💥 Archers thread #119: Has the Bull reopened? Will Ambridge pull through? We’ve all dozed off and haven't a clue. Moan about the monologues 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 we should have monologues all the time from now on, or other unusual views.

Spoilers: 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 PPE on the last thread for the title suggestion, which I tweaked a bit.

As for the current state of affairs: here's how it could have been done. www.youtube.com/channel/UCvRSVdfQWAjNhNu1AtABYjw Nigel Pargetter returns, albeit in spectral form. I loved these.

I don't love the current set up. Very, very hit and miss for me - but I am too much of an addict to give it up. Looking for a silver lining, maybe the rather clunky trot through the Aldridge family tree last night was helpful to newer listeners. It is rather convoluted. In 12.5 minutes they managed to explain that Adam and Debbie are Jennifer's children by different fathers, that Debbie's father Roger Travers-Macy adopted Adam, that after he and Jenny divorced she married Brian and that he (secretly) loves Adam and not nearly so secretly adores Debbie. I don't think they explicitly stated that Kate and Alice are Brian's children with Jenny, but they did manage to squeeze in a mention of Siobhan and Ruairi, and explain that Xander is Adam's son by a surrogate and has no genetic connection to either Brian or Xander's other father Ian. Phew!

Wasn't Helen Archers in Corrie? She was still in TA.

Archer not Archers

I thought Gav moved to his mother's. I'd have thought there were scope for him to come back for brief storylines, unless we're about to hear of him in an accident.

Seriously - does anyone go on at such length about such insignificance? They're making Chris sound idiotic.

Not enjoying Adam's main stage declamations. Lynda at least sounds like she's having a conversation with herself.

Carole Boyd could probably make the shipping forecast into something you stayed awake to listen to in your bungalow just outside Milton Keynes if you were prone to seasickness; she is seriously good. Not so true of Wilf Scolding or Andrew Wincott -- mind you, they have two-dimensional parts, so they don't get as good a chance.

Andrew Wincott's delivery is shocking. Emphasis in all the wrong places and over-emoting.

I hope Lynda will decide to put on a socially-distanced outdoor Theatrical Production. A Midsummer Night's Dream would be an excellent choice but I think she's already done that one, hasn't she?

Andrew Wincott's delivery is shocking. Emphasis in all the wrong places and over-emoting.

So true! He's always irritated me, when so many of the actors are excellent, natural-sounding and convincing, he always makes 'do you want a cup of coffee' sound over-intense and does that crap-radio-play thing of trying to wring meaning out of every single word.

Exactly!

I like Adam's delivery.

I like Adam's delivery.
Are you joshing us?

Like R4, I’m kind of relieved when on Friday and Sunday evenings I remember there’s no episode to listen to. ‘The Archers on now? No. I’ll just find something else to do or listen to’. And that’s my own little effort at bad monologue.

So AW is the Adam actor?is the Wilf person Chris then? I CBA to go searching for a cast list.

Andrew Wincott is Adam. Wilf Scolding is NewChris. As I've mentioned many a few times, AW also played Brian's friend Simon in Clare in the Community. I was astounded when I realised this. He sounds completely different there. As I recall, when he was first cast as Adam there were complaints to Feedback that he sounded too much like some of the other male actors, e.g. Kenton and Alistair, so he seems to have adopted this extremely exaggerated drawl to be distinctive. Successive Editors must either have suggested or approved it, I assume. I find it rather irritating too, but he couldn't change it now, it would be confusing.

So lovely to hear Lynda again. I've missed her.

Here's the BBC cast list for anyone interested.

CAUTION: actor photos!

Clearly the person who compiled the cast list hasn't been informed that Christine and Lilian are First Family ...

Yes, that's odd, isn't it. Some newish photos there. Several people who look nothing like I expected so I will try to forget I've ever seen those! I've successfully managed to avoid seeing Tamsin Greig when I hear Debbie all these years, probably because it was a decade or more after she took the part when I first saw a photo.

I don’t think Lynda would have shouted out ‘Enjoy!’ to Robert when he and Monty left for their walk. It’s an Americanism that has been adopted for use at the dinner table by waitresses and chefs alike and really grates. No way Lynda would use it.

I believe Chris would have felt mild guilt about breaking the no-alcohol pact with half a lager but it would be nothing more than a faint twinge. Ridiculous writing which inevitably stretched the actor’s already limited acting skills to the limit.

Actually, someone even said ‘enjoy’ to me when I bought toothpaste and face wipes in Boots once. I looked at her and said I would try.

I don’t think Lynda would have shouted out ‘Enjoy!’ to Robert when he and Monty left for their walk.
I took it to be half-ironic and half-commandment. I'm not sure that Lynda does irony but she most certainly does do commandments (Go out. I order that you will enjoy yourself. Don't dare to come back for at least two hours. Now go.).

I am not joshing. I like how Adam is acted, and I liked AW in Clare in the Community, and I recognised his voice immediately.

The ones I don't like are Jill and David, because they often sound like they are reading a script, and the Mummerset accents and poor grammar, but that's the SW and presumably the director. Yes I mean you Mianed.

Needless to say, and I've not said it for a while, is I dislike Pip's weird enunciation. At least she's been quiet recently.

Adam is recognisable - I hate it when I have to think about who is talking!

Back when Wincott was first employed, he was told he was not to sound like all the other males of his generation, and changed his voice to suit that editorial direction. Unfortunately that editor is not there any more, and the new crop of cloned male actors have not been told to make a similar effort.

Gosh. That was harrowing.

Like a different show ...

And today, Lynda made me cry.

Me too AQATT. Carole Boyd is such a good actress.