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!

There's an interesting contrast between perceptive, caring Natasha (when talking to Chelsea or about her father with MH issues) and the bold, brash 'me me me' Natasha talking about 'our' window without thinking about the repercussions for the community. I'm intrigued to see how the character develops.

I found that contrast rather startling this week, @Poppins2016 . I wondered whether it was carefully contemplated and mapped out by the SW (one persona her 17 year old self, one her new First Family iteration) or merely careless.

Were Tomtasha married in the church? Or was is a registry office (i remeber it being very quick).... have they done anything church-ie since? Seems a bit weird someone who does seem to have an interest in the churches kids get a window glad Alan's finally grown a spine.

Also P&Ts land/non of there kids owning a house....sometimes it's eiser to get planningbpermission for 100 houses than 3... (you can offer 'affordable homes/community benefits /improvements etc) when building on mass, there's a cost saving to volume housebuilding compared to one off builds ...and at the time did tim/hell/Johnny have any intension of moving out/could afford to go through planning/pay an architect/all the upfront build costs (i imagine harder to gey a mortgage for a self build) ?.... I guess they could have negotiated that along with the buld they get to keep 3 of the houses nearest the farm, but then profits would have gone down, and went they all quite snooty about actually living in a estate

You're romanticising Emma's caravan. It's not an Airstream or something vintage chic. And most importantly, it's not Emma's dream, not what she worked for. And Oliver might be happy to have it on his land but his heirs won't. Hopefully, he's made provision in his will.

Oh, I’m not imagining she’s in anything luxurious! But I do think it’s something closer to a mobile home than a little holiday caravan of the type she lived in with Ed when George was a baby.

The Airstream is my dream!

Regardless, I’m sure she’s made it homely and comfortable. She’s very much an interior design magazine person - I hope she saw the Guardian article! It would be nice to think they’re steadily saving for an uncertain future - but …

Emmmmur’s caravan must be pretty small, wasn’t there that fancy coffee table she desperately needed for the new house..? Did it end up in storage (something to do with Will) or did they manage to cram it in the living room??

@Atichen , register office. Not churchy. Gnasher being so stereotypically welsh when it suits the SW, she would be 'chapel'. Anyone notice how the baby was darling and not cariad or another Welsh term of endearment?

Regarding Little Grange, I'm picturing a stationary caravan, so it would be pretty cramped. I'm not picturing anything luxurious. It was an old one.

Joining in the chorus of BOOPs for Alan! Long overdue rediscovery of his spine.

I'm glad Alice finally apologised to Clarrie. Her abysmal behaviour when drunk was brushed under the carpet for years, before the SWs finally decided yes, she did have a drink problem. It would have been more realistic if more people had expressed disapproval earlier on, but here we are.

We must be due a bit of a re-jig of who lives where in the not too distant future, sadly. When Peggy goes, the Lodge will pass to - Kate? Or was it promised to Helen? I can't remember now. When Jill goes, I think we will find that Carol Tregorran has also either died or left the village, leaving Glebe Cottage free to go to speaking characters - Brian and Jennifer? It must be bigger than where they are now, and much classier. I still hope they'll end up back at Home Farm, but that may be a pipe dream.

Please could someone remind me what Alice said or did whilst drunk at Nic's funeral.

I'm also intrigued by Natasha's behaviour, but don't think it's unusual for someone to be ruthless about what they want but also kind in situations where they don't stand to lose anything.

I just wished they'd followed up the story about her binge spending, it's yet another loose end.

The problem is Gnasher is having to stand in for Peggy who we all know will not be making a reappearance otherwise Alan would no-one to have a fight with at all and the window story would be even more of a bizarre diversion than it already is. She is much less Welsh now her mum has gone home, but I think that's actually quite realistic - my own DCs say I speak with a much more pronounced Yorkshire accent when speaking to my own mum (or especially my Dad when he was alive). I'm not even really aware that I'm doing it. Emma's mobile home (not caravan) will definitely be as lovely as she can possibly make it - she is Susan's daughter and she worked with Fallon on the up cycling.

I think Emma will have certainly made a great effort on furnishing the mobile home, though it may not all be to my taste. I fear she may have a sign by the door saying something like Home is where the Heart is and a fridge magnet saying something trite about family. However, I don’t doubt she shares my penchant for nice cushions…

I don’t care about the window and I am very surprised Natasha does. I would have thought she would have preferred a little trust fund for the girls instead…

Ok- I know. A trust fund is out of the question - too complicated given all the existing grandkids etc and actually not enough cash involved - so a nice lump sum would be fine instead. Esp given Peggy has a magic money tree growing in the back garden.

@LillianGish , I agree with the accent, but it wasn't about accent; Gnash & Caitlin spoke to each other in Welsh, so more it was about language and culture. If they hadn't been so 'welsh stereotype', it wouldn't bother me. The 'blah blah, aren't you dal-ing?' seemed weird to my welsh ears, as I'd have said 'blah blah, d'wyt ti cariad?'. It's that the welsh people in TA are unpleasant (and worse) that gets me.

I'm sure that Emma would have made Little Grange homely. I'd say Mianed, but I don't see Ed as being the type to think about making things look lovely, he'd probably care more about if it 'worked'.

I'm glad that Mere is starting to become a more rounded character. Really don't like George, I'd be glad to see the back of him. Maybe he'll be like his uncle Clive and be banged up silently for a few years.

I have a question for Welsh speakers if you'd be so kind and I hope it's not rude to ask: when you hear someone speaking English with a Welsh accent, can you tell whether they are a mother-tongue Welsh speaker? Does the accent have a different "quality "?

I think she had a go at or about Nic's mother. Can't remember exactly but I think it was something very snooty and condescending about how she looked?

I do remember something awful happening but not the exact details.

About time Alan! FFS.

Not sure why Denise's son is SUCH a gay stereotype. I know some really camp people and even they wouldn't necessary commentate on it to such an extent (although I did quite like the singing show tunes with the dog).

More baffling to me is that Alistair has never met Denise's son (and didn't even know his name apparently). Surely a) he'd have come up in conversation b) he may have popped in/they may have met at events. I guess it's possible it's showing how actually Alistair is much less socially aware than Jakob in some ways? Clueless about other people's lives.

Did you notice when speaking to Chelsea she managed to imply it was Tom, Helen or Lee who spread the gossip further? Gnasher said she told them - but wasn't it Gnasher who told Jolene?

Having had an abortion herself, it makes her behaviour worse. She must surely have thought someone of Tracy's age and situation is unlikely to be best pleased at being pregnant.

I don't remember it that well but just found this digest: haharchers.blogspot.com/2018/03/alice-in-blunderland.html?sm_au=iVVVWn213jT4j857pVB7QK77Kk0K1

Does Natasha's father have MH issues? I missed that (I did miss quite a few episodes around the time of the twins' birth). Hannah's dad has something like Alzheimer's, doesn't he? And was it Stella's dad who died of a heart attack? There are a lot of ill fathers amongst the incoming women! Maybe it's so that they can have a realistic sample of illnesses without the inconvenience of having to remember them in SL.

Funeral starts about 23 minutes in.

Synopsis here. The really bad bit from Alice starts at about 33 minutes into the omnibus linked above. It's horrific. I'd forgotten just how bad it was. Kudos to Hollie Chapman for the acting.

Sorry, that link doesn't work. Try this one.

@FlosCampi , it's not rude to ask, but any mention of welshness tends to lead to arguments, so I sent a PM

If someone has an accent, it depends on the accent, and on what phrases they use or how they say certain words but you can often tell if their day-to-day language and their culture is Welsh.