Archers thread #158: Te Rum? You numpty, numpty, Tom! Empty tearoom follows. Christmas coming, farmers’ stand up, will it make us LOL? No! 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 Tom Archer is a great businessman, 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 @LillianGish for the title idea, which may plant an earworm if my scansion just about holds up. @BeatriceBatchelor wanted 'plebby coffee' inserted in reference to my Bolivian coffee anecdote on the last thread, so I'll mention it here instead. Here's hoping Fallon and Emma decamp to the charging station or Grey Gables, or both, to run the type of coffee shop/tearoom people actually enjoy spending time in. Tom's cauliflower eclairs and kale criossants approach sounds more likely to drive the casual trade away from the farm shop and cheese window as well as the Google Translate-named Te Rum.

Feeling very uninspired by TA at the moment, so I have nothing more to say for now. Over to you!

Yes, that’s what the link says:

What about Harry? He knows about the sale via Alice.

That would be good if he sets up a rival stables!

Throwing him out, presumably. She's supposed to say "I'm so sorry, I realise it was a total overreaction on my part, please forgive me". I'm so glad she's not falling for it.

Could the mystery buyer be Tiger?

Oh, I hope so!

I kind of feel like Matt would be dead by now

Maybe Graham Ryder is the original Graham Ryders son and we will have a continuous roll of estate agents through the generations - I love this idea! Agree with others that the mystery buyer schtick is wearing rather thin. The unseen Gills and the disappearing Home Farm farmhouse, the mystery owners of GG - I would say this land sale is further contributing to the erasing of Ambridge except that the first we heard of this barn was when it went up sale so it seems a lot of effort to invent it only to erase it. I've said it before and I'll say it again, but no plot involving Justin Elliot is ever gripping because he is such a shapeshifter. Can we please just have some classic Ambridge Christmas scenes - Deck the Hall and the ice rink, the Bridge Farm Christmas tree - always goes up on Christmas Eve, the hunt for a donkey (in Shula's absence - or maybe she can organise it while she's still around) for St Stephen's nativity, shopping in Underwoods (especially the latter).

It has to be Matt, come back to woo his Pusscat 😝

Makes sense of the sudden hatred Lilian has for Justin......

Justin is vile. So is Matt. And Vince.

Why do these strong Ambridge women go for these men?

Graham Ryder and Nathan Booth on a quiz team together 😂

The Gills will silently buy everything that is ever on the market in ambridge and this will ultimately end the series.

I suppose bringing back Matt would be entirely in keeping with the propensity of the scriptwriters to write characters doing things that are completely unrealistic for real life people of that age- Oliver and his active hand in Grey Gables, Jill caring actively for Rosie, Eddie apparently still wielding a pickaxe, Brian at eighty still at the helm of Home Farm and on the BL board.

I said that upthread.

Could the mystery buyer be Brenda Tucker and her property developer boyfriend/husband?

It’s like they’ve not developed enough of the younger characters to be able to take over the reins and be convincing in the role and have the deep characters of Brian et al

perhaps we are due a return of Debbie as she is the only one of Brian’s kids that would be at all convincing g as his home farm replacement

Are we due a good extra marital affair?

Wasn’t the return to Home Farm offered to Debbie quite recently (post Jennifer’s death certainly) and she definitively turned it down?

It’s a shame. Instead of the silly Jakob and Kate relationship, they could have made Kate the lesbian and had Stella marry into the Aldridge family. Kate is much closer to Stella’s age and is just the type to have a late-life revelation about her sexuality. I mean, I like Stella and would not really wish Kate on her, but even Kate is better than Pip.

Bit late but checking in.

I like Stella, please don't wish Kate on her! 😅

Sorry!

I must have missed a page.

Cruel to dangle such a juicy prospect!

(Though the Tuckers have effectively been written out en masse now, with Roy mostly silent, so it’s highly unlikely. Her connections to Ambridge would be somewhat limited - Tom, of course, Lillian …)

When he was around Ambridge a fair bit in 1996 – 2002 Graham Ryder seemed to be a little older than Shula but not much. Say about the same age as Caroline, with whom he went on two dates; she was born in 1955. So probably due to retire very soon but not quite there yet.

Since Graham is being played by a man in his late fifties or older, the actor (Malcolm McKee) has simply kept a fairly youthful voice.

Malcolm McKee was 70 this year, according to Companies House. Busy man. Writer, composer and director as well as actor. In my experience actors rarely retire until they have little choice about it. Chartered surveyors may be less keen to work till they drop.