#102: Fatted calf is off the menu - will the Easter Bunny save Lower Loxley's bacon, or will there be egg on Russ's face? Will Tom's sausage business get the chop? Join us here to discuss The Archers!

[GabrielleNelson]

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, principally Dumdedumdedum and MikeUniformMike on this occasion.

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 this thread, where spoilers are positively welcomed!

So, to business: will Helen's new cheese be a success? Will Kate succeed in keeping her visiting Brummies under control? Will Pip, Toby, Tom and Natasha fall into the slurry pit, leaving Rosie to be brought up by Anthony Head Robin Fairbrother? Will we ever hear Lee again, and will he casually drop in a mention of his fine collection of framed Bruce Lee posters?

Thanks Dumdedum poor Vickoi is NEVER mentioned! She and Beth could have turned up at the Easter LL eggstravaganza. .

I don’t get how the organ joke was to illustrate Jakob being autistic BirdsDestiny. Do you mean that it didn’t register with him as an innuendo so he wasn’t bothered, yet Shula was mortified because of the rest of the congregation sniggering?

We haven't heard the last of Natasha's profligacy: not just steak but "Tornedos". She's going to be on MN soon with a thread about how her MIL keeps giving her unwanted pillow cases etc..

It would have been so much more believable if they’d said that Kenton was too bulky to fit the costume, whereas Russ and Tom are skinny.

this is how I see them!

I've always thought of Tom as being wiry. Not tall, not short. Maybe 5 ft 10?

Elizabeth's laughing at the carrot 'joke' sounded completely unhinged.

Elizabeth's laughing at the carrot 'joke' sounded completely unhinged

When was that? I think I have missed an episode.

It was at the very end and shula said it was good to hear her laughing again. I think iwould have been worried, it was verging on hysterical.

Thinking of physique, in my head, Tom is Theon Greyjoy another sackless whiner.

Ref. the pillowcases, isn't Tash into recycling, re using ... etc.? Buying new from Underwoods doesn't strike me as a very green or a 'watching the pennies" way of life. Also we got new bedding when we married (many years ago admittedly!).

Lass Lizzie's laughing was at the end of yesterday's evening episode.

I was slightly unconvinced about Gnasher's fussiness about coconut rice given her diet of instant noodles.

I don't think Natasha is especially green? Doesn't she live off pot noodle and pop tarts? I think the pillowcases was all about her not valuing Tom's family and traditions and making him feel uncomfortable about his mother's gifts.

But to be fair, I think adults (especially newly marrieds) should be left to choose their own bedlinen. It is quite personal!

I thought the pillowcases were another example of her spending issues.
Yes Jessie either that he didn't get the double meaning of the word, or that Jacob struggles with humour. I must stress that I don't particularly agee with these generalisations but I assume this is what th SW are trying to do.

I’m losing track but what was the ‘shopping’ Natasha brought in the other night (obviously not groceries as she moaned about how cluttered it was getting through to put the bags in the bedroom). Was that the new not cheap pillowcases?

How much was the ‘very nice’ perfume she bought for Hellin?

She’s certainly perfected the art of keeping Tom confused/bamboozled in their near-constant arguments. I notice how she flits like lightning from one line of attack to another and he’s just left reeling. You can almost see the cartoon stars revolving over his head.

Tom is a fool for getting mixed up with her. She’s a shifty one.

I think Tom has a quarter share in Bridge Farm. Pat, Tony and Helen each have the same.
Natasha will probably divorce Tom at some point and try to get half his share.

Ref Lizzard’s laughing: I thought it was hysterical not just on the edge but I expected her to start frothing at the mouth at the point!

Jessie
If Jakob has been playing the organ for quite a few years then he will have heard the feeble 'jokes' a few times. That'll be why he didn't respond. He may or may not have autistic traits but that's irrelevant here,though maybe the SW's want us to think that.

Music Hall innuendo in TA is toe curling.

I've got a feeling that these jokes both involve Shula so its really about her, maybe discovering her sense of humour, unbending a bit?

I thought Natasha had bought pillowcases when she came in the other night but it might have been cushion covers.

Campion I didn’t introduce the idea that’s Jakob may be autistic. Birdsdestiny said she thought that the SWs were trying to convey this and I was asking in what way.

Oooo Jolene came to gig in my hometown and I missed it. Our music scene is pretty poor- wonder where she played?

Lizzie sounded demented in that carrot scene.

I thought it was the pillowcases she's bought too. But buying pillowcases, as if you need them, because you don't have any others, seems odd to me. You usually buy a quilt cover set, that comes with pillowcases, so any extra pillowcases you want to buy, are surely a "want" rather than a "need"? And what was Tom using in the shared house? He would already have had a couple of sets, at least.

I think it's being used as a way to show that Natasha is a profligate spender. The perfume would most likely have been over £50 too, possibly even around £80. This is why she's got so much debt, and she's not addressing it. She hasn't even cut down on her spending since Tom found out about the debt, and it's not as if the latest items she's bought, were needed for the business.

She's got a real problem, and it's all going to come crashing down.

I wonder if Trevor wants to see Natasha to ask her to repay debts - unpaid rent or bills, or loans he's made to her.....