💥 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.

My mum wasn't a great cook but macaroni cheese was one of the things I enjoyed as a child.

"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."

Ben's actor is ten years older than the characters, and older than Josh's actor as well.

To be fair Mac & cheese in the US, in a restaurant is usually delicious. Lobster mac & cheese is a staple in every New England restaurant, I miss it. The Kraft box stuff is utterly vile. In Scotland it’s quite usual to get macaroni cheese and chips, usually with peas, but better with pickled beetroot. And, of course, this is the home of the macaroni pie; macaroni cheese in a hot water pastry case.

macaroni cheese in a hot water pastry case

God, I love Scotland! (Though I've never come across this particular delicacy. Next time ...)

I also grew up with proper homemade macaroni cheese, baked in the oven, invariably perfect - just the thought of it makes me want to weep with nostalgia. I've made it myself quite often but it does seem out of step with the way we eat now.

First time I had mac and cheese in the US was at a family Thanksgiving dinner. I was full of anticipation because everyone had been talking about this feast for days. I pray I never experience such disappointment again!

The macaroni could well have been for a pudding but I have no recollection of it, just the box in the food cupboard.

What did the coffee table look like?

it does seem out of step with the way we eat now.

A couple in London have been setting up their own lockdown delivery service which has been doing very well:

www.hackneygazette.co.uk/entertainment/eating-out/miss-macs-delivers-mac-and-cheese-to-tufnell-park-1-6664092

Thanks Gasp0de for the explanation of mac 'n' cheese. I did not know why it had suddenly taken off.

Returning to Ambridge, will Jolene and Kenton do takeaway/delivery? I think things were fairly precarious for them even before coronavirus. Jolene can't even go back out on tour now.

Also available in Scotland but hard to find - the lasagne pie, lasagne in a pastry case.

And yes, some chip shops will deep fry a macaroni pie, just as they will batter and deep fry a pizza.

What did the coffee table look like?
A swirly marble top and legs like dolphins.

Can't say I think the coffee table was deserving of the fuss. Sorry to anyone who owns a green marble topped, dolohin legged similar table.

How do you upcycle such a thing?

On the subject of macaroni cheese, Nigella's is the best ever. It's adapted a bit so has sweet potato and feta but it is undeniably the food of the gods.

I did find it rather odd that Emma enviously saw Helen as poised, in control etc etc.

I can easily imagine Helen planning every outing to the last point, and mentally ticking off coat, wellies, waterbottle and everything for all possibilities, each time she goes out the door.

I don't think stabbing her husband after months and months of living in an abusive, coercive relationship is a situation many people would be in control of, so I don't think it's a reasonable comparison to everyday life.

I can imagine that Helen is even more focussed on trying to control her life after living through the Rob experience and prison, where she had very little control. I think she does have a personality that doesn't lke improvising as Emma is happy to do. Also, Helen has a history of anorexia, which is often about control.

I see where you are coming from EEbearhug, but my general feeling was still that it was odd to aspire to be just like someone who had had such a well-publicised traumatic and chaotic time in her life. Sweeping all Helen’s past under the carpet and only thinking of her as one of those super-organised yummy mummies whom people love to hate.

Isn't that a function of the feudal system that exists in Ambridge, Aardvaark? For Emma, Helen is way above her in the social hierarchy, someone whose lifestyle and perceived personal qualities Emma aspires to. The Archers are royalty, successful landowners in a community where land is everything. Despite Grundy's Field, and Will's ownership of No 1 The Green, most of the Grundys still see themselves as lowly tenants, doffing their caps to everyone above them.

(Am despairingly failing to remember anything about relations between Helen and Emma during their childhoods/teens, before the Bridge Farm Archers transitioned from tenants to owners ...)

Oo I must have missed the ref to Phil The Slavemaster, what was it?

I wasn't sure about the VE Day reference, obviously nearly a month out of date now, and surely the scriptwriters must have known rough broadcasting dates when they were writing.

But OK I know they've got a difficult task at the moment, and Emma's worry over the school task and comparing herself to Helen was very true to (TA) life.

It was a blink and you'll miss it moment (or audio equivalent!) when Ben glanced at the playground on the green as he walked back from the tearoom and said to himself how much better it looked now, what a good job Philip Moss's workers had done, and so quickly too.

I was a bit thrown by the VE Day reference too, but there we go. At least we know that Loxley Barratt is handing out work. I heard a single mother interviewed on The World At One who claims her 13yo has had no work set at all since lockdown began, and her 6yo gets a pack of work once a week which is finished in half an hour. I don't know whether this is related to the fact that she doesn't have any internet access at the moment, presumably because she can't afford it, as she was also struggling to feed the family. Dreadful situation.

I don't think Emma and Helen became friends until they had kids.

I am sorry Ben decided on Felpersham over Newcastle Did he? O missed that bit! Why?

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g yesI heard that interview, awful.

Ah OK I did hear the comment about the playground but had forgotten Ben referred to Phil's "workers", thanks

I was wondering if maybe he has offers from both Felpersham and Newcastle. Do they still do main offer and back up offer? My back up was Northumbria. He won't know his results yet.

Thanks. I think dolphin leg is a style, not a leg that is like a dolphin statue, a bit like Queen Anne legs might not look exactly like a woman's legs.

Helen is in control though isn't she, she doesn't have any trouble delegating esp. childcare.

It seems to have started as legs like dolphins, head on the floor, tails upwards forming the actual leg. Then it's got more free-form.

This is the only one I could find that was dolphin legged, green marble top. It's not a style I associate with Emma.
www.camerin.com/shop/categories/tables-desks/dolphin-neoclassical-table/

I pictured the upcycled items as being shabby chic. Nothing like that.

I reckon green marble top and dolphin legs is the interior design equivalent of “gripping with your heels”- writer knows nothing about interior design/horse riding but has a space in the script marked [insert detail here] and just shoves in any old rubbish in the hope nobody will listen too carefully.

It sounds a bit heavy and overpowering for a mobile home. I can't remember the exact words but I'm sure she said the legs were shaped like dolphins.

Macaroni pie
Sorry, I lurk!