Call #111 for Archers advice: Is Hilda breathing? Should Joy be breathing? Could Nelson Gabriel be in cryogenic suspension? Discuss The 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 Joy'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 for all the input on title suggestions. I'd missed the significance of 111, but @R4 and DDD, our resident numerologist, were right on to it. Strongly tempted by Bore's suggestion but couldn't resist the chance to mention my favourite ever Archers character, Nelson Gabriel. Have not managed to incorporate a cricket reference, so you'll have to read up on that for yourselves. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_(cricket)

I wonder if this thread will last till Joe's funeral.

When I listen to Leonard I always wonder why Tom Wrigglesworth's dad is now with Jill.

Jenny & Brian house hunting,

It’s highly unlikely that the SWs would move such central characters out of Ambridge. So unless a significantly more suitable house becomes available in the village (courtesy of the Housing Fairy) I’d guess the house hunting story has been dropped for now.

Well, as an inveterate reader of spoilers, I knew in advance that Lily was going to find out something shocking and unsettling from a photo and was desperately hoping that it was a picture of Elizabeth with Robin Fairbrother (or Fairfather as someone on the spoilers thread has named him ). This may have been wishful thinking on our part as it might have signalled the return of Anthony Head

I thought Leonard was going to propose when they were in the hospital. The actors did a really good job of conveying the warmth between them. I hope he does soon, they are lovely together.

Anthony Head is in Motherland at the moment if you need a fix.

I don’t find David’s reaction to Leonard is unbelievable. He is a man who has lived all his life with his parents - Phil and Jill were/are as much a part of Brookfield as the farmhouse itself. He has never known his mother with anyone but his father (the SWs tried to rehash the Grace rivalry, but this was all before David’s time). Since Phil’s death Jill has been as devoted as ever to her children and grandchildren, now in her late 80s she has met someone else - David is finding it hard to see her as anything other than his mother. It’s not an inheritance thing - that was all tied up after Phil’s death - it’s about cutting the umbilical cord and realising Jill is a person in her own right. I find it a realistic scenario in a way that I find the Lily/CMR stretches credulity.

I wonder if perhaps Joy has won the lottery, come in to a wedge of cash and moved to make a new start in more affluent surroundings. She’s desperate to fit in and has invented her back story. Or she’s in witness protection with a new identity.

I hadn’t lived with her for 25 years and I still found it really weird when my elderly mother started dating! I can so empathise with David on this occasion!

Forgot to say I find David's reaction totally understandable too. My parents are in their later 80s and have been married nearly 60 years. I actually can't even bring myself to think about how I would feel if one of them started seeing someone else after being widowed. Selfish, I know.

Oh, and thank you, Aardvark! I haven't been watching Motherland. Will check out i player later.

It’s highly unlikely that the SWs would move such central characters out of Ambridge. So unless a significantly more suitable house becomes available in the village (courtesy of the Housing Fairy) I’d guess the house hunting story has been dropped for now

Grange Farm farmhouse is available. Is it attached to a working farm (and if so who farms it?) or is it a standalone house ? What is Oliver going to do with it?

I so wanted to like Motherland.....

I felt like that about Fleabag, Bert. I watched the first episode or two of series 1 and just couldn't warm to it.

Ah- I loved Fleabag! So you might like Motherland....

AH is not in all the episodes. Very small appearance in the first one. Watch the one about the weekend away in the country, that’s the one he has the biggest part in.

Grange Farm farmhouse is available.

Yes but no but ... How would the purchase or rental of Grange Farm fit in with the financial downsizing made necessary by Brian’s prosecution and Kate’s intransigence? I’ve always assumed the Home Farm house is roughly similar in size and value to the Grange Farm house.

The Russ and Lily storyline is so tedious but have I missed an episode? He said he had explained all about Lara. What did he explain?

His desperation to make himself useful/ invaluable is funny tho'. He must be realising the gravy train is heading for the buffers.

I’ve always assumed the Home Farm house is roughly similar in size and value to the Grange Farm house.
In my mind's eye, Home Farm is a splendid brick-built expanse put up by some nouveau riche in Georgian times. Grange Farm is a medieval half-timbered affair with strange, odd-shaped pokey little rooms (apart from the main hall) and beams that you bang your head on.

The David storyline is ridiculous. I'd be more inclined to believe that he would look after his mother if he had done anything remotely similar before. He has never lifted a domestic finger in his life.

Lily and Johnnie???

They were superbly sweet together at the party - but I had completely assumed they’re too closely related to be a thing. Otherwise it would be perfect.

Bit disappointed in the Bella thing - though I guess we couldn’t really assume he’d spend forever with his first serious girlfriend.

Joans3rddaughter, I wonder why Egg's dad is Jill's fella.

Fairfather was mine
Bring me the voice of Anthony Head!

Yes, R4 - I should maybe have said I imagine they’re very different in style and period and, pre-flood, in presentation. Latterly they both had expensive new kitchens ...

It would be immensely satisfying if the BBC could indicate the relative price of all the main Ambridge houses. The little pictures on the house site are a bit rubbish.

He said he had explained all about Lara. What did he explain?
We all missed that episode! Presumably it was some vaguely plausible blather that you would swallow if you were in lurve.

David cooks a mean ragout.

I imagine Grange Farm to be a large farmhouse, Home Farm to be a manor. Willow Cottage was meant to be a small cottage, barely bigger than a granny annexe.
I see the whole downstairs of Willow Cottage being smaller than the Home Farm kitchen, and it having a smallish double bedroom and a boxroom.

Lily and Johnnie are second cousins.