Archers thread #140: Changing rooms at Brookfield with Leonard Llewellyn-Bowen, or saving souls with St Smugula in the heathen wastelands of the North? 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 think a stained glass window marking the birth of newborn twins is just what Ambridge needs, 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/4636789-the-archers-spoilers-thread-7-cant-wait-for-702pm-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.)

Title composed in haste, making use of @Octothorpe's lovely coinage of Leonard Llewellyn-Bowen and @TheLassWiADelicateAir's terrific description of St. Smugula's mission to the heathen wasteland of far flung Sunderland, both from the last thread

I've abandoned the use of an emoji in the title, having been alerted by another thread recently to the fact that it makes it difficult for people with visual problems to use assistive software.

I won't say much more about The Archers, as I'm still feeling extremely jaundiced about the programme at the moment. Fingers crossed it takes a turn for the better over the next few days. It was good to hear Helen, Lee and Joy again tonight. Less delighted to hear the loathsome George. What a numpty not to recognise pheasant chicks! His Dad would be far from impressed.

Over to you!

You are scare- mongering.

There isn't the slightest call, taken seriously, for UK law to be changed. Fgs Holyrood and Westminster have recently made abortion easier in the UK by retaining telemedicine for early medical terminations. The UK has one of the most liberal abortion regimes in the world.

Ok.

It's still a bloody stupid story line and it's getting stupider by each episode.

I hope something really, really terrible happens to Gnasher.

Tracey should have said, "oh no, Kenton, that department deals with lots of "wimmen's issues" - you really don't want to know".

Kenton wouldn't know.

The level of stupidity is now weapons grade.

Wasn't the hideous Gnasher quite annoyed when her pregnancy news leaked out early to Tony and Pat?

Some of you were excusing Gnasher gossiping amongst her family . I thought that was inexcusable but there's no excuse for gossiping to Jolene.

Still listening. Not enjoying. Not even infested. Just getting my fix because...because...because that's what I've always done at 7pm on an Archers night.

Is this going to force Chelsea's hand to either 'fess up to the village or have a termination? She surely can't expect her mother to wear a prosthetic bump. Although who knows- they could pack Chelsea off to stay with her father or St Smugula until it's born.

If Jolene and Kenton know, Fallon will now know too. This is pointing to Harrison, unfortunately, for once actually keeping a confidence. If he'd told Fallon and she heard her mother and Kenton wittering on about Tracey being pregnant I think Fallon would have enough sense to nip it in the bud.

It's just nonsense. Tracey will have to call an emergency meeting with Freddie, Lily, Elizabeth, Neil, Susan, Alastair, Jim and Harrison to get their story straight.

And then there's Ben, Beth and Josh who know but Tracey doesn't know they know. And Pip - none of the others knows she knows.

It would be farce if it were funny, which it isn't.

Yup, they’re ruining it.

I agree the timing is unfortunate with regard to the abortion debate - but I imagine Nuclear Horrobin was a long term plan and not something they felt able or willing to turn around in the light of Events. But given the huge list of people who already know Chelsea is pregnant it’s all a bit of mess. And I’ve certainly never been aware of indecision as a significant reason for late terminations. Chelsea may only be 17 but it makes all women look stupid.

And then I held my breath while Lily - who now sounds a weary 35 - mused on her disconnected state. I’ve often threatened to throw my radio through the window … but if she walks out of another degree course … (What is she studying, btw? Something like Rural Estate Management? I know she did mention the subject when she first spoke of starting a new degree.) At least we don’t have to grapple with the nonsensical ‘buying a flat for uni days before the start of term’ thing - but it would have been nice to hear about the logistics. Is she commuting in the shared car or does she have one of her own now? How many days a week does she spend at university? Is it mostly essays or tramping around other stately homes?

Hmmph …

I was awake at stupid o'clock (thanks cat), so resorted to flicking through news/Twitter/MN etc.

Radio 6 (which I didn't know existed) had a Steve Lamacq's Roundtable on 13 October featuring Rex, Tracey and David to talk about the Archers.

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001cqfw

They mentioned there is a lady named "Ness" doing live sound effects

I snorted at Lily’s superiority over “none of them have ever lived away from home before” - we’ll you only managed a fortnight, love, and mummy dearest picked up the tab. I’m picturing her new friends open-mouthed and horrified faces when she tells them she’s been wasting the last few years with her 40-something-year-old teacher. Maybe it will dawn on her that she is the stupid, naïve one, not them.

Lily was ridiculous in her shock that 18 year olds straight out of school had never lived away from home or had full-time jobs. What on earth was that about?! If she'd phrased it more as a retrospective look at whether the past few years of her own life had been a colossal waste of time, energy, and talent then I could have understood it (and presumably that was the intention) but instead she seemed completely clueless, expecting the average undergraduate to have had a long-term live-in partner and a 'proper' job.

Also, Susan was remarkably slow on the uptake. Even after Tracy said (in front of Kenton, i.e. the first time) that she had met Natasha at the baby clinic so Natasha must have worked out her secret, Susan was still nearly giving the game away with her confusion. How hard is it to play along with what your sister's saying and ask questions afterwards?! She came across as abnormally dim.

I was sniggering slightly at Lily claiming to be vastly more adult and experienced than students who had never lived away from home before - given that she only lived away from home for around 3 months and, with her pervy boyfriend, made a right balls-up of it.

I was a mature student at 26 with a baby and my own flat I wasn't the only mature student and I managed to get on with the younger students too. It was also rather odd to say they had no experience of work except Saturdays in a Charity Shop (presumably voluntary). My grandsons in year 12 have been working as waiters or in supermarkets since they were 16 and getting paid for it.

Yes I thought that Captain. My DC & most of their friends have all had holiday or weekend jobs since they were about 16.

I think Kenton would have been far more worried about losing a newly-recruited and efficient barmaid than he would have been about T drinking while pregnant. And I actually thought T was a bit glib and casual letting her employer think she is pregnant when she’s not. Inevitably he would have to start thinking about maternity cover etc or may be worrying about her deciding to leave. Thankfully even Kenton will know he can’t fire her for being pregnant!

Yes. Yet again Lily’s superiority was painfully tone-deaf. Living in a stately home all your life with your mother and brother, with all your extended family within a stone’s throw, and having been enmeshed in a problematic relationship with a much older man who was in a position of authority when said relationship began, and who effectively scuppered your previous attempt at a university career (cut very short indeed, essentially because of him dragging you down), really isn’t a reason to congratulate yourself.

My great grandfather was born into a similar scenario, but I think it's a bit unlikely in 2022 I think what makes it even more unlikely is that Ben, the father, and his partner already know about Chelsea's pregnancy, Pip as good as knows or at least has probably guessed, Lily, Russ, Elizabeth and therefore presumably Freddie are also in the loop, Harrison knows - so can presumably disabuse Fallon if she gets the "gossip" from her mum - and also Alistair. That's most of Ambridge - and remarkable that it hasn't slipped out to anyone else or is Natasha the only indiscreet person in the village?

I really hope that they don't go down the route of pretending that it's Tracy's baby.... that would just be ridiculous. Tracy would have to go through the whole pretence of a fake pregnancy, have time off work etc. Jazzer would have to play dad to a child that has nothing to do with him. Chelsea would have to disappear for months. And the many people who already know that Chelsea is pregnant would have to keep their traps shut... including Ben! It just isn't remotely believable that they could carry this off!

I'm not enjoying some of these storylines currently, or the comedy diversions, which attempts are often hit or miss.

Really hope they don't attempt to pass the baby off as Tracy's.

I don’t think they will end up pretending the baby is Tracey’s but I think we will be forced by the SWs to spend the coming week thinking that is what is about to happen…sigh…

Lily, Russ, Elizabeth and therefore presumably Freddie are also in the loop,

Freddie definitely knows. He was present when Chelsea carne to apologise to Lily for Tracey accusing Russ. Lily insisted he stay to hear what Chelsea said.

and remarkable that it hasn't slipped out to anyone else or is Natasha the only indiscreet person in the village?

Boop to all the "in the know" crowd- even Pip and Lily. Gnasher, on the other hand, is loathsome. It's just not done, ever, to go around gossiping about another woman being pregnant before that woman has announced it. What a sad, empty person she must be if she needs to do that to brighten her day.

You are all right of course ... it would really be jumping the shark if they try to pursue that plot device.

Let’s hope Tracy’s pretend pregnancy is a three day wonder. (Though if she and her daughter had both been pregnant at the same time that might have been entertaining.) This nonsense can’t last.

In spite of the grumbling I'll stick with it, it's been so many years listening, on and off, after all.

Though something a previous poster said resonated with me, re. listening to Archers in the background as children and whether it suitable today. I was thinking about that when the Ruairi sugar-thing (can't remember what it's called exactly) popped up, and some of the more open references to sex generally.

Dross.

Also, would Freddie really never have heard of George Orwell? I know he struggled with academic work, but in the context of pub quiz team names, would he really not have understood the Tequila Mockingbird pun?

The Cathedral School has gone down somewhat in my estimation. No Animal Farm or 1984 in his entire pre-yr12 education? Unlikely, surely??