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.

Are you suggesting R4 that country dwellers are free to ignore the advice to practise social distancing? That’s very concerning.
There's a fair distance between us at the best of times.

I guess they could write in someone commenting how they weren't able to visit Christine because the home isn't allowing visitors.

@R4 but not if you go to the pub, which is the point that pps were making re TA scenes having to change. I’m sorry, but I am not finding flippancy about CV very amusing and worried that people in the country will genuinely think “oh, not much CV round here I’ll just carry on as normal”.

“oh, not much CV round here I’ll just carry on as normal.”
Not normal but you do have to keep calm and carry on. What's the alternative?

Must admit I’m currently longing for my previous country life. And wishing I could scoop up my family and transport them to an isolated house surrounded by fields. Though I’ve read enough dystopian fiction to know at least half of us would be wiped out by zombies during the journey to this promised land.

Anyway, Ambridge Organics and the village shop should do well while the local online grocery deliverers adjust. Although, realistically, The Ambridge Tearoom should go bust. (Hope this happens at the same time as Emma falls into a brilliant new opportunity. Still haven’t forgiven Fallon ...)

@R4 surely the alternative is stopping going to the pub as per government advice?

ArgumentativeAardvaark you seem determined to argue. I said "not normal". Which bit of that don't you understand?

I just hoped you agreed that people in the country should also stop going to the pub @R4!

Stanley Johnson has apparently just said on TV that if he wants to go to the pub he'll go to the pub! Tricky times indeed for soaps. Do they aim for realism and show people behaving stupidly or do they follow the government line, reverting to the old TA function as a heavily sugared pill of govt propaganda?

We have one of those community pubs near us (sadly not my local). They are planning a meal delivery service for the elderly/self-isolating and are setting up a library for books/games/jigsaws etc.

Sarah Montague (World at One) is doing the whole broadcast from home (though presumably there is somebody in a studio somewhere pressing lots of buttons).

"Stanley Johnson has apparently just said on TV that if he wants to go to the pub he'll go to the pub! "
I blame the parents.

I drove through a fair bit of London yesterday evening taking someone home after a weekend visit.

There seemed to be plenty of people in the pubs we passed.

Maybe it doesn't count if it's on the South Circular on the side away from Central London? Or something?

No services at St Stephen's for the foreseeable.

There are pubs full in London now. Madness.

Sarah Montague (World at One) is doing the whole broadcast from home

Yes, I heard her saying it was a test run - and thought of the Archers producers tearing out their hair ...

Lower Loxley, having survived losing its alcohol licence, will go bust as every conference and wedding will be cancelled. Grey Gables will be threatened too. The Bull will survive only by reinventing itself as some kind of community service and dropping the B@. Maybe the Ambridge tearoom can keep its tables 1 metre apart and set up a cake delivery service. No more trips to Les Soeurs Heureuses (sp?) for JennnyDahling or Lilian. Pickers can't travel to the UK to work on Home Farm (or can they?)... So many implications.

R4 I'm a country dweller too. We have very few confirmed cases of CV because no-one is being tested, but lots of anecdotal evidence of people having symptoms/being in self-isolation. I believe it's far more prevalent in the community than many people here think.

We have completely stopped going to the pub and seeing any friends. DH is trying to persuade me it's safe to get a takeaway curry.

This morning i saw a group of 3 people out for a dog walk together, 2 of whom I know. One is a man who must be in his mid-80s, the other a woman my age. I was shocked as there didn't seem to be much distance between them all.

Perhaps Grey Gables can be requisitioned for emergency hospital beds?

Or could have been, if the kitchen wasn't out of action.

All self-isolation shows is that people don't want to catch it, though; it doesn't mean they have or have had it.

Of course, when Ambridge finally catches up with the world outside and everyone starts to drag covid-19 into absolutely every conversation about anything, the world outside will then move on and covid will become yesterday's media-fodder.

So Kirsty and Philip's party should be called off immediately. Any other storylines that have run into a brick wall. What of Jim's extension?

I'm really not happy about Lynda.

It sounds to me as though she is tying up loose ends, and making her peace with the people that she (or Robert) have been at odds with lately. It's just something in her voice that suggests she knows the end might be very near. I sincerely hope I'm wrong.

And why was Roy so bothered about Kirsty not wanting a cup of tea? Was that meant to signpost something.....

Finally, I didn't think Adam could manage to sound even more exhausted than he usually does - but he did! More signposting, perhaps?

It was odd about the cup of tea. Pregnant?

Is Lynda still the same actress?

Is Lynda still the same actress?
As far as I know. But it's not the same Lynda.

The non-appearance of CV is getting frankly laughable. Poor editor, he chose the wrong time for his Big Storyline.

... making her peace with the people that she (or Robert) have been at odds with lately. It's just something in her voice that suggests she knows the end might be very near.

I felt exactly that! Robert was talking about the future - and she seemed far away, as if she’d already moved on. It was - chilling.

Did wonder if Adam might be being set up as First Virus Casualty. (Even if accidentally.)

Yes indeed, poor Editor.