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!

Maybe Chelsea does have a termination, and Ben plunges into depression.

Thing is I can't see mieer sabotage attempts having much effect(affect?)... i
it'll just be her V a room full of hunters, i.e. maybe she'll chuck some soup or paint and shout something about animal crulitey or something, but ultimately some of the stronger men will bundle her up, chuck her our and thell all carry on having a jolly good time and it will turn i to one of thoes things they laugh about for years to come like nigles skinny dipping... The onlything I can see comming out of it is her getting blacklisted from future work

@Atichen , effect is correct. Affect is usually a verb, and effect a noun.
I can see Mere handing out the cloakroom ticket with a sermon on how evil (she thinks) hunting is.

I was explaining to someone this weekend how much more entertaining it is now the internet provides people to talk about it with frankly this thread is the only thing that keeps me listening at the moment. I can't give up TA because I don't want to give up this thread

The same.

… Although perhaps I could have phrased it better! As a child we listened as a family and I think I spent decades feeling nostalgic for that. Some of the most absorbing and emotionally affecting stories happened during the years when I was mostly listening alone after I’d left home. Polly’s death was seismic in my young life. Mark’s death, Susan’s conviction, John’s death. Even the relatively recent eviction of the Grundys from Grange Farm and Brian’s affair with Siobhan - they were all so much better than what we’re getting now - so essentially more entertaining.

But I must have missed so much detail and subtext during those years because I didn’t have the benefit of other people’s ears.

they were all so much better than what we’re getting now

I think we probably forget the crap stuff, too. The big storylines we remember,but there were also always the "amusing" Grundy capers, Flower & Produce show rivalries, Bert's poems, etc.

I also miss the nostalgia of listening all together around the dinner table, whereas busier lives these days mean I tend only to catch up on podcasts.

I agree that we probably just don’t remember the naff storylines; only the big ones.
Added to which, there’s a much higher tendency to dissect things in great detail (on this thread or elsewhere) where there never would have been anywhere to do that in the past, so perhaps we just let more of it go, too.

Yes, I see a young adult male mental health SL on the horizon.

I also thought he sounded conflicted. It’s looking very unlikely that this SL is going to come to an end in the next week or so. As Minimammoth noted upthread, the instant Chelsea declared that it was sorted 'once and for all', we could be reasonably sure it isn’t.

The Curse of the Last Line has been invoked and must strike.

The Curse of the Last Line has been invoked and must strike.

Oh no - is it going to be The Best Christmas Ever as well?

Without a shadow of a doubt, GoldenCupidon!

We used to discuss TA in person, not that I had many to discuss it with.
I couldn't understand why my fellow TA listener said Shula was smug, and still can't.
Mark's death was a big event. John's less so because it had been leaked.

I can't get my head round the baby Horroben SL.

Hunting has been banned for many years.

And yet they still do it.

It’s all drag hunts round my way.

Foxes are hunted on foot and shot.

The RSPCA, League Against Cruel Sports, CPS and police have successfully prosecuted 344 people for offences under the Hunting Act since it came into force. The number of successful prosecutions under the Hunting Act compares favourably with other wildlife legislation aimed at protecting animals.

www.rspca.org.uk/getinvolved/campaign/hunting/facts

Mia and the horses. Is she planning some sort of sabotage asking about the horse event and her new job.
I thought she was vegan also?

Sorry, regular name changed there

She is of the opinion it is cruel to ride horses.

Is she? I can't make head or tail (as it were) of her stated interest in horses. Was she angling for a job at the stables so she could set all the horses free, or does she want to go undercover and film things she doesn't like the look of?

It was when she visited last week, she was saying how she feels sorry for the horses being forced to work. And she was questioning the carrying of crops at the Event yesterday.

Denise’s son Paul - if they were going to introduce another gay character then in the interest of balance I would have hoped it to be a woman. i can only recall incidental lesbians - Jim’s daughter Fiona and Carol’s daughter too? No main cast.

I’ve just had a horrible thought - they’re not going to introduce a TW storyline are they? And that’s why they’ve made Paul so stereotypically camp? Given how appallingly they’re plotting Chelsea’s pregnancy storyline, I really would not trust the scriptwriters to handle this in a sensitive and realistic manner.

I hope I’m just overthinking it…

I predict that there will be some future event at which the Archers (including Ben) are gathered en masse, there will be discussion of The Archer Babies' Stained Glass Window (for ALL our babies) , and Ben will break down in tears.

Ben will burst into tears and

Apologies for the repeat final line - not sure how I managed that.