Archers thread #141: The nights are drawing in. Can we turn the clocks back to a time when The Archers was fun? Cackle or carp about 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, although we do mostly try to be civil about it. Most of us are posting tongue in cheek a lot of the time, so don't worry about revealing that you're hoping Ambridge has a pantomime again this year, 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.)

Many thanks to @TottersBlankly and @GoldenCupidon for the title suggestions.

Too much to hope, I suppose, that by the time we get to the end of this thread Chelsea's pregnancy is a distant memory and the Horrobins can gear up for a cheap and cheerful Christmas. I really, really hope she doesn't change her mind about the termination. It's a horrible and unrealistic storyline, as most of us have agreed over the past few weeks, but now I just want it to end and be forgotten about.

I do like the idea of Lilian taking on the role of witch in the woods. Much more fun to listen to than Mia sabotaging the Hunt Ball, which is surely bound to go horribly wrong, or the odd wrangling over the stained glass window which we know Peggy won't be contributing to on air , given June Spencer's retirement.

Not a peep out of anybody in Ambridge about all the recent political shenanigans, but that's hardly surprising. Nobody fretting about fuel bills or rampant inflation either.

Also, where's Jenny? I hope Angela Piper's OK.

Over to you!

How time flies when we're all enjoying The Archers, eh? Like Roysnewshirt, I would have put her ONS about 4 or 5 months ago.

I am fairly confident that Alice and Chris will be back together soon. Perhaps it will be a shoeing accident at the stables that brings them together (though I concede that I was wrong about the bridal bridle bag leading to a riding accident).

The trouble is that there aren't too many middle aged cast members. The youngsters in their 30's need to get breeding (though preferably off radio)!

Well, this is beyond ridiculous now. Two single young people have sex once.

Sleazy gallery curator loses cushy domestic position. (Yay!)

Deliriously happy couple split up.

Teenage girl is harassed and harangued by adults who should know better.

Spiteful businessman withdraws loan to punish young man’s family.

Young man of landowning family drops out of professional training to earn money to protect family from financial ruin.

Lordy! Really? All that, from one consensual shag?

I really dislike David he winds me up so much. It was definitely his need to have the last word which buggered up the loan agreement with Vince.

Well yes, but it does show that sex can have very far-teaching consequences.

Oh Ben

Plus the one thing that really should have happened clearly hasn't - Elizabeth is very much still with Vince despite witnessing his vile attitude first hand.

Yes, I was disappointed hugely at her defending him tonight

I had so hoped Elizabeth would have kicked Vince's sorry arse to the kerb for his spiteful behaviour. Though we've yet to hear how Beth receives this. It'll be how she takes it that will swing things.

On the other hand, are Alice and Chris cosying up or will they, preferably, stay separate and be a shining example of excellent post-divorce relations?

Yes @echt, thinking about it, Beth will probably be appalled, and in defending Ben's family she will realise how much she loves him and wants to become a part of that family....

Will that send Alice back to the booze? It will be very Christmas EastEnders circa 1986 if it does…

'Oh, Alice....it's going to be the Best Christmas Ever'

God, Elizabeth's simpering is infuriating! Didn't she sulk when her brother was reluctant to take her boyfriend's money?

What contract did the Dopeys sign that means Vince can just call in the loan on a whim?

One drawn up by his lawyers!

Am I imagining it, or at the time wasn't there some discussion re getting their own solicitor to check the contract and they decided not to because he was almost family or something? (probably making it up).

The Dopeys are acting as if the loan is £1m!

Maybe they need to sell a field for development a la Bridge Farm.

The Archers now is really a rubbish drama. Melodrama more like.

I listen to it in the car and nearly every day end up shouting at the radio because of the rubbishness of it.

Elizabeth - why doesn't she tell Vince to either let the loan stand or she'll leave him. Actually I can't believe that his actions have not caused her to dump him. He is absolutely dreadful, a nasty piece of work.

Has anybody listened to 'Home Front'?
I really enjoyed it. I thought very well written, great plot, great characterisation.
So much better than The Archers. Thoroughly recommend it. Do check it out

I was coming on to post just this! It does indeed feel beyond ridiculous.

Faint memories of a similar sort of situation with Lillian and Justin a few years ago? Can’t remember any details but I’m sure he was financially squeezing members of her family and she let him crack on.

Chelsea must be extra double glad she’s had the abortion now, given how much everyone has been up in her womb grill lately. Imagine how much worse it would have been if she’d kept it - and with no end in sight.

Ruth was absurd - dismissing the option of a loan to replace Vince’s money “because we have so many looooans already”, ignoring the fact that Vince’s money was itself a LOAN.

I'm hoping a meteorite might hit the farm and wipe out all the Archers. David, Rooth, the sainted Jill, the absolutely obnoxious Pip, 'it's all about me' Ben, the fat kid ( who will grow up to be like her awful mother). Maybe Josh can be spared.

And who else can die?, 🤔 ... So many awful characters to choose from.

It’s all getting a bit 4 Yorkshiremen with Ben. What next - he dons sackcloth and ashes and walls himself into a cell in St Stephens to do proper penance?

@SaffyRosie I once made a pilgrimage to the Mailbox - not primarily for The Archers, but to hear the Home Front creative team talk about writing that. There was a point in history, when Home Front was coming to a close and TA was between Editors, where I fostered the highest possible hopes that Jessica Dromgoole

- where did the rest go?

… that Jessica Dromgoole might move over to Ambridge. Hopes dashed, and now we have this unspeakable crap. What were the SWs thinking?

As the meteorite falls, Leonard, Josh & Stella, Bess and Ripley could be saved.

Oops. I meant Weaver not Ripley.
Maybe Merryhell could be drafted in from NZ to run the farm.

Oh dear. Maybe I won't bother listening to the past couple of episodes.

I was having a quick google to see how long the current and past editors had been in post (in the case of Huw Kennair- Jones, not very long) and one of the hits was this BBC post from 2017 (have a look at the comments, where listeners were complaining about the Eastenderfication of the drama). We didn't know how lucky we were:
www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thearchers/entries/cab07c63-5403-42be-b16c-9c74875ee062

I'm quite impressed that the BBC allowed listeners to pile in with comments in those halcyon post-Rob days.