#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?

Depends whether they own or will inherit land or not. Land and proximity to it is all that matters.

Archers women exist in their own right. Snell and Carter and Grundy women also. Fallon also - she was a bit fringe until becoming officially related to Archers. Kirsty ... seems perennially sad. No land, no concrete Archer connection. She isn’t a more important character’s love interest, but it’s hard to see the point of her.

Lexie. Yes. Ur-love interest.

Who else is there?

Yes the farming women are on the committees of their farms (they own them with the men). Kirstie runs the health spa at Grey Gables. Lizzie runs Lower Loxley. Fallon runs the Tea Shop.

Please don't let them pair Kirsty with Twat again. He's dumped her twice already. I'd like Jazzer to be happy.

I didn't think Peggy's conversation with Natasha was bizarre. She was supportive of Kirsty's pregnancy; she gave her a generous cheque. Presumably she will be financially supportive of any baby that Tom and Natasha have. She knows that her grandson Tom wants to be a father and may have assumed the rush to get married was in order to start a family. She might want to amend her will to include any future great great-grandchildren.

Yes, it's an intrusive question, but she's not a random person; she is someone who has previously supported Tom through the loss of Kirsty's baby.

Of course, Tom probably hasn't told Natasha that.....

Wasn't the main point of the awkward conversation between Peggy and Natasha to show how much of a clash of culture there is between her and the Archers clan? That she is go-getting businesswoman square peg in an farming dynasty round hole.

Tom is totally in for it.

Yes, I think her solution is very much to (try to) make the hole squarer!

campion my mind simply shuts down at the idea of Hannah and Tom. No no no.

What's that saying? A square peg will fit in a round hole if you hit it hard enough...

Yes, DDD, spot on!

Square peg, round hole.

Well said 😊

Oh! Thank goodness for that!

Has she really gone?

Phew. Tara.

WTF was Tom thinking - nobody would want to honeymoon 6 miles away! I'd rather have no honeymoon at all. He might as well have booked Grey Gables.

Bloody hell Tom, a honeymoon SIX MILES away? I can't blame Natasha for being upset about that!

Mind you, she was picking a fight from the start, going on about the lillies, in her passive aggressive way.

Ugh, she's going back to Trev isn't she?

Bugger off back where you came from, Fruit Juice Girl.

You don't belong here

I thought the SWs were leading up to the honeymoon being Wales, and Natasha being a bit miffed - but Felpersham!?

Anyway, I guess there's something odd about a man who has £2 coins but no £1 coins in his pocket.

@WheresThatCatGoneNow Ha ha ha! Fruit Juice Girl! Love it. But a serious question. I obviously wasn’t paying proper attention four years ago - who DID steal the bunting?!

Lexy, the bunting theft is a true mystery.

No wonder Natty scarpered. It wasn’t just a honeymoon the other side of Felpersham, but it had to be near home so Tom could keep an eye on the pigs. This can’t be it, she’ll be back. I wonder how late Susan was in the shop tonight. Did she hear the row/see the escape/both?

Does Tom still owe Peggy money? Or did she write it off?

Crikey Natasha is awful. I mean fair dos the honeymoon with pigs attached was grim but walking out is just feeble.

I can't help being delighted that there's some cosmic karma happening here for Pat and Tony's snobby attitude towards Sharon. So far, unlike Helen and Tom, she's managed to achieve a happy and long-lasting marriage, and to bring up Rich/Johnny to be a sensible and thoughtful young man.

Come to think of it, P&T also backed up Helen when she sent the lovely Hayley packing after John's death. (I've held that grudge against Helen for twenty years.) The Bridge Farm Archers really don't have very good judgement, do they?

Anyway, what about tonight's other storyline - very entertaining: taking a fag break in a crisis = ability to stand back and reframe the situation.

What monster has Dr Jim Frankenstein created?

Come to think of it, P&T also backed up Helen when she sent the lovely Hayley packing after John's death. (I've held that grudge against Helen for twenty years.)

Me too StationView. I burned with the injustice of it.

Bloody hell Tom, a honeymoon SIX MILES away? I can't blame Natasha for being upset about that!

It's not completely ridiculous. If you happen to live near somewhere lovely you're never going to get the chance to stay there otherwise. Although a self- catering lodge doesn't really cut it.

Gnasha is however bonkers- what an overreaction. Unfortunately I think she will be back.

It's not completely ridiculous.
I think it is! He has booked somewhere local so he can nip back if a porcine emergency requires it. He has already stood her up twice this week so the chances of an uninterrupted honeymoon are slim.
Why book the honeymoon now, when you are short-staffed? (Remind me again, why is Tom short-staffed ...)
He is an utter numpty.