💥 Archers thread #117: Welcome to the only C19-free area in the world! 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 think Phoebe is a genius, 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/3853783--The-Archers-spoilers-thread-5-Cant-wait-for-7-02pm-Join-us-here, 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.)

I put the BOOM! emoticon in the title as I thought it could transition into a vague likeness of a virus if we're still going by early May, when we expect some wild contortions from the production team to get Ambridge back in synch with the rest of the world. I think I would have preferred them to ignore it altogether but I suppose they couldn't.

Birmingham Moor Street is indeed a lovely station.
Moor Street is indeed lovely, as is just-down-the-road Curzon Street (Grade 1 Listed. It is to be repurposed as the HS2 terminal).
Hollerton Jcn has, fairly recently, been moved a few hundred yards down the track to a brand new (aka soulless, identikit) building.

I don't like the suggestion that Grey Gables has stale bread.

Gosh, this is excruciating. Poor Roy. No one's going to give any credence to his suppositions after his head injury ...

I’m hoping that Helen’s presence at supper tonight will be significant - ie, she will take on the role with Phillip that Kirsty did with Rob. Just hope this is resolved by next Thursday!

Poor Kirsty.

Who could Roy tell though? Phoeble might be able to help or PC Plod.

I'm enjoying the Philip story. At last a villian whose villainy has not been signalled by the way he ordinarily speaks. Chilling when he spoke to Blake though.

I wish they would get it over and done with. I'm really loathing Phillip. And Kirsty for that matter.

Poor Roy.

G'wan Roy, you can do it! (Ideally before the Archers lockdown)

What is the date of the wedding, do we know? Will it come down to Roy telling Kirsty hours before? Poor Kirsty, she hasn't had much luck with men.

Maybe Roy could talk to Oliver, who shared the fire report with him. I too hope it will be resolved before the Archers universe morphs into our current universe.

Thanks everyone for the Gill storylines. I hope we will meet them in some form soon. They are all great but Jaspinder and Balvinder plus children would add some much needed diversity to Ambridge.

Thanks also, Brillig, for explaining about the challenges of the actors recording remotely.

I really hope modern slavery ends before we move onto the repeats. Phoebe could redeem herself by helping Roy put two and two together but that is unlikely to happen.

We have a house, well three mansions near me that belong to a family that use them as their holiday cottages. They have minimal interaction with the locals despite having children. But they do use the local stables. The only other interaction is when you suddenly encounter 3 or more black limousines on a country road.

I do hope someone is going to ask the question - if Blake is allegedly with his family now, where the hell were they when he was in hospital?

Phoebe could redeem herself by helping Roy put two and two together but that is unlikely to happen.
That could only happen if she serendipitously met Brian and he helped her count on her fingers.

Shula can’t even be pleasant to her own twin for three minutes or accept (well deserved) criticism, is she being set up for a big fall at the Bishop’s interrogation? I do most fervently hope so. And what about the thing with the chocolate bunny?She basically stole what must have been a very expensive donation to charity, she needs a good tongue lashing from Lillian, at the very least. I would be furious if I’d gone to the trouble and expense of providing a big prize only to have it eaten by the organiser without a word of explanation. Personally I’d like her arrested for theft as she leaves for the interview thing, handcuffed and put in the stocks on the village green to have rotten fruit thrown at her by Tracy’s children, but I’ve always been softhearted.

if Blake is allegedly with his family now, where the hell were they when he was in hospital?
I wondered that but explained it away by saying that they couldn't afford it (transport from Norfolk, Travelodge, loss of wages). But you would move heaven and earth if you thought that he was at death's door, wouldn't you. Or at least make a phone call.

Norfolk???!!! And yet Philip says he has known him since he was a child? I appreciate that was a spur of the moment invention, but why not pick somewhere in Wales? That has to be the next thing Roy will pick up on. One thing's for sure, now Philip says he drove him home he can hardly tell the police/accident investigators/whoever he doesn't know where he lives. I doubt the matter will be resolved before Thursday which makes me think it might be carried over until after lockdown. I just hope Blake doesn't meet the same fate as Stefan - almost certainly another of Knob's victims whose disappearance was never satisfactorily investigated or explained. Who will be locked down where? Will Gavin be living with Phil and Kirsty and if so who will take care of Blake and the other "horses"?

Has Philip actually driven Blake to Norfolk then? I assumed he was back with the other slaves.

Ah I misread.

And am thick...

That was a weird tissue of lies, though. I suppose Kirsty starts from the position of wanting to think the best of Philip, but she's not supposed to be thick - surely she will spot that there are holes a-plenty in that story of Philip's.

I don't think the SWs will be brazen enough to have her jilted at the altar again, so will Philip be unmasked before or after the nuptials? If before, I hope the house is indeed in joint names.

Kirsty is coming at it from another angle - she thinks Blake should be getting the blame and doesn't want Philip deflecting it onto himself. Now he's fabricated this relationship and a vague address for Blake she will be on his case. Philip will be caught in a pincer movement between Roy's suspicion and Kirsty's compassion (for Philip not Blake).

I also need to go back and listen again to Harrison's interview with Philip.

He was going to say" Norfolking chance of me telling you". but stopped because it was before the watershed.

Not a fan of Shula Chemenger?
I can think of more disagreeable clergy than she's ever likely to be. Having Kenton do the interrogation was never going to work ; close family aren't objective and you can't get much closer than your twin brother! Besides, Kenton acts like a teenager half the time so it's hard to take him seriously.

I do hope Roy oils those rusty cogs in his brain. Philip will have the wind up now though.

I’ve never concealed my dislike of St Smugula. I really don’t see how anyone is sticking up for her after she casually smashed the prize in a charity competition, scoffed it, and said nothing to anyone. She stole CHOCOLATE at Easter, is there a more heinous crime?
Kenton was trying, in his own inept way, to help. If her answer to “what are your strengths” really would have been “I’m conscientious with paperwork”, after the long process of introspective meditating and reflection that she has supposedly gone through, then she is not so much shallow as totally lacking in a third dimension.