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.

Joy as a plot device works well now that we've lost Joe Grundy with his way of identifying people by first and surname ('morning David Archer')
When she was walking round with Tony, we were treated to a mini who's who and who's where (like Tracy H explaining where she lives.
Useful for newer listeners and anyone who misses chunks.
And i quite enjoy these recaps even as a listener of 30+ years.
If only the SW could have introduced a less clunky character with some (any!) nuance.
And I thoroughly enjoyed yesterday with the return of devil cat and hearing Oliver who i could listen happily to for hours!

Yes I didn't mind that episode at all. Kate and Alice together were lovely. I am not sure that telling Oliver about the rumours was a kind thing to do.

Bore, The personality transplants are so annoying, I wonder if the actors complain.
I liked the old Pip, old Clarrie and old Tom, but not the new ones.
I couldn't see the point of the Faredodgers but if it means it brings me the voice of Anthony Head I can't complain.
We don't need new characters. Batasha is an Archer - can't we hear her.

So glad Hilda is back safely. Wonder who the white cat belongs to though - did I hear Alice mention someone called Beatrice?

Also, now that the idea has been planted in Oliver's head, I suspect he might begin to view Tracey in quite a different light.

The old saying, 'might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb', springs to mind.....🐑

Obviously the white cat is Joe’s spirit animal, returned to guide and protect the animals of Ambridge.

I'm more interested in the cats than the humans! THREE NEW AMBRIDGE CATS!!! Catto, Buster and the white cat! Stroke of genius from chemenger that the white one is Joe's spirit animal . And if Buster fathered half the kittens in the village, where are all these kittens/cats now? Lots of potential new storylines there!

Woaaah chem [holding two fingers up in a V] and do do dodo do do doodoo

Hmm ... I suspect the SW was trying to win a bet this week.

Wonder if there’ll be another new cat tonight.

Wasn't Joe a ferret and pony lover, not a cat lover?

Recently one of my cats, we'll call him Bill went missing. I was a bit worried but also very busy, so I actually spent quite a bit of time casually asking his brother, Ben where he was.
Of our cats we tend to think Bill is the brightest. But Ben meowed to go out and then a couple of hours later meowed to be let in. And he was leading his brother. I am convinced he found him and then helped him come home. I put it down to being brothers but maybe another cat could have done the same thing?

Kittens

The Carmen story sounds tedious and unlikely.

Hang on a minute! None of this makes sense.

Hilda's only been away for a couple of days.

Surely it would have been glaringly obvious that she was pregnant for quite some time before she disappeared.

I can't believe nobody noticed

Surely Peggy would have asked the hairdresser from whom she got Hilda whether she'd been spayed, and got her done if so? Also cats' gestation is 9 weeks, but this seemed to be rather sudden. And why hasn't Hilda got pregnant before?

If I may be permitted:
Intern's DM: What's the matter, darling? Why are you tearing your hair out?
Intern: I don't know what to write anymore...
Intern's DM: You like cats, why not write something about Ambridge cats? And kittens - everyone loves kittens.

got her done if not*

Delighted as I am to hear of the arrival of FIVE KITTENS, I agree this doesn't make sense. When Peggy got Hilda from her hairdresser (is that right?), surely Hilda would have been taken to see Alistair for any necessary neutering/worming/de-fleaing etc. And that was a couple of years ago - maybe much longer, we don't hear enough of Hilda - so if Hilda was fertile, she would've had kittens before now.

My cat was waddling about like an over-inflated rugby ball for several weeks, before she had her kittens, and she was only carrying three!!

Peggy would definitely have have had her spayed.

And the Carmen storyline is stupid. Unless it’s Eddie winding Alf up.......

Silly stuff all round. Of course Peggy would have had Hilda spayed as part of a general check up when she first got her. I know nothing about cats and care less, which I know is a hanging offence here, hence the strikethrough but as everybody else has said, surely she would have been obviously pregnant at the start of the week? As for Carmen, I don't know what comes next, but I'm not optimistic.

I did have hopes of the lottery tickets, though, but I suppose Joe would have checked them all - except perhaps the last one he bought?

Wonder if there’ll be another new cat tonight.

MysticSurpriseSpaDay strikes!

I do hope they're not planning to bring Alf in as replacement lovable rogue. For some reason SWs always seem to think all that ineffective scheming and manipulating is comedy gold, whereas it's simply incredibly tedious.

And any charm Kate’s being a free spirit stuff may once have had is completely worn out now. She’s 40, ffs.
And are Tom and whatshername still in Cuba? There was so much “signalling” about that storyline and it’s vanished. So annoying.

The Hilda story is ridiculous. If Hilda were unspayed when Peggy got her she would have gone into heat and Peggy would definitely have had it done then.

Alf is horrible and boring.

Is Hilda acting as a surrogate for a couple of toms in the village?