💥 Archers thread #118: Back in time for The Archers - catch up with the catch up until the scriptwriters catch up! 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 Philip Moss is in line for Employer of the Year, or other unusual views.

Spoilers: OK, there aren't likely to be many for the foreseeable future, but when we do have some, 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.)

Thanks to @LillianGish for the title! This thread starts at a very odd time for The Archers, longest-running soap opera in the world. No new episodes expected till late May , and when we do get them they're not going to sound like normal, as the actors are recording separately at home and the BBC is attempting to cobble it all together. Tough times for the sound effects team!

The BBC is filling the gap by repeating key episodes from the last 20 years. Some of us here will have heard them before, but not all, by any means, so if you want background on what you hear this is the place to ask.

Over to you! I must try to catch up with the repeats at some point today.

Thanks, Gasp0de.

What's the etiquette for "spoilers" during this period? For example, tonight's episode is an event many of us will remember - in fact, it's a story that generated one of the biggest spikes in posting these threads have ever seen (before the Rob and Helen story). Can we discuss it now, or do we wait until it's been (re)broadcast?

Thanks Gasp0de for your sterling work.

I missed the first few minutes of last night's episode but tuned in just in time to hear Tamsin Greig say "hello, you two". Happy days.

Did Ian and Adam have an official wedding, at some later date, when same-sex marriage finally became legal?

They did Cat. Here's a little thing for you (involves Rob):

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p03c8n5z

Thank you Gasp0de, wonderful opening, as always! Will need the camaraderie of this thread more than ever through these lean (plot-wise) times.

Long belated BOOP for Brian realising he didn't want to be in the same camp as Sid.

Thankyou, PPE

Adam didn't sound any less exhausted fourteen years ago, did he?

Hello. I haven't listened to last night's as Adam annoys me too much but looking forward to catching up on some key moments.

True, and his declarations of love still sound dragged from an ocean of indifference!

But how did I miss this? Charlotte Martin (Susan) showing the home studio she's using now:

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08c07x1

Enjoyed that, PPE. Charlotte Martin looks nothing like Susan to me, but I can cope with that. I've managed all these years with Tamsin Grieg looking the diametric opposite to my mental image of Debbie.

DDD, re spoilers - surely nothing already broadcast can be a spoiler? Having said that, if I've guessed correctly which episode you're expecting tonight, I might make more of an effort to listen at 7.02. Not a favourite, but eventful, IIRC!

I'd like to hear the bit when Justin sacked Rob again. That was glorious.

Theu used to cut bits out to fit everything in for the omnibus. If you had R4 on all the time, because it was the school hols or something, so that you heard 3 versions of the same episode, you could spot it. I suspect Tom Forrest's bit could be shorter or longer depending on the total of what was cut out. I think they brought in the 1h15m omnibus when they brought in the Sunday episode.

We used to record the omnibus on a C-120 tape, while we were out at swimming (lifesaving class.)

Thanks for the new thread!

Thanks Gasp0de for the thread intro and LilianGish for the title. That Rob snippet reminded me of how awful he was, PPE. I had actually forgotten Adam and Ian got married but really remember what a radical step it was to have a civil partnership in a soap in 2006, especially as it was portrayed very lovingly, albeit Adam had the same tone of voice declaring his love for Ian as when when he is discussing a new seed drill with Brian. I see from PPE’s link that they got married in 2015. A sign of how dramatically society can change over a decade.

Ian used to be one of my favourite characters and I feel the scriptwriters have changed him into a much more moany and negative person so it was nice to hear ‘old’ Ian again. It was strange hearing Kathy being so chatty last night.

I see it’s Kirsty and Tom tonight. Like Emma and Ed, it’s a good link up with current storylines.

Thanks as always Gasp0 and thanks Lilian for yet another superb title.
Was weird hearing Kathy last night.

Kathy and Kenton getting on! That feels like ancient history. I wish they'd done Kathy, or rather Hedli Niklaus, the courtesy of either writing her out properly or bringing her back at least occasionally (if that's what she wanted). I never belonged to Archers Addicts, but she ran that for donkey's years and it must have done the programme a lot of good. Does anyone know if she left the cast at her own request or was she dropped by one of the many recent Editors?

Did Kathy and Kenton get married in the end? I honestly can't remember. It seems such a long time ago that Kenton wasn't with Jolene or sort of landlord at the bull. Was that a different Kate?

As far as I was concerned Ian joined the dark side when he insisted that if Adam didn't acquiesce uncomplainingly and immediately in Ian's plans to provide a baby for Madds in the summer of 2006 (so not very long before that civil ceremony) and import them into Adam's life and home he was going to leave Adam. "Do as I say or we are finished" has been his threat for many years, in fact: "Apologise to Sid for him having hit you or I can't stay with you" was probably the first time it happened, but it's clearly been hung over Adam's head since early in the relationship, and I dislike it from anyone. So I could never really warm to Ian.

Oh, and Ian proposed to Adam "on the rebound" from the baby idea, didn't he, because Adam was still very upset about having been made aware that he was nowhere near of first importance in Ian's life, and needed to be won back round.

The presence of Kathy, Pat's best friend and with experience of abuse, would not have been convenient when Pat had to fail for over a year to notice that Helen was being abused.

Kathy last spoke on 23rd November, 2015, when she told Clarrie that the Grundys had to be out of Grey Gables before Christmas. Before that, she spoke at the beginning of October that year (driving a hard bargain with Toby and not being in the least taken in by his nonsense), and that was all she did in 2015. In 2014 she did not speak at all, so her previous appearance had been in December 2013 when she had been driven out of the Golf Club by the revolting tricks of the revolting Martyn Gibson, who wanted her job for a friend of his, and got employment at Grey Gables.

I'd say at a guess that the editor who gave her the push was Sean O'Connor.

OG Kate last night aka Kellie Bright who is now in Eastenders.
She'll always be Kate Aldridge to me.

I love the current casting of Debbie, Kate and Alice - they really, really sound like sisters.

(Not the same as almost all the younger, unrelated male characters sounding indistinguishable. )

Was amazing to hear Kathy sounding so giggly and girlish.

One of the actress who plays Kathy's (Hedli Niklaus) family has Friedrich's Ataxia, maybe she's taking time out of the Archers to look after them? She posted that on the Archers' Addicts Facebook group in 2018 so I'm not breaking any confidences or a spoiler.

I wish her well in case she's looking at this at any stage.

Oh, that's sad. Yes, I wish her well too.

@LizziesTwin - she may have nursed her husband, who died in 2017, I believe (I'm guessing, not sure). I remember her saying before then, though, that she was very disappointed that Kathy had been written out and she was ready to come back at any time. I think SOC wrote her out when he was shaking Ambridge to the core (yes, I know that was VW!) or whatever it was he was doing.

He was being a new broom, I think.

SOC was shaking Ambridge to the core (yes, I know that was VW!) or whatever it was he was doing.or whatever it was he was doing.
It was soaking Ambridge to the core, IIRC.

We didn't answer D^3's question about etiquette. I suppose discussing the archive episodes in advance might spoil it for newer listeners who weren't around in ye olde days ... but do we have many of those?

Listening to Ed and Emma's wedding, I remembered holding my breath when Will convinced Emma to go for a walk before she entered the church. I was convinced it was going to end badly!