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?

I don’t think there would be much crossover between the type of couple who want to get married in a barn on a working farm and those who want to get married in a stately home. Not the same experience at all - though I wouldn’t put it past the SWs to milk it for conflict. I thought Kenton’s comments about David not being the right person to play host were spot on though.

Robert is Just Not Like That. And they share a bed (that's what I think). And Lynda would not call it "magic time." (Although thinking about it, this suggests that Robert is good in bed just as l imagined)

I don’t think there would be much crossover between the type of couple who want to get married in a barn on a working farm and those who want to get married in a stately home

If the couple knew exactly what they were looking for- if the starting point is googling "Ambridge wedding packages" then there is competition.

There is a bit of crossover because they are both historic buildings in the same part of the Borsetshire countryside but there will be a big differential in prices which is usually the dealbreaker.

Fascinating insight into the content of TheSilveryPussycat’s mind!

I’d imagine the unheard Eds and Emmas might aspire to the barn but wouldn’t even consider the stately home?

But I daresay the SWs will manufacture some conflict.

But I daresay the SWs will manufacture some conflict.
If LL, Brookfield and The Bull joined forces they could probably collude sew up all strata of the local market. But who needs profit when you can have a ruckus instead?

The Mediaeval barn at Brookfield has only existed since October 2018, so it really isn't that old.

If the barn that Keith Horrobin burned down in 2012 had been Mediaeval the insurance would have made a lot more fuss about it, and rebuilding it would have taken a lot longer than the very few weeks it happened in.

It was particularly silly since the plans of the Ambridge farms in Anthony Parkin's 1989 book published by the BBC show an Old Barn at Bridge Farm and an Old Barn at Home farm, but two modern Dutch Barns with open sides next to each other at Brookfield. There is no building at Brookfield suitable for use as a venue for either a play or a wedding, even if the Brookfield barn had not been burned to the ground seven years ago.

I always read but never post on this thread, but after last nights episode i just feel moved to whine 'what a load of tripe'.
I started listening to TA around the time Nigel died, and I was instantly rivetted.
Now? I listen through habit, rather than desire. What has gone so wrong?

Poor Nigel. I wish they hadn't deaded him.

Got behind again but popping by to vomit over “magic time”. My ears can never un-hear that.

I was startled by ‘magic time’ not bu the fact that they have it nor what they call it (yuck frankly) but does this now mean the bedroom door will be opened further by the ta scriptwriters. Please god we don’t go into certain couples’ domestic arrangements !!!

Delving further into my mind, I seem to recall many threads ago there was speculation on Ambridge residents' love lives. The consensus was that Eddie and Clarrie were particularly well suited IIRC.

I do like a Kenton and "Dave" scene, so that was pleasant. But the rest? Nah.

I don’t understand how Hannah still has a job. If I was 1/8 as rude to my manager I’d have been shown the (sty) door by now! And it’s not like she’s subtle about it.

On previous threads when we have been trying to find functioning marriages in Ambridge, Robert and Linda have been held up as an example of a good relationship, they have ruined that now.

if the starting point is googling "Ambridge wedding packages" then there is competition - I had been going to add that the venues would appeal to different couples unless they were fans of The Archers, but that's just silly. I don't think someone looking at LL with it's ballroom, orangery, treetop walk, haha, and Jacobean charms is going to be happy with a modern barn on a working farm (to say nothing of the presumed difference in price). Also I imagine LL will organise everything for you whereas at Brookfield you are essentially renting a space and have to organise everything on top of that. Not the same thing at all. You might just as well say that Clarrie and Eddie's attempts at BandB were in direct competition with Grey Gables.

Thank you for that clip echt . I’m very glad I didn’t watch that at work!

What a piece of work Hannah is. Thank goodness Justin took Neil's part.

What stone has Jill been living under not to be aware of the tradition of ghost stories at Christmas? Her "concerned" wittering at Elizabeth was awful and so insensitive.

Oh BOOP Justin !

Never thought I would say it but....

Justin I think I love you 😍

BOOP for Elizabeth!

And an almost-BOOP for Justin.

Jill is at her very worst ...

And another personality transplant- don’t be silly, David.

Elizabeth gave David some very good advice, l thought.

And David took the huff purely and simply to allow the SWs to have a "dramatic" Christmas meal at LL.

I had no idea it was traditional to tell ghost stories at Christmas.

I had no idea it was traditional to tell ghost stories at Christmas.
The full name of Charles Dickens' novella is A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas