💥 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.

Thank you @LillianGish, I always think your posts on character are very insightful so that’s surprisingly touched me

[quote LillianGish]**@TherapistInATabard thank you for your post. I agree with every word. I haven't posted for ages, but your analysis sums it all up for me perfectly. Especially your thoughts on Emma's table - spot on.[/quote]
It's the SW sneering at the lower classes again. Where's @BetramRussell these days? She'd have called it immediately

Except I've misspelled Bert's user name

Filling an(other) idle hour wondering which would be the more compelling story for Kate: pregnancy or eventually fatal gynaecological illness.

Can't help feeling they've employed 'Kate as mother' to its full extent already - it would hardly be a new story.

And I'm always a bit worried when a character starts being praised by other characters - sounds like a funeral oration. So Jakob's musing on Kate (I could have done without the sleazy inserts) might presage years of him recalling how wonderful she was.

Perhaps she'll do both - battle through a successful pregnancy and them succumb to whatever ails her.

(It matters not one jot how the SWs try to rebrand her as sweet and ditzy - this is the same woman who accused Emma of begging ...)

I think menopause would be a good story. How old is Kate? I can't remember what her symptoms are.

Think she'll be 43 in September.

You're probably right, Lil'G - Peggy complained about her moodiness (or similar) and she's had irregular periods and poor sleep. Oh well, it would be less exciting but she can do lots of spiritual healing ...

Yesterday evening Hildas loud meowing coming from my smart speaker led me to get up from the table and head to the cats bowl with a food pouch, took me a few seconds to realise id been fooled...

Bert has been missing for quite a while now blue cow. I used to like reading her posts.

I presumed it would be (peri) menopause, the whole thing throwing Kate into a spin as she sees herself as young and fertile.

Yesterday evening Hildas loud meowing coming from my smart speaker led me to get up from the table and head to the cats bowl with a food pouch, took me a few seconds to realise id been fooled... I checked that a cat hadn't got stuck in the larder, and Cleo roused herself from her spot on the windowsill and tried to see where the alien cat was.

I would recognise my cat's mewing anywhere. He's quite vocal.
I'm not impressed by the thought of Kate's classes.

So it's the menopause. And nobody in the entire world will ever have had the menopause before, if you ask Kate.

I suppose Kate choosing to be defined by her reproductive function is very Kate, but it seems a bit silly to me: she has had three children and abandoned them all, would it not be time for her to admit that she was never much cop as a mother and now she can stop pretending?

Erm, I don’t think that being unlikely to bear any more children gets you out of needing to be a mother to the ones you already have Asking!

Perhaps Kate wanted to keep on trying until she got it right. Unfortunately, that is not uncommon.

What a load of nonsense. Kate was very concerned about how Jakob would take the prospect of them not having a child together and then it wasn’t mentioned again by either of them after they discussed her news.

Also, why can’t Lilian ride her horse out? Horse riding was never banned- very few horse owners have the luxury of a paddock or a horse that is happy to be lunged.

I’m just catching up as I haven’t been on for ages, but the idea of Tom coming back from Canada with a foreign accent after a bang on the head caused him to have Foreign Accent Syndrome made me laugh aloud - much needed. Thank you!

ArgumentativeAardvaark
Erm, I don’t think that being unlikely to bear any more children gets you out of needing to be a mother to the ones you already have Asking!

Wasn't what I was suggesting. I feel that having completely failed the three she has had, and been less use to any of them than a chocolate fireguard apiece would have been, she ought to stop going on making the same mistake. She is a terrible mother, and no baby deserves her, so it would be as well if she had no more.

Unfortunately being perimenopausal doesn't mean she can't get pregnant. She still can. And since as far as I could ever make out she uses the rhythm method of contraception, because any of the others would profane the temple that is her body, it's probably more likely if she's now having very irregular periods.

Unfortunately being perimenopausal doesn't mean she can't get pregnant. She still can. And since as far as I could ever make out she uses the rhythm method of contraception, because any of the others would profane the temple that is her body, it's probably more likely if she's now having very irregular periods.

Yes, but she was saying that she didn’t think she could have another child, and that was the main thing that was worrying her in relation to her relationship with Jakob. Yet neither of them mentioned it again and both seemed happy that all the issues had been aired and put to bed.

I have to confess I’m enjoying these episodes now. I find the inner monologues quite realistic, I do have quite complicated conversations with myself from time to time. I am quite often caught out talking to myself by people and having to pretend I’m humming or something. They are more interesting now that the characters have stronger personalities; Kate, Susan and Lillian have well defined characteristics so seeing behind those outward facing behaviours to what the SWs think is leading to them is interesting. I hope Lynda and Robert will be on soon. And of course Brian. But not Shula. please not Shula...unless her inner hypocrite is revealed to the world. That I would enjoy.

Having said all that I am a bit disappointed that Lillian is very shallow, other than missing her son.

Great episode - the menopause perfect for Kate. Much better than giving her another child they’d have to sideline as soon as it is old enough to speak. And I loved the way that Kate - who always makes everything about her - was criticising Jenny for making it all about her, proving the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. It is also very funny that someone who has spent her whole life making everything about her and trying to find herself (to the extent of setting up a business teaching others how to find themselves) should be so totally lacking in self-awareness.

Yes, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
Speaking of which, where are Kate's children these days?

Kate is Brian's daughter isnt she?

@Langsdestiny

Kate is Brian's daughter isnt she?

Brian adopted Adam and Debbie, didn't he? But Kate, Alice and of course his only real son and heir, Rhuari (or whatever the present spelling is), are all Brian's own work.

But Kate, Alice and of course his only real son and heir, Rhuari (or whatever the present spelling is), are all Brian's own work. Really?