🐠 Archers thread #135: An Everyday Story of Fishy Folk. 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 would be delighted to be given a goldfish named after your ex, 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.)

Apologies for ignoring the various title suggestions on the last thread. However, here they are, plus a couple of other pithy observations, to kickstart the new thread. I think it's fair to say nobody is looking on this as a Golden Era! Goldfish Era, though ...

@Roysnewshirt: Everyone wants more! Chris wants more Amy; Jazzer wants more Tracey; Alice wants more time with Martha and Amy wants more space… Very true. And now we know Kirsty wants more farming expertise in the rewilding project, but not Pip (thank the lord) so does that mean approaching Adam? Currently under-employed.

@LillianGish: I tune in to hear birdsong and bleating in the English countryside not hammy acting and suggestive grunting.

@stilldumdedumming: Archers is good at the dynamics of family, farming, what it means to have your job, your home and your inheritance so closely aligned etc etc not this nonsense!

@DoctorTwo: Like fuck would Pheobe buy her parents a goldfish each. The Ambridge character transplant fairy has been working overtime this past few weeks, it's been absolutely fucking appalling bar a couple of exceptions.

Can't disagree with any of that. I want to hear more about the pigs and any other effects of Brexit. A topical insert about the war in Ukraine must surely be on the way.

Any happy listeners out there? Any disgruntled listeners with even more grumbles? Over to you!

I thought Rex had pigs at LowerLoxly?

Sparkling Lime, glancing at that article II don’t get the telegraph’s disdain for Lauren Lavern or Grace Dent on Radio 4.
Is it because they have “north-eastern” accents? (I was going to put northern but I feel a Yorkshire accent especially if uttered by a man from say Harrogate or York would be acceptable for a Torygraph reader to listen to).

Well I've always adored Ruari and loathed Alice but once again I found myself firmly on team Alice. Will wonders never cease.
He can't honestly expect her to skulk around and make excuses every time he's there. She's right, it should all be out in the open. I do hope she'd allow him plenty of space with Brian and Jennifer, but definitely if they all just know where he's at and can make separate plans.

Chris adamant again that keeping Martha away from a loving, sober mother is in her best interests

Where is Josh going to get all these extra eggs? I can't really bear food waste activities. We were offered a free cake smash by a family friend, no offence if this your thing, but declined. It feels in poor taste to destroy a beautiful cake when there are kids with no birthday cake. Sorry I digress...

Thanks @SparklingLime , really interesting article.

I expect there’s something in that, @BorsetshireBanality. I was just finding a free link. The Telegraph is an appalling paper now imo. (Although I don’t think much of Laverne, despite loving a NE accent.)

Agree, @suzyscat. I like Alice doing the ‘I will be shamed no longer’ bit. She does it well. They’ve been very clumsily pointing to Ruari having a dodgy income source for a while now. Drugs? Leading to exposure of his hypocrisy re Alice?

You’re welcome Taswama.

Well I've always adored Ruari and loathed Alice but once again I found myself firmly on team Alice

Well I've always adored Ruari and loathed Alice but once again I found myself firmly on team Ruari.

"Whiney" describes her perfectly.

What a foul hypocrite Alice is- why on earth should Ruari forgive her.

She was precisely herself when she lashed out. And she was precisely her nasty, spoilt brattish self tonight.

I agree he's under no obligation to forgive Alice, but expecting her to keep his anger towards her a secret from the family and keep out of the way is childish. He's every right to be angry but there's no reason why Brian and Jennifer have to be kept in the dark. That's just weird. Saying it's for Jennifer's benefit because Alice has hurt her enough already is both nonsensical and manipulative. (Out of character too.)

Yes @SparklingLime shamed no longer. I love it. So nice to see her having spent time making amends and on the back foot being more robust and practical about these things, so much nicer to listen to than porridge's soggy hand writing. Good on porridge for ignoring Chris too. She deserves better and hopefully she'll find it in Nottingham. I think it's better for Alan they live at a distance. His reputation will be in tatters if she'd stayed any longer.

What is Ruari up to? Hope we get some jolly scenes with Ben. I love those two together.

I reckon R is doing escort work, or has himself a generous sugar daddy.

The thing is when you have done something shitty,Alice, you can apologise. But you can't insist people accept that. It's part of taking responsibility for your actions. You can't just say sorry and everyone moves on sometimes.

I agree - it looks as if Ruairi is going to be revealed to have some soapy secret. I can’t even be bothered to speculate. I’ve enjoyed (well that’s possibly the wrong word perhaps believed would be better) Alice’s alcoholism - developed over a long and realistic period of time not just dropped into the plot to spice things up. I thought her outburst at Ruairi was truthful and unforgivable, I’d like to see the SWs work through this (in the same way they slowly developed her addiction) rather than just chuck in a dramatic storyline - that in the old days might have played out on R4 Extra - so it can all be neatly tied up and put to bed (Chris’s ONS with Amy falls into the same category). I like the LL egg rolling as it means I can vicariously go to an English country house for Easter for some traditional activities - it would be tedious in a TV soap, but I shall enjoy the picture being painted in my mind’s eye (in undoubtedly perfect weather with daffodils waving in the breeze, blossom blowing in the wind and the sound of bird song and possibly some distant bleating (though not much lambing action these days in Ambridge sadly).

I too love a northern accent (not a Mancunian one much, I can't listen to Jon Ronson), but Lauren Laverne seems a bit lightweight for DID, not that I've listened much. I heard the Lyse Doucet one

Grace Dent is from Carlisle, but I can't stand The Untold or her whispery delivery, so I switch off.

Another whispery delivery is Something Umderstood. I switch that off too.

Short Cuts gets switched off too. There's a slight jokeyness to Josie Long's voice that irritates me. I think her accent is Kent

The Torygraph is my usual newspaper but I occasionally read The Grauniad. The amount of typos in both is pretty bad. I am aware of the pro-Johnson bias in the DT.

@stilldumdedumming

The thing is when you have done something shitty,Alice, you can apologise. But you can't insist people accept that. It's part of taking responsibility for your actions. You can't just say sorry and everyone moves on sometimes.

This is very true! It smacks of politicians saying "this was in the past, lessons have been learnt" i.e. forget about it, regarding things that happened 2 hours ago/yesterday/last week. See also "it was a different time", well yes they're all different that's how time works.

🔮 says Ruariariiii will be doing Bitcoin or similar, he will make millions and buy back the ancestral home.

I'm wondering what's happened with Brenda - didn't she hook up with an oligarch? Have assets been impounded? Is she persona non grata now?

Wasn’t the 4Extra oligarch pre-London? I thought the last we heard of her she was engaged to a City hotshot?

I hope Ruauri does eventually forgive Alice, even though she was fucking appalling to both him and JD. The Aldridges are preferable ot the Brookfield Archers, with the exception of Ben. And his dog.

Possibly Totters, I avoided 4 Xtra, so am hazy on the details.

Ruari claimed one of his earlier rounds of cash splashing was a result of a crypto trading windfall. He was evasive and unhelpful when Ben wanted in, so sounded very faux, though not impossible, I several people who have had made money from it.

I know I'm repeating myself but I think it's totally reasonable for Ruari to not want to forgive Alice, but it's not reasonable to make that a secret. I think she should keep out of the way when he's around. She shouldn't be expected to lie about why she's not around though.

I too am up for egg rolling at LL. I am most concerned about Josh's egg supply though. I don't understand how he will suddenly provide so many extra eggs as a one off.

IRL it would take YEARS for Ruarhi to even think of forgiving Alice - and references would still be made to the outburst after a few drinks at every single family get-together until the end of time.

Sober Alice is very taxing to be around. She is underemployed and needs to stop dwelling on herself if her rehabilitation is to progress any further.

Agree Alice’s attempts at making amends are almost totally self-serving and not in the spirit of recovery.

I can't begin to imagine why she doesn't just get a job. Ok not at the pub but she could sign up to drive for Uber fgs or get a job in the supermarket. The stables even. Anything but sitting around. It's like she's recuperating from an illness not trying to build a new life without alcohol.

I'm sure most people will forgive Alice eventually, but she's a recovering alcoholic, it's been less than a year. It's understandable people are wary.

I felt she was slightly too pushy and impatient with Ruairi towards the end of that episode. Though I don't quite agree with him keeping his anger secret.

@BowerOfBramble

I can't begin to imagine why she doesn't just get a job. Ok not at the pub but she could sign up to drive for Uber fgs or get a job in the supermarket. The stables even. Anything but sitting around. It's like she's recuperating from an illness not trying to build a new life without alcohol.

Or even use her engineering skills. Given the occasional mention recently of her helping to with car repairs, perhaps she'll set up as a garage mechanic.