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!

At least Clarrie understands the reality of their situation

I too like Shula, I was glad to hear from her. Sorry it had to be through Justin though, whom I despise. Yes, obviously Shula would have to agree to whatever project Lilian wants to do, but there's no need to go around backstabbing your own partner just for a (to him) minor business deal. He really is an awful piece of work. Lilian should thank her lucky stars she never married him (because he loved her too much ) abd get out now.

Yeah but he owns her house

I'm surprised Shula wasn’t immediately suspicious of his reasons for calling

is Lillian playing him?

is Lillian playing him?

I wouldn't be surprised if she's distracting him from someone else's bid. What sort of planning permission does the land have, anyway? A competition arena would attract a lot of large lorries and, given the shouting about the traffic the anaerobic digester would generate, I'm not sure that would go down too well.

Kate is just a total moral vacuum isn’t she.

And Peggy, “strongest woman in Ambridge”? Nastiest woman in Ambridge.

And Justin can get in the sea and all.

(I really rather enjoyed tonight!)

Peggy is the worst let her go into the home without any upheaval. Kate is awful but I want her to be happy with the vet (brain freeze). Tom remains terrible. How many times have we heard Ed asking everyone to be good to Clarrie they never ever do though.

Aargh The Archers is making me moody and irritable I want entertainment. Maybe another Ambridge extra chronicling Johnny's voyage?

I do feel like this weeks writers are trying to amend for somebody the writing of the last few weeks, but this then also makes me wonder how set out the plot lines are, or is it like that game where you each write a line of a story and fold it over to pass to the next person….

There is one writer per week. This week it is Keri Davies.

I like to imagine it like that, week to week.

For a confused moment I honestly thought, when Clarrie burst out this evening in full yokel mode, that Dead Ringers had finally infiltrated TA. I feel sorry for Clarrie as a character, she gets a raw deal and works her fingers to the bone, but the acting isn’t really cutting it just at the moment.

Absolutely. I shouldn't be surprised at how self-centered she is by now, yet I am.

Ed rallying his godawful sons to be more considerate to Clarrie is an annual event, and forgotten within 24 hours. This latest storyline is really causing me to despise the whole family (apart from Clarrie).

I guess Tom and Gnasher's flapjacks and ham salad rolls won't end up being paid for, they'll put it down to wastage in the books no doubt.

Interesting to hear about a different SW every week. That.... seems to leave a lot of room for continuity errors 😕

to hear about a different SW every week. That.... seems to leave a lot of room for continuity errors

The overall story arcs are planned and discussed, and some stories are planned well into the future, like years, though they might then be subject to change - but the general path may be mapped out. And I think they have meetings to talk about storyline in the shorter term, to avoid continuity errors - though this doesn't always work (like the twice dead Grundy aunt Hilda.)

There was an archivist and there is still an archive, but I suspect it's only as good as the search terms used, and will be dependent on how brilliant or not the search engine it uses is. Plus the writers themselves. Keri's been part of the programme for decades, so should have good knowledge, but humans make mistakes.

Ed rallying his godawful sons to be more considerate to Clarrie is an annual event, and forgotten within 24 hours.

Sorry, @Grimchmas but you mean Eddie, not Ed.

I didn’t find Clarrie’s reaction OTT. In fact I’m only surprised reality hasn’t dawned earlier. The Grundys are in a precarious position and have been for years (by rights they should have been evicted when Oliver came back never mind the ridiculous situation of him living with them as their lodger!) With Little Grange literally on the doorstep (and being a caravan) it’s not even as if Clarrie and Eddie can think of doing a Joe and moving in with their kids. Clarrie is coming up for 70 (can this be right????) - I’m not surprised she feels tired. No prospect of retirement for her - ever.

I think it was the acting that was ott

She certainly has a crap life and I don't envy her one bit but I can't imagine her as a single woman enjoying her own time. I'm not sure what she would do with herself. She needs to be needed.

Posh southerner? Could Shula be any more patronising?

*Eddoi

I really felt for Clarrie. I don’t think she was OTT. She’s had a lifetime of drudgery. The desperation in her voice was quite poignant, especially when she said she is ashamed of how they’ve always lived. Eddie is a bit of an idiot at times but it must have been hard to hear her say that. It’s difficult to imagine how it must feel to constantly live hand to mouth despite working non stop in largely unrewarding jobs.

I think the story of the Grundy’s is just one of generational underachievement. George is bright but labouring on a farm. The less said about Ed the better. Although Emma is trying to better herself she is consistently told the best she can aim for is a cleaning job and is overlooked for better roles.

They underachieve because they expect to be handed things on a plate. Eg Emma expecting the head of housekeeping role despite having no experience. At least George is learning but perhaps he needs to consider getting work outside the village where he can develop skills that will then help him in the future

I really felt for Clarrieluv - am surprised she hasn’t snapped sooner. It’s all very well Eddoi saying “we need to help your mum more”, but he never, ever lifts a finger.
And why do they appear not to have given any thought to what happens when Oliver carks it?

It's great that Emmur is doing her EngLit (I am an EngLit graduate), but for her immediate employment and financial prospects, why isn't she doing something with a more direct management tie-in? Perhaps I've missed this part of the conversation. Even if she had to study and work away from home getting qualifications and experience in a big city. Then she'd be able to bounce back and approach GG with clear qualifications and experience.

Of course, if she went off to college in a big city and met people from outside Ambridge, she might decide to stay away....

Effortlessly! She's had a lifetime to learn from world class patronisers. Jill, Peggy, Jennifer ...

Agree with everything said about Clarrie.

(a) Long overdue (about 40 years, by my reckoning.)

(b) Ridiculously OTT delivery (loved the Dead Ringers reference!).

(c) Only realist in the family. How she must wish she'd thought longer and harder before marrying Eddie. She sees from her good friend Susan what it's like to be married to a sensible, hard-working, honest, decent man who has used his initiative and made a good life for himself and his family in spite of coming from a background every bit as lowly as the Grundys. My image of Ambridge View is that it's spotlessly clean, very comfortable, immaculately furnished and decorated, and well insulated. Grange Farm could have been similar when Caroline was alive, but I bet it's a mess after years of Grundy occupation. They probably can't afford to turn the heating on much.

(d) Poor, poor woman. 70 on 12th May next year if she makes it that far. She could be claiming her state pension by now but presumably they can't do without her wage and I bet she paid a lot less NI in the past than she could have done to save money at the time, so it might not be much of a pension anyway. At least they'll just have got their winter fuel payments <overinfested emoticon goes HERE>.

Yes. I think George has done a short online course, following on from whatever he was doing at Borchester FE College. This makes him an Einstein in Grundy terms. Not a single one of them seem able to make the connection between not working hard in a sensible focused way and not doing well in life.