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!

Hahaha exactly my thoughts!!!

everything about Harry creeps me out, and I wish they could get people with more varied accents/tone!! Not ALL men in their 30s who aren’t the Grundies sound the same. Thank god for Harrison and I never thought I’d say that, and now he has to hang out with Alan more even that is confusing sometimes. Thank goodness for Jazzer at least!

My Christmas prediction (and the intern agrees with me) is that the Stables lunch will go horribly wrong (someone forgets to turn the oven on) and everyone ends up at Brookfield playing charades and it is “the best Christmas ever”.

Perceptions differ: I find Harry’s voice distinctive and wouldn’t mistake him for e.g. Toby or Rex (characters of similar class/broadly similar age).

That sounds like Hell. I'm sure you're right.

i think Harry is going to be evil. At least I hope so

I hope not. We've had enough bad uns with Rob and Philip.

I d rather Harry be utilised to make Alice realise how much she loves Chris. Still don't understand why they split. A reunion would be nice.

And a love interest for Brian. It's been almost a year ...

I d rather Harry be utilised to make Alice realise how much she loves Chris […] And a love interest for Brian.

Nah, can’t see that. He’s not really Brian’s type.

ILoveShula
Casa Nueva was renamed Greenwood Cottage. The Bungalow should have been given a prettier name. Something more in line with its position near the river like Kingfisher Cottage or Heron Lodge.

Casa Nueva was a bit of a special case: it was named to make it clear it was no longer "Greg's Cottage" because Emma didn't like the association with the suicide, and from Casa Nueva to Greenwood Cottage because Will didn't want to be reminded all the time about Emma. I think previous to "Greg's Cottage" it had been "The Shepherd's House" because that was what it was when Sammy Whipple and all the previous Home Farm shepherds lived in it.

Brookfield Bungalow is allowed not to be renamed because it has not been moved into by an Archer. Renaming is mostly an Archer habit. In real life the Post Office hate you for it and tend not to acknowledge it, and your neighbours the same, but in Ambridge everyone instantly adapts to it and adopts the new name.

Allard's Farm was renamed Hollowtree by an Archer woman who moved in there, and Barratt's Farm was renamed Onemonoma by an Archer woman who moved in there (and then, sensibly, The Stables by another Archer woman who moved in there). The Police House was renamed Greenacres by an Archer when she moved into it – that didn't "take" because someone presented her with a name plate for the house ("Peggy and Jack have called on Christine with a present. It is a carved slate house name plate but the name ("The Old Police House") is not really what Christine would have chosen." Lowfield 30th November, 2001.) so it was left to Jim to be brutal about the renaming in that case.

Renaming is mostly an Archer habit. In real life the Post Office hate you for it and tend not to acknowledge it

The Post Office actually don’t care but The Royal Mail, particularly in the form of a postie new to the walk, can get irked by a unilateral and unofficial name change.

😂

Brilliant! Imagine ... Brian in a May September gay romance!

True, and I did mean the postie. Particularly annoying (according to our lovely chap, who sprints about his round wearing shorts even at this time of year) are those who try to rename their house from a number; he has many cards addressed to eg "Mr and Mrs Scribble, Minnow End, Road, the rest of the address" and has to hang onto them until a card to "Mr and Mrs Scribble, 18 Road, the rest of the address" turns up so he knows which house has become Minnow End while he wasn't looking.

Once or twice he has asked me about this house, which has had some daft name the previous owner tried to use and failed; I reassure him that since I don't even know what it was, it's not likely anything for me will be addressed to it.

I wasn't sure who named Greenacres, but I remember the Old Police House sign being given, until Asking reminded us. Now I can hear Jim's voice when it happened.

Harry didn't really have an alcoholic friend. He made it up because he thought it was Alice wanted to hear, and he will be lovebombing her. More red flags than Fallon's bunting, I'm tellin ya.

Agree Shula.

his best friend going through all that and the helplessness you feel when you can’t help them - and then his friend dying. It’s traumatic. I think it would make it more likely you would struggle being with an alcoholic.

I think he’s love bombing! He’s going to turn into a jerk.

also, she’s shared a lot of info about herself and all she k owes about him is that he has a niece and had an accident so he had to stop his career. Which she could have googled

I don’t think I could stand to listen to another Archer’s character sleepwalk into an abusive relationship.

I think he might be addicted to pain killers.

Ah! An opiate addiction story.

Can't he just be a perfectly ordinary but slightly wet person she decides on better acquaintance that she doesn't really want to spend all that much time with? It would be so refreshing for a change.

Wasn't that Lee though?

With Helen obviously not Alice but a similar type.

He could be but I don’t think that’s how the sw work

perhaps he has a painkiller addiction and Alice tries to support him but ends up deciding to end it for her own sake

perhaps she will get bored of him and go back to chris

perhaps he will be an arch manipulator and Helen will counsel her

perhaps he’s just going to end up as Martha’s step dad and lead to step family issues with Chris because he’s a bit of a crap step dad once he has his own child with Alice

perhaps he’s just going to blandly sit in the background while Alice spends eternity angsting

It's so terribly difficult to give a tinker's cuss about any of them! Least of all someone we have only met for about six minutes total, and about whom we know almost nothing.

I agree with the pain killer addiction.
I think Rochelle's husband is gas lighting her and Joy has got into a lot of trouble by voicing her strong opinions about him and Rochelle has grey rocked her, so she has moved away because she is so hurt by not being able to see her daughter or grand children.
I bet Paul is wearing glittery raindeer antlers all the time now.

Or Rochelle is married to Harry and there’s going to be a really interesting show down

actually, maybe he is married

I agree. I like how distinctive Toby’s voice is and think Harry’s is too. Whereas I was wondering why Lily was on a date with Harry…

I think it's odd how Archers refer to their homes by a name e.g the Dower House, the Lodge, Rickyard, Honeysuckle. They don't say "I'm going home" or "I'm popping over to Adam's." Do people do that in RL?

This was the way in the village I grew up in - ‘the vicarage’, ‘xxfield manor’, ‘Ford House’ etc. Or it would be by surname ‘I’m off to the Smiths’’. Does seem a bit weird in hindsight but maybe it’s a village thing.