🎲 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!

I think it'll be Marthur too. Lots of mention of the cottage being childproof.

Still can't understand with the vast income Brian and Jenny have why they're living in a pokey house.

It's not the vast income, it's the assets. I don't understand why Brian and JD are rentin Willow Cottage when they have cottages they can ggive away

If it were not for the obvious prospect of snogging with Amy I might wonder if Christopher had much time left in this world …

After all, he’s provided another Archer child - that has a home and a mother and countless other highly invested relatives.

Ha! Maybe he’ll also generate a vicarage child before he tumbles conveniently down the stairs? That would provide endless drama for decades to come. (Please 🔮 …)

I have a better idea. Pip is on the lookout for a an and there aren't many single men in Ambridge. Maybe Kristiffur and Pip could bond over single parent issues, with the ghastly Pipster falling down the stairs in a tragic accident

Another Archer shagging the Horrobin boy?

Cool …

(Never gonna happen, surely)

Pip and Will, though … Sadly too complicated with all those offspring. Stella doesn’t appear to have any children.

Wait - how is Alice an Archer? I don't have my family tree to hand.

Alice is Jennifer’s daughter.

Jennifer is an Archer. Her father Jack Archer (Peggy’s first Jack) was brother to Phil Archer and Christine Archer. They were the children of Dan and Doris Archer - original owners of Brookfield.

Everything that happens in Ambridge is posited on proximity to Archers.

This is why, for instance, Phoebe, Jennifer’s granddaughter, remained in Ambridge while her stepmother and half sister were booted off to Birmingham. Anyone lacking sufficient proximity to the First Family (from Brookfield, Bridge Farm, Lower Loxley, Home Farm) risks cancellation. Except Grundys, who are the counterweight to the entire Archer clan.

Ohhh yes, strangely they seem never to mention that "First Jack" was an Archer so even though I've heard a lot about him, I'd totally forgotten that. Should have remembered because Tony is one but since Pat and Tony barely stable horses unlike Christine I sometimes forget their relationship.

Peggy's relationship to Tony is somewhat how I imagine the Queen's is to Prince Charles, and Peggy's relationship with Lillian more like how I imagine she gets on with Princess Anne.

by "Pat and Tony barely stable horses" mean of course PEGGY and Tony

Peggy's relationship to Tony is somewhat how I imagine the Queen's is to Prince Charles, and Peggy's relationship with Lillian more like how I imagine she gets on with Princess Anne.

What a fabulous observation! Has there ever been any official commentary on this?

kate is a grifter - not a grafter.
the job would be perfect for alice imo.

But Alice is an engineer. I cant bear the way the SWs keep torturing her with pointless excursions down different paths.

She needs to regain sobriety, and then get a job so far from Ambridge that no SW could ever draft in any male of her family to stamp all over her career.

This is for Alice:

@TottersBlankly

Peggy's relationship to Tony is somewhat how I imagine the Queen's is to Prince Charles, and Peggy's relationship with Lillian more like how I imagine she gets on with Princess Anne.

What a fabulous observation! Has there ever been any official commentary on this?

Thanks Totters! I'd love it if there were official commentary on it - I realise you mean from the scripties but I'm picturing it in the form of one of those letters they pin up outside Buckingham Palace.

I see Jenny's brood more like the M-Ws.

Firstborn - Adam waiting to inherit
PR - Debbie
PA - Kate
PE - Alice (before drinking)

Not sure where Ruairi fits in

LOL @ Kate being Prince Andrew!!!

I fear the stairs will be a massive red herring (a bit like that Bridal Bridle bag Alice was given when she was pissed and pregnant).

Have the SW invented some extra holiday cottages? It's odd that nobody is renting them currently nor made any reservations for the year.

Brian and Jenny should have moved into one of those rather than their shoebox nextdoor to Roy and Kirsty.

I feel the stairs is rewriting history. I always thought you had to go through the shop, hence Susan getting pissed off with the parcels for Tom and Natasha, and previous occupants having no privacy.

Yes I also thought the main entrance was through the shop. Although I remember there being mention of a fire escape staircase during Tom and Natasha’s housewarming party - I think people were sitting on the steps because there was no room inside

I shouldn't have thought they'd be allowed only to enter through the shop. It would presumably invalidate at least one lot of insurance.

Having a flat above the shop with the entrance through the shop would be bonkers given that no one who lives up there has worked in the shop for years (if ever). I didn't know about the outside stairs but assumed there was a separate door/indoor stairs. I presumed the parcels were dropped off in the shop when T & N didn't answer their door or if the delivery person CBA to go up.

Susan was lucky to not have been affected by the Horizon scandal

I've not worked on it, but I have been involved in a software system that should have been a simple project for a small team, that just growed like topsy. On that project (definitely not PO/Fujitsu) IIRC there was a refusal to scrap the software and start again, and instead they got bums on seats, then more bums on seats.

Blah blah blah lessons will be learnt

I had assumed stairs inside the building but separated from the shop. This set up is quite common.

Exactly, lots of shops where I live have a second door next to the shop door which goes up to the flat(s) above.

@TottersBlankly

If it were not for the obvious prospect of snogging with Amy I might wonder if Christopher had much time left in this world …

After all, he’s provided another Archer child - that has a home and a mother and countless other highly invested relatives.

Ha! Maybe he’ll also generate a vicarage child before he tumbles conveniently down the stairs? That would provide endless drama for decades to come. (Please 🔮 …)

Ooh, that would be a nice gritty storyline... I'm on board with that!