💥 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.

If they're still in America it's unlikely they'd fly over for something where Oliver wasn't seriously injured.

I may be imagining that the last time he mentioned them was when Caroline died.

Just to say Feds for police has been used by the counter culture for decades.

It’s still American though @TheSparklyPussycat isn’t it? Since we do not have a federal system here.

I seem to recall that Oliver revealed that when he and his first wife divorced he ended up not seeing much of his children - two of them? The child(ren) took his wife's part, possibly at her instigation. Were we ever told what precipitated the divorce? I believe he farmed in North Borsetshire but sold up at the time of the divorce to effect a clean break financially with his ex-wife. He bought Grange Farm with what was left.

Does he have a daughter called Eleanor or have I imagined that? I think it was a daughter who's in the US, anyway.

Two daughters and an ex-wife all in the US, (IIRC).

And (again IIRC) the daughters suggested he should leave Ambridge and move to America after Caroline died, but he wasn't interested.

George and Keira now have their own rooms which I don't suppose they would have had staying at Susan's.

I am fairly sure that Ambridge View has four bedrooms, as someone said above; and is it actually legal for a fifteen year old boy to share a room with a nine-year-old girl, especially when they are not full siblings? A single-parent friend of mine once found he had somehow got to build an extra bedroom into his small house when his son reached the age of ten and should no longer share a room with his younger sister.
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I think only Oliver's favourite daughter Eleanor moved to America, and I think she has a young family there. The other members of his family are not in contact with him.

I’m pretty sure there are no laws that dictate who can sleep in one room together. That would effectively criminalise poverty. However I think that local authorities tend to have rules that require them to house families in properties with a minimum number of bedrooms depending on the age and sex of the children. Not sure how that led to your friend’s situation Asking, maybe the daughter was uncomfortable anyway and he did it for that reason?

I don't think there are actually any laws about it but you get extra points (or whatever they do nowadays) when seeking social housing. A friend of my daughter shared in room with her brother until she left home (2 bedroom terraced house). There must be loads of people in homeless b and b accommodation who are sharing rooms with siblings and parents.

Maybe it was the diktat of a social worker keeping an eye on a (gasp shock horror) single father, tidd'n natchrul -- as they would have said in Bristol back then. I know he was desperately afraid the children might be taken away from him, at one point, even though the mother had walked out with a new lover when the son was six and made it clear she didn't at all want her children thank you. It was a while ago.

Sorry if I've missed a post somewhere...

Do we know for sure if when the programmes come back, Covid-19 will have made an appearance in the Village?

Or is this just idle speculation about those vulnerable people ...?

I wonder if the plan was for Kirsty's wedding to be a mirror image of the first one, with Kirsty being the one not to turn up?

What have I missed? Have I been in the shower at SouthFork for an eternity? When did Emma ever go out with Roy?

She didn't, I was desperately trying to find any man in the village so she wouldn't end up with Ed.

I was desperately trying to find any man in the village so she wouldn't end up with Ed

Alistair!

Johnny, Josh, Rex, Toby, Oliver, Jim, Jazzer, Alistair, Wayne, Jamie,
or Russ, but she might be too old for him.

Thanks, @Langsdestiny, I wasn't keeping up at the back! But Roy, why would you think of Roy, when there are so many other viable candidates available. Gavin or Blake, to name but two?

Why am I crying this time?

Hello, I'm new to Mumsnet but not to the Archers. I met my husband through the Archers! We are young so our friends think it's hilarious. I've finally caught up, just in time for the break

I'm a bit surprised the episodes for the next few weeks are all from this century - is it because they changed from 15 to 13mins, and the slot is still 13mins?

Deep, deep gloom. Oh well, we must all be big brave girls and boys now and keep on nattering about the dip into the archives. I see we only have about 80 posts left on this thread. Any suggestions for a title for the next thread? I wonder if we'll be back to the present by then.

@ticktackted tell us more about how you met your husband!

Yes, re yeh archive, I would love to go back to the eighties and hear Elizabeth and Cameron Fraser , Kate going missing and Jenny’s surprise pregnancy with Alice.

I looked at the list of episodes to be aired and one is called Lockdown at Brookfield - was there an earlier lockdown?

foot & mouth related maybe?

Ah yes, probably.

Yes, that was another time when they had to do some pretty rapid re-writing. David decided to go into lockdown to try to keep F&M off the farm. I can't remember to what extent Ruth was involved in coming to that decision, but she accepted it. Nearly 20 years ago, sheesh! Where's the time gone?

@ArgumentativeAardvaark we have mutual friends, he was moaning about a spoiler he'd seen for the Archers... we were engaged just months later!

I'd love to hear older episodes! There's a lot of background we could learn more about...