💥 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.

Oh my goodness. That Pargetter Triptych is delicious. All the things TA should be and, unfortunately, isn't.
How I miss Nigel.

Oh my, indeed.

Thank you, sallywinter for highlighting The Pargetter Triptych (I always miss the important stuff despite finding myself accidentally paying the extortionate Times subscription.) And thanks R4 for the nudge.

It was outstanding. The tone and rhythm and pace and detail. "... rosemary and sea salt soap ..." The only bum note (imho) was his remark on Kenton.

Goodness, he'd have been great at LL over lockdown. But then, the SWs would have given him some irrelevant, superficial nonsense to witter on about and we'd all have been disappointed.

Hope the TA crew listened with their ears open ...

That Pargetter triptych is terrific. thepargettertriptych.com/ I'm afraid it was far superior to most of the output of the official programme at the moment. Having a ghost wandering about reflecting on his life is an inspired idea. I miss Nigel more than I'd realised.

If Nigel didn't know whether or not he was pushed it's a bit strange, I felt. David was nowhere near him when he fell, and he must have known that?

I think we have to leave a little room for poetic licence, Asking!

Nigel, who was a singularly unvindictive personality in life, must have been considerably changing by death if his ghost now goes in for innuendo very damaging to individuals.

Also, he got on very well with David, so why say that David always disliked him?

Sorry, but there is a limit to poetic licence. All power to Graham Seed for not arguing, but his previous comments on Nigel have never been gratuitously nasty about any of the other characters, even Siobhán, whom he actually did dislike.

not arguing about the script, that ought to have said.

I think Nigel was looking for the hand behind David's. It's pretty meta

Oh, I see. Well, we know whose that was!

Yes, of course. The whole thing was a dig at the editorial decision to off him.

(If it had not been so well done I would worry about Graham Seed being Still Not Over It.)

I felt. David was nowhere near him when he fell, and he must have known that? He may not have been physically pushed, but "what are you, a man or a mouse?" I've never forgiven David for Nigel's death, and disappointed that Elizabeth was able to forgive him so easily.

Pretty bad form of Nigel to insist that someone who was nothing to do with it had to be the person who helped him to get down a banner which was nothing to do with him, on a roof which he wasn't insured to climb, at a party....

Why did he not ask the person who put it up there, who was living at Lower Loxley Hall at the time, and who would not be massively inconvenienced by doing it in daylight the following day (and not have to leave work for the purpose)?

David certainly would not have been on that roof if Nigel, under pressure from Elizabeth, had not decided the banner had to be taken down immediately. That David did not want to take a large slice out of his work on the farm to come back again the following day seems to me perfectly understandable.

(I take it you forget David's attempt, when they got to the roof and he saw what the conditions were like, to persuade Nigel not to go out onto it?)

David certainly would not have been on that roof if Nigel, under pressure from Elizabeth the Editor, had not decided the banner had to be taken down immediately.
There, fixed it for you.

Facebook informed me earlier that 9 (!!!) years ago I said "I can't help thinking David Archer is going to 'do something stupid'". I was a very new listener then, but clearly quickly became over-infested

Thank you, @sallywinter, that was really good fun to listen to. I do miss Nigel!

I heard Feedback, and agree. The lockdown episodes have been mainly dire.

Tonight's was dire too.

And why does Ben think that Jill will be unreasonable and unpleasant about the bees swarming when he wasn't looking?

(Because everyone in TA now is unreasonable and unpleasant, I expect.)

I'm disappointed. I thought we might finally be getting somewhere with the Philip story.

@MikeUniformMike

They could have put on old episodes. That would have been better. Some of the Lower Lockdown has been ok but the last two have been awful.

Having now heard both, I prefer the new episodes over the repeats of old ones. At least they are moving things forward a bit.

I'd have preferred Sunday-Friday scheduling.

Very rare I switch an episode off half-way through but life is too short to listen to David’s children making a video.

The bickering brothers trope is very tired isn't it?

I switched off Es Devlin on Today yesterday, her "Listen, ..." annoyed me.
Similarly, "So,..." can be irritating. I was watching a craft you tube, and the "So, ..." was distracting because it sounds like "Sew"

I Fell Asleep In The Middle Of The Episode. Momentarily. Woke up to hear Kirsty Blaming Herself For Philip's Bad Temper.

Do people still say "I Can't Even."?

It was on yesterday but I wasn't listening. Poor Kirsty.
And to think that Shula had taken a fancy to Philip.