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.

Jakob must be back soon. I hope he tells Peggy and Kate off for being irresponsible cat owners.

Hilda would have had dozens of litters in the time Peggy's had her, if she wasn't spayed. We took in a stray who had a litter. We asked the vet when we could get her spayed, and they said once she'd weaned the kittens, yet she got pregnant during that time, so we had 2 litters to find homes for.

It's completely unbelievable that this is the only litter Hilda has had.

Was pondering on the invisible Gills and the possibility of the Aldridges returning to the Home Farm house. What could enable such a restoration of fortune?

Ah, yes. Peggy. She ought to be next. But the woman sounds immortal, ridiculously hale and hearty.

Perhaps they’ll have to wait decades for Ruairi to make his fortune.

Or even ... Xander?

That's a lovely idea, DDD

Made my day, has that!

Just caught up with the last week.

Congratulations Bore on the Hilda prediction.

Is Alf Irish?

I think David's comment about the price of lamb crashing is a big indicator as that is a prediction for Brexit. They were clearly getting scripts ready for post 31st Oct but now that's all off there are going to have to be a lot of rewrites and tedious storylines to fill the gap

So now they're changing Oliver's personality; why would he care about the gossip?, he's not the type.

I’d imagine he feels far more vulnerable to social criticism now he’s a widower, ppeat.

I was glad Tracy stood up to him so robustly - The Third Mrs Sterling is going to be magnificent!

He's her employer.

Oliver was worried other employees at GG would think he gave Tracey the job, against advice, so he could take advantage of her. I can understand how that would worry him although I hope they do get together eventually.

I think Tracey is genuinely hurt. She’s learnt to ignore gossip.

I think there is too much about cats.

Where are all the dogs?

Have we even heard about any dogs apart from Lynda's Bichon Frise a while ago?

Most country families have at least one dog, if not more. More than cats.

Yes, we heard lots about Ben's dog.

Holly-the-dog, whom Ed bought for George to make up for having killed Will's dog. (Last we heard she was not house-trained.)

Lynda's Doberman Monty. (Named after the Montgomery who wrote about an orphan, not after one of Helen's hobby-cows.)

Ruby, bought for Lilian by Matt in order to annoy Justin.

Kai (I think) is Will's vanishing gun-dog who only exists who Will is a gamekeeper; when he is at Grange Farm the dog is apparently not there, and doesn't need to be fed or exercised.

We heard a lot about Scruff in his day.

Umpteen years ago there was Captain, Jack Woolley's dog. Gosh, even longer ago than I remembered.

www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thearchers/entries/949bc08e-bf04-38c5-90d0-b501e4015a59

According to this, he bought Captain in 1978 as a 3 month old Staffordshire Bull Terrier. He died while Jack and Peggy were on their honeymoon in 1991. I suspect that was Death by New Editor, as Captain was featured a lot in the 80s during William Smethurst's reign.

And all of Mrs Antrobus's Afghans. Portia and so on.

Just listening to the audiobook of Northern Lights and Mrs Coulter is Lizzie. Very disconcerting.

We've only heard about Hilda. Which other cats have we ever heard about?

www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thearchers/entries/f02b8a18-e284-48ad-bea6-203818c4f7c2 Blog post from the BBC called Dogs of Ambridge!

Doesn't mention Lynda's dog Hermes, who was the child of Captain and Portia.

www.facebook.com/notes/archers-appreciation/named-animals-who-have-appeared-in-ta/10154360294986358 Facebook page listing all animals ever named in TA.

Amazing what you can find on the internet!

The Facebook page I've just linked to lists the following:

Cats
Bill and Ben: Two kittens given by Joe to Peggy in November 2000, sadly Ben has died.

Hilda: Peggy’s new cat (May 2017)
Lone Ranger: Freda Fry's stray cat who died in 2007 from a bite feared to have been from an escaped snake. This led to stories of The Worm of Ambridge, a legendary monster, resurfacing — thanks to Joe Grundy's fertile imagination.
Sammy: Peggy Woolley's cat was always finding himself in scrapes and being indulged by his owner until he spent the last of his nine lives.
Whisky: A Siamese cat belonging to Mrs P. which was a present from Walter Gabriel.

I see that Peggy had all but two of the cats listed, and the final one belonged to her mum, Mrs Perkins.

The lack of cats-and pets generally- is odd. I’ve never known a stables without cats, for example. And surely Tony would have a dog? And none of the children have ponies.

The children who're the right age to have ponies aren't well off enough, I'd surmise. Henry would be the exception.

Rob was keen to get Henry riding and along to the hunt. The Grundy children - there's Bartleby and Gem, but no one ever seems to have ridden them at any point.

Pat mentioned having a couple of feral ratting cats around, which have never been mentioned before, so there could be tons of pets no one has ever mentioned. It's unlikely that none of the farms have cats around, at least for rodent control, even if they're not house pets.

Jazzer has Webster. And Brookfield had a muntjac for a bit.

Eccles the peacock, who appears to be very long-lived.

Umpteen years ago there was Captain
Hence my user name. Those were Jack's words when he found out he'd died. Also a poem by Walt Whitman (O Captain my Captain our fearful trip is done..).