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!

The Button sisters are in their teens, I think.

The Button sisters don't count as far as I am concerned as they are silent.
Only good for messing up Maypole dances etc. Goerge mentioned one of them the other day ttrc.

Poppy is 9. She was born on 30 September 2013. Doesn't time fly!

9?! Blimey, I thought I was overestimating her at 7. Time does indeed fly, seems like only yesterday she was starting school!

(Also true for my own DC although I usually get their age right).

I think so.

I mentioned the Mia hunt event sabotage in the last thread, but no prizes for predicting as that was so blatantly signposted, in my opinion.

Silent? We used to say that about Brad and Chelsea...

I think orrible George actually mentioned both of them, almost certainly lying to Brad that he'd had erotic dealings with both.

BOOP what is that?

have to disagree with this though (sorry can't remember who posted it)

Was me, @GoldenCupidon!

Maybe it might happen in real life - but in Ambridge? With Ben being the fourth generation of Archers farming their own land. Actual royalty in Ambridge terms. And Chelsea coming from the family very deliberately portrayed in the village as underclass scrabbling to establish themselves as working class. There’s just no way they would ever interact except in an employer / employee context - and if Ben had gone home mentioniting (sic) a Horrobin (after the post office raid, and poor Susan being carted off to clink …) his parents would have padlocked him into that cereal cupboard. Surely?

I thought last night's episode wasn't bad at all - BOOP for Ruth being sensible.

An an update the buffalo (buffaloes?) would be good. As someone said, they'd liven up the yoga classes at the rewilding a treat and I rather like the image of them stampeding majestically across Kirsty's tract of land!

I also miss Carol Tregorran and Jenny Darling - fingers crossed for a reappearance by either of them. Even dear old Tiger - Matt was awful in many ways but he and Lilian were a great double-act. Justin is just so dull.

Alice managed to marry Kristoffer......

Giving someone a BOOP is like high diving them, signalling a "Well done!", @CarlaH

high f*iving not diving!

I think what parents/grandparents/R4 listeners might think is a sexy attribute e.g. part share in Brookfield 😁maaaay not be what comes to mind in a crowd of young people at a rave.

It's only since getting old and moving far from home that I realise how much some people really think about people's "prospects" from quite an early age. Farming families think about this more, in terms of forming teenage relationships etc. But having parents who farm isn't much social capital to probably 95% of the country's teens - quite the opposite! I know Ambridge is a bit weird but I don't think we're really supposed to think that Chelsea thinks of herself as "lowly" in some kind of feudal structure. More (as Brad expressed) she'd be aware that people often assume the worst of her family, but she'd see that as unfair.

Love the word "mentioniting" - I expect he kept shtum but I love the idea!

Thanks JanglyBeads

👵🏼Many years ago, in the early-ish days of this thread, a poster whose user name provided the initials B O O P complained - very eloquently - that the thread had become relentlessly negative about the show. Some bright spark (far too modest to identify themself …) suggested we all resolve to find something good to say about an episode - by giving a BOOP point.

Something we used to do.

BOOP = (a reference to poster BitOutOfPractice following her suggestion of making positive comments alongside the negative), a way of "awarding" an episode a positive point for something that you liked.

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

Yes, it's like "10 points to Gryffindor" or something in my mind. Originally named after the poster BitOutOfPractice (BOOP) who said many moons ago that she was tired of people being negative and it would be good to praise the better bits of the programme too!

@CarlaH , I can't remember what it stands for but like a hurrah.
If anyone can remind me, please, of its origin, that would be fab.

One of my favourite television programmes is ‘This Farming Life’, which follows a group of (mostly) Scottish farmers through their many trials and triumphs - one of them in a recent series had a herd of buffalo with an eye to expanding into cheese-making.

IIRC it involved a truly massive investment (think hundreds of thousands of £) and he had some terrible setbacks which I seem to remember ended with him having to give up on his dream. So the Helen/buffalo mozzarella SL makes me somewhat 🤔

(I really recommend that programme though, I’m happily addicted to it)

Buffalos are not as cute as they look.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/may/05/water-buffalo-kills-man-and-injures-two-others-in-south-wales#:~:text=A%2057%2Dyear%2Dold%20man,east%20Wales%2C%20police%20have%20said.

Buffaloes are also pretty massive. Often quite a bit larger and stockier than cows. I imagine they’d need a lot of space? Is it buffalo or bison (or both?) who are en vogue for rewilding and whatnot?

@WhoppingBigBackside ‘horrobairn’ - 👌 love it.

Ooh @Octothorpe didnt see your buffalo post - that’s very interesting.

@RandomCatGenerator
It's European Bison (aka wisent) that are the latest rewilding thing!
www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/oct/21/first-wild-bison-born-in-uk-for-millennia-after-surprise-pregnancy

Oh I wasn't around for BOOP the poster, that fits so well!

Chelsea's generation will just see the Archers as rich relative to her family.

Although she wouldn't think of 'marrying in' she might possibly imagine a more privileged life for a child with an Archer father, however she would be aware that that would depend on continuing commitment from Ben, which might invite scepticism given her mum's experience and indeed, that of society in general.