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 think that the actress who played Kate originally (I have forgotten her name) DID do Strictly a few years ago, she did rather well too.

Well one of the previous "Kate's " if not the original now plays Tracey.

Kate has been played by Henrietta Smethurst when she was a child, and then by Susie Riddell ditto, and then since 1995 by Kellie Bright, before Perdita Avery took over in 2014.

Kellie Bright won a Best Actress and a Best Dramatic Presentation for her work on EastEnders in the 2015 British Soap Awards, as well as being runner up in Strictly that year. She hadn't appeared in TA since 2012, and was replaced by O'Connor as Kate in December 2014 -- one of the many younger members of the cast whom he replaced, including poor Tom Graham who seems to have learned he had been given the sack when he was told someone else had been recording as Tom Archer.

Yes thanks Asking. Kellie Bright is an all rounder.

I loved Tom when he was played by Tom Graham. He was replaced because they didn't think he sounded like he was related to Tony.

And surprise surprise; William Troughton did sound similar to his father David, who took over as Tony after Colin Skipp had retired on health grounds.

I didn't notice Tom Graham not sounding like Colin Skipp being any sort of problem during the rest of the century though.

Official notice - Phoebe has a degree! Now we know. Shame on Roy for not slipping in what classification though.

They probably only slipped in that one line because we kept badgering them!

Anyhow. Just at the point when I was about to throw my radio at the Grundys doing their best Grundy impression - the SW turned it around. Hope this LL story’s going to be fun - and a proper tribute to Joe.

I was waiting for Philip to fall off that ladder, they were playing that scene like an episode of Casualty in the old days where the horrific accident would be set up with heavy signposting.

The graduation would have been a huge deal. Or was JD too wrapped up in Dander to notice.

Phoebe probably only got two guest tickets, which is standard for undergrad ceremonies. So probably Roy and Kate/Hayley. Jenny wouldn't have gone.

Given that choosing between Hayley and Kate would have caused huge resentment all round, it might actually have been a much safer decision for Phoebe to invite Roy and Jenny.

I do feel a bit cheated of all that.

Of course Jenny would have gone.
S'pose the intern wouldn't have known.

Yes they missed a chance for some proper, ordinary, drama.

Jenny would surely have done some sort of celebratory meal.

Sigh.

I seem to recall opining on an earlier thread that the entire clan would have gone, with all but the favoured ticketed two watching the ceremony live-streamed to an overflow room. Then a huge celebratory dinner at Quat’ Saisons or somewhere - courtesy of Brian.

Right.
So Phoebe’s graduation was a non event. So that she can concentrate on staying in Ambridge. Well, bollocks to that.

Dreadful, isn’t it?

Feels like an actual deliberate downgrading of all female academic aspiration.

So glad Elizabeth's refusal of the cider press was rescinded it, would be the death of Joe. And when are the SWs going to allow the character to go? While not exactly the same as Phoebe's degree, which has been ridiculous, the necessary silence of Joe has rendered some the Grundy plotlines unrealistic.

Roy and Jenny would have been bursting with pride about Phoebe's degree. It's absurd that no fuss was made.

You can usually watch Oxford Graduations over the internet nowadays.

Feels like an actual deliberate downgrading of all female academic aspiration

Yes - can't believe that Phoebe's achievements are dismissed in a one liner and not even mentioned by Jennifer or Kate. Considering the endless bollocks we put up with with Pip's stellar achievements at Felpersham technical college.

Remember Pip’s A levels?

Sorry-Lily’s A levels...

Why bother getting her into Oxford at all if they were just going to forget all about it and keep her in Ambridge? There was no reason or precedent for her to go to Oxford - it seems that not only have they sacked the archivist, but they have no one planning the story arc going forward. Also what about Lily’s place at Manchester? She’s obviously not going back, but there has been no discussion of why she left in the first place. I’m losing the will to invest in any of the storylines as it feels as if after the initial flurry of drama, the plot goes on the back burner in the hope we will have forgotten all about it by the time the characters resurface.

Could it be that instead of Phoebe following the traditional Oxbridge graduate route of further study or a graduate training scheme, she is using the skills she acquired there to change her own community (and then the world) through her inspirational rewilding scheme. Maybe she is more her mother's daughter than we know and is drawn to nature, the land, a unconventional career/vocation. Or would we prefer her to do a law conversion course and become a city lawyer?