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!

What is going to happen with Erin?

She's too "devil may care".

Wasn’t that a ridiculous scene between Neil and Martin

Martin is always incredibly awful.

Remind me whyMartin has done this?

Yes. Utterly bizarre!

What a load of absolute rubbish. If I were Neil I’d just ignore that and appoint Sarah. Martin might be the boss but he doesn’t get to announce someone else is moving into Neil’s house which is nothing to do with the firm ffs.

Unbelievably stupid episode.

What is it with George and Martin? How dare Martin tell Neil who tò have living in his home. I would tell him to do one. Such a stupid SL.
Is there trouble brewing for Adam now he has found his new half sister. Well we wont find out until he goes to Ireland or Erin might try to put him off going there...... dum dum dum.!

Well I suppose it put Neil in a spot of having to tell George he couldn't move in. I don't understand the point of it? To expose George as a lying bully to his grandmother? But they could have hired him as seasonal help rather than an actual worker, to the same end. Surely he won't get paid the same? So irritating and ridiculous. Hannah will do her nut.

Bonkers storyline. Who does Martin think he is? Hopefully Susan will hit the roof.

Oh no surely Susan will be pleased to have her darling grandboy under her roof. Hasn't he already "moved out" from home i.e. the static into Clarrie and Eddy's house.

There are a million reasons why George is a shit person to take on - the main one is that he is covering a very experienced staff member and he's barely met a pig (although has doubtless walked past many).

You'd think Martin was in love with him or something.

saving money? nmv for young people is lower?

God, I miss the boring old Archers!

I started listening in the 80s, when it was a bit of light hearted entertainment in the evenings and on Sunday morning, but gave up several years ago. I caught an episode on a long car journey yesterday, it sounded like the entire village had been bodysnatched by crazed aliens from planet soap.

No wonder all the long standing characters/actors are leaving. Even the die hard fans here think the best thing about it recently is Rylan! Jesus wept.

Hopefully something will go disastrously wrong thanks to golden boy George and he will be unmasked for all to see as the deeply unpleasant individual he is. Although it won’t be a good outcome for the poor pigs 🐽 ☹️

I can foresee a stand-up shouting match with Hannah, who seems to have been rehabilitated by the Character Fairy 🧚‍♀️

we had all sorts of lifestock illnesses, but not swine fever yet at the archers...

It's been mentioned three times recently, twice because Neil has been reading up on it and once because Paul was warning Rex that African Swine Fever is now in the country and he needed to be careful about biosecurity.

Truly @AskingQuestionsAllTheTime you have super recall!

So Neil will get fired for lack of supervising George?
George going home for a Sunday lunch, breaching biosecurity rules or similar… and unless Neil documents fast that he was overruled, will be hung out rovers…
Too obvious?

Wouldn’t it mean George could not visit his home unless there was a 48 hour period after as well?

I think perhaps Neil ought to point this out to Emma sharpish, along with the fact that George is proposing to cut college for the next however long it is to the end of term.

Term for DD at agricultural college finishes end June.
They haven't finished all the assignments yet. The Assignments have to be done under supervised conditions so can't be done at home either.

Maybe the pigs will eat him.

Well, that episode thoroughly disposed of the theory that Borchester is Evesham.

Though unless there’s been a dialect shift in the last 50 years, everyone around there gives it 3 syllables not 2.

I don't know the Evesham dialect, but your comment made me remember a conversation with an elderly farm hand from somewhere around Chipping Norton about 25 years ago. I used the word 'kitsch' in a sentence and he replied 'kitsch ... that bain't be an Oxfordshire word.' Maybe Evesham is close enough that the accent would be similar. Three syllables to Evesham, no kitsch.

I don’t think Pat should have bullied Tony into forgiving Tom so readily. Tom and Natasha should be forced to hand the blood money earned by the girls to Bridge Farm. They surely cannot think it’s ok to keep it?!?