💀 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 don't mind Lilian in small doses, but I've had enough of Justin. Was surprised to hear Toby, though.

Well, I liked it. Although it was laid on a bit thick, I did like Lillian "managing" Justin (but he'd have double checked what she said about horsey businesses folding). And I was quite impressed by Shula's ideas.

The hubbub of the Bull full of people drinking to Bert was nice to listen to.

Has Trevor buggered off again? What about the funeral? Did he come back for his mother's funeral, does anyone know?

Here's a thought - suppose Bert had had Covid when he died (would they test a dead person?). TulseHill's wishes could all come true at once.

(Slightly bad taste,sorry )

@EBearhug

Oh! I forgot it was on!

I’m just about managing without setting an alarm.

Fridays are still embarrassing me …

Last night was unsatisfactory in so many ways.

Not recognising the long lost Fairbrother. I dislike Rex’s whiney tone, but at least it makes him distinct. Toby was so … nothing last night.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph and the wee donkey but Shula and her trembly voice pleading for Justin’s approval almost drove me to violence against radio.

Why, why, why this total bollocks about him wanting to make a splash in Ambridge and its environs? Justin Elliott, Managing Director of Damara Capital - so fantastically grand that all of COP26 are on tenterhooks, waiting for the fleet of helicopters arriving with his entourage? Nope. Not buying it.

And surely to god he’d have had Phoebe do all the stable-business-related research? And would be completely on top of any local disasters - without needing to hear about them from Lilian? This whole story is utter 🩲🩲🩲.

I did believe the part about Justin not doing his own research. Men used to having staff can be fantastically lazy/clueless.

I don’t like hearing this bloke suddenly having business owner Shula quaking in her shoes.

I couldn’t believe they’d brought Toby back for THAT, and he sounded different.

I didn’t believe that “getting out all the games” would turn a few old drinkers into a raucous night, it just seemed a desperate way to finish Honouring Bert. But I’ll allow it.

Terry and June

That sounds like another episode I'll not bother listening to till I've run out of everything else, then!
There was a counsellor on the uk.media.radio.archers group who was writing a thesis on Postmodernism for her MA and somehow The Archers and its reality became involved, though in true postmodernist fashion the group was not alerted to the study till it was long over with; some years later, a media student wrote her final year dissertation on "Reality and the Archers". Not quite the same as a GCSE in The Archers, but close enough!
(My NP watershed would be the death of Norman Painting and I was casting around to remember who on earth the second NP could be until I read on. Definitely an Ancient History version for me, though not Encyclopaedic at all.)

If I was going to be investing heavily in a business I would have ask some pretty detailed questions if I knew the existing owner was planning a major career change. We have heard so much about her future role as a vicar yet now we are supposed to believe she will also be throwing her heart and soul into reviving the stables. The two paths are incompatible. We could turn a blind eye if the stables were meant to just trundle along quietly in the background while she saved as many lost souls as she could, but why attract attention to this plot inconsistency in this way?

I wonder if the vicar-ing story was planned with a timetable that’s been buggered up by covid complications - and now they’re trying to bury it.

Elizabeth and Darcy (although some people do say it the other way round).

Thanks Roy I meant to say similar - investing in a one woman (?) business at a point when that very woman is about to decamp you god school seems weird. Is Justin very stupid now?

@EdmontinaDancesWithOphelia

I wonder if the vicar-ing story was planned with a timetable that’s been buggered up by covid complications - and now they’re trying to bury it.

I reckon the vicarring storyline was to enable Shula to come and go as a fairly-silent character.

It would have been plausible to introduce a character of Stella's age to run the riding school.

Isn't it nice not having to listen to Alice/Adam/Bleak/Amy!

@TheSilveryPussycat

Here's a thought - suppose Bert had had Covid when he died (would they test a dead person?). TulseHill's wishes could all come true at once.

(Slightly bad taste,sorry )

actually they do DMIL died as a result of a fall during the first lockdown, and tested positive posthumously- which was a real mystery as they had been shielding. No one seemed able to explain this (or very inclined to) but it did add an extra layer of complication. So who knows, it could still happen in Ambridge.

Last Sunday Shula was said to be at a placement; do trainee vicars on placement get Sundays off, or do placements only last a week these days? It must have been at the beginning of the placement that she was there for the Harvest Festival Celebration; she was around on 20th October, on placement on 25th.

Tweedledum and Tweedledee

I'm only coming up with reverse alphabetical double acts because I am struggling to articulate why last night's episode in which 2 successful business people had to manage the decisions of a 3rd business person in a way that would not have happened had the first two b

... had the first two been male

Sonny and Cher
(I bet where it's a mixed sex duo the man is more likely to come first, regardless of alphabetical placement).
Peters and Lee - not sure which is the bloke in this pairing.
Rod Hull and Emu

@ButtonSister

I'm only coming up with reverse alphabetical double acts because I am struggling to articulate why last night's episode in which 2 successful business people had to manage the decisions of a 3rd business person in a way that would not have happened had the first two b

Two people WHO HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH A PARTICULAR BUSINESS feel able to tell a third (who does own it) what is to be done with that business; the surprise is that the first two are not both male and the third female, isn't it?

Why doesn't Shula simply take her business plan to the bank, and ignore this pair of bullies?

Why doesn't Shula simply take her business plan to the bank, and ignore this pair of bullies?

Because that would be too obvious, and is not the incestuous business model that Ambridge traditionally works on.

Stella would not approve if she ever hears of this cosy plan.

I've been pitching Stella as Shula's future lesbian partner for ages! Not that I'd wish that on poor Stella of course, but she'd sort the stables out quick smart.

I was wondering why Shula felt justified in writing a business plan on the Lord's Day...

@FoxgloveSummers

I've been pitching Stella as Shula's future lesbian partner for ages! Not that I'd wish that on poor Stella of course, but she'd sort the stables out quick smart.

I was wondering why Shula felt justified in writing a business plan on the Lord's Day...

Shula has been looking for something for a long time, and everything she has tried has been lacking, I agree a lesbian relationship may be her next attempt at finding meaning in her life.

@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime
Shula and Lillian were both behaving like 2 sisters in a sub Jane Ausen novel, trying to persuade Papa that yes, they may attend the ball

They're all annoying me tonight. Although Leonard seems almost ok