😱 Archers thread #130: The Fall of the House of Aldridge. 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 look forward to Shula's first sermon, 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.)

I went for the obvious thread title this time. Poor Ruairi! We've had a good go on the last thread www.mumsnet.com/Talk/radio_addicts/a4289334--Archers-thread-129-Casey-Macy-Lily-Alice-Decent-types-or-full-of-malice-Discuss-The-Archers-here?msgid=109858475#109858475 at trying to work out where he's going and what he might be studying, as the SWs have not seen fit to tell us.

Whither now for Alice? Will Jennifer talk to Peggy soon? Good hint from Lilian the other day that at Peggy's age it's not wise to leave feuds bubbling on.

It's been a long time since we last heard from a certain Archer whose name I am not going to mention in case it acts as a summoning charm. Long may she remain unheard in the dairy or out in the fields, or better still somewhere near a sinkhole. That was a storyline that looked promising years ago and wasn't exploited as it could have been. Pah.

Over to you!

I think they got scotties and westies mixed up, people do all the time.
They do, annoyingly.

Do you think they imagined they were describing a Bichon Frisée? I've always thought of Westies as little warriors.

I'd be a bit disappointed if I was given a mousse like their coats.

Yes, Westies are solid little dogs, not fluffy moussy ones.

Fun fact: I once saw an Aston Martin in the car park of the Stirling branch of Waitrose with the registration number T1 GER and my first thought was ‘he’s back!’

this is brilliant, @BurningTheToast

@WhoppingBigBackside which one have you got then?

Not only have the SWs made their lack of the event world obvious - as pp says they have clearly mixed up the prices of an event horse with a racing one, but (sigh) they’ve invented a parody of sailing too. We’ve owned & sailed a yacht for decades now - Nancy made an extremely unlikely yacht broker. Justin would never get insurance for a boat beyond his or Lillian’s sailing capabilities. It sounded as if they were looking at a 50 -60 footer, for which you would need extensive sailing experience, at least coastal if not offshore as well. Also given their age (aren’t they both in their 80s?) you’d both need to be sailors in order to attempt to manage it. It’s like Carry on Archers this week.

@Chemenger

Yes, Westies are solid little dogs, not fluffy moussy ones.

But you know what this is building up to, don' t you? I had this horrible realisation in the petfood aisle: Jazzer will explain the chaos and breakages to Jim, saying there had been 'a Mousse loose aboot this hoose'. And we shall rise up and SLAY them split our sides. Again.

Groan

Is this ecru enough?

Was Nancy being crew-el?

@WhoppingBigBackside

Groan

Is this ecru enough?

£185!!!! How much? Would Shula spend that much on a cardi?

@Putthetulipsthere

Not only have the SWs made their lack of the event world obvious - as pp says they have clearly mixed up the prices of an event horse with a racing one, but (sigh) they’ve invented a parody of sailing too. We’ve owned & sailed a yacht for decades now - Nancy made an extremely unlikely yacht broker. Justin would never get insurance for a boat beyond his or Lillian’s sailing capabilities. It sounded as if they were looking at a 50 -60 footer, for which you would need extensive sailing experience, at least coastal if not offshore as well. Also given their age (aren’t they both in their 80s?) you’d both need to be sailors in order to attempt to manage it. It’s like Carry on Archers this week.

And don't you need some sort of qualification in seamanship, eg how to plot a course and other, quite technical things?

Putthetulipsthere
aren’t they both in their 80s?

Justin is trying to keep his age a Dark Secret, but Lilian was born in 1947, so she is a mere 74 and has plenty of time to take and pass her Coastal Skipper and get her Certificate of Competence before she karks it.

I don't think Underwood sells Toast.

Of course they do!

What a terrifying denouement Weevils has suggested above. They wouldn't, would they? I'm just hoping we can put this ghastly week behind us and get back on track.

Couldn't they just change TA back to how it was in the good old days.
Alice never having been an alky, JD +Brine still at Home Farm, JD cooking up a haunch of venison etc.

Was this the mug?

Oh it’s shit at the moment. Jenny still in that tiny house - would never happen. The stupid Adam segment. The risible yacht and event rubbish, all more farce than drama and I have a soft spot for Lillian. Am enormously irritated by Shula, Susan and pretty much everyone.

Good idea, Whopping. Who's going to come out of the shower and announce the last few years have all been a dream? I vote for Nigel Pargetter.

This is the mug, or at least it has the right words. www.zazzle.co.uk/s/de+gustibus+non+disputandum

(It's not a Cicero quote, by the way. One of them did describe it as a Cicero mug, didn't they? Maybe it had Cicero's face on it.)

Just caught up with the last few days, washing machine was spinning loudly at times but I don't seem to have missed anything despite that. I don't care about Lillian's sailing past and even less about a badly behaved dog.

I'd love it if Nigel wasn't dead.
Perhaps he could come back as a secret love child of Julia's or a rich Pargetter cousin who falls in love with Widderbeth.

JD could find a painting or lottery ticket worth £££m and sell it and buy back the Home Farm house.

Justin could eff off to the far side of eff and then eff off a bit more

Shula could give her head a wobble.

Alice could drink a magic potion that completely reversed her alcoholism.

They could open the cereal cupboard and bring out a few regulars who have lost their voices.

Also, do non-regulars cost less? Like NQTs in teaching or something? There seem to be an awful lot of randoms recently.

Doubt it.
They seem to like famous actors.

Oh Go Trace.

I think the rate they are paid per episode rises when they have been with the programme for a certain number of years, but I can't remember how many it is. I have a feeling Graham Seed had just reached it, or was about to: that was how I knew about this.

@Edmontine

Yes, Frances Barber has been sadly disappointing. There does seem to be a thing with stage or TV actors being persuaded that a radio audience requires the sort of loud, over-emphasised 1 2 3! A B C! delivery one might employ for nursery school children, outside, in a hurricane. Who tells them to do this?

Actually I think Frances Barber played the character as exactly the sort of brassy, over-loud and unmitigatedly ghastly sort of friend Lighthouse Lil would have.