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.

Kelsey. Edward Kelsey.

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!

Erm.... I've just put our banner up today, and mass tidy up started this week . We are pretty low key, just chatting to visitors, not many activities really, but it does all have to fit into what is an already busy time of year for us. One of the main advantages is having a damn good reason to get things tidied up after winter! I do agree though, that Gnasher will get it wrong somehow, probably totally ignoring the core business in favour of the new app, whatever it's called...

dfw I assume that you have done this before so you are dusting off existing plans, that you know your danger hotspots (beasts and/or machinery) and how to manage public access to them. Gnasher is starting from zero, with not much knowledge. I hope that she does draw on Bridge Farm expertise as much as she said she would.
But I still wouldn't let a uninformed newbie showcase my business, family or not.

That is true R4, we just need to update the risk assessment etc. And I totally agree about letting her do it... Just pointing out that not everyone spends months planning their event I've put more effort into the Church Fete at the end of the month Though tbf on the OFS Facebook group there are some people who are a lot more organised than me

Just pointing out that not everyone spends months planning their event
That's just old age! I used to spend a lot of time, when younger, worrying about year-ends and audits but now my reaction is merely "Oh, is it that time of year again? Where's that checklist?"

I have done checklists for repeated work events, mostly so I don't have to be the same person organising it every year. But we don't work in such a high risk environment, and there's no indication that Bridge Farm has done anything as organised as have such a list.

That's just old age!

I'm the same age as Tom (not sure about Natasha?) I didn't think I had quite qualified for old age yet, though my aching knees beg to differ

How much effing bunting was there? So much has been turning up for so long that it feels as if there must have been several miles of it.

There were. It's made of the same material as Tomntash's flat.

New thread needed fairly soon ... any title suggestions? I should be able to start it, if that's OK with everyone else.

And now I've caught up with the thread I see there are a couple of suggestions. Any more?

My money's on Hilary Noakes's cockatoo for the bunting.

Well.

That’s just ... ridiculous.

As Chris said. A complete waste of time.

It seemed very much like an add-on 'Oh how can we put this storyline to rest?'. If it had been them surely there would have been some clues before now.

Those Button girls showing some promise!

Nasty about the video of Chris, though. :-(

Maybe there will be a box set.

Gasp0de - please do start the next thread. I haven't got a title suggestion, but I'm sure someone will bring some along soon...

I do hope Harrison's planning on a charge of wasting police time against Jim.

I do hope Harrison's planning on a charge of wasting police time against Jim.

A bit paradoxical in this case, because by wasting Harrison's time at the hide, Jim inadvertently gave Harrison's previously non-existent spidey-sense a nudge to solving the crime. So as Harrison himself indicated it was not a waste of time.

I listened to tonight's episode and I'm none the wiser re the bunting. Did Tilly Button take it, or Jim? And if Tilly, what was Jim up to?

^ me too.

I think Tilly Button just found the bunting, and for some reason Jim thought it would be hilarious to use it to play the "joke" on Harrison. So we still don't know who took it. Given that, by mucking around with the stuff, he's taken away whatever chance the cops had of getting any more evidence off the bunting itself, it seems an uncharacteristically irresponsible thing for Jim to do.

Weirdest episode ever

Well, there was one good thing about it.

Or maybe staggers... according to the database www.squiresfamily.me.uk/archers/databases/archers_animals.htm

^ Eccles. Peacock that appeared at the Bull in 1993. Disappeared, to be replaced by Elvis, Madonna and Marilyn, who all met with untimely deaths. Eccles apparently then decided to saunter back once the competition had gone.

And peacocks apparently live 10-25 years... maybe a diet of beer and chips or whatever diet a pub peacock gets confers longevity accompanied by long period of silence?

I don't get Jim's involvement. He has a lively spirit but not this teasing/ baiting. Similar to his determination to dig deep on Shula and Alastair's confabs. He's above that low-minded gossip.

Bloody stupid ep. And doubly so for the tarantula.