🧱 Archers thread #128: Alice lobs a brick, Emma hurls brickbats, Neil is a brick. Cement your relationship with 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 collect superhero figures, or other unusual things.

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.)

Apologies for not using any of the suggestions offered for this thread's title. I'll paste them in here instead to get us started.

I like the leeway pun here from @ThePawtriarchy: Bacon, Bores and Booze. Elizabeth needs convincing, Helen needs some leeway and Alice is in crisis.

@nettie434 gets to the nub of what's been happening recently: Beechwood, Batman and Booze: Rex's pigs and Helen and Lee have new homes but will Lee's collection of action figures plant the apple of discord in their sylvan idyll? Alice's alcohol problems continue to cause friction between the Aldridges and Carters. Has anyone warned Borsetshire Children's Services what awaits them?

Great one liner from @PseudoBadger - ‘Nobody puts Captain America in the corner’.

And a timely bit of advice from @JanFebAnyMonth: If this evening’s episode has raised any issues for you, please call the BBC Helpline post on this MN thread for details of organisations which might help you.

So, off we go again! We may get back to five episodes a week before the next thread. Here's hoping that it's Friday we get back, not Sunday.

The Gills moved in before New Year 2019, at which date they had a very noisy and apparently destructive party. After that they went away leaving only builders, who gutted the building ("removing all the awful decor") and ripped out the decking as well as destroying the lawn. The Gills have not been heard of since apart from a mention of them cancelling the papers at the village shop once. There was more than a year between then and the onset of covid if anything in the way of having anything to do with the village of Ambridge had been planned for them.

Oh, and they had a skip just before Christmas 2019 and Emma went skip-diving with Will and got some things out of it for the tombola at some event or other.

A wealthy neighbour of my parents has left her house standing empty for around 10 years now. She moved abroad when her partner got a new job. Pays for gardening and cleaning every week but never visits. No tenants, no family or friends visiting either. Very odd. Totally agree, though, that having Home Farm in limbo is a big mistake.

At least Debbie's not tired all the time.

I think Roy's lack of contact with Abbie (and Hayley) is out of character. The 'real' Roy (or at least the Roy of my imagination) would want to keep in touch.

Absolutely agree with this. There’s no way that Hayley or Roy would have gone for completely no contact such as we’ve heard. And I’m sure Phoebe would be in touch with H+A even if we’re supposed to think that the divorce was filled with such animosity that they couldn’t bear to arrange contact (which is not how I remember it).

The Roy-Elizabeth affair was so ridiculous and such a waste of a nice family. Makes me sad.

I like Adam. I think his mistake was returning to Home Farm and choosing to build a life there (perhaps out of some misplaced need to look after his mother).

I like Adam too but ILoveBrian.

Cowditz

@Darker

I like Adam. I think his mistake was returning to Home Farm and choosing to build a life there (perhaps out of some misplaced need to look after his mother).

It was definitely in his own interests to do so; he had never cared a straw about Jennifer when he shook the dust of Home Farm off his feet and went off to Africa for ten years, during which time he saw her precisely once, at Noluthando''s christening in 2001 for which Jennifer and Brian travelled to Cape Town.

And as he explained, when he came back to England it was after breaking up with his long-term boyfriend/partner so that he didn't want to remain in a place with so many memories.

Foxgloves. Poisonous.

@ILoveShula

Foxgloves. Poisonous.

Paper thin plot line!

@ILoveShula

Foxgloves. Poisonous.

Something I said?

Adam: rubbish acting or rubbish scriptwriting? I just can't decide.
Is the actor playing A Gay Man or can the actor not do any better with the writing?
But overall I'd prefer the Archers without him.

@LillianGish I adore the idea that Home Farm is the ongoing love nest of Kathy and Pat. I wonder if Hayley and Abbie sometimes pop round for tea and carrot cake.

I think the Adam actor is a good actor.

Radio acting is hard. The voices have to be distinctive. I sometimes take a moment to work out which young man is speaking. Adam is unmistakable.

The Gills moved in before New Year 2019

I think I remember Joy moving in at a similar time. It seemed a bit pointless to introduce a random character like Joy rather than characters who would be living in the heart of Home Farm. May be the SWs just couldn’t be bothered to write endless scenes about the tractor being parked in the wrong place and the Gills complaining about life in the countryside being so noisy.

I think the Adam actor is a good actor

I think he is a frustrated Shakespearean actor who simply can’t get sufficient parts so has to appear in a soap to maintain a regular income. His delivery is over-exaggerated and he puts too much emotion into every line. I think this is what is known as ‘over-acting’…

I like Adam too but ILoveBrian

IReallyLoveBrian

As I recall, Adam actor originally sounded just like all the others but after complaints to Feedback he developed the very distinctive Adam delivery we know and hate but instantly recognise. As I've said before Andrew Wincott played teacher best friend of husband in Clare in the Community and was unrecognisable (to me, anyway).

Brian is a marvellous character. So is Debbie, IMO. Their relationship was fascinating. Recently binged on Friday Night Dinner and loved Tamsin Greig in that. No Debbie crossover for me as she looks nothing like Debbie.

I think Roy's lack of contact with Abbie (and Hayley) is out of character. The 'real' Roy (or at least the Roy of my imagination) would want to keep in touch.

I agree.

I like 'Debbiolatry', Asking, and have always found it faintly baffling. What really annoyed me, though, was her arable omnicompetence for which there never seemed to be any good reason. Part of a degree in French obviously imparts some mystical attunement with matters arable.
Her relationship with Brian always seemed squicky to me: glad it's not just my filthy mind.

Given that Tamsin Greig may well be short of work during lockdown, I reckon she'll could well be back to sort out Adam and Brine and arrangements with the farm will carry on more or less as they are now.

That's what I liked about it (given this is fiction).

I googled "Adam" the other day and ended up listening to snippets of audiobooks that he has narrated. The actor deserves to go off in a huff and come back using another of his "Voices" as a different actor.

Alternatively I would really enjoy an "Archers/Clare in the Community" mash up.

I wonder what the plan is with Home Farm? Adam is going to be 54 next week, so I am not sure that makes him immediately employable elsewhere.

Why would being 54 make a difference?