The Archers #109: Pulp Fiction! Hammer Horror (Tracy), Carry On (Brian & Neil), Call the Midwife (Adam, Ian, Lexi) - but no political thrillers, Ambridge remains Brexit-free. Nitpick here!

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

Thank you, @PseudoBadger, for kicking off this long, long series of Archers threads.

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. grin

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 www.mumsnet.com/Talk/radio_addicts/3439443-keep-it-to-yourself-the-archers-spoilers-thread-4, 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 to Bucking Frolics and LillianGish for the title ideas, which I had to edit down a bit to get under the character limit.

I wonder if Lily will have gone back to Manchester by the time we've filled this thread.

The Editor must have all the scriptwriters play the pen and paper game of 'consequences' to arrive at these random storylines that get kicked into the long grass after a few weeks.

I suppose this is what happens when they have 3 editors in the space of 2 years; all keen to stamp their identity on the plotlines.

The trouble with Will is that he isn't a team player. I suppose he could become a woodman/forester (there is good money in delivering seasoned wood for stoves round here).

Can anyone suggest any alternative careers for Will?
Childminder?

Anger management therapist?

snot

I suppose he could become a woodman/forester (there is good money in delivering seasoned wood for stoves round here).

I thought that, but we have Jamie Perks for that, if only the SWs would remember him.

Maybe Will could be employed by the rewilding project to do the actual work. It seems pretty unlikely that they intend to do the physical labour involved. Although Ed is probably a better candidate.

I thought Jamie Perks was a tree surgeon.
Would Will be safe in charge of a chainsaw or axe?

I guess Tim is looking for a new delivery driver, and Will already knows about the pesticides...

LillianGish
the tension is entirely undermined by the fact that The Archers has already had a gamekeeper killing himself so I feel it’s unlikely they’d do it a second time (another example of seeing the nuts and bolts rather than being able to lose myself in the plot)

That exactly sums up how I am feeling at the moment: I can't work up any particular interest in anything that happens now that I have started to watch why the editorial team do what they do rather than wanting to know about the characters and how they behave. It has become just a little too obvious that the characters behave as the editorial team say they should, not as that character would.

Since VW retired in May 2013, we have had

A gap with producer Julie Beckett standing in
Sean O'Connor December 2013 - June 2016
A gap with Alison Hindell standing in
Huw Kennair-Jones January 2017 - October 2017
A gap with Alison Hindell standing in
Jeremy Howe November 2018 - ?
(Howe was announced in February 2018 but only credited as editor in November.)

Is it surprising that it's all a bit clunky and confused?

Keri Davies says the plan is for a few hundred acres of land to be rented for the rewilding project. Does anyone know what sort of costs that would involve?

He also says "Btw, we are not saying that Pip and co-have all the answers. Folk need to listen for longer to get the full picture." Hmmm.

No farmer will give up a few hundred acres of productive land without adequate compensation. Since the plan is to take this land out of cultivation permanently that compensation Will have to be given in perpetuity or the land will have to be bought, surely. Farmland costs thousands per acre, so hundreds of acres will cost much more than they have.

Rewilding is far more appropriate where land is not very productive, for example restoring the Scottish highlands to native woodland. Or for marginal land, but my impression of Ambridge is that it is mostly productively cultivated or grazed land. Is there permanent rough grazing? That anyone can do without?

Lakey Hill?

Tonnerre
Keri Davies says the plan is

Do you have an exact quote?

If he means that is what they are going to do, rather than what they have said they will try to do, he really ought to learn to keep quiet! The actors are not told what is coming, and if they accidentally let out something from a scene they have recorded before it is broadcast they get into trouble, so why is it ok for a random member of the production team to start giving away bits of plot in advance?

We already know the plan is to rent a few hundred acres - what's the issue?
I quite liked David being put in his place. He thinks he's cock of the yard in Ambridge.

I have a bad feeling that all the 'sheep land' in the cooperative is going to be deemed "ripe for re-wilding".

I'm not sure why David and Ruth are so short of cash - what about the Prudhoe legacy and the loan repaid by Jill on behalf of Kenton? I don't remember them having any loans/mortgages on their fairly sizeable farm.

Madcats my dh said exactly the same thing, but with added swearing. Quite a lot of swearing.

We already know the plan is to rent a few hundred acres - what's the issue?

The issue as anyone on here who is any of a farmer, agri-economist, rural surveyor, agri- advisor could tell you is that this plot line is completely bonkers.

Oh I agree that it's a completely ludicrous suggestion and that the whole charitable trust story is a farce but I meant, specifically, that we already knew that this was their plan. KD isn't leaking a secret if he's said that since Rex and Phoebe first raised their plan with Pip.

Re Joes passing...I know the Grundy only recently lost Nic but in real life deaths don’t happen all evenly spaced out. I do think they are being disrespectful. I’m sure it will be a peaceful end and not part of a shocking storyline...after all we know it’s going to happen.

What will be heartbreaking is Berts reaction...losing a dear friend after losing his wife etc.

Dipping my toe in to say that when Ruth said she'd been told their proposal was a very close second, and she dismissed it as no consolation, my antenna twitched and I thought that could become very relevant.. Imagine Pip's reaction when her project is junked and the one she jumped ship from is hugely successful.

Or is that just wishful thinking?!

Isn't the Flower and Produce Show normally around now? I wonder how they'll deal with the usual Bert/Joe rivalry?

I really like the new Editor!
What I really like is that he's brought in "multi dimensional" scenes. Where you can hear people still talking in the background while something is happening in the foreground. It sounds more realistic - although I do hope it doesn't harm the listening experience for those who have hearing issues.

Imagine Pip's reaction when her project is junked and the one she jumped ship from is hugely successful

She'll still be goldenpips and it will be glossed over. Either way she benefits.

One of the many annoying aspects of the whole nonsense is the attitude of most of the applicants that it was about getting their hands on the money first and conservation second. The rewilding scheme was the only one we heard which wasn't first and foremost about injecting cash into a family business

Yep, that irritated me too. I was actually hoping it would go to one of the 'outsiders' once Peggy had changed it from just being a family thing. Pretty sure that if their schemes are that great then they'd be able to secure backing for at least part of them from regular sources.