❓ 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.

See, I liked Philip, although I think it was really just because of his lovely deep Welsh voice.

R4 You are not the only one who can't stand Lilian. I particularly loathe her "laugh". Mind, I don't like Jazzer either. Never have. TBH I don't much like any of them but there are some I enjoy disliking and others I just wish would go away.

I'm quite taken with Weevils suggestion re Martha. I don't think TA has had an Infant Death SL before, have they?

Harrison needs to put in for a transfer, he cannot police his friends and neighbours without fear or favour and should move to the mean streets somewhere, leaving room for a new police person in Ambridge. Patricia Carmichael would be choice.

my choice

The Justin family connection remark may have been made when he was talking about moving to Ambridge and buying the farmhouse, or it may have been earlier. I don't remember exactly when but I do remember it being made.

I don't much like any of them but there are some I enjoy disliking and others I just wish would go away

Sums my feelings up pretty well, @BoreOfWhabylon. But sometimes what I wish for them goes a bit House of Atreus: and only today, the ad I was getting on this page was for a set of Big Sharp Knives. Spooky or what - how do They know?

R4 You are not the only one who can't stand Lilian. I particularly loathe her "laugh". Mind, I don't like Jazzer either. Never have.
No, I don't like Jazzer either. I always have a mental image of a dirty, scrawny person who reeks of booze and fags. Yuk.

@theThreeofWeevils House of Atreus/Archer. Oh yes.
O'Connor missed a trick there!

I am thankfully knife-free due to Mumsnet Premium

£10 says Alice will have an accident with Martha in the car. Loose pigs on the road. All witnessed by Jazzer.

And Jazzer will be torn between wanting to save the baby he delivered and the pigs...

lottiegarbanzo I also have vague memories of Justin claiming a local connection, although I have absolutely no recollection of his originally being played by another actor.

EBearhug

No, I don't like Jazzer either. I always have a mental image of a dirty, scrawny person who reeks of booze and fags. Yuk

Jazzer has actually grown on me over the years. I don’t want to replace Tracey in his affections but he is kind and there is a lot to be said for a kind man. I imagine him looking like Nigel from EastEnders, circa 1990s. Plump, black curly hair, relatively plain and shy but with a nice smile and twinkly eyes.

Jazzer is lovely.

@lottiegarbanzo

The Justin family connection remark may have been made when he was talking about moving to Ambridge and buying the farmhouse, or it may have been earlier. I don't remember exactly when but I do remember it being made.

I think I have found it for you, on his fifth speaking appearance after his arrival on 9th April, 2014.

On 29th January, 2015, Justin mentioned in conversation with David that "It's been a dream of mine to settle in the Midlands for a long time," and then said, "My great grandfather came from these parts." When questioned further he said his ggf was a farmer "in a very small way ... but he always talked very fondly of his country childhood." David suggested that Justin would therefore be "coming back to his roots" and Justin said dismissively "in a sense".

So a distant family connection with the Midlands, but nothing about Borchester of Ambridge in particular.

(Surprising that the ggf was alive for Justin to talk to, and out in Rhodesia; maybe he was the reason they moved there. Back when Justin were a lad we mostly thought ourselves lucky to have surviving grandparents, let alone great grands; mine were all dead by the time I was thirteen.)

Is there anybody, certainly not Chris or Fallon, capable of expressing even a gram of sympathy for Alice?

Everybody seems intent on leaving her to rot, rather than dragging her off to get professional help.

I am worried that there is going to be a suicide SL.

Oh, well done!

I took 'these parts' to mean these parts in particular, rather than referring to the Midlands in general.

The 'farmer in a small way' phrase is such a tease too. Could mean a tenant or smallholder. Could mean landed gentry who 'dabbled' in farming by letting other people do the work.

Maybe it was just small talk. Going by the principal of 'a gun on stage in act one must go off by act 3' or however that is better phrased, I can't help feeling the 'small time farmer GGF' must come to mean something, or perform some perfunctory plot function, at some point.

There have been so many Chekhov's guns over the years that I have ceased to think them likely to be important. And it was O'Connor at that time, with his passion for dragging people with minimal connection to Ambridge into the place; for instance the Fairbrothers, whose grandfather lived near the village for eight years and was very unpopular because he wanted to sell land for mining ironstone, and left after his daughter had died there in an accident. Their father was there as a toddler so of course they turned up with no particular plans except for living there and possibly rearing poultry, which neither of them knew the first thing about... He also brought Carol Tregorran back; she seems to have walked away from a house and business in Bristol and never thought about them again when she moved into a rented cottage in a place which had many bad memories in it for her, and which she hadn't been able to wait to get out of in 1990. We certainly never heard that either had been sold. Maybe Bristol is where she's been since she last appeared on air in September 2018.

I think Jazzer is skinny, with an edge of skanky, but as he's got older he's grown into himself and has a slightly Jack Sparrowish appeal. Dark hair and would look good with eyeliner type.

@Madcats

Is there anybody, certainly not Chris or Fallon, capable of expressing even a gram of sympathy for Alice?

Everybody seems intent on leaving her to rot, rather than dragging her off to get professional help.

I am worried that there is going to be a suicide SL.

I'm not sure who "everybody" is as only Chris, Harrison, Alan and latterly Fallon even know. Peggy has guessed but can't possibly know the worst of it.

Alan is limited in what he can do- neither he nor Fallon can "drag her" anywhere.
Harrison could and probably should have arrested Alice. Does that count that as "dragging her off"?

@WindyPudding

I think Jazzer is skinny, with an edge of skanky, but as he's got older he's grown into himself and has a slightly Jack Sparrowish appeal. Dark hair and would look good with eyeliner type.

No- Jazzer is skinny, whey- faced and below average height. And grubby.

I picture Jazzer as a bit like the builder's bum housemate in Notting Hill - Rhys Ifans? Kind of lanky and a bit grim, would definitely drink the milk even if it was on the turn, but essentially fun and good hearted.

Re: recording in separate houses. Yes quite possibly/probably but nowadays there are Ways to record people having a conversation from different houses. The first half sounded like they weren't actually interacting at all. Also, you have always been able to go to work if your job is broadcast critical - and what could be more vital for the nation than hearing about Justin's early thespian adventures? I suspect PP is right and it was recorded yonks ago (badly) and plugged in to replace something/because they'd run out of ideas.

Ah, yes. I called Jazzer 'dirty' but the word is definitely 'grubby'.

I did wonder if Fallon and Harrison should have, as friends, 'dragged off' Alice to get help. Cruel to be kind and all that. Would good friends have turned their backs like F&H have? Fallon knows what happens when the sufferer is left to their mañana tendencies and Harrison will know about all the official resources available - he should have arrested her to force the issue (and to protect his own professional skin, too, when the truth comes out)

I seem to remember a while ago we were all speculating that the alcoholism would come out as a result of a horse accident - perhaps the horse is a Checkov's gun? We've had a suicidal character quite recently in the shape of Will. Unfortunately, though, you don't need to try to kill yourself actively, or to be in withdrawal from alcohol, to die from it or come close to death from it.
Jazzer can't be too skinny or grubby, unless he's completely making it up he seems to get a reasonable amount of female interest. I also can't see Tracey settling for anyone who is less than easy on the eye!

yeah he's supposedly very attractive but I do suspect it's more a combo of big talk/confidence and a numbers game - he used to go out a lot.

What is a chekov’s gun??

I think of Jazzer as physically in good shape because of (a) his active job and outdoor life and (b) apparent success with women interested in casual sex. He must be fairly clean because Jim wouldn't tolerate too much mess.

I see him as Ralph C Nesbitt's younger, slightly handsomer brother