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?

Why is the village being asked to "buy Joe a pint" to fund the wake. What happened to the money raised for the Beechwood deposit? And why, yet again, are the Grundys not investigating what Government funding is available?

Is government funding available for a wake? I can believe there's a burial grant, but I wonder how far it goes.

When I reported my father's death (pension, tax etc.) I was asked if I needed any help with burial costs. I didn't but appreciated it being offered. It wouldn't cover a wake, though. Surely they could have it at the Bull, just provide sandwiches etc. and people could buy their own drinks at the bar.

I’m sure they will have it at The Bull! How many times had Joe ever stepped into the Tea Room?

It’s painting by numbers script writing - putting an obstacle in the path towards what they ultimately intend.

Just listening to Sunday's episode. Why is Alf's accent completely different from Eddie's?

I'm sure I heard on a consumer radio programme that the burial grant doesn't even cover a very basic funeral in many cases.

The wake at the Tea Room bemused me, too. Wouldn't The Bull have a bigger capacity?
What's the current state of play between Emma and Fallon?

Alf has been inside and is living in Gloucestershire. He's be about 70.
His accent may have changed since he lived with his family. You'd expect their voices to be similar.
Ed and Will don't sound similar.

Oh yes and I wonder where the collection being raised at the Bull will end up?

I can accept Alf’s accent. What I’ve found extremely strange is the recording of his voice. It sounded as if he was in a completely different environment to the rest of the cast.

I wonder where the collection being raised at the Bull will end up?
Don't tell me that Alf steals that, too.

I have no crystal ball but the way things are going with these SW's it wouldn't surprise me.

I agree with you about them writing as if they're pushing pieces around.

If the wake is held in the tea-room, I hope someone warns Jim beforehand.

I don't think he's set foot in there since he encountered Harold at the birthday party.

Jazzer seemed concerned about it the other night, I think.

Totally forgotten about the wake being in the tearoom. Odd. No reason why Fallon couldn't cater for it at The Bull if she wanted to offer that to help the family out.

There's the reason for the tea room being chosen JIM. It's GOT to be dramatic hasn't it? SOOOO bloody stupid.

I would expect Jazzer to warn him beforehand.

It is odd having the wake there, it's only a small place, the pub will have much more room, plus beer on tap, rather than in bottles or cans, and Joe spent his time in the pub, not the tearooms, so there must be some "dramatic" reason it's being held there.

Im going to disagree with Quater; I think that Alf's accent is weird. The trouble with listening to R4 on catchup when everyone else has left the house is that you spot the "actually, I would rather be doing Shakespeare in a theatre" undertones creeping into random bits of Alf's voice. Probably less obvious when it is something on the telly, but his stage voice is a bit too boomy for the R4 studio. That aside, I do like some of Alf's misguided observations.

What happened to the Ambridge Green Burial Ground? I am sure Lynda and Mike Tucker had something to do with it at some point. People used to go on and on about it. I'll be cross if they don't pop his coffin on the back of a carriage and take him up there. Is it normal for there be such a wait before the death of a very elderly man.

Nevertheless I suppose that we should be thankful that Shula is clearly too busy writing her introspective memoir to offer them solace and Peggy is too busy worrying about Hilda to consider asking where her re-wilding progress report has got to.

I am rather worried that there haven't been any shouty episodes recently. I hope it isn't the lull before the storm.

Joe will be buried in the churchyard because that is "next to moi Susan", and the green burial ground did not exist when she was buried.

Clarrie mentioned that she had arranged for Joe to be buried with Susan in the churchyard.

Actually Madcats it may be the staginess you’ve perceived that makes him sound to me as if he’s performing in a different room!

Alf’a accent seems at least to have stabilised now, initially it was swinging wildly between Scotland Wales and generic yokel.

I vaguely recall Oxford College detective work on the thread by people in the know. 'Interview on x date, must be Oriel', that sort of thing. Not sure if it was confirmed on air.

Joe's wake being held in the tea room is the biggest pile of shite I've heard in a while, and that's saying something!

Madcats 'Tis true I'd forgotten about that Green burial ground. There's no way that The Grundies could afford it ; my ex oldest friend was buried in one recently it costs a fortune.

I do think they could have bothered to update Joe’s entry on the BBC Archers website ...

I was convinced it was Oriel. I heard it with my own ears but I can't remember if it was JD, RotaBoy or Phoebe who said it.
Phoebe called herself Phoebe Tucker, which
Asking says not.