💥 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.

Ruairi ...

I'm rather fond of the name and this particular spelling.

We haven't heard much from him for a while. It's about time he developed a personality!

I'm not impressed by the thought of Kate's classes

I hope they don't go on a Menopause Mission (as they always handle these things badly) but if they do then I would welcome Kate's natural approach as a counterpoint to Lilian's insistence that HRT is the only course of action. For those who can't - or don't want to - take HRT it could be useful to hear how using nutrition and yoga (for weight bearing, flexibility and relaxation benefits) can help to manage potential short and long term effects of the menopause.

@MereDintofPandiculation

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?

Probably in Brian's mind, but anyhow, you know exactly what I meant in that no other man's sperm was involved in the making of these particular children, as opposed to there not being a woman as a vessel for his offspring.

Kate is my Archer’s twin. I don’t think early forties is early for peri-menopause.
I’ve been enjoying the monologues.

I don't think a vegan diet is ideal for women going through the menopause (and after), is it? I thought it tended to lack vitamin D, which lack in turn greatly increases the risk of osteoporosis. If Kate is going to do this properly I hope she will mention that; it will be a first for the programme if so, because Kate has never at any point said anything at all about the need for supplements to the vegan diet as far as I remember, and she has always scarfed any wine she could lay her hands on without checking if it was vegan or not. Ditto boxes of chocolates.

Maybe she could at least point out that many mushrooms now have more vitamin D than they used to because of the way they are grown!

@Jaichangecentfoisdenom It impinged on my consciousness only because I was thinking about the "apple didn't fall far" remark and why it seems it's the mother, not the father, who is blamed for deficiencies in the offspring.

I thought it tended to lack vitamin D, which lack in turn greatly increases the risk of osteoporosis. And, apparently, Covid-19.

It's very hard to get sufficient vitamin D from your diet whether you eat meat and dairy or not. That's why it's strongly recommended that people living in the UK take a daily but D supplement.

Oh and I am also overinfested in Emma's table- I don't think Fallon would have upcycled something so hideous.

I agree Mere, that's why I asked if Kate was Brians child. He has been a terrible father.

If Kate finds a miracle cure for hot flushes, I hope she shares it in detail on air.

Good grief. That was painful.

I wasn't really listening but I heard Tinny a few times. Justine?

His aunt(? ) Justine and he couldn't say it properly when he was a child. That's all I got from it, I don't know what he was doing.

Justine was apparently a cousin who did his and his chums' artwork at school for them when they were out in Rhodesia. I assume it was in Rhodesia, anyway, because when he was buttering Peggy up he said he grew up out there.

Why would someone called Justin not be able to say Justine? And why would someone with a nephew or niece called one name their child the other? It seems unnecessarily complicating.

I didn't enjoy that episode, what a disappointing marriage.
The SW could make the episodes more upbeat.
My nickname as a small child was Tinny derived from letters from my middle name, haven't heard it since.

My mother had a cousin called Christina who she sometimes referred to as Tinny. I assume it was a name from their childhoods. In answer to @AskingQuestionsAllTheTime, you often see questions on MN about, often it’s SILs, using a name for a child whose cousin has a same or similar name. In my childhood there was an ongoing family squabble between my dad’s two aunts about which one of them had chosen a particular name for their daughter first. You’d think it would be obvious but not in my family. To this day I don’t actually know which cousin is older. Fortunately no hard feelings between the cousins who are now almost the last ones alive in that generation.

I am a bit disappointed that Lillian is very shallow
Hold the front fucking page.

Maybe she could at least point out that many mushrooms now have more vitamin D than they used to because of the way they are grown
Kate is not the family expert on mushrooms though, is she?

The fact that so many of these episodes have been silly and superficial does make it depressingly obvious that, on the whole, none of the people creating TA give any thought whatsoever to the characters' inner lives.

Susan can make anything interesting and they had ready-made trauma to use for Helen, but people like Lilian and Tony - major foundation stones of Ambridge - have been incredibly badly served.

why it seems it's the mother, not the father, who is blamed for deficiencies in the offspring because on this occasion Kate was criticising her mother for being too self-absorbed for making the on-set of Kate’s menopause all about her. I think the apple not falling far from the tree is an expression used when a child is mirroring characteristics displayed by either parent - it just happened to be her mother on this occasion.

If the SW had been clever, the Lynda-Philip-horses-Kirstie storyline could have unfolded over a number of weeks during lockdown via monologues, telephone conversations and dialogues between K&P.

It would be interesting to hear Philip justify to himself (and Kirstie) how he came to exploit these vulnerable men. And Kirstie's horror that once again she'd been betrayed by a man, then a realisation that she didn't need a man to fulfil her, that she would devote herself to conservation and the child she would adopt. It's about time TA did a good, long term, positive storyline about the joy adoption can bring.

And we just know Lynda's inner monologue would be fascinating.

Lillian is pathetic and a nasty cow - what a charming combination!

Lilian I wasn't questioning that, it was that it reminded me of the general tendency to blame mother rather than father, which in turn made me more sensitive to "all Brian's own work - in other words it wasn't a question/criticism about the specific instance, I was seeking to explain why I'd made a previous post.

Bloodbath reviews on Feedback.

I think this has finally weaned me off TA.And I’m realising I’m not missing it at all...yet another thing I did out of habit