🎲 Archers thread #134: Ambridge as human board game. We’ve had Pandemic. What now - Game of Life or Trivial Pursuit? Go! 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 warm to Hazel Woolley, or other unusual views.

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 @LiterallyKnowsBest for the thread title idea. I also liked @LillianGish's suggestion which was Conversions abound and it’s not just Harrison - Lily’s kitchens, Hazel’s flat, Jazzer’s finances, Bert’s bungalow...come and discuss The Archers - are you a convert or could you be converted? and that seems like a good place to kick off this thread.

Who'll get the bungalow? Pip, Josh or A. N. Other?

Will Lily leave the cold calling behind and launch a bid to run LL when Elizabeth hangs up her clipboard?

Will Jazzer become a financial whiz after mastering Tracy's state of the art budgeting techniques, viz, writing it all down in a little notebook with a kitten on the front?

Over to you!

Salil was in Phoebe's old tutorial group from college, according to her; his name was mentioned once by Lily, once by Phoebe -- who said he "might have been there", than which a stupider remark it's hard to think of unless she actively wanted Lily to assume he was an ex-boyfriend of hers.

Slightly odd to have a conversation about pigs without mentioning all the problems currently caused by the fact that they can't get them to slaughterhouses so they're all growing out of standard accommodation. Mind you, if they ever get around to that it will presumably be one up for Neil whose charges aren't so dependent on indoor accommodation.

The entire conversation about pigs was because of Justin having noticed the fact that the abattoir has problems, and taking advantage of this to snipe at Brian, who replaced him when he was forced out of being in charge at Berrow. (A ridiculous storyline: Justin is BL's major shareholder and Martyn Gibson is chair only on Justin's say-so; Gibson chucking Justin out of his chosen position would not have happened.)

Has Phoebe applied for Laura Kuhhnsberg's job?
(Yes I know I've spelt her name wrong)

Listened live for once (could stand no more of the topic of the day).

Two juicy bits of gossip retro-invented there about silent characters.

The Button parents are called Fleur and Archie and they met when Archie went into Fleur's garden in the early morning in search of a rare mushroom and she thought he was a burglar, so she whacked him on the head.

Jean Harvey (who I recall being mentioned as running Meals on Wheels, I think, and sometimes clashing with Jill) had an affair with arch-complainer Derek Fletcher in the 80s! Derek has a silent wife called Pat. I wonder if she is supposed to know about this.

I hope they checked the archive before deciding to invent this stuff. They'll never hear the last of it if we were previously told Derek only moved to Ambridge in 1992, for example.

We have been told that Mr Button was called Russell; we have also told that he was called Terry. And now he is Archie. Tut.

I though that Adam was making it all up as Susan-baiting entertainment whilst he got on with the washing up. At least he managed to sound less lethargic than normal

Isn’t it entirely conceivable that the Buttons are another vast family of multiple branches and generations, rivalling the Archers in tentacles, interconnectedness and local power?

But. Silent.

Derek has a silent wife called Pat. I wonder if she is supposed to know about this

We know she’s supposed to @Gasp0de, because that’s why she wouldn’t let Derek go to see Jean Harvey in Calendar Girls. According to Adam…

Doh! Of course. When I heard 'Pat', I automatically thought of Pat Archer and was baffled.

The thread title is proving surprisingly prescient - last night’s episode felt like the SW’s moving pieces around the board with Alice going back to the nest. The rest was nothing if not trivial and also felt highly contrived. I don’t think the individual nuggets of gossip had any significance (which was why the SW didn’t bother to make even a cursory check) it was purely to set up a dynamic of gossiping between Adam and Susan. It also felt like another example of teaching the audience how to suck eggs - we’ve both lived in the village all our lives until I went to Africa and came back 20 years ago. What were you doing in Africa? Tell me - how did you and Neil meet? Note to SWs - if we want to know we can look it up (or in our case ask AskingQuestions). Tedious.

The thread title is proving surprisingly prescient

Surprising?! Harrumph. Whole seconds of my life went into composing that, I'll have you know.

Pat and Derek Fletcher are in The Archers Encyclopaedia; they moved to Glebelands in 1983.

Adam was living in Ambridge (thought he was going to Sherborne as a boarder) when Susan met Neil in 1983, so asking her that particular question was definitely intended to put her at ease, not looking for information. He would have been there when she won Pinky the Pig at the fête.

Oh dear. The Archers Encyclopaedia says the Fletchers moved to Glebelands in 1983; The Book of The Archers says 1979. You'd think the writers of the one that was published later would have been able to consult the book that already existed.

(I wonder why the italic didn;t work the first time I tried to use than for TAE and did this time.)

@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime

Pat and Derek Fletcher are in The Archers Encyclopaedia; they moved to Glebelands in 1983.

Adam was living in Ambridge (thought he was going to Sherborne as a boarder) when Susan met Neil in 1983, so asking her that particular question was definitely intended to put her at ease, not looking for information. He would have been there when she won Pinky the Pig at the fête.

I think it’s entirely plausible that a schoolboy would not have noticed the pig-based romance at the time.

I wonder why the italic didn;t work the first time I tried to use than for TAE and did this time. Maybe the ; confused it

I suspect that gossip about the Pig and the Pigman romance would have been all round the village like greased lightning. And why on earth would an adolescent, the age at which people are absolutely obsessed with sex, not notice a sexual affair? He will also have been privy to the gossip about the seven-month baby Emma the following year.

Been driven back to post here by the extraordinary scene on atm:
Soosan and "boys" discussing their secret Ambridge crushes!!!

Revelations....

Does anyone ever have a conversation like that with a long time neighbour, different generation?!?!

Obviously a lot of alcohol was consumed...

Wouldn’t Susan and Adam of a similar age, early-mid 50s? Ian, I think is a bit younger, late 40s?

@Muckymaisonette

Wouldn’t Susan and Adam of a similar age, early-mid 50s? Ian, I think is a bit younger, late 40s?

Susan was born 10/10/1963 Adam was born on 2/6/1967 Ian was born 4/9/1970

@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime

I suspect that gossip about the Pig and the Pigman romance would have been all round the village like greased lightning. And why on earth would an adolescent, the age at which people are absolutely obsessed with sex, not notice a sexual affair? He will also have been privy to the gossip about the seven-month baby Emma the following year.

I think you’re speculating a bit too far there! Can’t imagine a teen, sex-obsessed or otherwise, being remotely interested in a fairly dull local couple getting together. It’s not like they were caught shagging in a corner of the village fete.

(Also Adam is unlikely to have been titillated by heterosexual couplings)

I assumed Susan was being invited for a meal.

I quite enjoyed tonight's episode.

@KimikosNightmare

I quite enjoyed tonight's episode.

So did I. It's nice to hear friend enjoying each other's company.