China Towns R4

[QuaterMiss]

I'm still worrying about today's episode. Surely Ruth should have had a caesarean delivery? It seems so awful, with her husband apparently the richest man in town, that she had to die so unnecessarily.

Seriously, is no-one else listening to this? It's so amazing.

(Namechanged, not sockpuppeting!)

I haven't started to listen yet - I keep meaning to before it disappears. It is on my list...

I’m listening! I’ve not read the books so can’t get cross about how the adaption has mangled the original plot.

I made the mistake of looking at the brief descriptions of the remaining episodes.

I definitely haven't read the books! And don't even know how many more episodes there are. Yesterday seemed to leap several years forward.

It's not the easiest thing to follow (and I say that as a lifelong Archers listener) but it's providing a surprising amount of .

I'm now on episode 4 - I find it easier to binge listen as I would forget the characters etc if I had to wait a week.
There's episode 11 next Saturday but not one on Sunday but I cannot find anything to say if that's it.

Yes. That’s it. There are eleven episodes. They get as far as 1903 by then. So essentially covering the Industrial Revolution.

I’m saving this afternoon’s episode for the ironing this evening.

I'm catching up with it, just finished episode 6. It's great but the music is annoying me a bit - far too jaunty for some of the scenes!

It's terrific. I'm really drawn in. Strong women characters too, including their flaws. A case in point it Hilda. I started yesterday's episode cheering and ended it shaking my head.

Like others said, it took me a while to separate the characters from each other although that was at least partly down to me not focusing enough.

I actually like the music. It would have been so easy to have "suitable" music turning this into an identikit period drama.

I love the music! Takes me right back to the unutterable joy of Peaky Blinders, and somehow underscores the punchiness of all the cruelty, betrayal and heartbreak. It's the opposite of gentle costume (radio)drama.

to nauticant. Though I've namechanged a million times. This one Archers 100 threads related ...

Yes I do like the music and most of the time it suits the story just fine, but occasionally it's just a bit too jaunty I think. What a great word 'jaunty' is.

I'm another Archers thread century name changer [twirls]

I've listened to bits of it and am overwhelmed by the lack of local accents. Otherwise it is good.

jaunty is in my list of top 10 favourite words TherapistInATabard

Waves back to GeorgeTheBleeder. Glad to hear the Archers enthusiasm is still going strong. I will now be very adrift from the currently state of who's doing what and doing who.

I love the music, despite the fact it seems to me to sound incongruous with the period of the story. I'm another who hasn't read the books, so can't complain about the plot being mangled. I'm having terrible trouble keeping up at the back and with who's who, but still enjoying it. Perhaps if I listened to it whilst I was awake and not to lull me to sleep at night, I would understand better!

I definitely wouldn't recommend it for lulling to sleep purposes! There's so much going on - complicated relationships and stories being picked up years later - that you need your wits about you. Which is unusual in radio drama, and probably what makes it brilliant.

nauticant there's a potentially explosive situation brewing between Elizabeth and her daughter's boyfriend. And Tom got married. And ... and ... and ... Come back!

I enjoyed it, despite the weird lack of local accents.

I did too, and appreciated the genuine story arc. And the educational element.

So that’s how Stoke-on-Trent came into existence.

Good all the way through and I thought the ending was satisfying. Arnold Bennett wasn't shy about killing off characters was he?

The whole thing is going to be for sale in the Autumn:

www.penguin.co.uk/books/111/1118555/china-towns--based-on-the-five-towns-novels/9781787537354.html

You're a devil with your temptation George but I'm going to settle with my memories of old-school Archers before the O’Connor Eastenderisation.

Well he's gone ...

And there've been lots of BOOPS lately. It's settling down nicely now.