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!

Ben’s idea was pathetically stupid. And Ruth’s dismissal of David was also stupid.

elizabeth should be more ashamed.

Presumably she reasonably feels it would be a bit embarrassing for Tony given what he said about his parents.

Mind you, that is of course a good reason to keep her nose right out of it anyway.

Roory can get Ben into the (just a) gigolo scene. Big money there.

He was 79.

Presumably the SWs must have some sort of contingency plan for all the characters played by older actors? I do hope it doesn't include killing off Robert, Lynda has had more than enough to cope with recently.

The other thing I don't get about this is that there IS money swilling around the Archer family. David and Ruth have invested heavily but I bet they have cash in the bank - if not the whole 40k then enough of it to make a big dent. Jill must get a pension and not spend it on anything except cake ingredients. Josh has a thriving business and no rent to pay etc until recently. Elizabeth has a STATELY HOME just to remind everyone of that. It's clearly just more manipulative crap to bring Ben to a breakdown so we can have a Male Mental Health Story.

A PP said that maybe this will make Beth realised how much she loves Ben etc - she didn't break up with him, he dumped her!

I noticed the actor who plays Ben mentioned on social media that he was feeling down at the moment - maybe it's acting all this that has done it to him.

(Although I do like the joke below about him walling himself up in St Stephens, bet it's AGES since they had a hermit there)

I loathe Pip more than most, but to be fair I don't think even she was dumb enough to be saying that. After all, Chelsea keeping the baby was hardly likely to mollify Vince, rather the reverse. Essentially I suppose she was saying they would have had more warning, though of course it wasn't Chelsea's job to do that.

@Rockersversuswalter has nailed it. Ben will go to Ruery for advice on how to become a catamite

The really stupid part about this is that this loan is nothing to do with Ben. It's an agreement between his parents and Vince. They were the ones who should have said no to a financial arrangement based on a teenager (or near enough)'s love life. It's their FAULT. And it's their own private business, he needs to butt out. They need to be telling him (and so does Vince) that they'll be refusing any money he gives them.

Brookfield is a 469 acre place.

They must already be near the wind if £40,000 is a shock.

Brookfield is a 469 acre place

Now don't anyone laugh or be mean ... does that mean it's a big farm?

Agree spare Josh and also Leonard. The rest can go.

I call it big, when it's not a hill farm.

I see that's what the Mirror is reporting but the Guardian interviewed him in 2017 when he retired and said he was 61 then, which fits with graduating from medical school in 1979. I think the Mirror has looked at the BBC page for Robert Snell and taken his date of birth to be Graham Blockey's.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/2GyYj4sXwwCJs0R0wMjBxRy/robert-snell

www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/mar/31/surrey-gp-reveals-archers-character-robert-snell-graham-blockey

@SaltyCrisp , not big, not small.

Google seems to be saying it's about £4 million quid in land.

How much were they getting when they nearly sold it?

I'd save Jakob too. Probably also Susan and Neil. Not George.

How much were they getting when they nearly sold it?

£7m rings a bell- including the farmhouse.

It's worth about that, now, maybe £6.5.
It has the house, the outbuildings, Rickyard Cottage and The Boonga-Low. Most of it isn't hilly. It's also got the mediaeval wedding barn

Maybe Peggy or Lillian and Justin could lend the Dopeys some of their millions?

I can't believe that a farm with 3(?) other dwellings and a wedding barn can't raise £40k within a couple of weeks. Failing that they could lease some of their less brilliant land to a solar farm: www.leaseyourland.co.uk/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA37KbBhDgARIsAIzce15dGl50tcWP9mlKjEDQCGbBId3mVearby-rv76avmWQ0KQF1qDWT2caAkjyEALw_wcB
Josh's chickens could forage underneath once they are allowed outside again.

I know it is dramatic, but it seems bizarre that Ben would quit nursing. His CV is hardly stellar, having already dropped another degree after a year. Who would give him a well paying job? Saying that I don't fancy Pip, and daughter Rosie, as the protagonist in 2040 so maybe that's why they have done this.

Can we crowdfund it and evict them?

I was quick to say which of the Brookfield Archers I want to be spared (Josh and honorary Archer Leonard), can't believe I forgot Bess.

Others in the village (and environs) I would spare in no particular order of importance include Jim, Alastair, Stella, Johnny, Freddy (sp), Fallon, Jakob, Kirsty, Brian, Jennifer, Debbie, Kate, Tracy, Chelsea and Brad.

Also thinking about it I would spare Neil as well.

And Peggy's cat.

With it being on the radio, someone will have to say: "That looks like a meteor, coming our way."

I dunno about relative to other farms but it's pretty big geographically - an acre is about half a football pitchish.

Brookfield had no business borrowing money they couldn't pay off. If he takes them to court they'll have to find it anyway. By far the easiest way is a family whip round supplemented with a loan. Remind me - do other family members have "shares" so to speak in Brookfield? Or were they paid off?