Archers thread #112: Quelle beau de lollox! And yet we stick with it. 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 Alf to stay around, 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 @DoctorTwo for the thread title! I was strongly tempted by R4's suggestion of Wildlife on Four: Jonneh is wild at Lily, Phoebe rewilds by Occam, Joy is in the wilderness and David is bewildered by a marriage proposal.

So we did make it past Joe's funeral at last. Are we heading for a Christmas octogenarian wedding now?

Vanessa Whitburn said (about Emma and Ed being so starving poor) that they were "no going down the benefits route", but she hasn't been editor for quite a few years now and her decisions may not still hold good.

I don't think that Phoebe would be entitled to any money from the public purse though. She has shown no sign of trying to get a job since she left Oxford in June, and told Shula and Lilian on July 1st that she had not got a job or internship lined up.

So she must be sponging off her family.

Henceforth, she shall be known (to me at least) as Freebie.

I don’t know which SW made that comment but I’d imagine they’re harking back (without doing any up to date research) to their own undergrad days in the 80s, when students could ‘sign on’ during vacations. Obvs that ended donkeys’ years ago.

It really is a shame that all the editorial upheaval has left Phoebe without a properly run story.

Phoebe could claim universal credit but she'd have to be actively job seeking or she would get sanctioned very quickly

Phroebe is a very good name for her.

Sounds like Henwee's turning into a right little thug

Philip ...

Christmas fatality???

Is it just me, or has Christmas started early this year? I remember a complicated "let's all turn our Xmas lights on around The Green" evening event, but never an almighty switch on of Xmas lights. Are they draped around the village shop and The Bull

Well thank you SWs for remembering that Tomtash have a fancy app (and an almighty amount of debt too?). Pat really ought to have a good idea how sales are going (what with their farm being the primary supplier).

As for Henwee (9 next month), I am sure he is being prepped to be a wrong-un who gets a new father figure to turn his life around. In the interim I am not sure I know any 8 year olds who would be happy to spend the afternoon in a soft-ply place without a significant bribe.

On the plus side, we do seem to have been granted a reprieve from the Eastenderfication of our little bit of England.

Surprise, but she is no longer a student.

Did anyone else think it odd that, in these days of camera phones, Pat only had two fairly crap photos to choose from?

I know - doesn’t stop a LSW relying on inaccurate memories of their youth!

With the photo I was waiting for Johnnie or Tom to offer to photoshop them into one perfect image.

I think Ruth was perfectly reasonable and Josh sounded unpleasant - totally not expecting any come back for kissing his cousin and friend's girlfriend in a small village. He didn't sound like her was going to apologise, and his Mum was trying to make him see how this would make life difficult for him such as not being invited to the twins party.

And at my local soft play they have huge slides and things that certainly 10 year olds still enjoy. They don't usually hang around the toddler ball pit though.

Yes all our soft plays have giant inflatables football pitches toboggan runs - 10 year old and his friends still go.

Also johnny getting relationship advice from Tom, words fail me.

Well, Lee, Helen's not going to make a mess of it this time.

You're doomed, mate.

Missed this yesterday! Guardian article on playwright Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti - this week’s TA scriptwriter.

(Whenever I mention her on this thread there is a deathly silence. I wouldn’t want to draw any conclusions about you all from that ...)

Well I don't pay much attention to script writers. Only really notice when one is crass. And can only name one.
And I went through the Coercive control story keep listening a bit like swallowing an unpleasant medicine. I know it happens but it's not what I turn to the Archers for really, and I am the type to seek out Ibsen etc. It's a bit like being someone who does historical re-enactment work, you might happily wear a corset at work but don't want to find your slouch pants at home suddenly have become rigid and constricting.

I don't know what other episodes that author has written.

Lots!

One that particularly stands out for me was at Ambridge View and involved Ed, Emma, Fallon (I think), children, a dog and a scintillating amount of chaos. I hoped then that the other SWs might up their games to meet that high level of drama ...

Would it not have been more convincing if someone other than his mother had asked Tom how the app was going? Presumably they haven’t gone for the last few months without mentioning it? Clunky.

How do you know which scriptwriter has written which episode? I have no idea of any of their names.

(Whenever I mention her on this thread there is a deathly silence. I wouldn’t want to draw any conclusions about you all from that ...)

What point are you trying to make?

I don't know who any of the script writers are.

Whenever I mention her on this thread there is a deathly silence. I wouldn’t want to draw any conclusions about you all from that ...
The only conclusion that you can draw is that I'm not especially fond of drama (and dramatists). TA is the only one I tolerate.
I want TA to feel like eavesdropping on RL. I don't want to be aware of the workings. Correction: I don't want to see the SWs' workings, I do want to see the characters' (believable) workings.

Well, they're posted on the spoilers thread, as well as on the BBC page for TA.

I never take notice of them though, so I couldn't tell you who wrote which episode. I'd have to look it up. I don't even recognise any different styles of writing. The overused trope of talking over someone, so they can't say what they were trying to, is used so often, all the SW must use it.

Oops, I forgot to quote what I was replying to.

How do you know which scriptwriter has written which episode?

Thanks SurpriseSparDay, I had no idea about her background.

I don’t read the spoilers thread or look at the BBC page, so that explains why I have no idea about the scriptwriters.