💥 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.

It’s new, the last couple of days, I think.

@ArgumentativeAardvaark

Thanks. I am on the mobile site not the desktop site (or the App) so don’t think I have that option, is it new? I don’t recall it from last time I used desktop.

You can definitely use it on the mobile site, Aardvaark! (At least on iphones, not sure about Android devices.)

Here's the MNHQ thread:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/site_stuff/3920629-First-crack-at-a-new-quote-feature-please-check-it-out?msgid=96887077

Fab, thanks Chemenger and Perdita!

@ArgumentativeAardvaark

Fab, thanks Chemenger and Perdita!

And lo and behold...

To be fair, Phil could reasonably plausibly make time for his community activities because he had Jill running the entire household and doing most of the childcare and not working outside the farm. Also, farming was (I believe) a more profitable activity back then for those with relatively small mixed farms, like Brookfield, so there were more people working on the farm who could pick up the slack.

David farms in partnership with Ruth and they employ far fewer non-family members - nobody at all full-time now that Bert's retired, and only occasional casual contractors at busy times like harvest. They have, of course, had Jill to help out a great deal, but offsetting that, there's a lot more paperwork and financial planning to do in farming now than there used to be.

(Waiting now for somebody to come along who actually knows about farming and put me straight .... )

On my android mobile phone you can quote by using the three little dots bottom right under the post. I think you have to quote the whole post, though, not a selected sentence.

I enjoyed David's monologue.

They are using the Bellowhead version for the omnibus theme tune. I'm having a bad morning and that has lifted my heart.

Loved that group, had many happy nights watching them.

@MikeUniformMike

I enjoyed David's monologue.

There’s always one!

The lasagne bit was wrong, obviously, because WR's signature dish is frozen pizza, and it is unlikely that they would have stocked up on food, although they have more space in the cereal cupboard these days.

I thought that David sounded natural and likeable.

It might have been a lasagne like my mum has made for us on occasion. I don't know why she attempts it. She's a great cook on the whole, but lasagne is outside her comfort zone, so to save time and because she lacks confidence tackling it she uses a jar of pasta sauce for the bolognese and a jar of bechamel. Then she serves it with boiled potatoes and a cooked vegetable. It's not bad, but it's a bit odd.

Gasp My mother used to do that. I don't eat meat so on a sunday she would cook some vegetarian food for me, so I'd get a roast dinner minus meat and gravy with a slop of ratatouille or something in it. It just seemed weird. If I complained that it was an odd combination, she'd say she didn't have time to cook rice

Also, growing up, we would sometimes have curry, but not with rice. I still don't have rice with it because it seems pointless and bland, but friends thought it strange.

I remember her making me pasta with frozen veg - all boiled for 20 minutes.

She's an excellent cook otherwise.

I still haven't persuaded that I don't like vegetarian food - meaning the food that people who eat meat think that non-meat eaters love (goat's cheese, risotto , mushroom anything, butternut anything, caramelised onion and beetroot).

Ah, rant over. The first meal out after the lockdown ends is going to be chips. If I dare go anywhere else I'll probably find a menu with only a goat's cheese and beetroot starter and a butternut squash risotto or mushroom stroganoff main on it.

When is Grey Gables opening?

Risotto is an abomination. (Spoken as a total rice devotee.)

Not even Cabin Pressure can make up for the Ambridge shaped hole in Sunday evening ...

I don't know if it is an abomination, I've only had it as a sloppy mess or a lump of sticky rice, so I'm not sure what it is meant to be like. Not something I wish to investigate further.

I was looking forward to Cabin Pressure - I thought "Ooh Cremona!" but sometimes real life gets in the way.

I like Risotto (made with the proper rice) but now with 1 vegan, 1 dairy free we don't have it much - and it can be hit and miss at restaurants

I like risotto. Chicken risotto is a regular Monday meal here, made with the pickings of the Sunday roast chicken carcass and stock, a few peas and mushrooms and a lot of Parmesan. Delicious comfort food.

Mike, my mum used to do exactly that for my brother when he went through a vegetarian phase in his teens. How he got enough protein is a mystery to me but I suspect he ate a lot of cheese in between meals.

I've just caught up with Cremona. It made up for the disappointment of not finding a new TA episode (I'm a slow learner). In my head Cremona was my least favourite Cabin Pressure episode, so it was good to find it was still very funny indeed. The bar is so high. (Also, a new Cabin Fever episode on YouTube, and a particularly good one, so the day is off to a good start - see separate thread.) Also, of course, with Cremona out of the way, this must mean Douz is up next week. One of the very, very best.

I like rice in all forms, including risotto, but I've rarely eaten anyone else's. I eat almost anything and in a restaurant (I dimly remember those ) I usually pick something I would never even attempt at home, either because it's too complicated or because nobody else in this house likes it. I've made spinach and mushroom risotto a few times with an enormous amount of Parmesan added. No idea whether it's anything an Italian would recognise as risotto but I like it.

I wonder if anyone in Ambridge other than Ian cooks risotto. My money would be on Jennifer.

John Finnemore admits that he tried to stuff too much plot into Cremona. Last night he was tweeting about how even he couldn't follow what was going on with the hotel bedrooms.

Jennifer definitely! But I'd imagine also Helen, if not her mother. Natasha? (Dunno if Tom cooks anything not involving sausages.) Robert (possibly more than Lynda). Kirsty, Fallon, Emma - with varied degrees of cooking from scratch. Dread to think of the state of any kitchen Kate descends upon. I'd assume both Christopher and Alice are reasonably capable cooks. And it's sure to be in the repertoire of everyone at Lower Loxley.

Lilian probably had maids during her former off-shore married life, and presumably hires caterers now for dinner parties. But she's old enough to have grown up understanding that cookery was required to catch a husband, so ...

I am also slow on the uptake Gaspode, once again timed starting cooking to coincide with TA. Even though I am finding the monologues irritating, it was a pang of disappointment.

I would imagine Jennifer has a special risotto pan and a risotto spoon, hand made in Italy. Without them one can’t make really authentic risotto.

Oh gosh, yes! Which reminds me of how competitive Lynda became when Oliver and Caroline turned towards Italy - language lessons, holidaying, villa. So Ambridge Hall would also undoubtedly contain every possible item pertaining to Italian cookery.

I wonder if anyone in Ambridge other than Ian cooks risotto. My money would be on Jennifer

Staying old style quotes here so can get to the vital point. You forgot Elizabeth, Gasp0de. Risotto is to Elizabeth what leek and potato soup is to Pat. The most dramatic risotto episode in The Archers (I think) was when Freddy and Noli were adding some Magico Funghi (suspect it is not that really) to the risotto. Elizabeth returned unexpectedly and so Noli or Freddy had to throw it all in the bin.

DP makes a lovely salmon risotto.
The worst risotto I ever had was in an Italian chain restaurant where they put chilli in the mushroom risotto and it was inedible.
Hoping to hear from someone other than David this week!