💥 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!

Ed is a saint, especially after Alice's comments about his economic status and "living in a caravan". Horrible.

@SparklingLime I'm going to be charitable and assume that Chris is working on the hanging baskets after a full day doing his normal farrier work. When I heard his tiny hammer in last night's episode I thought of you lot and grinned rather a lot.

So Alice is a nasty drunk. Bets on how long before she shows that side of herself to Chris? Although didn't he see how she behaved at Nic's wake? He's a forgiving young man, if so.

I don't suppose that Ed has any written proof that Alice agreed to double pay.

I bet she denies it when challenged by Adam.

Ed is a saint
I really can’t agree with that - or if he were a saint he would be one of those ones who were deeply flawed during their time on earth but I agree it was surprising he took Alice’s snide comments about his wife and home as well as he did.

Years of suppressed sneering seemed to bubble to the surface in that little outburst from Alice and I would have thought it will be hard to row back on those unfiltered thoughts. The excuse of being drunk just doesn’t stand up. It’s now very clear what Alice thinks - and probably has thought for some time - about her in-laws.

It was clear on that occasion she wanted Ed to be her Token Yokel in front of her friends; she did manage to backpedal from that, but it was really obvious at the time.

This contains pictures of actors, so people who dislike those shouldn't click on this link:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-53932655

Not really a spoiler; more a faint ray of hope.

The actors look pretty much as I picture them.

Lillian is the one who doesn't, and I don't like her cackle.

I imagine Jerlene as a bit more brassy

Look, Ed!

Texel news.

🐏

Well yes, I meant Ed was a Saint in that moment rather than in general!

I thought Alice was meant to be the refreshingly 'airs and graces free' Aldridge, working as a chambermaid when she was younger rather than taking handouts from Brine and choosing Chris instead of the socially acceptable alternative JD lined up for her (Sebastian?). Sneering are Ed n Em for being poor seemed out of character.

Oh. Dear.

How Lynda is punishing herself.

Amazing to listen to, though.

Tentative BOOP for tonight.

I'm just imagining Lilian delicately and deliberately placing a blue pill next to Justin's tiramisu to indicate that she's in the mood to be satiated....

I am trying, and failing, to imagine that Robert is on discussion of his sex life terms with Lilian. It seems rendingly unlikely.

@Darker

I'm just imagining Lilian delicately and deliberately placing a blue pill next to Justin's tiramisu to indicate that she's in the mood to be satiated....

😂😂 That’s almost poetry, @Darker!

I too wondered how realistic Robert confiding in Lilian was - but she was pushing it on a bit. Good acting from Carol/Lynda. I quite like them turning Alice into a nasty drunk - she was a little too good to be true for a while.

I thought the Lynda/Robert/Lillian scenes were excruciating.

@C8H10N4O2

Sorry posted too soon. Robert fussing around her to do "stuff" but keeping his distance physically are part an parcel of the same problem. He is being over protective (probably with some justification) she is desperate to get back to some normality (again with justification).

The concerns about no longer being attractive to a partner are also totally normal.

But this is entirely normal in their situation. So much so that at least one of the LSWs must have seen it/experienced it first hand.

Agree with everything C8H10N4O2 said up thread. Feels v real to me, having been in a similar situation.

@Pobblebonk

Am I right in thinking we haven't heard from Shula on the monologue front? It seems a bit odd given that they would have had to set up all the equipment etc for Charles Collingwood anyway. Has the actress been OK?

No! Don’t draw their attention to this. We might still escape. Maybe she has died of Covid, although if that were to be the case it would be unlikely we would have been spared a long handwringing introspective death scene.

I mean Shula has died, not the actress, obviously, I’m wouldn’t want any harm to happen in “real life” and really hope that illness is not the reason we haven’t heard from Shula the dull.

Oh dear god, no! That Lillian/Robert discussion went too far for me. I thought they were dealing with it quite well until that. That and Lynda immediately discovering the viagra... They’ve made it cartoonish now.

TA dialogue never goes too far. Timidity is their major creative weakness. Well, that and a chronic inability to translate well intentioned research into credible and convincing drama.

With the viagra melodrama taking things up a notch, this SL is threatening to spill into it’s third week. Shudders
I don’t doubt intimacy between the elderly/sick/injured and their partners is an extremely important issue, but I am just unsure it’s an issue millions of people want to learn about in-depth at bedtime.

Meanwhile, I am very much looking forward to hearing the next instalment of the alcohol-fuelled class war! Alice’s decline is turning out to be quite the highlight of lockdown.

I think discussing intimacy in this context is more interesting than, for example, Elizabeth deciding to try internet dating.

I'm full of admiration for the creative team's determination to reveal these "elderly" people as fully rounded individuals, each still prone to strong emotions and ready to face new challenges.

So often people over 60 are portrayed (outside TA) as one amorphous block of emotionally dead, white-haired cruise takers. If they dare to attempt romantic involvement they're shown becoming the victim of an obvious scammer. If they have a partner it's cocoa and slippers and sniping. It's brilliant that Lynda and Robert's current story isn't being used to belittle or laugh at their generation.

So often people over 60 are portrayed (outside TA) as one amorphous block of emotionally dead, white-haired cruise takers.

It’s not that long ago we had to cope with Justin and Lilian’s busy schedule between the sheets and scenes with Jill simpering over Leonard like a teenager. I would hardly say we are starved of romance between the older residents of Ambridge. Thankfully Cupid’s arrow hasn’t been pointing in Peggy’s direction. Yet!

I did say outside TA!

Although, IMVHO, the Jill/Leonard thing was less about elaboration of character and more a mechanism for providing Jill with a new, non-family contact once Carol disappeared. So I haven't really been able to invest much belief in that as a proper story.