Archers thread #115: Johnny's in the gym, Josh is in a jam, Rex is riled, Kate's with child - 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 share a camomile tea with Kate, 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 @LillianGish for the excellent Bert Fry tribute title!

I don't think this thread will get us to Easter, but we should be well into Lent before we need a new title. I wonder if St Stephen's will have a new oh-so-interesting Lent initiative this year. When did we last hear from Alan?

Yes, I'm really surprised Jakob hasn't questioned how the 'pregnancy' could have happened in the first place.

There's no way he would have risked having unprotected sex (not just to avoid conception) It's just not in his nature.

I'm still not convinced Kate didn't set out to become pregnant on purpose...

how old were you when you started listening to archers? Was it a family thing, your parents listened so you grew up with it, or did you come to it another way and if so what prompted you?

I was in my late 30s.
I came to listen because I loved the thread titles and was curious. was during the height of helen/rob.

This would have been a handy primer for you, Graphista Just spotted them in a charity shop where I'm visiting. They're novelisations of the major events in Ambridge from 1967-2000. Some of the photos on the back jackets take me back - eg a very smouldering JennyDarling 🔥🔥

Oops, 1951 to 2000.

I started listening in the early 80s when the lunchtime repeats were switched on every day in the place where I was working at the time. The habit stuck. I've gone for periods when I've stopped for a while, but always gone back to it there's no escape

I like Shula. I couldn't stand the Grundeys, Lynda or Susan when I started listening. I was jealous of Ruth, as he should have married me, but he made the right choice.

I will never forgive the dedding of Nigel.
I will never forgive them for replacing the Real Tom Archer.

I have always had a soft spot for Neil and Robert.

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00DVW8YGG/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1&tag=mumsnetforu03-21

Graphista. If you're into reading this looks like a good place to do a long catch-up.

Personally I think Jacob is far too good for Kate, she's not kind to anyone in her life, all about her. Run, Jacob, run,

I first came across the Archers when I was around 14, visiting a friend of the family who listened to R4 all day. My family were firstly, R1 listeners, and then Capital Radio. As an adult, I occasionally tuned in to R4, but found it mostly boring, until a few years after my diagnosis, about 3 years ago. Like Graphista, I'm mostly housebound, and spend my days laying on the sofa, so I enjoyed listening to the mix of programmes, and especially the dramas. That's when I got into TA.

I discovered Radio 4 and TA in my university days when entertainment consisted solely of either the hifi or the radio, with the very occasional foray into the designated TV Room in the JCR.

MUM. Sorry, can't remember. Did you say you liked Pip, or not?

I've been a Radio 4 listener since my early 20s, I think I started listening to the Archers regularly in the late 70s or early 80s with a gap of a few years in the 2000s. Then I caught an episode by accident in which Rob was telling Helen what to wear and thought 'aye aye' and started listening regularly again.

This overview of The Archers is well worth a read:

en.uncyclopedia.co/wiki/The_Archers

Where is Johnny's hair loss storyline leading, I wonder?

Will it go on to highlight mental health issues in young men?

OR

Will it lead to Freddie's arrest, and subsequent wrongful imprisonment?

Freddie could very easily go back to prison if the authorities don't believe the (true) story about the magic hair pills

The Archers was on over supper growing up so I’ve been listening for most of my life. I listened on long wave when I lived abroad after uni and got very annoyed when it was cricket instead of the omnibus.

Welcome to the thread @Graphista .

I have been listening all my life (and its life) with occasional gaps when the uncoolness of it was too much for me... I learned about the death of Diana Spenser on the Sunday morning after it happened when my mother rang and asked whether we had happened to record Friday's Archers because "that stupid woman has managed to get herself killed and they've taken off the Omnibus!" I assumed it must be the Queen who had been killed, because I couldn't credit the BBC would do that for a divorced ex-royal, and we talked at cross-purposes for a bit.

I don't think I have mentioned that I absolutely despise Pip? Just not so much as I despise Helen and Kate. They have less excuse for behaving like spoiled twelve-year-olds: they have had even longer to grow out of it.

I like Helen and Kate. They are both consistent. I don't think I would like them IRL.I liked Old Pip, she was ghastly, but she changed.

I remember exactly where I was when I heard that Princess Diana had been injured in a car accident. It was late at night, and I knew she wouldn't make it.

Thought you might close ranks

I started listening at university (so some 30 years ago ). We'd listen to the omnibus in bed. Then I stopped for quite a few years as children got in the way and have only really returned in the last 4 years or so.

We'd listen to the omnibus in bed.

Such a lovely, evocative sentence. An ex of mine objected to such blameless activity - he said it was too depressing.

I must have been listening before I was born, as my parents always had the radio on. In my memory The Archers was both supper time and squeezed somewhere amongst Listen with Mother and Woman’s Hour, around lunchtime. Carried on all through school and university (Lonely Cow emoji) and wept at Mark’s death while going through a horrid relationship break up in my early thirties. It’s been the one constant thing in my life for over half a century.

(Have been on the thread since the beginning and it’s the thing I miss most when I occasionally attempt to break free of MN. Listening ‘alone’ feels deadly dull now!)

I was a bit surprised that Kate accepted the pregnancy test result. Chemicals being more reliable than her knowledge of her own body? Surely not!

Motoko My issue is that it ONLY gets discussed on Women's Hour. When it will directly affect 50% of the population, and indirectly a large chuck of men.

There is a huge amount of ignorance about the menopause & HRT, even among well-educated middle class people like my friends (probably typical Archers listeners). And even many GPs, it's not even part of their formal training.

I agree -- and just to be clear, wisteria in my last post, I did say that Kate could have perimenopause at her age (rather than menopause itself). It caused me havoc in my forties, too!

m.youtube.com/watch?v=1iTyQxiB6O4

just leaving this here: bradly walsh on 'pip'

They've also discussed them on the medical programme, and You and Yours.

Ed seems to have forgotten he dumped Emma. Didn't want her, but doesn't want anyone else to have her.

MikeUniformMikeplease stop mentioning you hate Pip, it's got very boring- no offence!

No it isn't. It amuses me. Carry on !

What an unpleasant person Lillian is.

Lilian has recently been turned into a stubborn old fool, which she used not to be.