❓ Archers thread #126: It’s a mystery why we’re all still listening.

[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 on the Parish Council, 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/4197199--The-Archers-spoilers-thread-6-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 @LillianGish and @Taswama for thread title ideas, but I felt most in sympathy with @R4's suggestion. Is it me, or is the programme in the doldrums at the moment?

Haven't heard the 31/3 episode yet. Perhaps it's a gem.

Hurray! And I love this title

I listened for about 15 years but I stopped when Pip just had a baby and either Toby or his brother commented that the newborn's nappy stank. That was it for me, that they couldn't be bothered to research that and learn a newborn nappy doesn't smell bad.

No going back now, I do still wonder what's going on though.

Thanks @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g. Can't help it. As a friend once said "Your life is The Archers".

I wish I could say it's terrific at the moment, @WednesdayalltheWay, but it isn't, I'm afraid.

What is the point?

Thanks, Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g.

I'll start as I mean to go on, questioning the research done by the Archers' team: when did courts in England start being open on Maundy Thursday? They never used to be.

This year the Terms for Judicial sitting days are
Hilary: Monday 11 January to Wednesday 31 March 2021
Easter: Tuesday 13 April to Friday 28 May 2021
Trinity: Tuesday 8 June to Friday 30 July 2021
Michaelmas: Friday 1 October to Tuesday 21 December 2021

Nobody is going to be in any court tomorrow as far as I can see.

Thanks for the new thread Gaspode. Here's hoping for less tedium from tomorrow's episode.

Ooh, I've never been @'d in a thread first post before! . Thanks for the new thread @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g .

Thanks Gasp0de

At least the tedium of the Mystery Play should stop now (hopefully).

Oh, Bore, I don't think they'll let us off that lightly.

Thanks, Gasp0de.

Thanks for the new thread, Gasp

Does this explain all the secrecy, because Lynda hadn't paid royalties etc? Why not, she knows how these things work.

And why did Lynda ask Evangeline if she had gone through all the right processes, if she herself had not done so?

And where did Lynda get the script from while planning her Mystery Play in the first place, before she'd heard of Evangeline staging a Mystery Play?

It's not an interesting mystery, though...

Thanks for new thread Gasp0de. I liked R4's title, especially because Lynda and Kirsty have been so silly about the whole thing. I turned the radio off too quickly tonight so missed the news about tomorrow. Thank goodness for the last thread. I shall listen tomorrow, tutting loudly about my new found knowledge that they should not be having a court sitting on Maundy Thursday

Lynda has failed to grasp that the name "The Mystery Plays" refers to the people who performed it, not the content or secrecy about the content: mysteries were the mysteries of people's trades, and the various guilds provided the performers.

Thanks @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g! You’re like Wonder Woman how you swing into action and sort these threads out!

I took a sharp intake of breath when Lynda shouted out she wanted ‘JUSTICE’. Would you really shout that at someone who you know has a husband in jail for an indictable offence. Talk about crass...and then we suddenly hear the boys are up for sentencing and Philip has pleaded guilty which is a volte face if ever I heard one.

Also, I don’t know what Kirsty meant when she said the law was unpredictable. That’s not actually true - in fact it’s usually very predictable and I would have thought the judge would be pretty keen to stick to the Sentencing Guidelines in a case like this. Others will probably know more. Any thoughts?

According to the British Library:

"They are most commonly known as the ‘mystery plays’ for two reasons. Firstly, they took the mysteries of God as their primary theme. They aimed to show, in the course of a day, the whole history of the universe from the creation of Heaven and Earth to the Last Judgement – the end of the world, when everyone on earth will be judged by God and divided between Heaven and Hell, salvation and damnation. Secondly, these plays were organised, funded and produced by guilds, which were also called ‘mysteries’ in the Middle Ages. "

@theThreeofWeevils

Oh, Bore, I don't think they'll let us off that lightly.

Thanks, Gasp0de.

Yes, it occurred to me that we will be a captive audience as Lynda labours to bring forth her Magnum Opus

Pinch Punch Everyone!

Thanks, Gasp0! Impressive as always. I had forgotten to say, all through the last thread, that 🎭 is my most used emoji; the big red ❓is second.

Yesterday's battle of the impresarias was utterly nonsensical - but it did make me think nostalgically of Evangeline Blahnik coaxing me into the sharpest, highest, most spectacular black suede stilettos at the start of my professional training in London. And vaguely wondering if the SW had based Darrington's Evangeline on her.

Well, I've now listened to last night's episode and my word, does it justify this thread title. Utterly dire.

Too much to hope, I suppose, that Lynda will lose interest in the Mystery Plays and the whole awful storyline will just quietly be forgotten about.

and then we suddenly hear the boys are up for sentencing and Philip has pleaded guilty which is a volte face if ever I heard one

We did know a couple of weeks ago that Philip was pleading guilty.

I thought Philip absolutely wasn't going to plead guilty? That's a bit of a turn around... most of the story line hangs on him being in denial of having done anything wrong...

@Nith is right, we've known about the guilty plea for a while. I can't remember now whether he told Kirsty when she went to see him, or Kirsty was told later, but he did change his mind.

he did change his mind

I must've missed that. A listener for 55 years I'm hanging on by the skin of my teeth at the moment...

he did change his mind

Gosh, so sorry to have missed that vital twist. I know how it happened - I must shamefully admit to having stopped a couple of episodes half-way through because of the dreary Mystery Play SL. Huge apologies- I’ll try not to let it happen again...