Archers thread #116: Pandemic fears, markets crash but it's BOOM 💥 time for Ambridge. 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 employ Philip Moss & Son to fix your soil pipe, 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! (New thread likely to be replacing that one very soon, in the current circumstances.)

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 @SurpriseSparDay for the thread title idea, which I tweaked, and @springydaff for the 💥 emoticon, which I hope is in the title! (Can't preview the title). Welcome, lurkers and lapsed listeners, drawn out of the shadows by the current crisis in Ambridge. In the OP of the last thread I said I didn't think we'd get to Easter on that thread. We certainly didn't!

I am very worried indeed about Lynda and concerned about Oliver too. Don't care about Gavin unless it means Kirsty is cheated out of yet another wedding. Freddie's redemption is now assured, though, surely? Roll on the return of the Lower Loxley crew.

Delurking briefly to say that although I wish this storyline wasn't happening right now, I do think it's been really well done. I sobbed at Lilian on Thursday and again at Robert tonight.

Thank goodness Lynda is (relatively) ok 😭

I've just spotted that Michael Lumsden is self-isolating (and hopes to phone in his performance).

I’m really hoping we don’t get brief hope followed by sepsis setting in.

I was a bit confused at them wondering when she would wake up when they previously said that she was in an induced coma. Surely they were in control of stopping the inducing?

I don’t think she is going to die. However soaps have done it before- did anyone watch Neighbours back in its heyday when Daphne was in a coma and woke up only long enough to say “I love you Clarkey” before flatlining? A seminal moment.

intubation is very invasive and dr try to keep that as short as possible.
extubating is pretty traumatic.
plus breathing on her own doesn't mean she's concious. might still be sedated to some degree and definitely full of pain killers.

She spoke, @woodencoffeetable.

I know, I was trying to explain why it was unsure if she's consious or not.

Heavens! (Just listened to the PM’s briefing.)

What are they going to do now? Surely no way they can rewrite this week? Perhaps they won’t have to - maybe all the scenes for the next few days are in domestic settings amongst families. But if the SW has written in a shindig at the pub ...

Btw - off topic but ... will MNHQ be able to continue under the current conditions?

I dont really have a clue how MN works, guess it could be done remotely?

Ambridge is Coronavirus-free.
The B@tshitAmbridge will thrive.

I know, I was trying to explain why it was unsure if she's consious or not.

Unconscious people don’t speak.

I hope there aren't too many episodes already recorded about The B@Ambridge because it's going to be deserted after today's announcement.

Although perhaps they could do a plot about people ignoring government advice & going anyway 'to support local businesses'. Which seems to be happening in my home town. Selfish, thick idiots.

soosun and niëll stuck in spain due to corona is a good one

Ha! Leonard has just popped up in Coronation Street.....very confusing.

It must be nightmarish producing any sort of soap opera at the moment. They'll all have been recorded in advance, and a pandemic that everyone is talking about isn't something that you can deal with by a brief topical insert. For the TV soaps it's even worse, as they rely on people meeting up randomly in shops, cafes, pubs etc and randomly going round to talk to each other rather than picking up phones, and suddenly all of that has to stop. It must be tempting just to carry on an ignore CV with all the soap characters happily existing in a parallel universe where it isn't happening.

I suppose now is the time for TA to fulfil its agricultural remit and have someone (Rex?) suddenly go into market gardening and give us 'how to grow veg' lessons.

Bert (old hand, knows what he's doing) and Rex (rookie in need of instruction) would be a good pairing.

Bert’s in isolation ...

I couldn't believe we didn't get a topical insert last night but it must be like trying to hit a target moving at Mach 1 at the moment.

Surely this means Jill and Leonard will be separated for the duration? Unless they move in together.

Who else?

Bert.

Peggy, Brian, Jenny, Christine.

Lilian. (Not sure if Justin is over 70?)

Lewis. (Might be an opportunity to kill him off?)

Jim (not sure of his DOB but Alistair is 57, so ...)

Robert. And Lynda if she survives. Oh dear, she won’t have much strength to fight disease ...

Oliver - at a guess.

So none of these people should be heard outside their own homes for the foreseeable future. None of them could say there’s no-one else to do their shopping.

(Tony and Eddie just escape the ban on socialisation.)

I wonder how the SWs will divvy up mild, moderate and severe illness amongst the residents ...

(Hmm - ban on ‘socialising’ probably better ...)

I rather like the idea of TA being a CV free zone. As if they are living in their own little bubble protected from the world outside (like The Trueman Show).

As I said, we don't have much CV here at the moment. It's a city problem, not a countryside one (but don't tell city-dwellers that, they can stay where they are). I think most at risk are:
Christine, in a care home with other vulnerables.
Alistair based on Michael Lumsden self isolating the fact that, as a vet, he travels around and sees many people. Jakob, being on the spectrum, won't get a disease spread by social contact.

I didn’t see anything in the government advice yesterday saying that people should behave differently depending on where they lived, apart from the strong advice that Londoners should take it extra seriously.
Are you suggesting @R4 that country dwellers are free to ignore the advice to practise social distancing? That’s very concerning.