Archers thread #142: Kill Jill? Is Ambridge heading for a Tarantino-style bloodbath on Stir Up Sunday? 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, 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 , 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.)

Well, things have taken a turn for the better in the last few days! The SWs have re-discovered their form and the actors and directors have risen to the challenge. I won't say much more than that for fear of jinxing things. Over to you!

(Thanks to @JanglyBeads for the thread title idea!)

😂

But "me me me"ness is irrelevant if Ben's got/developing MH problems?

I was thinking more like she had Leonard pack everything up in his car and give her a lift, and he was apologetically looking over his shoulder and saying 'I'm so sorry about all of this' to Ruth and David, but not within earshot of Jill.

IRL, yes, but <looks furtively over shoulder> this isn't RL. I don't know who the SWs think they are drawing in with this, but it wouldn't have done the trick for me decades ago when I was an irregular listener. What drew me in was ice cream wars between Elizabeth and Nigel (Mr and Mrs Snowy), Nelson's wine bar, Jennifer telling Betty off for ruining the fishknives by putting them in the dishwasher, etc etc, with a substantial amount of farming content mixed in. More than I think we get now, which is a shame.

I've never heard of anyone finding a message in a bottle but we were discouraged from touching things in Regent's Canal, so perhaps it's more common if you live by a cleaner body of water.

Men in their 20s are a high risk group for suicide.

I felt like Ben was very respectful of Chelsea, he said he's support her whatever she chose, including raising a child. He didn't try to influence her decision. All of his outbursts were at home with his family and his GF or alone. You can't say fairer than that?
Yes he went to the hospital when he probably shouldn't have, but Chelsea was also saying to him he could save himself the bother of being known, and I think he was trying to show that whatever the outcome he wouldn't shy away from his responsibility or involvement.

I also got the impression he'd quite come round to the idea of baby. The late stage termination was shocking, in that it was needlessly late. By 18 weeks it would seem more probable the pregnancy was going ahead. I think he's been through a lot and he's allowed to struggle and feel it.

Now I’ve got a mental image of Jill stomping doggedly down the farm track away from Brokefailed with all the pudding ingredients, including china basin, tied up in the steaming cloth in a stick over her shoulder à la Dick Whittington (cat optional).

Hah! I wonder if she could tie the basin to her back like a tortoise shell a la Brad…

Absolutely@suzyscat

Just the thought of Ben being truly suicidal makes me want to cry.
Maybe it'll be approaching that and then they'll realise (Jill will realise, withdear Leonard's support) she has dementia and she'll apologise and that will start the healing?

Because other trajectories are awful, for Ben, Ruth and the whole family, even if he doesn't attempt suicide.

Ben being depressed is a fairly likely outcome. The termination was something he had no control over, as is the fallout with Mince, and to some extent his DGM's behaviour.

I hope they don't go down that route.

IRL, yes, but <looks furtively over shoulder>
this isn't RL

Troll!
Reported!

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g I use Delia Smith's recipe

How does making your own compare to the better supermarket versions for taste/cost effectiveness?

I don't delude myself that I'm likely to make the Waitrose pud supplier redundant any time soon but I've often wondered.

@C8H10N4O2, I don't know. I haven't costed it, but this year I expect it would be pretty expensive, both the ingredients and the fuel. I cook it and re-heat it in my 1982 Tower slow cooker which doesn't use a lot of fuel (I assume), but even so it's on for about 12-15 hours for the initial cooking and another 6-7 hours on Christmas Day. I do it because I enjoy making it and three out of four of us here enjoy eating it. The fourth, poor soul, just doesn't like any of the standard Christmas foods, so he gets something else.

As for how it compares with commercial puddings, I rarely have the opportunity to compare, but I think the home-made version is moister, richer, darker and less sweet. Possibly I haven't had a really expensive commercial one, though.

I also hope they don't go down that route. I'd like The Archers to be a little bright spot in my life, not a source of even more gloom than we're getting from the news and real life at the moment.

I'll just add that at a time when women and girls in the US and many other parts of the world are finding their right to termination of pregnancy removed and some end up in prison for having a miscarriage, it's odd to be focusing on how the father feels about having no control. Not his body, not his decision, end of, as far as I'm concerned. If he can't cope with that, celibacy and vasectomy are options.

How does making your own compare to the better supermarket versions for taste/cost effectiveness? I long ago decided I couldn’t improve on bought Christmas pud, and although I make my own mince pies (which are preferred by the mince pie eating members of the family), I buy the mincemeat. But DH’s Christmas cake is better than any bought ones I’ve tried.

Well, that proves I shouldn’t comment on an episode I haven’t listened to yet! Goodness, wasn’t she a bitch!

Something for Patricia Greene to get her teeth into! The Archers does very well by its extremely elderly cast members. She's 91.

And she should be retired! I've said before and say again that her delivery is awful, with emphasis in all the wrong places, and it's getting worse.

That is lot of hours compared to two minutes in the microwave. I'll probably stick with the Waitrose premium type (the chef sponsored ones are overrated usually) and repeat my plan to try making one "next year"

In reality my lot, even grown up, regard it mostly as a vehicle for silver coins and cream. 😀

Did anyone else see the two recent documentaries 'How the BBC began'? They were really interesting, but more to the point of this thread, June Spencer was one of the interviewees - and in the second, there was a little Archers segment with a snippet of film showing Walter Gabriel, old Tony, and Jill as young and dark-haired, recording a programme.

They played a bit of archive of unmarried Jenny pleading with the then-vicar to tell her parents that she was expecting a baby (I presume Adam?), and June Spencer told a sweet anecdote about the letters they used to get from listeners.

It's still on iplayer if anyone wants to look it up. The Archers bit starts at just gone 57'00”

Ah Jill needs to replenish baking ingredients in Felpersham!

George really fancies her doesn't he?

I wonder what inappropriate thing he will do?

thats just wierd

😂😂

That is lot of hours compared to two minutes in the microwave. I'll probably stick with the Waitrose premium type Even the Waitrose premium type are better steamed for an hour or so rather than microwaved. But DH has so many pans on the go that it’s easier to microwave. Thank goodness we no longer have to do custard as well

@JanglyBeads I do hope it is George who is inappropriate and tries to turn a hug into a kiss or something, and not Fallon developing a crush on an ?eighteen year old.