🧚‍♀️ 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.)

That was the beginning of the end for her career in someways

I agree, it was clear from that point that Chris would nevere go anywhere and Alice would be limited by that fact.

I would say they have grown but in different directions. Its not uncommon but its always sad to watch two people who still care for each other realise they have nothing but the fact of the marriage in common.

I am not convinced they ever did, to be honest. Well, and sex. But that is fairly fungible really.

SW1 - hello young person, welcome to the script prep meeting for October. For some reason we’re meeting very early this month but hey ho, lets get down to it.

Intern - it’s October next week...

SW2 - well, the big news last at month was of course that we ran the annual relationship lottery and Alice and Gavin came out of the hat.

Intern - sorry? I’m not sure I understand that?

SW1 - let me explain. This is one of the little challenges we like to set ourselves from time to time. Once a year we put all the character names in a hat and pull out two randomly. Over the next twelve months they become a couple. There are prizes for the writer that contrives the first meeting, the first secret conversation, the first kiss and so on.

Intern - and you’ve been doing this for a while?

SW2 - oh yes, it’s a tradition. How do you think Alice and Chris got together in the first place?

SW1 - and Brian and Siobhan.

SW3— Usha and Alan, Elizabeth and Roy, Jolene and Kenton, Kate and the vet. Most relationships start in the lottery.

Intern - but can’t it go very wrong?

SW1- well we did have to back-pedal on Jill and Jazzer. That just didn’t get off the ground, we had to invent Leonard and unfortunately it means Jazzer can’t have another partner until the next round, rules are rules. And we did get confused from time to time about which brother Pip was meant to get it on with, which we should have been more careful about after Will and Ed.

Intern - Wouldn’t it be easier to do with the character’s’ personalities that you’ve developed over the years than to randomly change their lives?

SW - but that would be no fun at all.

👏👏👏 chemenger

I do love reading about the the life of the unfortunate interns.

Me too. Better than the real thing.

I salute the intern!

For me, Gavin will always be that truculent bloke who sits in his underpants playing with his console! (He's well acted, though).

He's going to be in corrie, not that I watch corrie, but he doesn't look how I imagined him.

He looks quite nice and if he wants to sit on my sofa...

@chemenger

Don't forget Sid and Jolene getting steamy together. A real prizewinner from that particular SW...

@Madcats

I salute the intern!

For me, Gavin will always be that truculent bloke who sits in his underpants playing with his console! (He's well acted, though).

His console? Is that what the young uns call it these days?

Goodness! @MikeUniformMike You’re right - he is very pleasing to the eye!
Almost wasted on the radio...

You're right about him being easy on the eye. I was surprised as he is nothing like my idea of Gavin. I imagine Philip and Gavin as being stocky and fair (mousy) haired.

Some of the welsh-speaking actors are really good actors.

Maybe the baybee will be called Chalice.

He's going to be in corrie ...

So, maybe on his way out of Ambridge?

Who knows but Louiza Patikas is in Corrie.
I don't watch tv, so don't know much about it.

If you had said he was going to appear in Casualty we would know he was likely to boomerang back to Ambridge pretty smartish - they have a high turn-over of extras, for obvious reasons. I know nothing of Corrie though I’m afraid.

For quite a long time, while it was filmed in Bristol, almost everyone I knew seemed to have been an extra in Casualty.

I think that he'll be quite busy as it's an established character.
Casualty is still going?

Wait till Gavin gets to coronation street and bumps into Helen and Leonard!

Ooh is Leonard in it too? He gets around doesn't he.

Apparently he is Obadiah Dingle too.

Only just listened to Thursday's episode (was saving it as something to look forward to).
Chris's reaction was entirely predictable unfortunately. He wants a baybee and he's never listened to her concerns before, so why would he start now?

I thought they had done Alice well this evening, the struggle between loving her husband and seeing his happiness verses what she really wants and how, because she is married and the 'right' age what she really wants isn't being considered (actually even by her).

I'm glad Robert one but I wish we'd been able to hear more of it! I wish Sunday evenings would make a return.