up as an enforceable loan agreement. Ultimately if Brine and Jenny didn't repay, her executors could enforce the debt against them - but surely Jenny would view repayment as a priority anyway.

Mind you, I couldn't understand how Jenny resisted throwing something at Brine when he was claiming the right to criticise Adam for taking what he saw as iffy decisions which impact on the farm's finances. If ever there was a case of the pot calling the kettle black ...