Archers thread #159: Sad news as 2023 draws to a close - RIP Ian Pepperell (Roy Tucker). 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'd like more of Gagriculture, 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.)

We start this thread with the very sad news that Ian Pepperell, who played Roy Tucker from 1995 without a break, has died at the age of 53. There's a lovely tribute to him in this article from Jeremy Howe, the current Editor. https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/dec/23/the-archers-actor-ian-pepperell-dies-aged-53-roy-archer-eastenders

Graham Blockey, who played Robert Snell, died just over a year ago, also far too young (66). https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/much-loved-surrey-gp-archers-25524449 As yet, Robert survives in Ambridge.

I do hope they don't re-cast Robert, but it might work for Roy, I suppose, after a suitable interval. They've re-cast Tony, Tom, Kate, Pip, Clarrie and Emma, mostly successfully. I still wish Tom and Pip hadn't been re-cast. New Tom is a good actor but so was Old Tom.

Meanwhile, several very elderly members of the cast survive, and long may that continue, although not necessarily on air. I think most of us would say that the time has come for Jill to become a silent character, following the precedent of Peggy and Christine.

So! Christmas next week - will it be the best Christmas ever at either Brookfield or The Stables, or both? Then it's 2024. What does the New Year hold for The Archers? Over to you!

I guess I meant lone parent rather than single parent. But good point re Trac(e)y and Helen.

@BeatriceBatchelor , yes.

I agree LillianGish. I am appalled every time Brian and Kate are in together that he isn’t in his proper home! I quite like very slow changes in the Archers.

Helen is awful but ok for all that as a character. Tom though, more irritating than old Tom and dreadful storylines/lines full stop.

U see Kirsty as attractive and better than most blokes around her. I did enjoy Kate’s disquiet when Kirsty was just having fun and Kate presumed she wanted more from her fling.

Christine has an adopted son called Peter. It wasn't too big a subject in 1966!

Oooh it seems that I had! I had no idea what bookmarking did and didn't intend to, but I guess now I know 😅 thank you so much for that!

It was much more common in 1966. Going by what I've read about adoption in recent years, the two huge changes since then are firstly that there are very few babies for adoption because of the pill, legal termination of pregnancy and benefits/social support for single mothers, and secondly the child's interests are supposed to be paramount, so there's far more screening of potential adoptive parents and a lot more care given to matching children to adopters. I don't get the impression there was much of that done at all back in the 1960s. Children older than babies who are eligible to be adopted are likely nowadays to have very significant problems, and very few people would be willing and able to cope with that. Kirsty would be a good candidate if she wanted to do it, but it's hard to see how TA could cover it adequately as one SL among many in a 12.5 minute episode.

I had a colleague who adopted and it was a long and tortuous process so that could make some really interesting scenes spread over many months

You said what I was thinking @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g .

what about fostering?

Why would Kirsty be interested in fostering though?

So Chris is jealous

handy Jakob turning up when he did 🙄

I do think Jakob has been a good new character with good long term potential

I feel the fashion show is going to be a big wearisome build up to a bleurgh event

Well she’s quite a public spirited person and likes kids.

it would be good if she had a SL that brought her in for the long term

I don't buy this. She's quite happy with her life, her career etc. Not sure that fostering would occur to someone in her position. She's never seemed desperate to raise kids.

It's the Beeb. They'll probably have her adopting an Ukrainian orphan.

Children older than babies who are eligible to be adopted are likely nowadays to have very significant problems

Some will. Some won't.

but it's hard to see how TA could cover it adequately as one SL among many in a 12.5 minute episode

It could be a slow storyline. Doesn't have to be done and dusted in 13 mins.

This is where Roy would have been invaluable as Kirsty's sounding board. As opposed to Helen who would probably say "but don't you want a baby of your own. Then you'll be a real mother like me."

I don't want that storyline.
I'd like Roy back.

All children offered for adoption these days will have issues by definition - their parents have got big issues of some kind or other, and may have mistreated them, but also because (paradoxically) they've been separated from their parents.

I'm sorry @AskingQuestionsAllTheTime, but any faults of Helen's are nothing like as bad as Ron's and consequently their effects on the boys will be tiny in comparison.

I find your continual and vicious criticism of her really quite unsettling and distasteful, tbh.

Anyone who has suffered at the hands of an abusive man, and seen their children suffer, knows the scale of the possible effects.

Is Champion going to turn out to be a girl with a baby Champion on the way? Who was it that wanted a single mother SL?

Or may be Champion has a tumour? Jakob would have surely noticed either a pregnancy or signs of a tumour A FORTNIGHT AGO when he looked over the pony and recommended him to Chris. So what is going on?!? Would be astonishing if the SWs manage to hold out two weeks befor J looks over the pony again. I expect we’ll know what’s going on by Friday…

I’m glad I am not on the guest list for Friday night’s supper. Poor Jakob- could be a long evening of heavy drinking with Lilian wanting to liven up dull January.

Helen was a nasty bit of work for many years before Rob entered her life; I decline to attribute her every behaviour to him. And sorry, but his having seen Jack for a total of about six hours before the child was a year old is not likely to have had as much effect on Jack as the constant presence of Jack's mother for Jack's entire life, all day every day until he went to school and a large part of every day thereafter.

It is possible to be abused and be a perfectly nice person; I have had some experience working in hostels and am well aware of this. Helen is not a nice person, and never was. Her manipulation of her parents, and her being prepared to tell lies whenever it has been convenient to her to do so, have nothing whatever to do with Rob: they have been there since 1998.

As a matter of interest, how can you be so sure that i have not suffered at the hands of an abusive man and know whereof I speak? Not all abused women are clones, and nor are their children. Please look at your own word, "possible", and remember that is not a synonym for "inevitable."

any faults of Helen's are nothing like as bad as [Rob's]

It’s a close thing. She was a manipulative monster long before he arrived on the scene. When she got bastered up, there were pretty much unanimous predictions on another forum that the resultant child was set fair to end up a fucked-up headcase. None of her subsequent actions have made that any less likely.

And why can’t Kirsty be allowed to enjoy her life as it is, without being saddled with a sprog?

@Roysnewshirt I wondered too if the pony was a girl, but surely Yakob would know the difference between male/female Shetlands. Surely he would...............

And why can’t Kirsty be allowed to enjoy her life as it is, without being saddled with a sprog?
Quite. I particularly do not want an adoption because it will probably be nothing like a RL one, and there'll be no issues.

I would quite like a mini-Erik/Kirsty though. Mainly because I like Kirsty and because Helen and Tom have been horrible to her.

I just want Kirsty to have a decent and positive SL that keeps her on air. Baby wouldn’t necessarily achieve that.

not sure what would work really

ive had enough of Mia’s worthiness and brads dotingness. It’s like she’s the new Kate but with all the fun and humour taken out of the character

She's an Ambridge woman in her 40s who has had sex recently. There's a high probability of pregnancy.

Also, it's a soap and this is MN so only a child would bring fulfilment.

If Jakub examined Champion the fluffyhorse and it's a pregnant mare not a gelding, then he's not a good horse vet.
Again, it's a soap and the floofyness has been emphasised