Archers thread #146: They did fall apart. Can they put themselves together again? 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. Most of us are posting tongue in cheek a lot of the time, so don't worry about revealing that you'd like to donate your time as a guide at Lower Loxley to save the Pargetters paying someone else a living wage, 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.)

Thanks to @Impostersyndrome for the thread title suggestion Buses and trains are sorely lacking, canals might be nearby, but all roads lead to Ambridge, picking up on transport discussions in the last thread. In the end I didn't use it, having in mind the character limit. @TottersBlankly contributed an early draft title Wreathes, wrath, writhing (Jennifer, Lilian, Ruairi). Both good starting points for the new thread, which I hope will last till Jennifer's funeral, surely not too far off now. So, over to you - whither the Aldridges? Also, does anyone care if Lee goes to the US? Is anyone even slightly interested in the Brookfield B&B venture?

🎵 Lily and Josh, up a tree….? 🎵

Didn’t see that coming at all but actually quite like it as a shuffling of the board. Whether or not it’s a romantic thing remains to be seen I suppose

haven't listened yet.
BUT
Lily & Josh are first cousins!

Haha oh no, now I think about it of course you are totally right! Well I rescind that immediately then 😆

On a serious note, though, and as I said, I was pleased with it. I hadn’t even considered Lily, assumed it would be Rex. Paul, or Freddie - this seems like not an interesting combination and also a logical step for what we have discussed sometimes on these boards about Lily really needing to have a proper ‘teenager/young adult’ experience, which she never got because of Elizabeth and Russ.

*not just an interesting combo

It was what Noluthando said …

i only started listening again recently with Jennifer’s death, what happened to Russ in the end? Is he gone for good? Did he find another teenager to a sleeze over?

@Whattheladybird Seems to be. Lily confronted him when the hunt for the father of Chelsea’s baby was on, which caused an argument and msg she then admitted to cheating on him with a guy from her work. So they split and he left.

Just occurred to me. Have we missed the chance to hear from Sipho?

Just occurred to me. Have we missed the chance to hear from Sipho?

I hope so. There’s an awful lot of young people on there at the moment.

We do need the young people though. If we don't hear them growing up then we are less invested in them when they are older.
There is a shift though isn't there, We are losing the 'top' generation - Jill & Peggy & Christine silent, jennifer RIP, Robert silent, Oliver?
The next generation David etc al, even Shula has wandered off. We need the Helen->Chelsea generations.

Whatever has happened to Emma? We barely hear from her these days - you could be forgiven for thinking Christopher is a single child. Last time we heard from her Emma, she and Ed were bonking in. the woodpile. Perhaps the actress has voted with her feet.

We haven't heard from anyone much bar The Aldridges for a month.

Sorry to go back to this but the only downside of Brian not charity shopping all Jenny's clothes is we've missed the chance to have Susan taking great delight in wearing them "as a tribute" and Brine's consequent outrage.

I don't picture Susan and Jennifer as being in the same age group or the same sort of height.
I imagine Jennifer as about 20 yrs older than Susan, and much taller - Jenifer about 5'7 and Susan about 5'3", Jennifer blonde, and Susan brunette.
Having said that, my DM is Jennifer's age, and wears clothes that wouldn't look out of place on someone my age.

What brands' clothing, make-up etc would they wear?

Jenny-Darling was born in January 1945, so would have been 78. Susan (born October 1963) will be 60 this year.

I picture Susan as a stocky, bustling-about sort of woman, with her hair dyed the colour it was when she was 20. Jenny's clothes would be a couple of sizes too small for her, though I wouldn't put it past her to go on a diet just to be able to wear them!

I don't picture Susan as stocky. I picture Susan as about 8 stones and about a size 10. I pictured JD as maybe a size 14 with a slimish figure, but I picture Kate as slender and slight, with Debbie and Alice taller and slender but not slight. Only Clarrieluv and the Fat Fairchild are obviously overweight. I picture Jerlene as quite scraggy with cleavage showing whenever she is behind the bar.

I picture Neil as stocky but not fat. The Rev. Bunter is not fat, because Usha watches his cake intake.

I once heard Brian describe Jenny as "slender as a bluebell."

Susan is definitely a slim brunette when I see her, Emma too. Kate is slim but strong not slight, with blonde curls and Alice more of a skinnier build with thin straight blonde hair to match. Ruari is has a big mop of brown curly hair.

Jolene is plump but in a buxom bossomy way, and Clarrie of a somewhat matronly homely build a la Pam Ferris as Ma Larkin. (Who was considerably more petit than HE Bates had her.)

I'd always seen JD as 12-14, takes good care of herself but allows herself to enjoy the fruits of her kitchen labour and life's luxuries.

Oh no, suzycat . That's not right.

Kate has long blonde hair, unstraightened, and she's slight, almost childlike, and she's pretty, which is how she gets away with so much. She does a lot of yoga.

Alice has highlighted straightened long hair, and looks a bit like Zara Philips, maybe a bit slighter. Ruairi has a mop of auburn hair, like his DM's. Adam is more a copper colour, but fading to whitish. Debbie's hair is mid brown but greying and she wears it shortish - about collar length not pixie-cut.

Lily is blonde like Elizabeth but no curls. Freddie has thick wavy hair but it's dark brown.

Emma's hair is a french bob style, which is just slightly wavy. She looks like a younger Susan.

Clarrieluv is definitely a Pam Ferris body double.

Oh. I thought of Jenny as being a good size 16 (16-18, even, on the hips). She may have been the stem of a bluebell once but when she died she was prob more like the actual flower (no waist). She has spent years baking cakes, tarts, flans, delicious thick sauces and roast potatoes - definitely more Prue Leith than Mary Berry weight-wise.

I think of Susan as being a good 14-16. Not large but I expect she struggles with her waistline too. I don’t think she would mind having Jenny’s cashmere cast-offs. Who would say no to a nice Navy crew-neck?

Lily is a size 8/10 of course. As is Elizabeth.

Thanks to this thread, I mostly now picture Jolene as a pirate…

Me too!

Oh dear! I have been trying to remember what we dressed my DF in when he was cremated during lockdown. I think DM was so keen to avoid any fuss she probably left him in his nightshirt. She still hasn’t sorted out his clothes and his ashes are in the dining room in a cheerful rainbow coloured cardboard tube. Too Soon, she says. Fair enough, there’s no tearing hurry.
Wasn’t Susan on the heavy side when she had that family portrait done so she had to go on a diet?