Archers thread #147: Spring is sprung, the grass is riz, I wonder how old Ambridge is. Discuss The Archers here.

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

Many thanks to @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 have the general public watching you work and asking questions, 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.)

Title comes from this poem, with which I drive my family to distraction at this time of year.

Spring is sprung, the grass is riz
I wonder where the birdies is.
The bird is on the wing.
But that’s absurd, the wing is on the bird.
Or so I’ve heard.

Ogden Nash

Apologies to @TeenDivided for ignoring her good ideas for the thread title. Here they are to kickstart our ruminations:
'window on the world of cheesemaking'
'how long until the intercom is fatal'
'will Brian settle in new pastures'
'Springing towards Easter with Widowers, Windows, and wails'

Over to you!

Excellent start to the auditory run-up to Easter, @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g !💐

Regarding thread suspicions of Sykesy: this is from ‘The Archers Archives’ (Simon Frith & Chris Arnot, 1988.)

1967 - When the word got around that the baby - named Adam - had red hair, people soon made the connection with Brookfield’s recently departed farm worker, Ulsterman Paddy ‘Red’ Redmond. When Laura bluntly asked Jennifer if he was the father, she was unable to deny it.

I’m 🧐about his accent …

(But acknowledge there’s no other perceptible reason why this man has suddenly taken such prominence just when Adam is making the long arduous journey to his laptop in search of his bio-dad.)

Thanks for the new thread Gasp0de - love a bit of Ogden Nash!

The scriptwriters have been kindly to Susan lately, but I wonder how long ‘till some malicious gossiping is laid bare? How long until the intercom is fatal

Maybe Sykesy will know how to find Paddy.

Yes that occurred to me.

Thanks for the thread @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g . Love the title 😊

Thanks for the new thread.

Thanks for the new thread

Lee called Sykesy "William" - I didn't hear a surname in that episode, but it does seem like "Bill Sykes" is quite an unlikely pairing and maybe more likely to be a nickname. E.g. surname is Sykes and so people call him Bill, or his name is Bill so people called him "Bill Sykes" which became Sykesy, while his surname is something completely different.

I think his surname isn't Skyes too.

I'm guessing you are referring to Oliver! ? I checked and the musical was written in 1960 & the film was 1968 so that could fit. So presumably awareness was high around about then of the name?

Or it could just be his name of course. I haven't listened closely enough myself to say either way.

Oh that's a good point yeah. I was thinking of the novel (although haven't read it) which was written in the 1830s and has been filmed tonnes of times: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Twist#Film,_television_and_theatrical_adaptations

But the musical (or maybe the David Lean one) would have been around.

Blatent place marking

@GoldenCupidon I hadn't thought of the non musical versions. I feel as if the book itself wouldn't be in people's consciousness, but a talkie film version eg the Alec Guinness 1948 seen at the cinema could be.

It's a pretty well known book often used in school - I certainly read it in English Lit. at school in the late 60s.

I wasn't sure whether farm labourers in the 50s/60s would have studied it / been aware of it enough to use it as a nickname.

Thank you @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g
The intercom has so many delicious opportunities for radio carter's accidental broadcast!!! Yippee!

Both ways - at least the people in the dairy will know there's a chance of being overheard, but those loitering outside might not realise Susan is inside with the ears a -waggle.

Surely it would have to be a buzzer thing to talk?
I forsee a box being rested on the buzzer accidentally...

I went to see Oliver at the cinema and fell in Love with Oliver Reed. I still love him when I see him in it strange because the character he played (Bill Sykes) was so brutal. I was 14 then.

Yes this seems more likely I guess. It would be a little too neat if Paddy turned up just as Adam started searching.

I’ve never had Adam down as a red head.

Thanks Gasp0de
That verse takes me waaay back to when I was a tiny Bore and the 🔮 was just a pebble, my father used to recite it regularly.

They used to make a big thing of Adam's red hair when he was a child - bright red tends to fade to sandy and then to pepper-and-salt very early, and men are (still I think) less likely to help it along (or go blond, which looks good on fair-skinned ex redheads) than women are.

apols for shocking sexism

I had a crush on Jack Wild, the artful dodger'.. bless him
Ollie Reed was handsome in that, but Bill Sykes? (worrying)

Thanks for the new thread.
As a relatively new TA listener (10ish years) I find the history fascinating, thank you all.

Freddie is annoying at the moment. He didn't used to be this bad in my opinion. The incident with the painting. He needs to know where to stop and ask for advice.

Brian will rent somewhere near Joy, I hope

Thanks for the new thread, Gasp0de

Brian and the new place. I thought it would be King Lear all over again.

Sooo disappointed. Still, he's 80 so plenty of opportunities for things to develop.