Thread 98 - Discuss The Archers here! If you don’t give a ha’porthfor Pip come and add your two penn’orth - we do enjoy a bit of change counting (especially if it’s in old money)

[Bittermints]

Many thanks to @LilianGish for the title (again - she has real gift for this!). Further thanks due to @PseudoBadger for kicking off this long, long series of Archers threads and to @DadDadDad for being our resident statistician and keeping the ball rolling when Pseudo stepped back a bit.

All views on The Archers welcome here! New blood welcomed. We don't all agree on all points and most of us are posting tongue in cheek a lot of the time, so don't worry about revealing that you'd like to be Susan's best friend or other odd unusual views.

Spoilers: not on this thread, please. We don't wait for the omnibus to discuss the weeknight episodes, but we do try our best to avoid cross-contamination from www.mumsnet.com/Talk/radio_addicts/3439443-keep-it-to-yourself-the-archers-spoilers-thread-4, where spoilers are positively welcomed!

(Change counting references arose specifically out of a nostalgic discussion on the previous thread, if anyone is intrigued.)

If I type the word 'bug' (I'm on my phone) three illustrations come up on my keyboard. The other two are a caterpillar and a spider - and I know some people prefer not to come upon spiders unexpectedly. Not sure if you can be infested with caterpillars ... They're not terribly elegant anyway. Nor as noticeably nimble and quick witted as Archers posters ...

(For newer posters - a million threads ago someone wrote something about being overinvested in TA - but mistyped and revealed themselves as 'overinfested' ...)

But the bug on this MN screen is not the one shown on my phone! What happened?

Not sure if you can be infested with caterpillars
Of course you can. Never heard of the caterpillar of the Cabbage White Butterfly which does terrible things to ...er ... what is it? ... wait ... um ...it will come to me ...

True R4! (Speaking as a lapsed gardener.) Perhaps I was thinking of an infestation that I might notice in my kitchen at 7.15 pm ... (Oh dear - lettuces ...) Or lounging on the sofa. No caterpillars there!

Cabbages.

The cabbage white caterpillar devastates cabbages.

Obvs.

Cabbage stem flea beetle is the thing causing OSR crops to be decimated hence Adam having a go at Quinoa.

I don't think Adam is at all nasty to Brian. As a partner he has already caused huge problems and heartache for Adams mum. He's also about to completely scupper their business as well. If Brian goes down the rest of the family go too....

I love the idea of asking MNHQ to create us a cabbage stem flea beetle emoji.

It has to be an overinfested icon🐜🐞

Love the idea!

Just to hark back to what a PP mentioned a while ago - I've just watched Brexit : The Uncivil War and there was Kirsty leading a focus group!!! Ruined my personal mental image of her though - she should have longer and more unkempt hair, and be wearing outdoor clothing (or the spa uniform for work).

Many years ago I remember seeing the sadly-just-deceased Nigel in Midsomer Murders (?) and that also ruined my mental image of him! Those Archers actors shouldn't be allowed to have such distinctive voices!

Never heard of the caterpillar of the Cabbage White Butterfly There's various processionary moths whose caterpillars can defoliate forests.

Maybe we should have a flea - they've got a pretty distinctive outline.

I was considering the locust - devouring every piece of Archers trivia thing in its path.

Probably partly because of the most arresting opening to a school story I've ever read. Angela Brazil was the author. (A prize to anyone who can remind me of the title ...)

But flowerycurtain's Psylliodes chrysocephala seems nicely relevant!

I have a question for @dairyfarmerswife or other people who know about milk and cheese and such. I thought one of the important things about making cheese was the type of cow you used. If Helen is changing the cow breed then might that not change the character of the cheese? I'd have thought Borchester Blue (R4 Food and Farming Award runner up) would be pretty susceptible to changes like that. Or am I wrong and it's all about the grass the cows eat or the amount of salt you add or something.

Also is she still making cheese with the crappy milk she was buying in or have they just stopped production?

Can I pop in? , long time lurker here. On the point of Archer folk in other shows, Nigel pargetter was in Dinnerladies.

Welcome, MrsFiddymont, stay and chat. Your comment makes me wonder what TA would have been like if Victoria Wood was the scriptwriter for a week.

Hello Mrsfiddymont. Was he?? Which one was he?

It gets better: Graham “Nigel” Seed was in one episode where the dinnerladies get a royal visit. And the minor royal was played by another familiar voice...

www.imdb.com/title/tt0560677/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_20

The whole episode is on youtube if you google dinnerladies royals.

That's the one DDD, The Royals. He has such a distinctive voice, I miss Nigel.

if Victoria Wood was the scriptwriter for a week.
Wouldn't it be fab. She would be red-hot on the tiny, telling detail. There would be no character transplants and none of this " but, surely, if Brian/Kate/Alice did that then ..."

Thank you for the welcome btw. Victoria Wood as a we would have been amazing, think of the run she would have had with some of the characters!

I miss Nigel.
Me too.

"I was tempted by the chops Jolene, but I think I'm going to plump for the steak and ale pie" - Philip channelling Gavin and Stacey's Uncle Bryn again. Is he doing it on purpose?

Also, should we read anything into the fact that Kirsty and Tom have both ended up in relationships with Welsh people?

Sorry to go back to secrecy and Helen again but it struck me that the bracelet which Pat regifted to Natasha may have been the one that Helen pretended to have made for her at her 'pretend' jewellery class! Oh what a tangled web......