🏏Archers thread #136: Howzat! Oliver’s bowled a googly, Kathy’s out, Grey Gables left with nightwatchman. Tracy knocked for six. Is Ambridge on a sticky wicket? 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 are entranced by new character Adil, 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 if anybody made a thread title suggestion and I missed it. I decided to mark the start of the cricket season in the hope that things will take a turn for the better for poor Tracy.

It feels like months since the last new thread, which was just after Phoebe departed for Scotland. Has she been mentioned since? I can't recall. Not greatly missed, by me, at any rate. Her fish gifts didn't last long.

I can't shake off the feeling that The Archers is going through a long dull patch. I don't feel greatly engaged by anything that's happening at the moment other than Tracy's plight. Such a good actor, which helps, of course.

What's keeping you listening? Habit? Genuinely enjoying it? Over to you!

(PS In the process of starting this thread, I've discovered that our custom-made Archers emoji has gone. You used to get it by typing . Not any more.)

Would they necessarily know Jazzer's home address? Only a handful of colleagues know mine, after 15 years, and only my manager and HR can look it up. I wouldn’t expect new sales colleagues to have the first idea, maybe just the village name if we'd chatted.

i think that I might have lost the will o listen

to not o

It's cliffhanger day ffs

Maybe the Little Lord Cheesus will only pick cheesecakes

At lease Front Row had O-O-O-Oklahoma!

Oklahoma ok!

That child pudding-judge furore was literally incredible. Also, why does Fallon sound almost unrecognisably flustered this week?

Cue Jazzer trying to talk everyone in Ambridge into a kitchen appointment

I don’t think that any reason why “Fern” would/should have known, but it’s only a small company and someone will be reviewing the a list of Jazzer’s leads when they come to assess his performance/pay; it’s not inconceivable they’d notice it was in the same village where he lived and put 2 and 2 together.

I missed the epi where Lily spoke, but why does Jazzer benefit from a visit that doesn’t result in a sale?

Just listening just now. What a load of rubbish.

Oh and Lily was insufferable.

As was Chelsea.

I rather like the judging panel flare-up, just the kind of parental entitlement guff that happens in RL. Bad on Fallon for caving in to Lee. It will come to light.

Harking back, I can now only look at my kitchen and think "tilage" or is it "tileage"?

Either way, autocorrect wants to turn it into silage and tillage.

That last scene with Ed and Fallon sounded like pantomime, very hammed up!

Who's writing this week, it's all been attempted comedy - with varying degrees of success?!

If Jazzer was made redundant, it must have been done during a Friday episode?

@echt , I'd never heard tileage before.

On a similar(ish) thought, how do you say lineage when referring to lines in a document and breeding. Is it Line-age or Linny-age?

As I remember it Jazzer kept his job at Berrow, but with reduced hours and more work because other people were made redundant.

I’m struggling to understand why the creative team have all conspired to paint Fallon as being quite amazingly stupid recently. First the ‘secret ingredient’ and then the utter shambles of picking the child judges. Surely no one would ever have accepted people on a ‘first come first honoured but if your family is powerful you’re in’ basis? It makes no sense at all. And every single Archers listener could have offered a fairer and more workable solution.

But what is this burgeoning class warfare between Henry and Keira building up to? Teen romance or a lifetime of bitter business rivalry? (I always love the new ways they find to bring on the next generation. This one looks like being fun - perhaps Ed will finally enrol on an evening class: ‘The Rural Poor, From Feudalism to The Post-Industrial Landscape - a Marxist Critique.’)

🧠👨🏻‍🌾

Linnyage here.

thanks @echt, i think of the WP one as line-ij and the other as lin-e-uj, but did wonder if they should be the same

Jubilee trifle has jelly in it. That's just wrong

Wasn’t that the point of the joke? “Tileage” is not a word!

And jelly is a non-negotiable trifle ingredient.

I stopped listening halfway through I’m afraid during the laboured outrage from Chelsea about the uniform. I can imagine her complaining to Tracey about it when she gets home but not to F and L.

How can children possibly judge what is a good dessert? It rules out the use of booze entirely. No kirsch, rum, cointreau, limoncello, Sauterne etc. Also children might struggle with the tartness of a good raspberry or rhubarb-based pudding. It’s all so tedious…

Just been thinking further on puddings - am on a diet so do forgive me…May be Ian will win with a bowl of butterscotch Angel Delight…

There's scope with children's puddings but the BSAD will win, and I think that it won't be Ian's but Keira Kreation

As for Chelsea, she could probably make more money doing hairdressing in her spare time, and she's at college but sounded much younger in that outburst

Just caught up. Had a few days away and didn't feel able to inflict TA on my long-suffering husband in our hotel room. Have now listened to four episodes back to back. Not a vintage week but probably not the worst we've had recently either. I agree the child judge stuff is just ludicrous.

I will hold my hand up and say we succumbed to a kitchen sales pitch about 35 years ago. Someone knocked on the door and came out with the classic 'We're in the area .. special deals, time-limited, need to sign you up right away' nonsense and as we were indeed in need of a new kitchen we agreed a designer could call that very evening. What we didn't grasp, because we were very wet behind the ears, is that the key technique these people learn is not to leave the house until they close a deal. The chap who came to see us was perfectly affable but he stayed for hours. The fitters were OK but they didn't finish the job off properly and it took weeks to get that sorted out. In fact, I'm not sure they ever did do the last things on the snagging list. Lesson learned!

As far as I can make out, Jazzer gets commission for every mug lead he converts into an appointment. Lily was in line for some sort of finder's fee for recruiting him, but he has to make a bit of commission before she gets paid. She spoke to Shula because she thought Shula could approach Alistair and Jim to see if they could get through to Jazzer that he actually has to do some selling, not just have cosy chats with lonely people. I assume he does shifts there in the evenings, after a long day at Berrow.

The production team have an abysmal record on getting the poorer residents of Ambridge to make use of the benefits system. I don't know why. It can't be that hard to get sensible advice on what each person could claim. Surely the CAB would be happy to help.

Are there really no pubs within striking distance of Ambridge needing casual bar and other staff? Tracy has a car, she could do evening shifts somewhere nearby. What about the fabled supermarket on the bypass?

It's non- negotiable in the sense of it should not be there.