🍾 Archers thread 123: Goodbye & good riddance to 2020 – to Philip too? The Archers is 70 on New Year’s Day – celebrate or vent about it 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 wish we heard more from Shula, 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.)

So! 2021 beckons. Big anniversary next Friday, 1.1.21 (and to mark that we have episodes Tuesday-Friday next week). What would we like to see happen? I may be in a minority of one, but I'd like a nice gentle character-driven episode. I don't think we'll get that, but I really, really hope they don't kill someone else off, just for the headlines.

[Title edited by MNHQ at OP'S request]

Hmm ... Interesting Riled Rex ...

Oh my!!! Bridgerton!!!

In reverse - obvs ...

And we thought Rex was supposed to be the less loathsome Fairbrother.

I have to say I quite like Josh (helped by the fact that he seems to be loathed by Pip).

I equally think Kirsty is not as environmental as she is made out to be. Helen referred to the amazing garden she has created but I'm afraid I would have expected Kirsty to be vegan (or at least advocate meat free Monday etc, maybe they don't want to alienate some farmers?). I'd have expected her to be growing more produce, making her own compost, going rubbish free (off grid?!) rather than lecturing others.

She's very good at carping
Only when the fish are pre-dedded.

@MissBarbary

I noticed the shoehorned in comment by Helen about Kirsty having put her own money into the house. I'm sure this is the first we heard of it. No doubt in finest Ambridge tradition , where no- one ever takes legal advice, Kirsty won't be on the title deed and will lose it all.

It was shoehorned a bit, wasn't it. But I interpreted it as Kirsy having put money into stuff for the house rather than the purchase itself.

It was shoehorned a bit, wasn't it. But I interpreted it as Kirsy having put money into stuff for the house rather than the purchase itself. That's how I heard it too.

I feel fairly confident that Asking will confirm that there were conversations where Philip said he was happy to buy the house without any financial contribution from Kirsty (when she was agonising about whether to take the lowpaid wildlife trust role).

Why haven't we heard from Joy?!

A Jazzer and Tracey romance is the last thing we need

Philip definitely did tell Kirsty that he would be buying the house without financial contribution from her. He also encouraged her to leave the job at Grey Gables and work for less money at the Wildlife Trust, and at one point told her that if she wanted to take time off and get some environmental qualifications he would pay for that and she wasn't to worry about money while she did them.

I was very confused by Rex suddenly sounding like Toby, in self centredness anyway. I want him to get Pip eventually. Or someone decent even....

Oh gosh yes, Joy!! We need a whole scene between her and Kirsty.

I've only being listening intermittently over the last few weeks. Please can someone tell me, if Kirsty has left the house she shared with Philip, where is she living now?

She's back at Roy's.

I was very irritated by the manufactured row and clumsy flirtation between Jazza and Tracey. The characters deserve better than that.

The scriptwriters are presenting them as teenage simpletons and putting this romance into the comedy slot saved for the lower classes. I actually would quite like this love affair to unfold. While Jazza doesn’t appeal to me on a romantic level, I think he deserves someone who appreciates him. I am just worried about where they would actually live and don’t want them to have to resort to making out on the sports pavilion floor.

I agree that it’s a shame that Rex has been reduced to posting poison pens about David and Ruth but I like the idea that he is finally trying to shake off his cling-on brother and go it alone on the council farm.

She's back at Roy's

@MissBarbary, I think you mean:

She is safely back at Roy’s...

where is she living now?
In the other half of the semi to Brian. I think.

She's very good at carping from the sidelines surely her swim in the Am puts her very much in at the deep end when it comes to carping.
I’m feeling quietly confident that Rex will get the council farm - if only so we can find out how such things function (I didn’t even know they existed before this storyline). What will be the effect of his rogue tweet/social media post which he already seems to be regretting? Dramatically it seems designed to ensure the Dopeys get the maximum fall-out from Philip’s demise.

Agreed @LillianGish

He's blown it if he will be relying on a reference from the Dopeys. I can't remember if that has already been mentioned on this thread.

Thanks for the info., MissBarbary and others.

All that rant by Rex about inheritance and the Brookfield Archers - I wonder how much he and Toby stand to inherit when their father dies a long time from now, and after he has moved to Ambridge?

I am enjoying Trazzer. So there!

Did I mean Toby? I still find it difficult to tell them apart.

No it was Rex - uncharacteristically enraged.

I guess Toby-Almost-An-Archer-Now will be incandescent when he reads his brother's 'Cancel Brookfield' post. Which will temporarily threaten the sharing of Scruff Gin dosh for council farm purchasing.

I obviously didn't mean 'purchasing'. Am idiot.

Jazza and Tracy was a bit much ado about nothing for my liking - am I thinking of the right one?