💥 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.

In the Sunday Times Gillian Reynolds congratulates June Spencer on her 101st birthday, disses the current TA, and moves swiftly on to review an LBC show where a listener who phoned in was invited back the next day to co-host the show. I feel almost ecstatically reassured now.

I'm sorry to hear about all the unsatisfactory medical treatment people have endured - I know how grim that can be.

Do we need a separate DumTeeDum thread, I wonder?

DumTeeDum podcasts have kept me sane these past few months. I don't want to "Zoom on a Friday", but I have enjoyed listening to the actors (or are they the past/present cast pretending to be actors?).

It is a big "ask" of Lucy/Roifield, and now Keri W, to produce so many hours of listening every week. I'll miss Lucy, and I loved her "Where's Kathy?" piece, but I admire her for knowing when it would be best for her to step back. I will enjoy her shorter podcasts and her occasional guest appearances.

BTW: Also hypothyroid (and easily treated for the past 25 years, with a few different doses when first diagnosed and having babies) too. It really isn't a big deal for many people (though I appreciate that it might be less simple for some). I just have an annual blood test and pick up a prescription 6 times/year.

My uncle is very scathing about his sister's roots, He says she looks like a badger, so yes, I think Tony would have noticed.

I don’t know if anyone has mentioned this before but I wonder if they could give us a two-way conversation by doing a scene with Shula and Brian, given that Charles Collingwood and Judy Bennett are married and (presumably) live together? Only problem is that they rarely have overlapping storylines. Shula telling Brine about her vicar training would be dull. And of course now that Ambridge is in lockdown Brian and Shula would have to be shouting at each other from 2m apart. Does she ever do a shift in the Village Shop?

Speaking clearly, anyway. The majority of conversations in this house happen when the two people having them are at least two metres apart, because while there really isn't room for two people at the same time in the kitchen, the archway into the rest of the house is about two metres from the sink, stove and work-surface, so if one person is footling in the kitchen (elderflower vodka! Hic!) the other can loiter on the other side of the arch for a chat.

My experience mirrors Madcats. Maybe people whose treatment is satisfactory don't talk about it, because it's such an insignificant part of their lives?

My experience has been that people who collapse and are taken as an emergency into hospital with acute myxoedema and nearly die of it, as was Jill's case, rarely have it easy or are able to regard it as insignificant.

I agree with Mike that Tony would notice Jenny's roots. She is his big sister and looks down on him. And is usually perfectly groomed I would think.

Of course now Tony's roots are the only thing left of his hair.

Three months of not dyed roots would be quite visible, and I would imagine Jenny to be well-groomed.

Apparently baldness varies in different parts of the country and where I'm from, Johnny would have fitted in.

On the subject of uncles - sod if it outs me - but a 96-yr old uncle has recovered after getting CV19. Isn't that terrific news.

That's brilliant!

Good news Mike.
My roots are ridiculous but I dont care.

Thanks. Brilliant news. My parents were the youngest by quite a lot, so some relatives are much older.
My hair is undyed so I have no roots but it is getting more grey. I may dye it before long.

I embraced my grey some years ago...

Hypothyroidism - my ex-G (now retired) said mine was Hashimoto's, but I have never seen an endocrinologist so she only assumed that. It did take years from my first symptoms for it to be diagnosed - and I was slowly grinding to a halt. However regular blood tests and increasing(and more recently decreasing) doses, and I get 3 months supply at a time. It was a shock when I saw somewhere the cost of buying your own tablets.
But people who don't struggle like I do, probably rarely mention it. Those with problems will discuss it far more. Although my anaemia issues I don't mention much except when people need to know, like last year when I had to have sick leave from work and not do some other things I would normally do.

So I can allow some health conditions can be managed and not a day to day issue. Also the women of a certain age just breeze through the menopause on the Archers.

Apart from Kathy, so that Joe could eat the special menopause cake Pat baked for her -- o how we all laughed. Or didn't.

Three months of not dyed roots would be quite visible, and I would imagine Jenny to be well-groomed.
My neighbour swears by the touch-up stuff (that stuff that Eva Longoria says she uses). Neighbour says she may never go back to a salon!
I've never dyed my hair because of this precise problem - how do you ever stop dyeing once you have started?

I havent seen my real hair colour for 25 years so no you dont stop. I should probably try the do it yourself stuff. There are so many things I cant imagine I will ever do again, handle cash, shop in physical shops, but not sure if visiting the hairdresser is one of them.

R4, you can use semi-permanent dyes. They gradually fade over about 24 washes. The dyed hair does change slightly but it's not that noticeable. My hair is very brittle anyway, so I stopped using it.

Like a million other people I've been taking the opportunity of lockdown to stop colouring my hair and find out what's underneath. Apart from my family (and one friend right at the start of isolation) I'd managed to avoid on screen communications. Until today when about a hundred zoom companions saw my halo of grey.

Anyway ... After hearing three Lockdown Festival plays across radios 3 and 4 over the weekend I seriously hope the TA production team have taken note and will be employing video conferencing soon.

I got the hairdresser to apply semi-permanent colour to my hair many years ago when I first saw grey hairs coming through. After a bit I stopped bothering, so lockdown's been fine from that point of view. I wish I'd thought of getting a haircut in February, though! I'm too cackhanded to risk cutting it myself.

finally a good episode!

They are already using Zoom for the actors and producer to communicate, and I know from technicians that there is nothing to stop them from recording three or four people remotely and then splicing the tracks together. It just takes a bit longer than simultaneous recording to a single track. The BBC has claimed four times as long, somewhere or other, but that still ought not to mean that it is impossible: it is twelve minutes a day, four days a week, not an hour a day seven days a week, for goodness' sake!

As for Justin: I assume he was never taught how to read?

@essexmum777

finally a good episode!

It was! Loved Lillian’s ‘I deserve a medal for all the suggestions I’ve given Justin!’

I do love Lillian, she's my favourite character and I've been listening for over 30 years :-)