💀 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!

and a pre-departure (not self-administered) Covid test you don’t need to take a test before travelling to France. All the fiddling about, form filling and paying through the nose (or should that be up the nose) for a test to be taken two days after you’ve arrived (and been here, there and everywhere) is on the way back into Britain.

Heavens! Is there no end to John Finnemore’s talents?

Mystery book on World at One atm.

@LiterallyKnowsBest

Lovely glimpse into the future last night, with Chelsea establishing her place in the village. Imagine - a Horrobin with a skill! (Whose natural end point is not a prison cell.)

Chelsea takes after her aunt Sharon Richards, who was also a very skilled hairdresser.

I discovered, during the very first instalment of this thread, that I had been paying insufficient attention during the Sharon days!

Apparently not, @LiterallyKnowsBest

I'm wondering what style Lynda had before the pixie cut? I always pictured her with something close to it anyway

Was Sharon Johnny's mum?

@Flumpaphone

I'm wondering what style Lynda had before the pixie cut? I always pictured her with something close to it anyway

Wasn't there a debate (with herself or maybe the simpering nitwit Robert) about wearing a wig after she most unfortunately recovered from the explosion she helped cause by interfering? So I imagine her hair would still be patchy at best anyway.

Sharon is Johnny's mother.
Her surname was Richards but she married Eamonn.
Kylie Richards is a Horrobin

Kylie is Johnny's older half-sister, fathered by Clive Horrobin, Susan and Tracey's brother. They have another brother, Gary

Thought so. Thanks.

Not impressed so far.

driving to St Pancras in the limo when they could have got the train to Euston was just too ridiculous Paddington, if they’re going from Felpersham. Then they’d have to get the tube

Ambridge may be based on Inkberrow, but Lakey Hill is Bredon. Despite the names being the wrong way round, Felpersham is Worcester and Borchester is Evesham.

Inkberrow to Bristol airport is itself a bit of a drive.

Mystery play and Lynda, Ruth and Josh in a field and 2 rowing teenagers. That’s 15 mins of my life I will never get back…

I quite enjoyed the teenagers.

Lynda trying to tell Ruth how to look after cows was ridiculous.

Finally caught up! I had the impertinence to summon 🔮 from this thread and Bore's keeping for Bake Off purposes last night and she lured me back with mention of a pixie cut. I see that was indeed the highlight of the last three days.

The trip to Paris is beyond preposterous. It's obviously ideal for Clarrie, given her longstanding love of France, but as everyone else has said, the travel arrangements are nonsensical! I would have assumed limo to a nearby mainline station and train to London, with one of the boys retrieving the limo, but even that is silly. One night at a hotel in London or at Grey Gables, then set off for Paris - that would have made a certain amount of sense, but I really don't buy that Clarrie and Eddie had up to date passports. They live hand to mouth - renewing passports would take a huge chunk out of their budgets, and Clarrie would have had to sign her passport application.

Also, I find the idea of somebody else packing a bag for me with everything I'll need for a few days the stuff of nightmares.

I did quite enjoy the Mia/Chelsea bits.

Chelsea takes after her aunt Sharon Richards, who was also a very skilled hairdresser. They're not blood relations, IIRC, and I'd be surprised if they've ever had any contact. Sharon left Ambridge while pregnant with Johnnie, several years before Chelsea was born. Johnnie's dad was John Archer, Tom and Helen's older brother. Sharon's older child, Kylie, was Clive Horrobin's daughter and thus Chelsea's first cousin. The relationship with Clive was short-lived and they weren't married. Kylie did speak a few years ago but I can't remember whether we were told if she had any contact at all with her Horrobin relatives.

Nobody will be keeping in touch with Clive, I imagine, given he's a convicted arsonist, armed robber and all round thug, currently serving a very long prison sentence for trying to burn down the Police House with Christine and Jill inside it.

Nice to see you back, Gasp0.

Did the 🔮 perform adequately on its trip to TV-land? (I’m not a Bake Off watcher, so the result is pretty much the first news I’ve had of this series.)

Sharon wasn't married to Clive, so technically not an aunt

Hmm …

I think I’m just going to carry on being pleased and excited that this Horrobin - Chelsea- looks set to become a valued and relatively high profile member of the Ambridge community ‘going forward’ - because she’s good at something.

The 🔮 played a blinder. I started to wonder if we were all being manipulated into expecting one outcome only to have another one burst on us when the winner was announced, and I was right. So were many others, but we won't dwell on that.

The 🔮 is feeling v pleased with itself.

It's off now to a thread about a certain medical tribunal

@Flumpaphone

I'm wondering what style Lynda had before the pixie cut? I always pictured her with something close to it anyway

I pictured Lynda as having short hair but not in any particular style- not a pixie cut.

I picture Lighthouse Lil as having rigid "helmet hair" (think Mrs Thatcher- but not as well cut as Mrs T's or Sturgeon's before someone finally took Sturgeon in hand and did something about it) in a very obvious bottle blond or bottle brunette.

Lynda will now look like Judi Dench

Lil more like a highlighted Joan Collins (hair only, not face).