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?

Somebody on the writing team is to put it bluntly not getting laid enough. They are obsessed with bodily parts and double entendres.

I must say the suggestion of porcine massage seemed one absurdity too far to me. So no doubt I’ll hear it being strongly recommended on Farming Today tomorrow morning ...

The intern leaves on Friday. The new one starts either today or next week, I can’t remember which.

Having an ability to forget things helps - it means you can ignore lapses in continuity.

PS everyone: baby Macey-Craig is spelled Xander, not Zander. I don't care how it's spelt, it still makes me think of Dander.

Wasn't there an outcry a few years ago when someone (ahem) "massaged" a pig to get the necessary ingredient for AI?

*on TV

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.

Yebbut you will have been nurturing that baby in your body for 9 months, have gone through birth, and will have all those hormones and maternal instincts raging around. Ian's not quite in the same position.

Ah, Asking, I forgot Hannah had been in TA previously. That was before I started listening. Thanks for the clarification.

There are often threads on here about MILs and SILs who think the OP's baby is theirs, this is no different

It is, a bit, since it isn't Ian's baby in any meaningful sense at all, whereas the posters usually are at least the biological parents of the infants that are being squabbled over.

It is, a bit, since it isn't Ian's baby in any meaningful sense at all, whereas the posters usually are at least the biological parents of the infants that are being squabbled over

What an unpleasant thing to say. As an adoptive parent, I can assure you that DD was my baby in a very "meaningful sense" from the moment we were matched. Her safety, happiness, security - everything - was my responsibility and I loved her as deeply as any birth mother could.

Ian may not be the biological dad but it was his yearning - not Adam's - for a baby that made the surrogacy (which I hate) happen.

Oh, Oliphant, I’m horribly afraid that since it isn't Ian's baby in any meaningful sense at all is a snake coiled in the grass and editorially primed to strike in years to come. Doesn’t matter how anyone feels about it - Xander has been born an Archer.

you will have been nurturing that baby in your body for 9 months, have gone through birth, and will have all those hormones and maternal instincts raging around. Ian's not quite in the same position.

Ian has formed an attachment relationship with the baby as any engaged parent or carer would, regardless of whether they were biologically related. Dads do this, adoptive parents, foster caters, other relatives. It's really not odd to want to know where your newborn is and if you don't know where he is, to go and find him.

Missing the point here but if that was Kate actress actually singing, she has a really nice voice.

Doesn’t she! It made me think we should have much more singing in Ambridge ...

She’s an actress. She can probably dance a bit too...

Doesn’t play so well on the radio, Bert ...

I don't know if anyone reads the Radio Times but there is a spoiler about something in it.

Please put it in the Spoilers thread ppeat - I can never make head or tail of the Radio Times so would miss things even if I read it every day.

Ok

I’d love Kate ( or anyone from TA) to do Strictly Come Dancing! Brian would be epic!

Hmm ... I’m not sure about that Mabel. Last time they tried to ‘appeal to a wider public’ we got ... Ambridge Extra.

Brian would be great, although I don't watch telly so it defeats the object. Helen would be a good one as she has been in Corrie.
Or Elizabeth - would appeal to those of us old enough to remember Crossroads. Or EVEN BETTER - Nigel.

So fresh.....