The Archers #110: Game(keeping)'s up for Will. Game on for Lillian & Vince, Tracy & Oliver? Game over for Joe? Stay ahead of the game with all things Archers 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.

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 LillianGish for the title idea. Very tempted to go with MrsGrindah's suggestion of It’s all a bit crap and boring at the moment but let's be positive, maybe things will look up in the coming days ... Also very taken with Lexi's Midnight Runners - Burpers, maybe? - from Madcats.

Not at all happy about Lily not going to university. Yet another bright Ambridge woman not fulfilling her potential. Why do they do this?

Hannah was shitstirring as usual. I don't know to what end- she always seems full of secret, often pointless, manipulative plans.

I took the guttering as indicative of a) her ascension to manager and b) the impact on Neil's of the last few months re Emr and Susan. Or, that Neil will prioritise actual named pigs over his management role. He's a pig man not a boss, in short.

Go Lexie! Far, far away, ideally.

Thanks Lilian The useful plane crashing onto certain soaps, reminds me of DD who used to edit a particular TV programme with "Holly' in it's title. They would regularly have fires to clear out some of the worst actors

She got fed up of "polishing a turd" As she politely described her work!!

Now Brian is changing his character, he was being quite reasonable to his crazed wife, is he trying to placate her ?

Prediction:
Hannah and Ed

Prediction:
Hannah and Ed
Poor Ed, she's worse than Emma.

Hannah's an open and sharing sort of person. How about Hannah and Ed and Will?
Are we due another one woman / two brothers storyline yet?

Neil is not a six-month-procrastinator. Another personality transplant the way things are going it wouldn’t surprise me if Hannah had got Neil fired before the week is out. She is another character who has had a personality transplant since she was first introduced. The Brian and Lexi scene was a bit silly - included I thought to hammer home to listeners that Lexi was doing it out of friendship in case anyone should be left in any doubt. The surrogacy storyline is all about giving Ian and Adam a baby to bring up together, the surrogacy itself is just a little hump to be got over in the road before the stories of two men bringing up baby’s start to kick in.

I think Brian is just trying to find a solution to Jenny losing her mind. It was going fine until he whipped out his cheque book.

I must have not been listening properly when Rex started talking about Basil the boar - is he a new young boar with no experience or an old one that's lost his mojo?

Agreeing with others up-thread. Neil built his own house and has always "made do and mended" so I find it very unlikely he wouldn't make sure that the piggery was in good shape. Eddie Grundy maybe, but not Neil.

Presumably it is of sufficient size that they would get contractors in from time to time too.

I think the main problem with the Archers at the moment is that they have had far too many writers who have not listened much in the past and/or the cast and SWs are so worried about their regular income (or not, as the case may be) that they dare not pipe up to say "no, they wouldn't do that".

I am hoping for better things now that Keri Davies has that cookbook out and is firmly back in the writing team.

hahaha Brian caught out

With Neil, I think we are supposed to think that he is so bogged down in spreadsheets and forecasts that he has put maintenance on the back boiler. But it's not convincing.

And the way Hannah speaks to him! Not on, he's her manager FFS

None of it is convincing.
Brian and JD would have talked together and got their story straight to avoid allegations by Lexi.
Neil can manage Parish Council meetings so I don't know why he can't manage Hannah.
It's tosh.

Is it that intern's fault.

JD will cock-up her apology by telling Lexi it was because of her fears of Lexi taking the baby.

Another one who wonders why Neil takes that crap from Hannah.

I don't see why the the boar not being interested in mating is being presented as entirely Rex's problem. Rex doesn't own the piggy-wiggies; he is managing them for Neil, and being paid to do so. If there is something wrong with Neil's boar, isn't it Neil's business to replace that boar, not Rex's?

no I don't think Brian and Jenny would have discussed sufficiently before approaching Lexi. They clearly don't think very much of her, so why would they need to guard against being 'misunderstood'? What kind of woman gives birth to a baby, decides that after all she can't give it up, but then is persuaded to move away to a different country and presumably never see it again on the promise of a new job? A woman who will do that is not going to make a fuss when offered a big cheque, she has no pride, dignity or maternal instinct.

I don't think Brian and Jenny would have discussed sufficiently before approaching Lexi.
It's not the 'before' that I'm quibbling; it's the 'after'. The Aldridges should have agreed to stick to the "she misunderstood, perhaps it got lost in translation" narrative.

I was just thinking about the woman who has donated her egg to AdamIan. It's all very welll to talk about surrounding a baby and child with love but they grow up fast and how do you explain to a 7 year old who asks where his mummy is, that he has two and one is in Bulgaria and the biological one is where? Does the child have the right to find her?

I know Neil is abit of a softy but really? No response at all to Hannah's outrageous and total disrespect? The essential condition of trust has gone - and so should she be.

Trouble is, he'll get fired and she'll get his job.

Justin is a tit.

Grrr- Justin riding that poor bloody Arab again.....

Justin was sounding slightly sheepish (?) at Brian wishing him luck with his bid for the abattoir.
I also thought it was a bit stupid to just assume that because Lexi comes from Bulgaria she must live in Sofia!

Prediction: Hannah and Ed

I don't see it because (beyond maybe a bit of casual sex and a device to ensure EdnEmmur don't get back together). Hannah is only interested in men who have something to offer her.

Neil is a nice guy but he is used to managing staff and people and has successfully run his own business for years.

Accepting her staggering rudeness was not in character, nor is neglecting the welfare of the pigs. Another character being distorted to fit a random plot.

Best outcome would be Justin wising up and playing her at her own game and kicking her out.

Does the child have the right to find her?

I don't think so currently but its all a bit moot. With the popularity of online DNA kits from geneologists and others you don't need to make your own DNA available to be identified. Other family members using the kits would indirectly point to you.