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!

Mmm, yes. I do think Chris is being unwise here, especially of he doesn't consult Alice. And against everyone's advice etc.

I think what may have swung it for him was when Jakob said "seeing your little girl's face on Christmas morning" and the lovely thought of the significance of it being her "first pony". He didn't get the point that Jakob was making that even that didn’t counterbalance all the practicalities of looking after a pony for years to come. I think Chris had stopped listening at that point.

Has he considered what Alice might think/feel if he doesn't talk it over with her? Whatever it is that she is going to give to Martha for Christmas isn't going to compare with a pony from her dad. It sounds like Chris is asking for trouble even if his intentions are good.

Sorry to hear that, Angry. Hope you have someone looking after you.

Freddie is still working for Vince at the abbatoir as a management trainee. David went there to pick up the packs of Brookfield Hereford beef which he and Ruth have sold to local businesses and families for Christmas. Freddie went to the chiller where the packs should have been stacked ready for collection and they weren't there. David went ballistic and blamed Vince's management. Freddie went off to investigate and found that some staff members had moved the packs to another store as a 'joke', knowing that this delivery was for Freddie's uncle and that was why Freddie was handling it personally. They had written and drawn on the packaging too, so Freddie had to re-pack all the meat. Freddie gave them a dressing down but didn't tell Vince. David got his meat and felt remorseful about being cross with Freddie. David bought Freddie a pint in The Bull later and told him he'd handled the situation very well.

Chris doesn't own horses. He doesn't even ride, as far as we know.

Oh, forgive me - I must have been distracted - I was speaking of Harry! In response to this:

In what world does someone who has been out with a woman on three dates buy something as huge as a pony for her toddler daughter whom he has never met? I can just see the AIBU about it: "AIBU to be a bit edgy about this? I've known this man for five weeks and we've been on three dates together. Now he's bought my three-year-old a pony for Christmas, and he hasn't ever even seen her. Is this a bit too much too soon?" My bet would be people shouting "red flag!" all over the place.

Went down a rabbit hole …

It also emerged as part of the conversation that Freddie is being bullied more generally by his work colleagues and thinks that putting up with it stoically and treating it as work place banter is the best way forwards. As a pp hinted, the SW seem to be ignoring the fact that, having done time in prison, he's already been through the posh boy being roughed up stage and presumably has developped strategies to cope.

Very sad news…

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/dec/23/the-archers-actor-ian-pepperell-dies-aged-53-roy-archer-eastenders

Oh dear. 😢So sad to read that.

Oh that why Roy vanished! That’s very sad.

Sad. Shame about the mistake in the headline (correct in text). Roy Tucker, not Roy Archer!

When David turned up, Freddie was dressed as an elf. He said it was because he was “last in”. It became clear from other things he said that he was being bullied, but he seemed to shrug it all off.

He didn’t repack the meat, he made them repack the meat. David overheard some of the dressing down, and was impressed both by it and by its reception, the more so because it was being delivered by an elf.

Awful news about Ian Pepperell.

He was already missed on the show.

Hard to imagine we’ll never hear his voice again.

I'm so sad about the Roy actor. when I saw the 'Very sad news...' I hadn't expected it to be someone so young. I liked him as a character and an actor.

We know that some of the actors are unwell and or elderly but 53 is no age.

It also emerged as part of the conversation that Freddie is being bullied more generally by his work colleagues and thinks that putting up with it stoically and treating it as work place banter is the best way forwards. Realistically he doesn’t have many options. He could tell Vince, who will probably tell him to man up. But even if Vince takes it seriously, he can hardly sanction his entire workforce, and if he just talks to them, they’ll find other ways. If he wants to keep the job, he needs to deal with it himself, and not letting them get the satisfaction of upsetting him is as good a way as any.

It doesn’t seem to be affecting his self esteem.

Did he vanish, or just become inaudible?

I imagine Freddie as looking a bit like Alexander Armstrong but younger and with elf years.

I bumped into an acquaintance and he said he'd had to dress up as an elf at work. I said 'You know who'd look great in an elf outfit' and in unison we both said the same name, a mutual friend's surname.

Shocking news. Very sad.

He last spoke on air on 23rd February this year, helping to keep Brian going after Jennifer's death by spending evenings with him; Roy and Kirsty were busy being good neighbours, in Kirsty's case pretty reluctantly.

Gosh, that's awful news. Explains why Roy has not spoken at all during the GG storyline, which seemed odd. It never occurred to me that someone so comparatively young might be seriously ill.

ILoveShula · Today 14:50

I'm so sad about the Roy actor. when I saw the 'Very sad news...' I hadn't expected it to be someone so young. I liked him as a character and an actor.

We know that some of the actors are unwell and or elderly but 53 is no age.

You echo my thoughts exactly. My heart goes out to Ian Pepperell's family and friends. It must be an awful loss for them.

Roy! Oh no😭
He occupied an almost unique social place as one of the few, if not the only, non-manual working class, single men in their 30s/40s in the village (Cf. all the interchangeable Harrys, Tobys etc.).
And was able to glide effortlessly between all types, whether that be a friend to Kirsty, a support to Brian or a trusted employee of Oliver.
His demise also means the total eradication of the Tucker presence in Ambridge.
I wonder if all this means that the producers will look for a sound-alike actor -
a la Clarrie and (less successfully) Tony - to fill the gap?

My first thoughts were Jennydarling or Peggy, so I felt a bit panicky. Roy was a complete shock. I don't want anything to happen to any of them.
I love Jennydarling and Peggy. I was fond of Roy.

@nameoftheday , I have to disagree with you. New Clarrie is Old Old Clarrie and hasn't gelled with me. New Tony replaced the wonderful Old Tony almost seamlessly without being a replacement.

The downside of New Tony is that we also got Cardboard Tom, and IMO the loss of the Real Tom Archer was probably at least two-thirds as bad as the dedding of darling Nigel. The dedding of Nigel was heading towards deserving a life sentence.

Cardboard Tom does seem a bit better now we have NatashaClickyHeels appearing with him.

I was surprised when the report said Ian Pepperell had been Roy for just 22 years. I thought he'd been around for rather longer. For instance wasn't he caught up in allegations of racism against Usha when he was a teenager? Or am I getting confused with Ed Grundy or someone else? Was the teenage Roy played by a different actor?

Either way he'll be a huge miss. He was a good character and had a rather unique place in the social fabric of Ambridge.

You are right about Roy. Maybe he had a different voice previously?
Early storylines racism against Usha, and of course being dad to Phoebe.

The Usha racism storyline was 1995, I think, because it was when I was working in London.

Such sad news. Was it known that he had been ill for a long time?

So now there's a queue of characters who need to be written out 😞