🎭 Archers thread 125: Ambridge Mysteries! The Case Of The Missing Pandemic. Where Is Pat? What Is Lynda Snell's Kompromat? Follow the clues and discuss The Archers 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’d love to be in the Mysteries, 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 for thread title ideas to @Roysnewshirt and @Witchwife. Apologies if I’ve forgotten anyone else.

Do we think the Mysteries replace the usual fun storylines around giving things up for Lent? Light relief while we wait to see if the SWs go for realism and tragedy when Alice’s baby is born, or bottle out (as it were) and go for everything being fine? Will Jazzer and Tracy get back together again? (No bookie in the land would take money for that, of course they will.)

Over to you!

Brian's in for a nasty shock soon. Alice was easily able to explain not drinking when she was pregnant. If she does breastfeed, she might get away with it a bit longer, but the day is coming when she will have to come clean to the extended family about her problem.

Poor little Martha. As a Scot, I don't find Martha Carter an unpleasant combo, possibly because for me they don't rhyme. They probably do in Ambridge, though. I agree that Jasmine is a very different name from Martha, but if she survives to adulthood, it will make a talking point.

Don't start the "does Martha Carter rhyme" debate Gaspode don't get the English going about their randomly appearing and disappearing "r" s, it never ends well. Life is so simple for us Scots - if there is an r, say r. If there isn't an r, don't say r.

Of course Martha Carter doesn't rhyme.
(Runs away sniggering, or sniggaing as some might say)

Foreshadowing:

No present signs of FAS.

The reference to her fragile life in the blessing.

As an aside, the baby's cry, or "wean's greet" as Jazzer has it was not that of a premature baby. Way too strong.

Life is so simple for us Scots
Do you not have assonance, then? That's why the name sucks. MARtha CARter.

I'm fairly sure that we do have assonance, but to me Martha Carter, however often I say it, just doesn't sound that bad because the ends of the words are so different. Would Barbara Carter (or Barbara Cartland) or Martin Carter also sound bad to you, they sound fine to me?

To me, Martin Carter grates in exactly the same way but Barbara doesn't, which I assume is because of the different rhythm from the extra syllable.

Martha Carter sounds ok to me, and Martha Jasmine Carter sounds lovely.

It will sound less lovely if they add an "urrr" to the end of Martha, like Emmurrr or Keirurrr.

Would Barbara Carter (or Barbara Cartland) or Martin Carter also sound bad to you, they sound fine to me?

They are fine because both names have "ar" sounds.

Martha Carter is awful because the Marth part leads me to expect the Ca will mirror it Martha Carther.

It also sounds too much like Magna Carta.

Martha is such an Ambridge name to me, as Martha Woodford was such a long-running character. (Though I had temporarily confused her with Betty Tucker and was thinking 'why is Chris naming his dd after Roy's mum?'). Martha is of the Joe, Jethro and Walter era to my ear and memory.

I wonder if Chris remembers her as a kind older lady, so feels affection for the name?

I do like Jasmine. That's a nice touch and must indeed hold some significance for Jazzer.

Jasmine Carter is much nicer.

Good to see some new faces. And lots of interesting discussion.
Alice is probably in shock from a labour that was 6 weeks early and very fast by the sound of it.
Martha is ok as a name, I would have been interested to hear Alice's preferred options.

Jasmine Carter does sound nice.

Lots of little flowers in the village and its leading families; Poppy, Rosie, Jasmine. Tom 'n Tash need to add a prickly little Holly, perhaps.

Martha seems to invite varied pronunciations. Also, there's a domestic implication to the name (deliberately in contrast to Alexander, the great and conquering perhaps?).

Also pleasing that Jasmine is still flowering at the moment.

I would have been interested to hear Alice's preferred options
Sobriety Carter? In homage to STP, of course...

lottiegarbanzo
Lots of little flowers in the village and its leading families; Poppy, Rosie, Jasmine. Tom 'n Tash need to add a prickly little Holly, perhaps.

Not until after Holly-the-Dog has died, which will probably happen in the next few years: she is over eight now.

Martha means "lady".

I can empathise with Alice. DD (now a strapping teen) was born at 35 weeks after a somewhat dramatic emergency C-section and spent a night in an incubator. I suspect the SWs are going to make her have postpartum PTSD to add to her troubles.

If you are shellshocked and worried, I'm not sure that it is comforting to have a vicar turn up to pray for your newborn and refer to her "fragile body". It's odd they didn't mention the baby's weight (you would think that one of the writers would have a "red book" in the house).

I don't think this is going to have a happy ending (so I am going to have to head over to the spoilers after I've looked at the one-liners and cast lists for the next few week).

Vicars randomly turning up in hospital is just another manifestation of the increasing religious message in TA. No doubt Shula will be there soon, defying all Covid restrictions (like Alan) and wringing her hands over little Martha, offering to pray for her and generally showing how pious she is. Or maybe she'll just go round the grandparents to depress support them.

Alice has been worrying about the baby for months, and this must feel as though all her worst fears might be coming true. Not to mention the physical shock of giving birth quickly in a car.

How often does that happen with a first baby? All the really quick births I have heard of have been second or third babies.

It would be an added challenge to Alice if Chris turns to the church as a way of managing his feelings of not being in control, not being able to fix things.

I think we are supposed to conclude that Alice had started getting contractions at the weekend (after Kate's yoga class) but didn't realise it?

I did wonder whether they were going to use the birth of the baby as the pivotal moment for Shula to conclude whether or not she is cut out to be a vicar (the Archers does seem to have turned into "an Everyday Story of Ecumenical Folk" recently).

I knowsomeone whose firstborn was a homme birth not by choice. Baby was delivered by the father and the umbilical cord was around its neck. They were both ok though.

I was very unimpressed with the sound effects on Tuesday's episode.

The squeal of Chris's car tyres, both when setting off and braking, was so unrealistic.

Even when going somewhere in an emergency, I have never heard anybody IRL actually make those sounds.

I certainly haven't spun my tyres, or screeched to a halt either.

It just doesn't happen!

It can. I have screeched my tyres in the past. Maybe it depends on the type of car, and/or how bad one's driving is.

My understanding is that Martha means 'mistress or lady of the house', so a domestic implication. Then there's the bible story, in which Martha rushed around making domestic preparations for Jesus' visit, in contrast to Mary's more cerebral, spiritual response. Hence 'the Marthas' as domestic servants, in The Handmaid's Tale.

Did anyone else notice that, although Chris asked for a blessing, Alan didn’t actually give Martha one (just a prayer)? I realise that’s incredibly pedantic (and that Alice’s resistance, plus a presumably illegal entrance to a post labour ward under C19 regs, may have put him off), but it would have been quite a simple thing to get right.