Fast falls the eventide for Joe Grundy, the darkness deepens for Ed - will he be fenced in or is there still time for acts of pennants? Abide with us and discuss The Archers, thread #104!

[GabrielleNelson]

Thank you, @PseudoBadger, for kicking off this long, long series of Archers threads and @DadDadDad for being our resident statistician and keeping the ball rolling when Pseudo stepped back a bit and more recently when someone forgot they had promised to start the next thread, ahem.

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 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!

For newer listeners, lurkers or those who just have no idea what we're talking about, DadDadDad has created this useful thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/radio_addicts/3557323-For-Archers-fans-a-guide-to-acronyms-on-the-long-running-discussion-threads-and-any-other-meta-thread-questions-you-may-have BOOP point for him! (See thread for explanation.)

Thanks also to LillianGish for the splendid thread title. As actor Edward Kelsey died last month, we have probably heard Joe Grundy for the last time, or will do very shortly. RIP Mr Kelsey; many thanks for creating a wonderfully vivid character, gnarly toenails and all.

As pointed out on the last thread, we're getting very close now to the 100th birthday of June Spencer, who plays Peggy Woolley. What an achievement! I hope the team manage to squeeze Peggy into that day's episode, come what may.

Thanks for the new thread Gabrielle

Well that was exciting.

Nice to see Will getting his housework done by a woman. Again.

While David's public showdown was ill-advised, it's amazing the minimising of Kenton's debt to him is taken up by others. I've forgotten how much it was. Also Kenton's jibe about David getting the farm, what was Kenton's inheritance?

Interesting possible exit for Freddie.

echt The Brookfield Inheritance is discussed on the BBC TA blog.

But Will did the vacuuming while Lizzie was in the kitchen.

Will tore up the bereavement leaflets.

Thank you for the new thread Gabrielle.

For once I heard tonight’s episode live rather than as a podcast as I drift off to sleep. I thought Elizabeth speaking to Will was good but I think he needs a man to speak to him as he will disregard anything a woman says, after all what do women know about anything apart from cooking & cleaning?

Checking in!

Evening all.

Frustrating (in a good way) listening to Will and Lizzie. So many things that must ring true for him and yet he won’t/can’t see it.

Where the feg are they going with the bunting thing

The bunting will be a huge anti-climax - we know they don’t do deliberate comedy well.

OTOH David’s apoplexy was the most hilarious thing I’ve heard all year.

Will and Elizabeth were lovely. I adore it when they put unexpected characters together

That was good.

Thanks for that, George. Most enlightening, especially Elizabeth's views that her children's interests were being sidelined when what matters are Phil's.

I suppose it was too much to hope that Will would see the light after an afternoon with Elizabeth, book counselling and get himself sorted...

Just trying to estimate when we last heard Elizabeth and Will speaking.
I have a vague remembrance of a cricket nets scene when Freddie was much younger?

Elizabeth was appalling over the Brookfield inheritance. The breathy, gentle voice vanished completely. She was like a supercharged Violet Elizabeth Bott, thcreaming and thcreaming until she was thick.

I've detested her ever since.

Thcweaming*

I’d thought there was an impromptu conversation with a widowed Archer sister shortly after Nic’s death - maybe in the village shop or outside St Stephen’s. But I realise it must have been Shula.

So I can’t remember a previous Will & Elizabeth conversation either!

It was good to hear Lizzie trying to help Will, but I think she'd have been better off not mentioning that she hadn't yet paid her condolences over Nic's death. You've left it a couple of weeks - an apology. You've left it a month - an apology with a good reason. You've left it 15 months - that moment has gone, forget it and move on. You might have hurt the person by your absence but it's too late to do anything about it now.

I think last night’s episode was there to lay the ground for what happens next to Will - the suggestion of mental health problems followed by the loud sound of leaflets being ripped up. Couldn’t be clearer. What is the likelihood of Will turning to Elizabeth when he hits rock bottom? I would say zero before that scene, but more likely now. I think the leaflet ripping indicates he definitely has further to fall.

This isn't showing on my Watched list (although it's telling me it is) so just adding this to see if it helps. Nothing to add that someone hasn't already said.

Thanks for the "crackling" new thread. Couldn't find it for a moment and felt akin to a child turning round in a shop, and finding itself alone.

Freddie going? No. Just no. I love his voice with its twenty shades of whine and self pity.

That little gold mine up in the attic - will CMR get to it and flog the lot for a few pigs-in-formaldehyde pieces?

I enjoyed David's outburst. Kenton is one of many who needs a kick in the seat, I think.

Thank you for the new thread.

Good episode I agree. Though I had to laugh at David referencing his slogging away for three years at agricultural college! He’s a bit old to be moaning about that, more relevant is all the hard graft put into the farm over the last few decades.

I found Jill very irritating defending Kenton because he had a large VAT bill. As if a) Kenton and Jolene were surprised they had to pay VAT and didn’t think to have the money saved over the course of the year and b) David’s business pays no tax and has no bills.

I could do without another brotherly rift - the Archers siblings seem to be on a constant round of getting along then falling out with one another.

I think the episode marked a change for Lizzie - recognising that she had bottled up her own bereavement, and using her long silence to open the conversation with Will about grieving taking time.

Thanks for the new thread Gabrielle Nelson yes a very clever pleasant name for an Archer's addict! Who were you?

ref. pig milk IMO most pigs (esp. the industrialised ones) are exploited enough without contemplating milking the poor beasts.

I thought the episode was verging on the ridiculous. “I HAVE NO BROTHER”

I know. David can be a bit bonkers at times, but making a ridiculous public scene like that was completely out of character.