The Archers No. 94: Freddie’s doing porridge, Tom gets his oats, but will Home Farm be toast? We’ll have to wheat and see ... Serial production is in full swing in Ambridge

[witchmountain]

Thanks to LilG for the title, and DDD for starting the last thread and the tradition of the thread starter nominating the next thread starter

Lurkers are always welcome to unlurk and join in, including asking questions of the many very knowledgeable posters with a long Archers-listening history.

Don't post spoilers based on forthcoming plot synopses that you've read, there's another thread for that (and we'd love to see you over there). Once an episode has aired then it's fair game.

That’s a very concise summing up!

Boop for David and remembering the existence of their third child!

Oh yes, I get that, I thought birds was linking the likelihood of failure to Lee’s suspect karate knowledge.

I'm still worried about this 'old gas heater' that's going to be used at Lynda's rehearsals

I'm increasingly wondering if Elizabeth is being set up by the SW to lose control of LL. Does anyone know what the setup is there, presumably it's some kind of trust with trustees etc? We're coming up to new year and Nigel's anniversary- are we going to see things go from bad to worse and Elizabeth get her marching orders around new year?

Also YY to a fire at Brookfield, being foreshadowed all over the place. Stray lantern in the feed clamp with all Brookfield's winter feed going up in smoke?

I was making that link. If he is not a real karate man he is obviously a serial killer. Well known fact.

There's room for only one serial killer in Ambridge, and David isn't likely to give it up without a fight.

How flammable are broken biscuits?

throwing each other to the ground by means of a kind of two-person cartwheel that's a lovely description!

The "making noises" sort of comes naturally as part of the getting your whole body to work behind the punch (you can't imagine how many bits of your body work together to throw a decent karate punch) but in the early stages, when you're still learning to put everything together, the grunting sounds are a bit forced.

witchmountain. Wasn't thinking about the biscuits, really. There have been so many mentions lately of possible fire hazards:

Winter feed store (silage can self-combust)
Motor fuel store.
Dodgy old gas heater.
Lynda's flaming torches.

All this not so subtle signposting must surely be leading up to something.

Plus, Baxter, there's always the risk of diesel-powered vehicles being driven around in the dark by unqualified 16 year olds. Bound to crash into something more explosive than a badger eventually.

Sorry to ask something so basic - haven’t been able to LA much recently. Did Lizzie - or rather Freddy - decide to appeal his sentence in the end or not? The deadline must be passed by now.

Didn’t a certain Grace die in a fire a few years back? Anyone called Grace currently around? (I really hope not).

Did Lizzie - or rather Freddy - decide to appeal his sentence in the end or not? I believe from comments on here that the deadline passed without Lizzie finding someone to take it on. A whimper rather than a bang.

Lizzie found some solicitor on the last day who she reported suggested that there might be appeal grounds but there wasn't time to look into it and lodge an appeal. So she's blaming herself for not finding the magic solicitor earlier. To be honest, with every other lawyer she spoke to saying she had no chance, I'm massively sceptical that she was accurately reporting what this one actually said.

I must say I did love the exchange between Lizzie and Anna.

A: Well I'm sure there are some disreputable firms out there willing to take the case on
L:......and where can I find one of those?

I'm looking forward to Lily coming back to take over the running of lower loxley after Geraldine is sacked or leaves.

Then Elizabeth banging on and on about poor Freddie, who would be at Oxford preparing to be PM if it wasn't for his lack of a father and who shouldn't be in prison, because he's posh and only poor drug dealers should go to prison.

Then Lily will have enough of being taken for granted and always being second place to her drug dealing brother and will dump Russ and head off for a wonderful gap year, reappearing in a few years time married to a gorgeous Australian and take over the running of LL again, as Freddy starts yet another prison sentence and Elizabeth moves in with Shula, the only one left who will still agree with her that all Freddy needs is some understanding.

Bring it on, Susan! (And may I say that I always empathised with your common sense and practical approach to running a campsite. I'd rather camp with you than those wild Amazons. No wonder your parents waved you and your siblings off to Wild Cat Island with a smile.)

Yes, we do have someone around called Grace - Rosie Ruth Grace Archer. I don't believe the SWs would ever kill off a baby. I hope not, anyway. A bit of mortal peril, however, is normal for children of the blood Archer*, so who knows?

I couldn't stand Darrell. I hope he's long ago left Ambridge and nobody thought to mention it. I've always been of the opinion that Vanessa Whitburn got demob happy after announcing her retirement and just couldn't be bothered to think of any decent storylines so churned out endless whiny scenes where Darrell moaned about his lot and Shula did her burning martyr act, aided and abetted by Alan. Sean O'Connor got rid of Darrell in short order which was probably the main reason initially I thought he was going to be a really good Editor. Then of course he got delusions of winning the Nobel Prize for Literature or similar by turning TA into the Rob Titchener Story.

*I believe Adam was kidnapped as a little boy during a time of falling ratings and as far as I recall Kate was quite young when she was trapped in the Post Office with Clive Horrobin during his botched attempt at robbing it at gunpoint.

I though David was excellent last night. Ruth discovering that the third child they never do anything with or pay any attention to might not be that happy about that neglect was less convincing.
I also think my hunch about the gay affair is definite,y on the money.

All this talk of Ben following his father's murderous ways - does that mean he'll be a cereal killer?

Nah, not buying it. Geraldine's been at LL for ages now - how could she possibly not know who Emma is?

(I know Ambridge/LL isn't only populated by Archers and their associates, but still ...)

Bert's 'Bleeding mummy' made me laugh.

Aha! There it is!

An insight into Hannah's behaviour.

Paternal abandonment issues.

She’s incredibly prickly. I bet she wishes Neil was her dad.

I am a bit worried about Neil, not sure where this bad back storyline is heading.

Yeah, where can I get some of that wood-smoke and ketchup after shave? I'm sure my wife would appreciate me using it...