#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?

What a lovely piece by Nancy. I worried about her health as she had been absent for so long. Thank you DadDadDad - I'd give up looking for her pieces.

Were she/the Guardian to publish her "Month in Ambridge" columns in a book I'd snap it up.

I wonder if there is a bit of hasty rewriting underway - don't the episodes all get recorded about a month or so in advance.

I'm just hoping that Alf comes back and it becomes clear who took the Church money.

Jill turned it into a me-me-me, breast-beating mea culpa. Ugh.

Exactly- poor poor Jill- trying to make it all about her so that she was the centre of attention and Lizzie ended up apologising to her. Stately homes thread.

I feel really sorry for Jill. It’s a lose/lose situation. Been there, for the T-shirt.

Just popping by to say how sad I was to hear about Joe’s actor. He was brilliant and will be sadly missed.

The scene, when it comes, will be a very hard listen. I agree with pp’s that I hope they let him die at Grange Farm. Where he belongs.

Did you hear that?! Continuity announcer before 7pm News, wondering whether the case of Fallon's bunting will be reopened?

DH says "why do you need an archivist if you have Mumsnet?"

Continuity also mentioned that Tom's world will implode tomorrow. Is that because Natasha gets tetchy about Peggy's interrogation (go Peggy!) or because the pigs and their pipework fall into a sinkhole (another resurrected SL!)?

Did Tomntash discuss anything other than orchards and kefir before they got married?

Surprised Peggy asked about babies. She’s more likely to ask about her business plan!

Sorry if I missed something entirely but I thought at some point after Nic died Will and Andrew were heading for a big solicitor fight over Jake and Mia. Obviously they came to some agreement but I seemed to have missed this. It just seemed to wilt to me and then have this weird shared setup that doesn't seem all that realistic. I would've thought Andrew would have mostly had them with say biweekly weekend visits.

I stand to be corrected of course!

Poor Mia. Will is so misguided about the tuition. She needs a tutor with whom there is a good rapport.

I think Natasha will tell Tom she doesn't want to have children, another thing they failed to discuss.

Cheerio Lilifer best of luck to you in rehab!
I've given up TA many times over the last 30 years but return out of desperation for adult company before bed....see you on the other side!

It was a dealbreaker for Brenda. Tom is so crap at relationships.

Tom’s nearly 40. He’s going to want kids, isn’t he? I bet he assumed that Natasha would too.....

I want Freddie to buy Bartlebury (how old is he!?), Eek, R4, I read that as "bury". Sort of equine suttee.

You probably realise from my previous comment that I haven't listened to TA much recently. Did I catch, in the middle of cooking tea, that Hilda had had a go at Gnasha? "She's just nervous" "well she must have been VERY nervous". Good old Hilda, my favourite character!

Even though Natasha is a bit erm mysterious, that cat is awful! Needs its comeuppance!

The next thing we know Tom & Natasha will discover they have different opinions about Brexit.

I think Peggy was awful. I don't know if the SWs were aiming for subtle humour, but whatever you think of Natasha, Hilda's scratch had made her bleed, and Peggy wasn't even apologetic and just changed the subject.

Ooops. Freudian slip. I mean Bartleby, of course. Not Bartlebury.

She's not awful! She's a cat! You can't ascribe moral values to her defending herself from unwanted attention. D**3 possibly has a point about Peggy's reaction, but Hilda needs at least one friend in the world.

Yes, I'm no cat-lover but if a cat is causing problems then (to rework a MN catchphrase), you haven't got a cat problem, you've got a cat-owner problem.

Hilda needs at least one friend in the world.
That would be Kate. They seem to get on surprisingly well but I suspect that they recognise themselves in each other.

Yes, I'm no cat-lover I don't know what to say, illusions shattered. I might have to go back to the stupid anto-vaxx thread I've just left.

Hilda is a very typical crabby old cat, I haven't listened but expect Natasha did something totally unacceptable like trying to touch her, or looking at her in the wrong way, and she got her just desserts. Its just another example of how little Natasha knows about Tom's extended family, no Archer in their right mind would tangle with Hilda.

Thank-you, chemenger for those sensible words. Hilda reminds me of my dear long-departed cat. Soul mates, we were.