Archers thread #148: Unseasonably, it's panto time in Ambridge. He's behind you, Pat! BANG. 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 think George Grundy isn't a psychopath, 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.)

Will Rob return, or are they playing with us? Will Pat run amok with her shotgun and wipe out half the village? (We can but hope ...) Will Oliver come to his senses and turf the Grundy clan out of Grange Farm? So many questions, so much time.

Over to you!

Exactly. This is not going to be used by Ambridge residents as they will have their own charging points, so it follows that it's going to be dependent on people driving way off the main routes to find it - and they are not going to decide to have their hair done while they're there. It makes no sense in environmental terms to have people driving way off their route to find the charging station, and if it were me I would plan my journey so that I could stop somewhere more convenient.

That's what makes it so irritating that Meer is so keen. If she can't see the environmental problems inherent in a load of cars driving several miles out of their way, she can't claim any environmental credentials whatsoever.

I don't think she's ever actually had any; as with every other vegetarian/vegan adolescent female in Ambridge (Shula-I-think, Elizabeth Archer, Lucy Perks, Kate Aldridge) the idea of her is not that she should actually have any more idea than the current editor about any environmental/humanitarian considerations, but that she should browbeat and annoy the people who have to feed her.

She clearly knows doodly-squat (as doesn't Chelsea) about the evil effects on the environment, and deaths, caused by obtaining the rare metals used in the manufacture of electric cars, about the weight of such cars destroying the roads (it's becoming more obvious by the month), about the shortage of electricity which will be caused by them plus computers (and especially bitcoin mining) and the enormous rise in the cost of heating and cooking that will result.... Just the one "electric cars are better than petrol" soundbite is all that fits into their minds. Offered the rest they would almost certainly mutter, or shout, about the person pointing them out not being woke, and be quite unable to see that electric cars might not be an absolutely clear-cut gain all round.

I'm not sure I've ever believed in anything less than Jolene's explosion of enthusiasm for THE NEW KING last night. God bless the actor for trying but, no. It's just not really Jolene is it.

Susan being up for the coronation is much more believable.

Jolene getting all competitive about Justin's illumination thing could not have been more predictable, especially not once Kenton had said they wouldn't participate.

So overdone.

Agree, it was weird. Almost sounded sarcastic.

Anyone else visualising the proposed grass-covered charging-station-cum-hairdresser-cum-nail bar as looking like a vast Teletubbies set?

Justin says "Eh-oh!"

What a lot of nonsense.

You need to stop reading the Telegraph.

How splendid! Someone who immediately bore out what I said by being unable to address any argument which is not in total agreement with their own view, except with insult.

(My information comes from all sorts of funny places like New Scientist and Private Eye, and I haven't read The Telegraph since a copy someone left on a train some time in 1968 or 9: if I wanted to I couldn't now that it is behind a pay wall, as I discover every time someone on Mumsnet links to what looks as if it might be an interesting article there. But do stick with your delusions: I'm sure a simplistic view is much more comfortable.)

Apologies for misconstruing the source of your misinformation Asking. The Telegraph recently ran a ludicrous story claiming that multi-storey car parks would collapse under the weight of EVs so I thought perhaps you had read that.

OK, I'll go through your arguments individually, although I'm not sure this is the best place for it.

1. I think the rare earth metal you are referring to is Lithium. It's used in EV batteries, yes, and also in most mobile phones and computers which I assume you use to post on Mumsnet. And some of it is mined in China where we know human rights records are pretty terrible. But over half the world's Lithium comes from Australia, and it's even being sourced in Cornwall.
2. You don't mention the deaths that are caused by people inhaling the pollution from diesel and petrol cars.
3. EVs are heavy, but the increasing popularity of massive SUVs is also an issue with our roads. A Nissan Leaf weighs less than a Range Rover.
4. You are right that the move away from fossil fuels to electricity for both transport and heating our homes is going to cause a large increase in demand for electricity, that is not the same as a shortage however. We need to stop wasting energy, invest more in Smart Grids which balance electricity supply more efficiently - and by the way EVs can be really useful in helping balance the grid as they act as a store for electricity which can be realised when demand is high - and demand side pricing. The recent threat of rolling electricity blackouts was due to our reliance on gas for electrify generation, not increasing demand.
5. The increased demand for electricity is going to be met mainly by renewables which are much, much cheaper than electricity generated by gas or nuclear power. The recent power price surge was, again, due to our reliance on gas.

I'm not delusional, I'm a pragmatic environmentalist who believes that we need to build the foundations of a strong green economy for the future of my children and grandchildren. How about you? Are you worried about climate change?

<Unsubscribes from thread>

Fair does, Gonners; not the thread for this discussion. Which I do not intend to continue. Sorry.

I was shocked at Alice's quizzing of Brian about his will - doesn't she know the man? And where are her bloody manners? Love the way she was warned off, said sorry, then carried on probing. I blame the SLs for having characters behave uncharacteristically.

As for contributing to Zander's savings - yeah, right, that one will carry on until he's eighteen.

And Justin. He's turning into the Barclay Beg-Chetwynde character from "Ghosts", a ludicrously villainous type who fits comedy, but not TA>

Good grief it was awful tonight. Jolene always sounds sarcastic to my ears, rather overacted.

I can understand the scriptwriters not wanting to drag ‘event prep’ SLs on for the several months such things take in the real world, but they really do go too far the other way. This illumination nonsense it beyond the pale.

Alice quizzing Brian about his will was incredibly bad manners, and yet again rather unbelievable.

I did snort at this

Oh, and I read the thread from 2001, which was several years before I started listening. I love that posters in that thread were wondering why they listen as they don’t like any of the characters 😂. Except Hayley (who even I remember). Everyone loved Hayley.

The interplay between Joelene and Justin was very odd last night. It almost sounded to me as if she was doing sexual favours as he quaffed his chenin blanc. Could that be a possibility? That would be a strange twist…

And Justin. He's turning into the Barclay Beg-Chetwynde character from "Ghosts", a ludicrously villainous type who fits comedy, but not TA Justin is my least favourite character - a shape-shifter whose character swings between affable country gent and dastardly, villainous businessman depending on the requirements of the plot (apologies for repeating myself - I have probably typed exactly the same sentence 20 times before). I'm finding both the Eurovision and the coronation set pieces tedious beyond belief. One is only there as a BBC cross-promotion and the other is being organised too late in the day to be credible. It's disappointing because I had thought TA was gaining momentum again after Covid knocked the stuffing out of it - Jenny's death has been genuinely moving and well handled, the resurgence of Knob - he doesn't even have to be physically present to introduce a sense of unease, Ben's mental health crisis (though that seem have to been neatly packed away and dealt with). One final question (and apologies because I know I've asked this before), where is Johnny? Has he gone back to Leeds and I've somehow missed it? I don't necessarily need to hear his voice, but I would like the occasional to mention to maintain the pretence.

Ewwwww Jolene. You sound so.. mucky.

The SWs always revert to the same tired old approach when writing stories for Jolene, even though she must now be in her late 50s or older. She wears tight low-cut tops, and all the straight men in Ambridge are so dazzled by the sight of her cleavage that they become tongue-tied in her presence and are putty in her hands, so she always gets her way - womanly wiles, in fact.

It's like something out of a late Carry On film. Carry On Archering would in fact be quite a good shorthand for some of the abysmal 'comedy' storylines we've been subjected to over the years.

Just to add to the electric car bit, apparently tyres are a large source of particulate pollution according to research mentioned in Sky News the other night so not entirely pollution free even accounting for manufacturing processes etc.

I honestly nearly keeled over at the brilliance of "There better not be any nasty surprises in your will!" "Well, what's in my will is my business."

We've been saying for YEARS he'll do something like leave it all to Ruairidh - but they've been so blissfully ignorant and presumptious. Until now!

I agree with everyone who says the Eurovision and 'coronation lighting' storylines are ridiculous and annoying ... But I actually found myself enjoying last night's episode because it's the silly frilly bits around the edges of the more serious storylines that I enjoy because of the ease with which we can enjoy picking apart the whole pointless ridiculousness of it all.
Jolene was just so weirdly smarmy last night it was hilarious, especially the "Chenin Blanc" moment, and this exchange between Kenton and Natasha:
"This whole coronation illumination thing has totally passed me by"
"Yes it's all been done on the hoof as far as I can tell". No shit Kenton 🤣 !
As if Natasha, a new mum to twins, (busy and knackered), would decide to call Justin immediately ... So they could illuminate a farm. How do you illuminate a farm? Isn't it just a load of barns and stuff?
Loved it!

you called? @AskingQuestionsAllTheTime 😁

just to answer one pp: my village is not exactly off the beaten track (lorries come through to get elsewhere but they don't stop, and there is a sign telling them not to)
We are reasonably, but not right next to, an Autobahn exit, and 5km from the nearest town in any direction.
But we do have a hairdressing salon (to be fair: mostly used by the elderly ladies in our village, of which there are many). Village population: 994)

summary of yesterday:
Jolene is like a cariacature at this stage. Over acted, over pronounced and shit story lines.
She is going to kill Kenton because Gnasher is bound to slip up if/when they get the illuminations instead of The Bull.
Freddie got my slapping hand twitching.
Adam and Alice going on about Brian's will (especially Adam) was crass. And baffling. Bloody hell, the man's wife has just died.

Just listened to this. So weird. So weird.