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.

I thought an early suggestion for the next thread title (in view of the speed with which we are rattling through this one) might be Curtains for Emma and curtains for Hilda Ogden, but Joe Grundy is still hanging in there (as is the bunting).

@JazzersMaw - thanks, that's a relief

I got into the archers properly about 2 years ago ... Can I just ask, what was so great about Nigel Freddie and Lilly's dad?

Can I just ask, what was so great about Nigel Freddie and Lilly's dad? How long have you got?

@Bohonotbojo Nigel was the original Nice but Dim. You couldn't help but love him, he never had a bad word to say about or to anybody. I think the SWs hope we've forgotten what he was really like because they do seem to have rewritten him with a lot more substance than he actually had.

Killing Nigel off was a catastrophic error in my view. He was a well loved character with much to give.

This is quite a good profile.

He sounds great, need more of that -too many "dark side" characters of late, maybe I'm still freaked out by creepy Rob. Howevy...Peggy's new man seems lovely though

I think you mean Jill’s new man.

Nigel was perfect - the cheerfully enthusiastic posh boy rather like the one who marries later in that some number of weddings and a funeral film .

Johnny is a less dim, less posh version.

@R4, the sudden planning of OFS today annoyed me too. These things take lots of careful planning, certainly isn’t a question of having a few bright ideas one night a couple of weeks before!

Very uncomfortable with Em’s credit spending but listening recently has made me realise I’m much more of the Sausage King’s opinion when it comes to credit.

I worked with someone like Gnasher once, right down to the accent. She was batshit, had suitcases of new clothes she would never fit into, a flash car and an enormous debt. And a temper. What a temper.

Well, Gnasher's a one, encouraging others onto credit, neither of whom have used it much. Will all turn to 💩. Quite soon.

Very uncomfortable with Em’s credit spending but listening recently has made me realise I’m much more of the Sausage King’s opinion when it comes to credit.

So was Emma, until one conversation with Gnasher.

@EBearhug, true. Em is more star struck than I am!

Emmur is in her mid-30s with several jobs and hasn't used credit before but has used a food bank and on the basis of one conversation orders expensive curtains and blinds for a house they haven't even got yet. Will they fit?

The same thought occurred to me Mike - how do you order curtains and blinds for a house that hasn’t been built yet?

expensive curtains and blinds for a house they haven't even got yet. Will they fit?
It is bizarre. I could only rationalise it as Emmur having to buy it NOW! because it was the sort of place that has Bank Holiday Reductions (every. single. Bank. Holiday. Does anybody ever buy when it isn't a BH?).
[snob emoticon]

InkySplatter I only added that bit as an afterthought so nobody was under the impression I moved out into my own lovely home. What I was really getting at was that someone my age would never have been able to bring home a ONS or even a regular boy/girlfriend because the generation gap was wider in the 60s and 70s and parents would have been outraged. My DD never brought home a ONS but could bring home a regular boyfriend.

Might I just say, that aeons ago I did predict that gnasha and Kate would get all pally? Honestly, is no one paying attention to moi?

Re next thread title there's something there about the final curtain call for Joe. And whether Gnasha will make an arras if herself with OFS. And the rich tapestry of Ambridge life. And CMR hanging around.

‘Drawing a veil over Josh’s love life’?

Maybe Emma being blinded by covetousness?

We've heard a lot from Clarrie, but not Eddie. Where's he gone?

All the things I thought I had to lookforward to - first Kate and Lillian, the Kate and Peggy, Brian and JD, and the Gills - have not materialised. And the stuff about Ed and Emma makes me not want to listen, though, being addicted, of course I do.

The Mia Ned misery is a red herring. When Joe dies Ed will inherit Joe's secret lottery win.

I do recall - possibly about 20 years ago, now, but probably not as long as that really - Joe handing over his ‘funeral fund’ to Clarrie and Eddie because of some crisis, which was the result of some misdeed/scam/bright idea of Eddie’s. I recall them trying to decline the offer, or at least making the right noises, but I think they took it in the end. I fully expect in the meantime Joe has been able to gather some more fivers in a shoe box under his bed, even though at today’s prices he’ll need an awful lot more of them even for a basic funeral.

I'm in the queue at Hay Festival, waiting for the Academic Archers.