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?

I spent the episode liistening to Lexi and Jenny thinking "this is insane.

Well it was just more of the propaganda. Jenny is the only character who has questioned it at all, she has been portrayed stupid and hysterical over it, now she has a conversion and agrees she was completely wrong ever to doubt it.

At the same time we have a bit of rewriting of history regarding Lexi's supposed great friendship with Ian and Adam, despite this having been non existent when she was working at Home and consisting largely of the odd cosy chat with Ian when she spent a few months working at Grey Gables. And despite the conversations with Roy in which she stressed it would allow her to spend time with her girls where otherwise she would be forced to work abroad.

No agenda there, nothing to see here...

She is the second in command, and it should be as much her job as it is Neil's; possibly even more so

Well quite. If I were Justin I'd want to know why my deputy manager was breaching H&S rules (and quite serious breaching) and not looking after lower level maintenance themselves.

Why not bring in a new character and start from scratch?

I agree. The only connection between Hannah and old Hannah is the name.

I reckon that we will find out that there are mean budgetary restrictions at Berrow which will have been instigated by Justawful and Neil's hands are tied when it comes to maintenance contracts etc.

I am pretty sure that would lead to illegality: the hole in the yard is a health-and-safety-at-work issue, even if the gutter being blocked isn't.

In RL that happens all the time, of course it can led to H &S problems but that often doesn't stop the bottom line being the most important factor does it? Think about Grenfell.

I don't think Hannah's had a personality change, she's always been nasty. She was emotionally abusive to Tom, enjoying her "jokes", getting him worried he'd upset her, making out he'd offended her etc, then saying she was only joking. I was so glad when Gnasher came along, because if he'd stayed with Hannah, she'd have thoroughly messed up his mental health.
We're just seeing more of her nasty side, because the only scenes she's in, are in relation to Neil, who she hates because she thinks he got Emma the house.

I hate her even more than I hate Kate. At least Kate's antics are mildly amusing. Hannah is pure evil.

(Where is she living now?)

Also, Justin was introduced to us as a multi multi millionaire why would he need to get cross with the bank for not lending him some more money?

This has been making my head hurt really quite badly. I’ve never forgotten the impression they gave us of Justin when he was first introduced: godlike, rarely glimpsed, almost always to be approached through layers and layers of gatekeepers, existing purely in the stratosphere with absolutely no contact with ordinary human beings. Probably wearing the world‘s most expensive suit.

And now he’s grappling with toe-rag local bruisers? Bewildered and irate over an obscure midlands abattoir?? Telling us it “means a lot to him”.

Not even 37 Editors in the blink of an eye can explain this ...

Parents of newborns are supposed to be anxious when the baby is somewhere else. It's a normal response to separation and attachment building. For Adam to let Kate take him off who knows where for who knows how long without even telling Ian was pretty odd for a new parent imo.

Thinking of David's confrontation with Justin the other night and his comments about being let down etc I'd say the failing is just as much on his part. He could, at any time, have checked what was going on or worked wiht local farmers to put in their own bid.

I'm struggling to see another business proposal surrendering on Justin's vague say so. If for no other reason than to reassure themselves it was viable.

Also the comments about Justin not being part of the community were a bit rich from an Archer. Jill, Ruth, Peggy, Pat, Gnasher, Nic and Brian all started as "incomers". I don't recall David worrying quite so much about "selling out" when he was capitalising in selling off Brookfield to Justin when the road was being planned across their land. T

I agree. I think Ian was just showing a normal reaction, especially as Xander was with Kate. She was being quite possessive of him, not wanting to hand him back. There are often threads on here about MILs and SILs who think the OP's baby is theirs, this is no different.

I'm on the side of thinking they were depicting Ian as being over-anxious and controlling. Wanting to know precisely where the baby was was pretty over the top, as was travelling round the village trying to track him down. Whatever Kate's faults, she has managed to have three children all of whom have survived and she probably knows a whole lot more about babies than Ian does.

Most people know more about babies than Ian does. Kate's babies survived by virtue of having loving family around to take up the slack when Kate got bored. Phoebe had Roy, supplemented by his family and hers. Noli and Sipho have Lukas's family. Run, Jakob, run!

Wanting to know precisely where the baby was was pretty over the top, as was travelling round the village trying to track him down.

Really? I'm not an expert on this as I'm expecting first child in January. But I can well imagine wanting to know where my two week old has got to. (I did like hearing Kate singing that lullaby, must be hormonal)

Kate's children have survived through no thanks to her, but the other people who have raised them.

It was obvious from what she said to Ian, that she loses interest in them once they're no longer small babies. God, I hope they don't write a script with her having another poor child for her to dump when it no longer amuses her.

But I can well imagine wanting to know where my two week old has got to

Mine was in NNICU so I can't be certain but I'd have thought I'd be thinking "great he's with Auntie Kate, I'm off for a nap!"

She was being quite possessive of him, not wanting to hand him back

I heard it differently. She seemed to me to be saying "relax, he's fine, nothing to worry about". picking up on his anxieties.

Motoko
I don't think Hannah's had a personality change, she's always been nasty.

The personality change in Hannah's case is since her first appearance in Ambridge; back in 2009 she was a sweetie, didn't fancy Tom even a little, and always had a good word for everyone even Tom and Brian -- they were messing her about badly over who she actually worked for.

I didn't see why they pretended that the current, completely different person was the same person. It seemed unnecessary and stupid, when it could just as well have been a new character.

Aside from cracking open something fizzy tomorrow night to celebrate Lexi going home to her gurls, I'm not sure that I am ready to face this weeks' episodes until Sunday.

In the interim, whilst googling something Archers-related I stumbled upon this Archers blog. It is quite good at reminding me of past anger at stupid characters as it seems to go back to 2009:

haharchers.blogspot.com/2019/

It DOES contain character photos though.

Oh ffs this is hilarious. Not.

I thought that the intern was leaving.

Apparently not- maybe he didn’t get the place he wanted through clearing......

Media Studies at Felpersham Uni?

I'm thinking more of someone who once went on a 'Writing to make people laugh!' day at a very earnest local Arts Centre trying to increase its income. Might have been a Christmas gift from a loved one who couldn't think of anything else and thought this had novelty value. Can't have been because the writer actually demonstrated any aptitude for comedy.

Just thinking about this last episode, I thought that at first Kate thought that Basil was Toby's pet name for old man.:o

As for her outrage when the truth emerged, she was the one who most unprofessionally referred to Toby's ability in the sack as consolation before weighing in with the ylang ylang. Hypocrite.

And thanks to whoever pointed out that Kate, like so many of the women says Toe-bee in stead of Toby; It's like an ear worm, I can't not hear it now.

"His" old man.