🧚‍♀️ Archers thread #120: Magic time. Dialogue! Good Fairy Lilian made Lynda’s wish come true. Will Phil vanish in a puff of smoke? Join the Magic Circle in Alice’s shed, where time is never called!

[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 hear more about the Naughty Milkman, 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 @Roysnewshirt for the excellent title suggestion, which I tweaked a bit.

I wonder how much dialogue we're going to get in the coming weeks. They're back to normal recording, I believe, albeit socially distanced. Also, when will we get our Friday and Sunday episodes back? I know I'm not the only regular to miss TA a lot more on Friday than on Sunday. The Sunday episode is still an incomer, of course, having only been introduced some 20 years ago, of course.

(My parents retired to a village and some features of Ambridge life are very familiar from their experience, the 'incomer' label being one.)

Ok. Am placemarking and will listen to the omnibus today. Then am back on the Archers saddle.

I'm a parkrunner too @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g . Fingers and toes crossed here too. I wonder if Felpersham has one? Surely we'd have heard when Alistair was training for his half marathon?

Yee ha, @hopeishere! I'd say this has been one of the best weeks of recent months - on balance, so you've chosen a good one for your return. Hope you agree!

So curious about what Brookfield, Home Farm, Bridge Farm, Grundy's Field are actually doing today

Surely they’ll all be sitting round the kitchen table saying ‘Thank God we don’t have to do OFS this year. All it took was a global pandemic.’

I generally find annual events a real millstone and always welcome a cancellation (unfortunately this rarely happens with Christmas)...

The naughty milkman sl is crap.

@MikeUniformMike

The naughty milkman sl is crap.

It's absolutely ridiculous.

There are lots of duplicate names in Ambridge. It is something that I like about the show.
For instance there are numerous generation of John (Archer), Robert (Snell and Titchner), Edward (Grundy), Philip (Archer and Moss) and Pip, Chris (Christine and Christopher), Daniels, Lilian and Lily and do on

If they are family names, like John, Edward, Philip/Philippa, Daniel -- then fair enough. Naming a child after her cousin rather than an ancestor is probably also fair enough. Rob Titchener was not a Robert, and Robert Snell is not a Rob! And Chris and Christopher are a different sex and he used for years to be called Christopher.

What is somewhat strange is that even though Ambridge seems to be near the border with Wales, no new arrival ever seems to be called Dave or David. And there is a lamentable shortage of people called Pete - in real life I come across those all the time.

I bet there is a silent Pete that even the residents of Ambridge haven’t noticed.

He works in Borchester in the week and props up the bar on Saturdays.

Well, Peter Johnson is Christine Barford's adopted son, born in 1966 -- he left to go to university in about 1984 and never came back, and doesn't seem to have spoken before that. He had an actor at some point according to The Book of The Archers.

And there have been Peter Rawlings who was a local alcoholic in the late 1950s, Peter Matthews who did the architectural design when Brookfield was going to be occupied by Phil and his family in 1970, Peter Briggs who rented Rose Cottage from Sid Perks in 1976 and left without paying the rent but with all the furniture, and Peter Stevens who was fostered by the Forrests in the 1970s and worked in Ambridge until 1981.

, but none was of any importance and none has spoken since

There are two Jameses (Jay and Jim) and a Jamie.

Ursula called Rob Robert.

David is one name I can't see them duplicating, by accident or design. I doubt there would ever be another Elizabeth or Tom either, in spite of the popularity of both names. Not much chance of a duplicate Kenton or Shula, though!

There was a Betty and an Elizabeth, and a Kathy and a Kate.

The naughty milkman sl is crap. But at least it got us to hear Jazzer again.

@MikeUniformMike

There are two Jameses (Jay and Jim) and a Jamie.

Ursula called Rob Robert.

Sorry, brain freeze- who is Jay?

Lilian's son James, I think. He and Leonie Snell called each other Jay and Ell, or some such, didn't they?

I think that James, Jay and Jim are sufficiently unlike each other not to count as the same name, really. Like Bobby and Robin both being taken from Robert, but not sounding at all the same. Or Hitch and Ricky from Richard.

Only Leonie calls James Bellamy Jay. Jim is always Jim.
There was a Robin - Robin Stokes.

When there were two Toms, Tom Archer was called Tommy.

It's quite normal for people to have the same name in a community. I can think of families where the sister and SIL are both Sarah, or people who have two Uncle Johns.

Ah, I clearly meant the Law of Sound Alike Names

I'd forgotten about Tom Forrest. Sound of my childhood Sunday mornings, when he introduced the omnibus.

Breastfeeding and with too much time in my hands, I’ve looked up Open Farm Sunday and it turns out that no farms will actually be open and it’s all going online. www.farmsunday.org/

Thank you, BeardieWeirdie! It somehow hadn't occurred to me to google OFS. Had some fun browsing the site and matching real life faces to my Archers character imaginings. And seeing what kind of farms/businesses people are running. One place had an Events Manager. Tom would be ...

I think the Archers HQ would have been a great attraction for the online OFS. They could do a video talking about the farm sound effects.

Nasturtia! BOOP!

A confused/mistaken Susan has made an excellent storyline even better.

Poor Kirsty (even though I think she is vile to Joy).