Thread 99 (yes, 99!): Join us for spirited discussions of The Archers and its Top Blokes, whether you're Team Elizabeth (low spirits), Team Kate (Spiritual Home) or Team Toby (spirits =gin)

[Bittermints]

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. Thanks also to all those who contributed to the thread title.

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!

So, to business. What a fantastic two-hander. Massive BOOP points to Alison Dowling, the scriptwriter and director (and the therapist). I had more than a small tear in my eye listening to that.

I'm another one with a vote of thanks to chemenger for all that information on the last thread about distilling. I should know some of that because I went on a tour of the whisky distillery near where my parents live but I've forgotten most of it except how delicious the end product is.

Perhaps she will burn down LL

Bore, is that you?

I can bloody hear that thing that Pip does with her words now and I can't unhear it! Somehow I'd avoided it until now.

I really hope that prison isn't the making of Freddie. Prison is nasty and brutal. It doesn't make anyone nice. He might have been a bit of an arse before he went in but he wasn't actually nasty.

Are you talking about Evesham in the 70's I'm of the school of thought that says, since Felpersham has a university and a cathedral it must be Worcester, and Evesham is Borchester, despite the names suggesting it's the other way around

I seem to remember something dodgy out at the Lenches - Mps involved - ooh, that sounds interesting - what was it?

I'm not giving any more clues as to the place I was talking about, it's all hearsay and this is a public forum.

Freddie should go and live at the stables with Shula and she can train him up as her replacement.

This.

Dunno about 'nasty', Alec - Freddie was almost fatally stubborn, irresponsible and thoughtless in his drug dealing. And carried on even after Noluthando nearly died.

But if he's to run LL successfully, eventually (though it looks unlikely right now) a little well thought through nastiness /focused ruthlessness might be a good thing to acquire.

Bore, is that you?

Sorry, don't know who Bore is.

Motoko, it was a joke of sorts - BoreofWhabylon lurks in these parts often, with her MysticBore Ball, which is constantly predicting that LL will burn down. But she hasn't been here so much recently.

I'm really surprised that Freddie may not be able to go home? Can any of the thread family shed any light on this for me please?

In another life I was actually a personal license holder and duty manager of a pub so I feel I ought to know something, but nothing untoward ever happened. Or at least no one was ever caught. From a lay persons perspective it seeks fruitless releasing a teenage (albeit an adult one) from custody and preventing him from returning to his family home.

Does anyone else remember Natasha had a housemate that prevented Tom from going to her house? What was that? Did he ever get to go there? She's definitely not the shrewd business guru Tom believes she is. Although convincing someone else to make an investment in land at a bad time, that you can use is actually pretty clever if you're a cold fish. Her make up selling reeked of MLM scam.

Bert may be old but he sounds amazing. Can he come and babysit for me? I haven't slept in weeks.

Tiny boop for Will. I can't stand him but always happy to listen to someone dismount their high horse and make amends. That is a good example for the kids.

Oh bah humbug - Pip and Lily together in a scene.

CallMeRuss is such an idiot - mind you Lily gives him a good run for his money.

DDD your zombie thread about the age of listeners has been reanimated!

I think it would have been preferable to state the intervals with reference to characters’ ages, in case you ever want to repeat the exercise

The 🔮 told me that Mystic Bore™️ had been invoked

Conflagration will come to the ancestral hall when the son and heir returns...

(Can't post much these days due to ongoing glitchiness with Safari that Tech seem unable to sort. Every post takes ages.)

Oh how annoying. I saw your thread on that. It’s weird because I use safari on an iPhone, ipad and MacBook and never have the thing you described.

Oo-er missed the Alice podliness hints.

But very much enjoyed Russ's Italian, pain chocolat and almond croissants, the last two pronounced tip-top, but whose money bought them? What A Colossal Wanker.

Could this be a BOOP/TASWAMA shorthand for him: WACW? Let's face it, it will be pressed into service pretty frequently.

Worse and worse.

On re-listening, Russ said of a sketch held said: "That vase, the shapes of the lilies caught my eye, and I couldn't resist."

Massive bleurggh for heavy-handed metaphors.

thislido - that thread has sat at the bottom of my Threads I’m Watching for four years, so I am aware of its reanimation. I’ll just leave them to it.

Echt I thought the same about the picture but I did enjoy Elizabeth’s response - “very colourful” - as though a toddler was waving their latest effort at her.

An apt analogy, thislido: me, me, me. Look at me.:o

Yes I loved Elizabeth's response, probably one she used for the twins in their childhood.

Do we think he's a bit rubbish? Those that can do, those that can't teach?

(I'm not endorsing the expression, it just seemed apt.) Only Lily has ever said he was any good, and what would she know about art?

In a sense I don't think it matters if he is utterly talentless or is able to paint. The important fact is he isn't good enough to make money from it.

Never mind being good enough - Russ isn't determined enough to become established in the art world. (Not in rl anyway. Anything could happen in TA ...) Someone posted a beautiful analysis of his character a few threads ago - and it's apparent that his idea of 'being an artist' involves a withdrawal from practical reality while wafting about and occasionally wielding a pencil to impress his girlfriend.

If he wants to be an artist why hasn't he applied to any art schools? Or taken any other step necessary to becoming a recognised professional?

Do we think he's a bit rubbish? Those that can do, those that can't teach? (I'm not endorsing the expression, it just seemed apt.)

But you just did, by using the inclusive "we" while denying It with your "I'm".

Have a pop at the silly Russ, but not at teachers, thank you very much.

CMR may be a competent draftsman but he's no artist. So far LL seems to have inspired him to do a landscape and copy a vase. There's not much originality going on.
If he got his act together, he could probably do some touristy memento stuff.

If Russ was teaching art at A level I would assume he had already done a degree in Art.