❓ 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.

I thought she sounded uncharacteristically happy. She had definitely drunk it.
Or, alternatively, the SW are playing with us. They could be lulling us into a false sense of belief in Alice's sobriety (a bit like Chris) and then they'll hit us with the next bottle.

BeardieWeirdie
People who think they’re better than everyone else

Patently doesn't apply to Alice, who is wading around under a load of guilt about being worse than any other mother there ever was in the history of mankind.

Either the scriptwriters are playing a game with us or she drank it.

Why didn't she mention Brian brought wine and chocolates?

She'd obviously cooked something special and Chris had had a long, hard day- so why didn't she open the wine unless she'd already downed the lot.

I once attended a lecture given by a functioning alcoholic after a 2 day bender. I was questioned (as a graduate student) afterwards by other academics - but you really wouldn't have known, he was better than some sober academics.

Nelson did reproduce - and she turned out to have become a policewoman.

@MissBarbary

Either the scriptwriters are playing a game with us or she drank it.

Why didn't she mention Brian brought wine and chocolates?

She'd obviously cooked something special and Chris had had a long, hard day- so why didn't she open the wine unless she'd already downed the lot.

MissBarbary Why didn't she mention Brian brought wine and chocolates?

Especially since she did mention the chocolates. I suppose it's just possible that she realised that the wine was too great a temptation and poured it down the drain before taking the bottle to a bottle bank, but is seems unlikely somehow.

Well, I loved the whole Jazzer and Tracey thing. Even the slightly cringe yet strangely uplifting end to the scene.

I think it's horrible. What makes TA fascinating for me is the snakes and ladders element; Tracy + Oliver would have been just about the best thing in the whole history of the world.

There's just nowhere at all to go with a Tracy/Jazzer relationship. What's to look forward to with Jazzer moving into No1 The Green? Or will Jim conveniently die and leave him his house, with Tracy moving there?

Thank you @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g I could so easily get into it and my grandma used to listen so it feels like a nice memory of her.

Haven’t listened yet but either way she’s doubtless hidden the empty bottle for Chris to find for Drama.

Tracy + Oliver would have been just about the best thing in the whole history of the world.
I disagree. TA is supposed to be an everyday story. Implausible drama is scheduled for the 14:15 slot.

Fully accepting your disagreement, R4!

But just realised I wrote 'No.1 The Green' above - which is obviously wrong, as that's Will's place. I meant whichever number is the Horrobin headquarters.

When my OH died at the start of the first lockdown it had an odd effect on me. We had, as wrinklies, our little routines one of which was The Archers omnibus with Sunday breakfast, it's only been in the last couple of months that I've started bothering again and I've been really surprised at the poor quality. Hopefully it'll pick up if I persevere.

@R4

Tracy + Oliver would have been just about the best thing in the whole history of the world. I disagree. TA is supposed to be an everyday story. Implausible drama is scheduled for the 14:15 slot.

There's plenty of implausible drama in the Archers. Tracey and Oliver would be neither here nor there but would be a much better story line

TheThermalStair, I like your plan for what should happen to Kirsty. SummerHouse, the 2.15 drama slot (2pm on Mondays) is a bit hit and miss but one of the things I've liked about working at home is listening to the afternoon play. Radio drama has taken a big cut in finances so there are fewer big name dramas, which is sad.

I think the quality of the writing has gone down, benorjerry. Mary Cutler, one of the better writers in my opinion, retired in 2019. I find the 'humour' too self conscious and miss the agricultural diseases like warble fly. Still, it's rare for me not to listen at all over the week. I've not heard Monday's episode so I will enjoy listening to that after the discussion above. I might even have some Rioja depending on whether I listen in the evening on Sounds or to the omnibus.

@benorjerry, I'm so sorry to hear about your OH. What a sad year for you. I hope it's a good thing that you feel able to listen again, but it's a pity the scriptwriters have nothing better for us at the moment.

My condolences, benorjerry. It's good to have you (back?) on the thread.

Two things: I rarely miss more than one or two episodes at a time now, but when I have had occasion to miss out whole weeks or more it has taken a bit of effort to reacclimatise my ears to Ambridge. I'd say the quality of the average episode generally seems better in retrospect than it does day to day - and this must be because one gets used to filling in the gaps in the story during the other 23 hours and 47 minutes. The bare bones seem a bit rubbish when one comes to it 'cold'.

Secondly, since its inception, this thread has increased my listening satisfaction one hundredfold. Whenever I'm ready to throw my radio out of the window I think how much I'd miss the chat here, and restrain myself.

I do hope the scriptwriters are playing with us about Alice and that she rang her support person and dumped the wine. In reality, I suspect from the everything is going to be alright, super happy, tell me about your boring day chat that she has necked that bottle. On saying that, I know she was a hardened drinker but surely after 4/5 months (I can't quite remember), a full bottle of red would be enough to get noticeably sozzled.

@MayIDestroyYou

I think it's horrible. What makes TA fascinating for me is the snakes and ladders element; Tracy + Oliver would have been just about the best thing in the whole history of the world.

There's just nowhere at all to go with a Tracy/Jazzer relationship. What's to look forward to with Jazzer moving into No1 The Green? Or will Jim conveniently die and leave him his house, with Tracy moving there?

Jazzer won't necessarily move in, for a while anyway. In any case, do you think two working class people can't be happy in a Council house. Many, many people do live quite happily like that.

So sorry benorjerry

Why did Alice marry into that family? I mean you just wouldn't, would you, not knowing what Susan and Emma are like. I would have thought that AIBU was testament to the fact that most people don't consider what the family's like when they choose their life partner.

Did I hear Alice say "she's only 4 weeks old"? Is she 4 weeks already? Where has the time gone? Is it something to do with the birth therefore being only 16 episodes ago instead of a pre-covid 24?

Either way, there's more unpleasantness afoot when Chris finds out one way or the other about the wine. I'm not looking forward to it. Not because I like either Chris or Alice, but I just find their arguments so unpleasant.

In any case, do you think two working class people can't be happy in a Council house.

What I do think is that the SWs are much better where they can't easily fall back on embarrassing local yokel cliché, as they have done for ages with the Grundys.

And it's just boring. Tracy may perhaps, temporarily, bring out the best in Jazzer, but I'm already tired of hearing her guide him through the basic truths of life on Earth. He will not be making her entertaining for me to listen to.

Council house or mansion, if Jazzer moves in with Tracy he takes on not just Brad and Chelsea, but also her Dad Bert and her brother Gary, along with the risk of visits from her jailbird brothers Clive and Keith. There's another brother, Stewart, about whom I know nothing. And he'd be effectively brother-in-law to Susan and thereby honorary uncle to Emma and his extremely close friend Ed. Daunting for anybody, surely?

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g

Council house or mansion, if Jazzer moves in with Tracy he takes on not just Brad and Chelsea, but also her Dad Bert and her brother Gary, along with the risk of visits from her jailbird brothers Clive and Keith. There's another brother, Stewart, about whom I know nothing. And he'd be effectively brother-in-law to Susan and thereby honorary uncle to Emma and his extremely close friend Ed. Daunting for anybody, surely?

Indeed. Even less likely to appeal to Oliver. I know he wouldn't live there but he'd be involved with the family. How old are Brad and Chelsea?

I would have thought that AIBU was testament to the fact that most people don't consider what the family's like when they choose their life partner
While that is true up to a point, MereDint, they have not all grown up in the same village, where their potential MiL is the malicious village gossip and the pot SiL a nasty piece of work with some kind of sexual fetish for the local semi-criminal lowlife clan. Before her current rehabilitation as hardworking, heart of gold, pillar of the community and Parish Cahncil chair in waiting Mrs E. Grundy, Jr

I thought I heard Chris say "Is that a bottle?" and then he went ballistic. Is that right?

If he did, then it must have been an empty bottle. So the only options are a) that Alice drank it, or b) that she poured it away to avoid temptation.