🌟 ⭐ Archers thread #138: Two new stars on the Ambridge firmament, but will Peggy’s retirement leave a black hole? 🕳️ Join us here for a window on The Archers.

[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 commissioning a stained glass window for two of your great-grandchildren and nothing for all the others is a sensible thing to do, 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 @LillianGish and @MuddlerInLaw for title ideas, which I have played around with a bit. I'm sad to have heard the last of Peggy. An era starts to draw to a close.

What a relief to be out of the Steph Casey phase, which I hope was an unfortunate blip, not to be repeated. [Triumph of hope over experience there ... ]

@BoreofWhabylon has asked the 🔮 about Adil and it predicts that he is actually the Mysterious New Owner of Grey Gables but won't be revealed as such until he has won Kirsty's heart (or some similar Mills & Boon level tosh - apols to the 🔮 but it does seem to have a mushy side). I still cling to the idea that the mysterious silent and invisible Gills who now own Home Farm may have some role at GG, but why not name them?

No mention of the heatwave in Ambridge, but budget constraints probably severely limit their scope for topical inserts these days. IRL I believe this has been a tricky time for farmers. Perhaps the SWs will catch up with this over the winter and start putting in some farming chat about diversification away from oats to olives, or similar. We already have at least one vineyard in the Ambridge area, at LL. (I understand there was another, in the heart of the village, decades ago, but the SWs have now forgotten all about it, sadly.)

Over to you!

I'm pleased that it looks like a little romance might be on the cards for Joy

What's with all the Toyah Wilcox nonsense? All I could think about was warm unpasturised juice, yuck.

So do we think Toyah will turn up at the fete next week and solve the eternal improbable issue of Lynda not have a famous star to open it??

I was a bit surprised Joy left a total stranger in charge of the stall 15 seconds meeting him. I feared he would somehow turn out to be a crook and make off with the takings (ok- he would need to hack into the card machine reader) which would have made Natasha furious. It was a nice surprise to hear he was a potential suitor. May be that’s how we will get to hear the tale of Rochelle.

Emma would NEVER run out of washing up liquid.

@Prestissimo , it's a mystery.

After listening to the omnibus I’m in agreement with views on previous threads that Rochelle doesn’t exist or is no longer alive. The way Joy was talking about her to her Adil sounded almost manic, reeling of a host of achievements that made me think she was talking about a child who died young and all the things she could have gone on to do had she lived. In any case, something is amiss. Lilian pointed out no-one knows a anything about her and she’s been around for about 3(?) years now.

I had to Google Toyah Wilcox (Whopping’s reply would otherwise have gone straight over my head:)

I see George’s pantomime villain act continues.

OK look it can't just be me that thought they were at a festival called Cock-stravaganza?

I also thought it perfectly ridiculous to leave the actual important family business to Joy while Pat swanned off handing out precious Helen's cheese. Although she is bonkers about all things Helen, I think even she would have seen it was hardly trustworthy of her to accept this job from Natasha and then palm it off on Joy.

I liked Joy being chatted up, I can't remember that happening (a fairly normal chat up) in decades in the Archers. It always seems to be cringey flirting in the pub/Lower Loxley/at college (RUSS).

On the other hand I haven't the foggiest who Toyah Wilcox is and thought initially it was Shula dressed up in a disguise or something.

🤣 makes sense, held in the Cockswolds

It’s the asides to the audience “first lesson, don’t be caught”

Last night chez moi: Susan "and I hope you've learned your lesson" (may not be verbatim).

Me, a beat before George: "don't get caught."

I thought it was Shula in disguise too! I'm not sure Toya is an ecru cardi woman though.

Reeling that there are folk on here who don’t know who Toya’s is …

Reeling that there are folk on here who don’t know who Toya’s is …

Yes, me too! Was it really her? It sounded like it but I didn’t sufficiently care to check the cast list. How thrilling (or not) to see her at the Ambridge fete next week.

Let me see. What denomination is the Pontiff? Am I baffled by the lavatorial arrangements of sylvan ursines?

Here's a snap of George leaving the shop.

Wow! What on earth were they all doing? It can't all have been speeding and drink driving. All those criminals born in 1953 are approaching 70 now.

Petty vandalism, possession of drugs, stealing cars, drunk driving, possession of drugs again, squatting . I'm about that age I'm just thinking about stuff that went on in my teens (not by me obviously).

For the young folks, here's Toyah. I think this was the song Pat was referring to.

Just wanted you to know I was in a cafe at a National Trust property in Worcestershire and Toyah was there having a coffee.
So she does actually live in "Borsetshire"

None of it was speeding and drunk driving, driving offences weren’t included.

Mostly petty shoplifting and vandalism. Peak age of offending a year younger than school leaving age. Two thirds of convictions were acquired by the same small subgroup of 6% of offenders. The rest went on to lead blameless lives. Perhaps one of the reasons for introducing cautions - why drag a young lad through the courts if the likelihood is that he’ll never offend again?

Ha @MereDintofPandiculation I thought i was the only one who had those stats at my fingertips.

We're literally surrounded by criminals all the time, I think my reckoning is that something like half of all men have a conviction. Which either goes to show how stuffed we are as a species, or how wonderfully fallible we all are and the rich tapestry of life.

Goodness gracious. A third of the male population! You may well know the answer to this - was there a higher rate of charges/convictions as well? Given that nowadays the police seem to be saying they won't leave the station for much less than murder, I wonder what the chances are of shoplifting and vandalism leading to any action from the police now.

@TheHideAndSeekingHill , it's just you. I heard the Cot bit and thought it was about babies.

I was surprised at Joy leaving Mick to mind the stall, and also a bit at Pat being a fan of Toyah.

That picture of Georgie is uncanny. He really is ghastly, as are most of the youths of Ambrige. I can't believe that a child raised by Mianed would turn out like that.

Just thinking, there isn't anyone really bitchy in Ambridge. Hannah had a phase of being spiteful but she's gone quiet.

I can imagine Emma running out of washing-up liquid. Nobody seems to do much shopping in Ambridge and what they spend is in either the village shop or tea room.

There are other things which were crimes that aren't now, such as homosexuality, which would have been exclusively men being arrested. Not sure how many drugs arrests there would have been prior to the 1971 Misuse of Drugs act. PACE (police and criminal evidence act) in 1984 would have made it more difficult to arrest and prosecute anyone without a sound reason - policing wasn't what it is now, although obviously things were changing by the time the act came in. It was a change Life On Mars tried to highlight.

.Not sure how many drugs arrests there would have been prior to the 1971 Misuse of Drugs act.
Someone born in 1953 would have been 18 in 1971 and could easily have been arrested for a drug offence. I knew people who were.

Interesting point. 1967 saw the legalisation in England and Wales of sex in private between two consenting males over the age of 21, but Wikipedia says that 'there was a clampdown on the homosexual activities that were not protected by the law. In the decade after its passage, prosecutions for gross indecency involving males trebled'. Naively, I had assumed they would have fallen.

I don't know much about drugs law history but I DO read a lot of detective stories and people seem to have been investigated/charged with drug dealing etc in the 30s/40s/50s. I think there was a Dangerous Drugs or Poisons Act around. And in the Temple mysteries (60s?) every other story seems to centre on drug rings.