#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?

While Tom is a numptoid of the first water, Gnasher is constitutionally dissatisfied. Presumably Tom is OK as longs he does what she wants; planting the trees, getting shut of the pigs....

As for her complaining about being so busy catching up, didn't she choose to spend time with Trev and at the tea rooms? when she could have been working?

Hi guys, been lurking on my phone for ages but can't remember,her my log in. Why didn't Tom call it a minibreak or a romantic getaway? Why didn't he offer to get a local agricultural student or Rex or anyone to look after the pigs? Why doesn't he have a timeline for a sale process to reassure Natasha with? I know, it's because he's thoughtless and hapless.

Natasha has been written in a way that we're clearly supposed to dislike and disapprove of, and she does behave so terribly. I do actually sympathise with her a smidgen though. Ambridge must be very overwhelming and she probably feels like public property a bit. She is a nasty old thing though and dare I admit I actually felt sorry for Tom tonight. Like when Shula left Alistair, I cannot abide people just putting the shutters up and blocking any kind of reconciliation or discussion.

I think it's odd how Tom and Natasha constantly call each other by their names.

I am beginning to warm to Natasha. Tom is such an arse. Nobody would think a honeymoon 6 miles away was a good plan. I think Natasha has been brought in to show how bonkers the archers are. If my partner forced me to cancel my work twice in one week to go to see his family and then left me to it whilst he carried on with his vitally important work, I would be livid.

But ultimately what doesn’t make sense is why they got married so quickly. If they’d taken the time to learn more about each other’s goals, and history, and families, they might have ended up in a more sensible place.

Also, if Tom just offered a big bonus to manage the pigs until they go to market and/or a share of the proceeds when they are sold, I’m sure he could entice Jazzer back.

I think Natasha has been brought in to show how bonkers the archers are

But Gnasha is bonkers too.

I am beginning to think I am the bonkers one for carrying on listening. It is really poor at the moment.

. Yes maybe Natasha and Tom are ok, and it's us with the problem.
Actually the whole story line is off key. Why would someone as controlling as Natasha has been portyrayed to be, let Tom have complete control of the honeymoon decisions.

She didn't 'let him' he just went for it behind her back.

The idea of the honeymoon was beyond ridiculous.

But surely Tony should have warned Tom it was the stupidest idea ever - because he knew beforehand, right? Because he leaked a bit of it to natasha...

It's so delightfully typical of Tom tho, that gap between his self image - he imagined he had made a romantic evening set-up - and reality; he had a fading bunch of flowers, some household candles, and a posh takeaway on order.

He thinks he has married a go-getting Successful business woman, when he's married a flashy marketeer who has no substance and is all about appearances achieved through modern smoke and mirrors.

And in Jim and Jazzer scenes we saw this in action - how reframing reality using today's marketing speak changed the earthy and real Jazzer into a flashy management git, and how seductive that idea of himself was.

The mystery to me (one of many) is that Natasha is sold to us - and to Tom, and family, and everyone - as this whizzkid business genius, who presumably excels in advance planning, problem-solving, critical thinking, troubleshooting, and all the skillz a modern business person needs.

And yet she parked her brain at the door and married SausageBoy after what seems like a couple of weeks, knowing that he was a farmer, knowing he was part of a family enterprise, knowing he lived in a small gossipy village with all that entails. She might not have known everything but she did know that much, surely?

See the Justin SL - a Very Important Business Tycoon with a smart wife who in RL would be in somewhere exclusive in Chelsea but who improbably ended up in erm, Ambridge.

To be charitable I could grudgingly concede that N might have married Tom on an epic rebound from Trevor but ultimately it's really crap scripting and the whole thing just sounds clunkily engineered.

I am beginning to think I am the bonkers one for carrying on listening. It is really poor at the moment.

^^ this!

• delurking as I feel compelled to comment. I started listening to the Archers as a student in the seventies. I've returned to the programme in the last couple of years after a hiatus and I find it so disappointing. The plots are all over the place. Those actors attempting accents universally make a hash of it, especially the Grundy branch, young and old. I struggle to find a character I like these days, David being the only tolerable Archer left.

Brian and Jennifer never fail to delight so I really hope the SW give them an airing.

It's almost (but not quite) bad enough to be good.

While Natasha was still living with Trevor, she knew Tom through the Nuffield. They had known each other for months before they started dating. He might have appeared quite different when he was smartly dressed and attending presentations etc. Plus we know that she was unaware of Helen's history; did she know that Helen and Tom have equal shares in Bridge Farm, or did she think the farm was Tom's? She might have thought his job was mostly managing the farm, rather than being hands on with the pigs.

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.)

StationView, HumphreyCobblers - it's 21 years now and I'm still firmly clinging to that grudge, which is presumably why I had no sympathy for Hellbent during the tunabakegate saga and all that involved.

So well put bucking!

To be fair, he wasn't as hands on with the pigs when he had Jazzer. At least he wasn't as busy with them.

I know Jim is just trying Jazzer out of his and Kiki's way but I'm with him, we need Jazzer to get a good local job and hopefully a girlfriend. I live in fear of opportunities knocking from further afield.

But Natasha knew that Tom was organising the honeymoon because Tony told her. She managed to drop enough 'hints' about the rice and flowers she likes but not enough to steer him with regard to the honeymoon. I suppose it was too late as he had already booked it but it still feels like nonsense.

It's making me feel quite anxious now whenever a scene with T and N starts. He sounds so desperate and placatory and she's so controlling and dangerous. It's like a cat playing with a mouse....giving it just enough space to get away and then WHAM, out come the claws and it's dragged back.

Y Y to Bucking - spot on.

Farmers don’t get many holidays, though. Especially ones with livestock. Natasha should know enough farmers to know that.

I bet Jazzer is back at the farm on a fat pay rise by then of next week.

Gnasher hasn't been happy with Tom, and their relationship, since he scuppered their chances of living above their means in a flash house. She especially hates the flat above the shop. Good riddance I say.

Oh and Hilda's animosity, along with Peggy's questions, really put the lid on it .

Tony's weird neediness where Tom is concerned didn't do much for her either.

Re sausage boy can someone explain who makes the sausages, when and where and how they are marketed and distributed? I really don't believe any of this happens.

Just caught up on last night.

He is a first class muppet isn’t he. Neither of them deserve each other. But the whole script line is so unbelievable I don’t really care much...

Lass There is a silent character, an old boy, he has a name I can't remember, who does the sausages.

Oh btw I really don't believe any of this happens Ha ha ha ha , don't you?

The thing is Constanza If I told you the things that happen, and have happened, in our village in REAL LIFE you wouldn't believe them either!