Archers thread #145: The glue that held the Aldridges together is gone. Will they fall apart? 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, and of course we are always delighted to welcome back former or occasional listeners/posters. We don't all agree on all points, although we do mostly try to be civil about it.

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.)

Lillian and I both made the glue observation, so I thought that would be as good a way as any to kick off this new thread. We raced through the last one, for obvious reasons. This one may last until the funeral. Will Tamsin Greig find time to attend? I do hope so.

The poem Jennifer quoted in her journal is here: www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43775/rabbi-ben-ezra It's doubtful whether the last of Jennifer's life was the best, but she had plenty to contend with all the way through.

Over to you!

It seemed a pointless conversation - if Julianne's schtick was that she sponsored bright young interns she would sure stick to that as she has just told Justin (and anyone he shares it with) not only about Ruari but about every other young man with her now and in the future. I can see the temptation to challenge Justin's double standards but she seemed smarter than that.

Doubtless it will find its way back to Brian at the most inopportune time, via overhearing Lilian or Ben or some such contrived mode.

I'm also waiting for the Stella/Justin connection to come out and see what Brian's reaction to that will be. Jennifer and Shula have both retired, presumably they don't plan to retire Brian via a heart attack?

Soosan's going to find out, isn't she?

That's why Justin is working in the village shop

Justin will tell Lilian who will tell Tony who will tell Pat who will tell Tom who will tell Natasha ... over to you for the rest.

The ep tonight was great, but Julianne isn't as clever as they say she is. Anyone in her position, unless she really wanted to put the boot in to Rauri (and she might have, tbf) would say that they mentor interns, and due to his berevement she's ended Roarer's early and now has Giles.

But maybe she did want to put the boot in. I imagine Justin saying to Alice in a shocked voice that R is an escort and her being all matter of fact, "yes i know. And?" And then somehow he ends up telling Ben who's "old news, mate"

people were talking during tonight's episode so I may have missed something...did Justin actually use the word prositute/prostitution?

he got at least two thirds of the way in. That's what made me think I'd say 'escort' if I said anything.

Julianne is a despicable sleazy old bag. I hope everyone is laughing at her behind her back.

They would be in real life.

Not caught up yet. But Jakob is lovely, what does he see in Kate?

Yes. Jakob stands alone on my list of TA characters that I wouldn't (so far) have throttled at some point.

I hate to admit that I did enjoy Justin being utterly dense there, and Julianne calling out the double standard. But she’s still gross.

If this is the reason he’s working in the shop (ie to let it slip to Radio Carter) I might flip a table.

It's hard to say because he's had so many complete personality transplants this has always been my problem with him. Justin doesn’t actually have a personality because he morphs to fit the requirements of the script. For instance we’ve heard him trying to command the village shop in the shape of community-minded Justin, with plenty of time on his hands, but apparently he’s also been moonlighting as big-business-cheese Justin with his finger on the pulse of Julianne’s wheeling and dealing - even though this mainly takes place in London. Justin feels like a fictitious character in the way that Brian, for example, does not. Ruairi’s student escorting in London is just about OK as a storyline, the idea it would have been happening so close to home is stretching credulity (if Justin supposedly knows then Brian would have got wind of it too). I find the tentacles of plot lines thrown up by Jennifer’s death involving characters we are already invested in far more interesting than the set piece dramatic events thrown up by the likes of Julianne. Ruairi as a character is interesting enough without this silly melodrama.

Wonder if Lee's daughters have pitched up for half term?

I'm wondering if this will tie in with Lillian feeling sore about not being told about Jenny. Will she feel that knowing something most of the family don't know is some sort of revenge and use it accordingly?

Its not half term everywhere. It's next week here but I've got no idea about Borsetshire.

Its not half term everywhere. It's next week here but I've got no idea about Borsetshire.

Sorry but this really made me laugh! Not quite how she sees herself, obviously.

And @TherapistInATabard flipping a table 😂

I did think what a very horrible revengey thing to do it was telling R's "uncle" about his prostitution, what a dick.

Justin doesn’t actually have a personality because he morphs to fit the requirements of the script. All of them are underlain by “pompous windbag”. He’s never been afflicted by self-doubt

I'm afraid Justin's voice puts me on edge. I have misophonia, and Justin sounds like he has something stuck in his throat. Not nice for my poor ears and brain!

I also tend to think Justin knew exactly what was going on between Julianne and Ruari, but wanted her to say it for confirmation.

@CaptainMyCaptain, haven't you checked on the Borcetshire (sp?) County website?!

(Ah if I read others' posts properly I'd have been reminded that it's BorSetshire!)

@faffadoodledo I'm afraid Justin's voice puts me on edge. I have misophonia, and Justin sounds like he has something stuck in his throat. Not nice for my poor ears and brain!

I hate Mr Phlegmy's voice too, partly because of that but mainly it's the ridiculous accent. It was okay for Upstairs, Downstairs because his character was born in the 1880s - coincidentally, the same year as P. D. Wodehouse. So it's also "right" for Bertie Wooster! But nobody has spoken like that for generations, unless (like Rees-Mogg) it's done for effect. I heard Simon Williams doing something else on the radio the other day - I forget what it was, because I had to switch it off. He seems to be a one-trick pony.

I agree. I keep thinking 'Just cough it up!'.

Yup, me too. I’m sure he can’t help it and it’s something that's come to afflict him, but it’s mighty irritating for a listener.

@TottersBlankly I just wanted to reply quickly to your kind message after I said "I think I’m done here, to be honest. It’s too much about trying to catch the scriptwriters out".

You said:

"I meant to respond to this yesterday - hope you haven’t disappeared already!

Could you not see it as (mostly) joyful critical engagement? Presumably people who frequent this thread do actually care about the programme and need want it to be as good as possible. I’ve no idea whether any of the creative team read these threads - but certainly at the back of my mind , when I express a view on the writing I … would like them to know where they’ve gone wrong! And it’s always fascinating to read other listeners’ criticisms - I always find there are things I’ve missed or not fully understood."

Thing is, @TottersBlankly, I've been on these threads under various names since PseudoBadger started the first one, and I was a Mustardland user in the past too, so I'm very very familiar with "joyful critical engagement" and have indulged in it myself for perhaps decades! What I am picking up more and more on these threads, and MN in general to be honest, is a dog-with-a-bone lack of willingness to agree to differ and move on when someone disagrees with a criticism, and heaven forfend a SW should be given the benefit of the doubt. It's like the tone/attitude of AIBU has spread everywhere.

I've also realised that the nitpicking is actually affecting my enjoyment of the programme because I'm noticing flaws that I otherwise would not have. I used to be up there with the best of the nitpickers, but I'm suddenly over it; I've gone soft. Perhaps Jenny dying has triggered an epiphany?

I used to enjoy analysing the Archers in a sarcastic way with my Dad. He died 23 years ago. Message boards were only ever a pale substitute for that anyway.

I'm giving the whole of MN a rest for the foreseeable. I'm 50 this year, I feel like making some changes! Bloody hell, I sound like Kate- kill me now!