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!

I agree RE the portrayal of late abortions.

I found tonight slightly less awful.

When George talks about packing in education, why doesn't someone point out that it's against the law?

It’s not against the law to half arse your way through college though.

was it me or did I notice a frisson between Mia and Brad? Trying to work out if they’re related and I think they aren’t (step-sister of your first cousin once removed isn’t a thing is it)

I definitely noticed Mia hoping Brad was going to ask for something more than tying his turtle shell onto his back. Almost a frisson! Has he even noticed girls before?

A load of old toot indeed @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g

The George actor seems to struggle with accent. And Brad sounds like an old man.

I couldn't stop laughing at the bubble vath in the hot tub. It was sooooo funny 🙄

BOOP for Jim. What does TOAITV stand for?

I assumed it was the only atheist in the village.

I hope Mia made the most of the opportunity presented by getting right up close to Brad as she tied the dish on, on whatever it was. I can see why she's interested, as apart from Jim, who's somewhat out of her probable target age range, Brad is about the only academically-inclined male in Ambridge and possibly Borsetshire.

I assumed it was the only atheist in the village

😀thank you!

Rex … What’s going on?

I thought I’d accepted that he’d been silenced as part of a mass culling of FairInterlopers. (No more intermittent Anthony Head!) But mention of Kirsty recently reminded me that he’s now the only original member of the Ambridge Conservation Trust team, as well as running a pig breeding business at Lower Loxley. (Is he still driving a taxi or did he give that up?) How long is the ACT supposed to operate? How long is Kirsty supposed to do “Rex said …”? And the stately home pigs ought to be a source of countless stories going forward.

While on the one hand I found it somewhat distasteful that neither the Trust nor LL could find him a roof and a bed, on the other I was very much looking forward to his houseboat tenure expanding Ambridge onto the river in a more sustainable way than the odd story of skinny dipping or pollution. That might have been really absorbing as an extension of the environmental story.

Was his modish portfolio career too complicated for the creative team to fathom? It seems ridiculous to set up so many promising storylines and then just junk them all.

Or is he coming back with a new voice?

Which reminds me I haven’t yet listened to the Steve Lamacq Roundtable episode @Madcats posted above. Perhaps that will give me a clue.

What was it Mia needed to help tie on for Brad???

The legal school leaving age is 16 still. There are changed requirements until 18 but you don't actually have to be in education (hence no statutory travel cost duties).

He is supposed to be in some form of training but that can be on the job. And my ds did none of these. Nobody checks or cares.

A large cooking dish or tray which either Susan or Tracy thought Emma might find useful, but it turned out she'd borrowed one from the tearoom. He tied it on his back because he was cycling. I hope it was metal.

School leaving age is 16 (last Friday of June for y11 pupils).

After that if you aren't in education they won't chase you, but (and this is important for Emma to understand) child benefit will stop if George drops out of college.

I thought that re Mia and Brad. Two bright kids, if they're not related then it sounds like a good idea.

No relation at all. Mia is Will's step daughter.Her mother was Nic and her father is Nic's first husband Andrew.

Exactly, but in real life it would probably still feel a bit weird. My cousins have step siblings and I think of them as cousins too (because my cousins regard them as their siblings).

just weird enough to be archers interesting I guess 😅

A large cooking dish or tray which either Susan or Tracy thought Emma might find useful, but it turned out she'd borrowed one from the tearoom. He tied it on his back because he was cycling. I hope it was metal

Yes, I was thinking that- it must have been an enamel roasting tin as anything else would be too hazardous. Couldn’t say if it was white or black but instinct tells me prob white with blue trim. I was also wondering about a lid as the ones without a lid don’t tend to have little handles which would be handy for tying string to when strapping it onto a back. A lid would be extra trouble though when carrying on your back- and the handle on the top would dig in between your shoulders - unless you reversed it. Anyway…I might be overthinking this…

You would have to reverse the lid anyway as the convex shape wouldn't fit easily on your back. If you were lucky the lid would have handles at the side too so the string could go through both sets.

The idea of carrying it that way is quite bizarre though.

Hmm talk of Rex and the pigs at Lower Loxley reminds me wasn't there a frisson between Lily and Rex at one time? Could he be the next suitor?

You would have to reverse the lid anyway as the convex shape wouldn't fit easily on your back. If you were lucky the lid would have handles at the side too so the string could go through both sets

You’re absolutely right, of course. Handles on the lid would be ideal in this scenario. I wonder if Fallon’s have lids- I think she is more likely to just have plain lidless roasting tins as she is probably knocking out tray bakes and flapjacks all the time and won’t need them covered. Aren’t the ones with lids used more for stews/pot roasts etc? Not very suitable for the tea room- although I don’t know what she serves at lunchtimes - prob just sandwiches and jacket potatoes. May be soup? I have to say that I don’t actually own an enamel tin - so am slightly out of my area of expertise -but I can see it’s a gap in my kitchen armoury which I will be rectifying pretty quickly…

I love how this thread discusses roasting tins and what you'd have to do with the lid in order to carry it on your back whilst cycling 😃

I think Lizzie mentioned Rex as not being available for the Lower Loxley quiz team, so they must occasionally spot him tending to the pigs.

I can't stand George. His voice is strange.
There was a frisson between Brad and Mere, IMO, but I hope that they have a good friendship not a baby.

I think (hope) they are both quite sensible and have ambitions.

It's good about Brad and Mia - either separately or together. Looks like the scriptwriters have realised the only brains in the village are the elderly Jim Lloyd and Usha who isn't allowed out of the vicarage apparently. Good they're replacing.