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'm always wrong by name
Sometimes I'm naughty.

I'm starting to "ship" Rex and Kirsty ♡

Oh no. Kirsty and Ardil.

Rex and Kirsty don't seem like a potential couple. I suspect that Rex will end up with Pip or Lily. Kirsty will pair up with Adil, then maybe Roy.

I'm happy to ship Kirsty with Adil (Ardil?) as long as he's a good 'un and they will have a baby. I'll never forgive the SW for killing Wren and then piling on the cruelty by giving Tom twins.

How did Ben's brain process ",I don't want you there Ben" into "please turn up wearing your hair shirt and martyred expression, doing absolutely nothing useful but causing tension with my mother, but hey you can feel good about being a good guy supporting me"

I listened to Jazzer's bit again. What he said was "you can change your mind anytime'. At best that's a statement of the bleedin' obvious or alternatively unnecessary, unasked for interfering. Chelsea has said she doesn't want this pregnancy, which neither she nor her family can afford.

Absolutely agree with you about Ben. I'd have gone apoplectic if I were Chelsea.

I'm sympathetic to Jazzer saying the "wrong" thing though, he's not a trained counsellor or an experienced parent, he's just a milkman/fishman/pigman trying to be helpful.

I agree Ben was wrong to turn up when Chelsea had said not to (No means No).
However he feels responsible (good) wants to support Chelsea (good) doesn't want to run away and hide from the mess (good) and maybe feels that Chelsea was turning him away to save his name rather than because she really didn't want him there.
He was wrong not to listen to her No though.

It was wrong, but it was probably a 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' thought process for him.

I'd have been absolutely furious if a ONS turned up at my termination consultation.

I’m very irritated that Adil’s name is pronounced so wrong by most of the people he interacts with. Roy is the worst - Arrrdill.

Roy speaks mummerset though and they tend to add an r wherever possible. Mere, Emmur, Keerer Shuler, Lyndur, Oo-shur, Chrissmurz etc
The Linda and Gill spellings annoy me.
Adil shouldn't sound like Ardil, there's no R in it. The name is عادل. The ع doesn't have an equivalent sound in English. The A bit is long and throaty.

He could have done all of that without ignoring and overruling the one request Chelsea did make of him. He could have contacted her by phone or text to ask how it went.

His presence added nothing practical other than pandering to his own idea that he's a good guy. The fact he can't do the one easy thing he was asked to is not "good"

It's classic malenentitlement and not just any old male entitlement, but Archers' male entitlement.

The arrogant little twerp knows Chelsea is at college and only has a part time job and that Tracey was recently made redundant. He could have asked if he could help with train/ bus/ petrol costs. I doubt Chelsea would have accepted but it would be a damn sight more use than turning up and doing nothing.

I don't get a creepy vibe off Jazzer. I think he's gormless. He's self-centred, not because he's selfish but because he lacks the insight or imagination to put himself in anyone else's shoes.

He means well, but meaning well doesn't necessarily translate into him being useful, helpful or an asset.

For the sake of Brad and Chelsea, you would hope that Tracey could aim higher than Jazzer, but I don't think that she can.

Did you mean to say the termination is going ahead, not the pregnancy? Given that Tracy said that Chelsea wasn't going ahead with the pregnancy.

Yes, he was wrong. However, if Chelsea didn't want him to stay I'm sure she wouldn't have hesitated to tell him to get lost, and he would have done so, so I guess we're meant to draw the conclusion that actually she wasn't unhappy about it.

No I took it as meaning that the pregnancy is going ahead- i.e exactly the opposite of what Tracey said. It was said so emphatically stated I took it as a signal that exactly the opposite will happen.

And what is the point of Ben being drawn in to the storyline now if there's not going to be a baby?

It didn't sound like that at all to me. It was in the context of telling Ben that there was no point in telling his parents.

Ben hasn't just been drawn into the storyline, he was drawn in as soon as it was revealed that he was the father. I assume it will continue but the next development will inevitably be that the Dopeys find out. It'll be interesting to hear Jill's reaction and whether she changes her mind about Beth .

Or alternatively even Chelsea isn't so thick that she can't see that kicking off in an abortion clinic waiting room is a bad idea. And why bother anyway? The damage was done.

For the sake of Brad and Chelsea, you would hope that Tracey could aim higher than Jazzer, but I don't think that she can.

Chelsea said that Jazzer was the best of the string of boyfriends who came and went. She didn't want Jazzer to move in in case he went the same way as his predecessors.

Well I for one really enjoyed tonight's episode and no one else's complaining is going to change my mind!

I liked Lillian hamming it up as a witch
I liked Kate's torment at having to be nice to Kirsty and her desperate attempts to get out of doing anything that remotely puts someone else before herself.
I even liked Jazzer's honesty about how he's feeling about the pregnancy, and the fact that he's kept it all to himself until explicitly asked.

A big fat BOOP for the lot of them.

I mean, if I were going to quibble, I thought it was a little odd that Tracy compared coming home to Jazzer's sunny mood to coming home to her dad's misery given that she lives with both of them. And I would have liked to hear more about how everyone did on the soil test. But overall, I'm happy.

The Linda and Gill spellings annoy me. Agree with you about Lynda, but Jill is the correct spelling, Gill is a contraction of Gillian.

“Jack and Gill went up the hill … “ just wouldn’t be right

Well nobody's moaned yet, @Fink, but I'm sure they will
I liked the idea of Lillian as the witch too.
I do have my concerns about what Twitter had predicted.

I was just getting my pre-emptive anti-moan in!

I thought it was especially good, as listeners often comment on Lillian's cackle but I don't remember the characters bringing it up before. And then Kate heard her laugh and suddenly realised she's a natural-born cackler.

Jazzer is lovely but I wouldn't fancy him

@MereDintofPandiculation , Lynda just isn't a Linda somehow. I know several Gillians and two Jills. Jill is such a nice name, but Gill isn't, it makes me think of fish or a unit of measurement, or the mysterious owners of the Home Farm house.
Lillian's cackle is normally grating, but it was perfect this evening.