Archers thread #143: In the Bleak Midwinter, Ambridge Folk Make Moan. Best Christmas ever? Probably not! 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 you'd love to be in Jolene's choir , 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, we made it through Stir Up Sunday without bloodshed, but poor Ben is now in the grip of psychotic depression. Not going to be a happy Christmas at Brookfield, sadly. When will Jill swallow her pride and go and give him the abject apology he deserves? Would it be a good idea anyway for Ben to see his gran at the moment?

Will Jazzer say yes? I hope so. We could do with a Horrobin wedding to look forward to.

Will Emma and Ed end up in court if they go ahead with this idiotic scheme to nick the logs from Peggy's Folly?

Will the two choirs put on a joint concert at Christmas? I assume so, and also that the BBC will continue to fool nobody by using recordings of what is clearly a really good well-rehearsed established choir, not a scratch choir of half a dozen novices.

Over to you!

No … but wouldn’t you want the choice of what new things you are learning? Not be coerced into learning something you may or may not have had a passing whim for over half a century earlier?

Goodness, exposition central.

Why is Lilian - who was away for Christmas - telling Pat and Tony, who were in Ambridge, that Debbie made a flying visit to see her family? They’d already know, and it’s almost impossible that Debbie wouldn’t have dropped in to see them too …

have been lurking because i am a recent Archers rejoiner (last time i regularly listened was when Ruth had breast cancer)

shit, sorry, was that a massive spoiler?

Oi you, @SaffyRosie , who you callin' fick?

Eh?

That was years ago! How could it be a spoiler? What d’you mean???

Welcome, by the way!

@Brefugee , you are aware that some of us haven't listened to that episode yet? You'll be telling us that Nigel Pargetter gets dedded tragically, or something else completely unlikely.

Welcome, @Brefugee .

gosh, I'm mortified.
So sorry.
(anyone else old enough to remeember BBS systems and leaving 20 lines of spoiler space?")

@ChelseaHorrobin , welcome to these threads!! So, can you just tell us whether it's going to worth listening on Sunday or not, from the PoV of who gets their proposal in first?

Tut, @Janglybeads. However could Chelsea be expected know that, when it's only Tuesday? She won't know until it's happened, will she?

<<hangs head in shame>>

Surely they will both start speaking at the same time, to great hilarity and confusion, and it will end up with neither being clear if anyone has been asked to marry them, nor if there was actually a reply, and we will all die* laughing with merriment.

• Do not expect to escape so lightly.

Nuffin to report yet, but if there was it would be on the spoilers fred, wouldn't it.

Mum's got to beat him to it. He's scottish so I might try to suggest he leaves it for Hogmanay, but Mum will be working at The Bull, so maybe I could get him distracted or too drunk for her to take him seriously.

What do you lot fink me an Brad should do? It's sooooo romantic innit!

Remind him that he decided back on 14th December, when he was told he'd be getting his hours at work increased and so he would be able to afford to get married, that he would propose to Tracy at Hogmanay. He told Neil so.

Oh, is that what happened. I'll ask Uncle Neil to confirm. Fanks!

Has the sniff cleared up, @ChelseaHorrobin ?

You'll need to keep listening to find out, @JanglyBeads. Sniff

News from Twitter. The World Cup of The Archers is now on round 2. Not a vast number of participants, but the votes cast in Round 1 were about 125-130 in each poll. I suspect results here would have been very different. Jazzer and every Horrobin by birth or marriage, plus Alistair and Jim, as Jazzer's chums, I suspect, are forging ahead in Round 2.

Results of Round 1:

1/16
Adam Macy 10.4%
Alan Franks 11.3%
Alice Carter 27.1%
Alistair Lloyd 51.1%
Alistair and Alice proceed to Round 2.

2/16
Bartleby 18.3%
Ben Archer 17.3%
Brad Horrobin 34.1%
Brian Aldridge 30.3%
Brad and Brian proceed to Round 2.

3/16
Chelsea Horrobin 61.9%
Christopher Carter 5.3%
Clarrie Grundy 26.5%
David Archer 6.3%
Chelsea and Clarrie proceed to Round 2.

4/16
Debbie Aldridge 36.6%
Ed Grundy 20.3%
Eddie Grundy 27.6%
Elizabeth Pargetter 15.4%
Debbie and Eddie proceed to Round 2.

5/16
Emma Grundy 18.5%
Fallon Rogers 26.6%
Freddie Pargetter 49.2%
George Grundy 5.6%
Freddie and Fallon proceed to Round 2.

6/16
Harrison Burns 41.9%
Helen Archer 12.9%
Henry Archer 4%
Hilda Ogden 41.1%
Harrison and Hilda (Peggy's cat!) proceed to Round 2.

7/16
Ian Craig 7.7%
Jack Archer 3.1%
Jazzer McCreary 77.7%
Jennifer Aldridge 11.5%
Jazzer and Jennifer proceed to Round 2.

8/16
Jill Archer 3.6%
Jim Lloyd 74.8%
Johnny Phillips 7.9%
Jolene Archer 13.7%
Jim and Jolene proceed to Round 2.

9/16
Josh Archer 20.8%
Justin Elliott 23.8%
Kate Madikane 40%
Keira Grundy 15.4%
Kate and Justin proceed to Round 2.

10/16
Kenton Archer 38.3%
Lavinia and her Schnauzer 9.4%
Lee Bryce 3.9%
Leonard Berry 48.4%
Leonard and Kenton proceed to Round 2. (My memory fails me here - who's Lavinia?)

11/16
Lilian Bellamy 41.7%
Lily Pargetter 7.1%
Lynda Snell 43.3%
Mia Grundy 7.9%
Lynda and Lilian proceed to Round 2.

12/16
Molly and Tilly Button 18.7%
Natasha Archer 9.8%
Neil Carter 63.4%
Pat Archer 8.1%
Neil and The Button Sisters proceed to Round 2.

13/16
Peggy Woolley 27.3%
Phoebe Aldridge 33.9%
Pip Archer 18.2%
Poppy Grundy 20.7%
Phoebe and Peggy proceed to Round 2.

14/16
Robert Snell 67.7%
Ruairi Donovan 18.9%
Ruth Archer 10.2%
Sabrina Thwaite 3.1%
Robert and Ruairi proceed to Round 2.

15/16
Shula Hebden Lloyd 10.6%
Susan Carter 65%
The Gills 17.1%
Tom Archer 7.3%
Susan and The Gills () proceed to Round 2.

16/16
Tony Archer 10.1%
Tracy Horrobin 80.6%
Usha Franks 6.2%
Will Grundy 3.1%
Tracy and Tony proceed to Round 2.

Wow @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g that took dedication!
Lavinia was a dog lady who got the hots for Alistair at the dog show after Shula announced their marriage was over. He panicked and had to back away after a night of passion.
I’m voting fast and furiously.
Top

Wow, some quite dodgy results there. How did Debbie, who hasn't been heard for years and gets mentioned not much more regularly, get through?!

I'm fairly sure that Tracy's original plan was to propose on Hogmanay too, before Jazzer said it, because it was the anniversary of them first getting together (Jazzer, iirc, didn't reference that and instead talked about it being a time for new starts). So why both of them (and Brad ABC Chelsea) have forgotten that and are now desperately trying to find another date is baffling.

What were the criteria for the voting? Whether I like them? Whether I think they add anything in particular to the programme? Whether they are well-acted? Whether they are the only one there who doesn't make me want to commit some sort of mayhem on the studio in general and the scriptwriter in particular?

Ten whom I would have picked on the basis of being the best of a bad lot will be going through to the next round. There were several fours in which I couldn't even apply that negative and wouldn't have been able to vote for anyone at all.

Nostalgia? Having a nice voice? It can't be for being a pleasant person: she wanted the factory farm she got set up to be even more crowded and inhumane than it was in the end.

Fink
I'm fairly sure that Tracy's original plan was to propose on Hogmanay too

It was, only she called it "New Year's Day" and said it was to be because that was the anniversary of their first snog.