💥 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.

I can't see Jennifer cooking anything other than game and quiches, and salmon obviously.
Elizabeth cooks risotto, David ragout, Emma bean stew.
Jill flapjacks. Pat cooked apricot and cinnamon tagine.

I never understood Cremona but I love the humour.

Can we have a Robin Fairbrother soliloquy, please.

Pat cooks bean stew. I'm afraid Emma despite her catering qualification is more quick and easy family favourites like fishfingers and chips, jacket potatoes.

I'm afraid Emma despite her catering qualification is more quick and easy family favourites

Mostly, yes, as she's usually busy. When she does have money and time for a little experimentation I imagine her being let down and frustrated by bog-standard kitchen equipment - unless Archers or Sterlings gifted Le Creuset (etc) wedding presents. Though she probably took her credit card for a wander around John Lewis pre-house move.

Maybe moving out of the Grange Farm house means fewer hours of cleaning now, (I hope Will is taking on a fair share of the housework and not leaving it all to Clarrie). So she'll have time to prepare more elaborate meals.

We know Susan's a good cook. I bet Emma is too when she has the time and inclination.

Was it Helen who made a root vegetable lasagne once, involving parsnips? That didn't sound great.

Is nobody going to mention pasta bake? I'm sure that's an Ambridge staple. Pip made it once for Roof back when there were all the post-[wasnevergoingtohappen]-leaving-Brookfield issues going on. And wasn't it adding tuna to a pasta bake that gave Helen her gotcha! moment, proving that Rob had been gaslighting her when he said he didn't like tuna, on the night she stabbed him? Pretty sure there have been other mentions too - AskingQuestions will know.

Helen could also make custard, and made things like winter salad so that the recipe could go in the veg boxes.

Brenda cooked the prototype ReddiMeelz.

We know what Susan's signature dish is. Perhaps she could give WR the recipe.

I’m sure Ruth makes pasta bake and manages to get both overcooked and rock hard pasta every time. (Just like everyone else). What is the point of pasta bake? It’s always horrible.

Ben sounds old to me? Nice he's finally found is voice though.

I am unsure about pasta bake, to be honest; what Helen made was described as a tuna bake, the day she knifed Rob. It was the same dish he had claimed the previous year made him sick just to smell as he walked through the door.

I think the lasagna with parsnips was Alan cooking for Amy? Not sure, but I wondered why it was up to him to cook for her when he is a vicar with seven parishes to run...

Hmm, fascinating to get an explanation for Jill's obsessive cake baking, but am not sure I buy the idea of having been neglected somewhat as a child....

Small BOOP for the writing tonight - some of it was absolutely spot on.

Though both characters could have done with a framing device to justify their monologues. It was almost there with Ben, if only he'd started with the reading aloud of Jill's memoir and followed with his reaction to it. And there's no reason at all why we couldn't have been hearing Emma's side of a Facetime conversation with a friend keeping her virtual company in the empty Tearoom.

Pasta bake doesn't even sound appealing. I can't really see the point of pasta or rice, but at least brown rice is nourishing. Wholemeal pasta is just wrong. What is this macaroni cheese thing called mac'n'cheese. Pointless fattening slop.

Times have changed. When I were a nipper, pasta was tinned spaghetti hoops or a box of half used macaroni in the back of the cupboard, and rice was something you had in a pudding.

I quite liked this evening's monologues. Jill and Peggy's memories sound well worth a listen. I wonder what George will end up doing, or Will, for that matter.

I'm not enjoying the monologues. There's a lot of negativity going on, which is getting a bit wearing.

Sounded to me like Susan has won the Radio Borsetshire competition.

Very appropriate - we've been calling her that for years, haven't we

R4, I don't like the slagging off, but the lockdown did make me wonder about the future. I didn't feel full of joy, just strangely lonely at times.

I think that given the circumstances, the monologues are better than nothing.

Jill's obsessive cake baking Is she obsessive? She's the same generation as my mother, and my mother would have found it unthinkable not to have a cake on the table at tea time. All through my childhood, tea was jam sandwiches followed by cake, with the occasional plate of drop scones for variety, and long glorious summers of strawberries heavily dosed with sugar which dissolved into syrup, and evaporated milk.

So glad to hear the comments about pasta bake. I've never had one in my life, or even seen one, and I was beginning to wonder if my repertoire was lacking. Glad to know I need never make one.

the monologues are better than nothing I don't know. I found tonight incredibly tedious, apart from when Ben started reading the notes.

I make pasta bake and it's nice. Cheap comfort food using stuff left in the fridge, possibly a tin of tuna. If it's rock hard you haven't made enough sauce.

I enjoyed tonight's. I think Jill's memoirs is a nice device. I liked that Ben was musing about his future.

Macaroni cheese has been a staple of English cooking for decades. Usually made by pouring cheese sauce over cooked pasta, then serving it up. I think it's even nicer baked for a bit, but the sauce must start off a bit thin or it will dry out. Also macaroni cheese or pasta bake will set into a clump if left to cool for too long.

I haven't had a mac n cheese, is it much different? It seems to have become a side dish, which I do not approve of

Blatantly place marking with Aunt Daphne's cake

I quite enjoyed tonight’s but I did find it rather odd that Emma enviously saw Helen as poised, in control etc etc. The same Helen who lost control, stabbed her husband and spent the best part of a year in jail? No matter how well Helen has done to get her life back together, surely Emma would know full well that she was not a model of effortless calm!

*I enjoyed David's monologue.

There’s always one*
2, I enjoyed it too. In fact I'm enjoying them all. I especially liked tonight's episodes. I always wondered what that coffee ya table looked like

I enjoyed last night's too.

Macaroni cheese - cook the macaroni, make a cheese or bechamel sauce, mix the two together in a baking dish, sprinkle lots of grated cheese on top and possibly some sliced tomatoes, bake or at a pinch grill so the top goes all golden brown and crispy. Lovely. We had this fairly often when I was growing up.

Mac' n 'cheese - I gather in the US Kraft make an instant version in a packet which many people remember fondly from childhood. Not the same thing as our macaroni cheese at all, and it pains me to see so many people using the US term as it makes me feel very old and out of touch.

Pasta bake - not something I really make, but I can't see why it shouldn't be good if there's enough sauce. Similar to macaroni cheese but with anything and everything mixed into the sauce part? Tuna, chicken, mushrooms, peppers, onions, celery, all sorts of veg - tomato sauce instead of white/cheese sauce?

The reason I rarely make that is that it takes longer than serving pasta with a tomato/veg sauce and lots of grated Parmesan, which is a nice quick, easy, tasty dish. I particularly like aubergines and mushrooms in a tomato sauce, or an oven-roasted ratatouille type sauce, with either rice or pasta, ideally with chickpeas as well. (OK, that's not quicker than making a pasta bake as it involves time in the oven at the other end of the process.)

Do we know what Ben is hoping to study at Felpersham? I was sorry to hear that's where he's applied, but on the plus side that does seem to indicate he'll be around for a while yet and not consigned to silenthood.

@TeenPlusTwenties

Ben sounds old to me? Nice he's finally found is voice though.

I thought that too. He'd previously sounded quite teenage/ light but now sounds much older. And I also thought Emma didn't quite sound like herself - she was gabbling as if nervous. But I enjoyed this episode far more than any of the previous monologues. Good also to get a reminder of Philip/ modern slavery story line. A nice light-touch hint

@ArgumentativeAardvaark

I quite enjoyed tonight’s but I did find it rather odd that Emma enviously saw Helen as poised, in control etc etc. The same Helen who lost control, stabbed her husband and spent the best part of a year in jail? No matter how well Helen has done to get her life back together, surely Emma would know full well that she was not a model of effortless calm!

I didn't notice at the time ArgumentativeAardvaark but yes! When Helen was with Rob, Helen was very keen on meeting up with Emma for playdates (that word 🤢) until Rob told her Emma was too common. Emma must have seen that Helen's effortless calm is largely achieved by delegating most of the hard work to everyone else.

I thought Emma and Ben sounded a bit different too. I heard Emerald O'Hanrahan reading a short story in her ordinary voice on Radio 4 late one night. She read it really well but perhaps she finds it easier to be Emma in dialogue rather than monologue. I am sorry Ben decided on Felpersham over Newcastle but perhaps this is a better choice if most of the learning is going to be delivered online and the nightlife is still affected by social distancing.

I heave at even the thought of macaroni (and cauliflower) cheese. As a child, macaroni was always a milky pudding.