💀 Archers thread #132: The Grim Reaper joined the cast; The Bard of Ambridge breathed his last. 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 think Shula will make an excellent vicar, 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.)

Thanks to many of you for title suggestions. @JanglyBeads said that this thread had to be a Bert tribute so needed a rhyming title. From an excellent field, I chose the suggestion from @BorsetshireBanality (who also has a cracking username).

Check out the last thread for the other suggestions and various poetic offerings inspired by Bert Fry's passing. www.mumsnet.com/Talk/radio_addicts/4349822--Archers-thread-131-A-time-to-plant-a-time-to-reap-Discuss-The-Archers-here

So, who'll get the bungalow? Rex, Stella, Pip? If Rex has to move, will he doss down beside his pigs at Lower Loxley? Or will Rex be a resident at Her Majesty's pleasure, having bumped off Trevor for being the world's most boring man? Now Freddie's on the case, are Russ's days at LL numbered? Will we ever hear Jill again, or was Bert just the first of many older cast members to be dedded?

Over to you!

I have a different-looking edition of Jennifer Aldridge’s Archers’ Cookbook, which has that recipe at the top of page 58 in the "July" section, and doesn't mention The Bull. Mine's the David & Charles 2011 printing, copyright Angela Piper 2009. Is yours from 1994, by any chance?

Yes! I did have a vague memory of hearing there were two slightly different editions! So yours is divided into months rather than locations/homes?

Yes I tend to find it’s a good one to go to for all sorts of things, although have never been sure about Robin’s Beef Bobotie….

Here's my 1994 edition.

👍

@JanglyBeads

Yes! I did have a vague memory of hearing there were two slightly different editions! So yours is divided into months rather than locations/homes?

Yes. Well, Spring/Summer/Autumn/Winter with subdivision.

The other I have, Jennifer Aldridge’s Archers’ Country Kitchen, has the same author and same format: seasons and months, but the order is Autumn/Winter/Spring/Summer. Autumn is introduced thus:

Autumn is upon us -- heavy-beaded dew, misty mornings and golden afternoons bestow the countryside's seasonal bounty. Along the Little Croxley Lane, bee-droning hedgerows are bedecked with gleaming, tawny berries. (etc)

Strewth.

Yeah I’m not in love with the chapter intros in my version but they do take one back to late C20th Ambridge ……

Did Kirsty even discuss her idea with anyone before setting the cat among the pigeons?

@Taswama

Did Kirsty even discuss her idea with anyone before setting the cat among the pigeons?

Oh come on, can you remember the last time the wretched woman did anything sensible?

How long ago since the night of the custardgate?

I'm quite enjoying Afam being an evil bastard lawyer on the Saturday afternoon play.

Or Adam, even.

Easter 2016, I think.

Mildly interesting to hear Naylah Ahmed (SW) on PM just now talking about how to get environmental issues into a soap. From about 5.23pm - but very brief.

@Taswama

Did Kirsty even discuss her idea with anyone before setting the cat among the pigeons?

Possibly with Roy, who was there when she said she had an idea, and again when she sent the message and said she didn't regret it. He may have been trying to talk her out of it during the bit we didn't hear, of course.

Helen stabbed Rob on the evenings of Sunday 3rd and Monday 4th April, 2016. Easter that year was on Sunday, March 27.

Oh,that was Adam?!

I ask again - who is John? The one with a desk in the office at Bridge Farm.

Because Johnny was still Johnny later in the week.

Wasn't a fan of Kirsty's actions during Custardgate either: the desirable outcomes were a properly dead Rob and Helen done for and convicted of murder (I'd have settled for manslaughter at a pinch). And the dozy mare goes and spoils it all, interfering with ambulances and the filth.

@EdmontinaDancesWithOphelia

I ask again - who is John? The one with a desk in the office at Bridge Farm.

Because Johnny was still Johnny later in the week.

I didn't hear it mentioned on the programme. But could it be John, their son, whose desk has been preserved since his death. No idea really, just hazarding a guess.

@EdmontinaDancesWithOphelia

I ask again - who is John? The one with a desk in the office at Bridge Farm.

Because Johnny was still Johnny later in the week.

If I am told when this was said by whom to whom I might be able to find the context and work out who was meant. I am assuming Pat to Natasha when she was telling Natasha about the Bridge Farm plans to absorb Natasha's business, but is that right?

Pat spoke of "a desk in the farm office next to Tom's" on Thursday. That's the only reference to a desk that I can find. Might you have misheard "Tom" and thought that she said "John"?

Okay … Having listened twice on the radio (where it sounded like John,) I’ve listened on headphones - where it’s clearly Tom!

Strange … But solved!

Now imagining the Bridge Farm office looks something like this.

Autumn is upon us -- heavy-beaded dew, misty mornings and golden afternoons bestow the countryside's seasonal bounty. Along the Little Croxley Lane, bee-droning hedgerows are bedecked with gleaming, tawny berries. (etc)

I have a theory that this deathless prose is down to Ed Reardon..

Love the pic gaspode: perfect, I’d say!

Anyone who’d be interested to hear more about how the criminal justice system fails women who find themselves in Helen’s position (on whatever date it was in September 2016), listen on BBC Sounds to File on 4, which has just been broadcast. Just awful. Also interesting re the role and sentencing for using a knife.

In fact, I think anyone and everyone should listen to the programme!