💥 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.

Enjoyed Susan and Tracey making up. Also Freddie's letter to Lynda.

‘Tedious’ Archers a turn-off for fans, says former editor.

Guess who ...

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/tedious-archers-a-turn-off-for-fans-says-former-editor-5mkmd6ffd

Guess who? The answer used always to be William Smethurst, but now he's shuffled off this mortal coil, SOC seems keen to take over that role. Vanessa Whitburn has wisely kept stum ever since she retired, as far as I know.

Comments below the article make dispiriting reading for the BBC. Poll on the page was 89% 'I've stopped listening' when I voted. Mind you, a lot of commenters are clearly people who hate TA all the time, not just in its current incarnation.

Just listening on the omnibus.

Yay for Emma turning the hay.

Could someone post a share token link please?

I listened to the omnibus too.

How long did it take Freddy to mend the toilet? 4 days??

I am quite happy to think of the attic as the Attic of Requirement, the room in Harry Potter which, when you enter, contains the thing you want.

Re We are the Champions, I couldn't hear what it was, and was glad to have it named by Susan. I expect a lot of listeners were listening with a noisy background.

Robin is smooth and charming, he looks like Anthony Head in my mind's eye. Bringing him back as a (very) regular character might well give the listening figures a boost

In HP it was the Room of Requirement

Robin is not charming; he is smarmy.

Ah, that's the word I was looking for

Bore, I would if I could but I've never worked out how to do it ...

Surely even at LL there isn’t enough space for two smarmy gits, which presumably means if RF comes CMR must go.

I really don't see why Elizabeth would be interested in Robin Fairbrother, or he in her. She is the manager of a country house which puts on events, and has a salary; he ran a not-very-successful wine business which seems to have been shelved when he had his heart attack, and clearly needs money. He is also fourteen years her senior, which is terrific when you're twenty even if you have nothing but sexual attraction in common, but not so wonderful when you are over fifty and still have nothing in common.

Well, even though I didn't love Alison Steadman in it, Helsinki was quite amusing.

For some reason, I thought that they were only doing Series 1. Must remember to tune in at 7:15 on a Sunday.
I don't love Alison Steadman in anything. Her voice is nails-down-a-blackboard to me.

Has Rosie been fed? Is Susan on glue? We've all fallen asleep and haven't a clue. Come moan about the Archers monologues here.

Though things may improve tonight ...

Strangely enough, I don' like Alison Steadman in anything either.but it's not her voice. I just find her a bit too much. Patricia Routledge was too, so it might be a geographical thing? AS would have been great as Kirsty's mum, but they got the accent totally wrong for that.

On the subject of actors, Batasha actor Mali Harries' husband IRL (not Fake Tom) is rather easy on the eye. I'm watching something with him in it at the mo'.

Ohhhh!

I think I've guessed!!!

This exposition ...

Klaxon klaxon! Debbie is back

This exposition ...
NewEd was like this even before Covid. He's rather keen on backstory-for-new-listeners.
Nobody guessed that Roger would be the Covid sacrificial lamb. It's quite clever really.

Strangely enough, I don't like Alison Steadman in anything either.but it's not her voice. I just find her a bit too much.
It feels like she has never moved on from Abigail's Party (1977, in case you were wondering). Every character she plays is a rehash of Beverly.

This evening was one "new readers start here" moment after another.

I am not sure what use Adam rushing up to Fife would be, or if the Scots would even let him in -- how far have they relaxed their travel-regulation? (I genuinely don't know.) Could he even visit a neocoronavirus patient? (Again, I don't know.) If he did, would he not have to self-quarantine for two weeks, right in the middle of various harvests which he has to do, not only for Home Farm but for all the places where he does contract work? It all seemed a bit of an unreasonable expectation from Debbie.

932 COVID cases in Fife as of four hours ago, according to Google. No one has died there, so Roger would be rather unusual if he should succumb.

Dreadfully clumsy writing tonight, though Ms Greig did her best with it.

It all just confused me. On seeing Debbie was to tell bad news I expected her to phone to announce she had a terminal illness. I quite liked Brian’s monologue - it’s quite like how a lot of people chat to babies to settle them, though of course it came over as somewhat more deliberate than that. Then Roger was mentioned and I was confused as I thought it was Elizabeth talking about Robin because Tamsin didn’t sound to me like Tamsin, then it dawned on me who Robin was. I thought Adam reacted just as we’d all expect him to with ‘What do you expect me to do?’ and of course he sounded exhausted. Was that news that Roger resided in the Kingdom of Fife? I missed that he was a victim of covid - just when Scotland’s cases and deaths are much reduced we get a ‘high profile’ death. Harrumph. Ha ha! Oh well, that’s that then.

Because of the way they are giving us credits at the moment we don't know which of this week's two writers was responsible for tonight's script: Keri Davies or Gillian Richmond.