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.

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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!

My mind immediately jumped to Champion being pregnant but if so Jakob is a really crap vet. If he has examine Champion and missed a tumour then the same goes.

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

I agree. It would be nice to see a portrayal of a woman who ends up quite happy without children, much as she had previously been pregnant with Wren.

She had a stillborn child. Stella and Fallon are childfree and happy by choice.

I'm a bit infuriated at the portrayal of two experienced horsewomen 1) needing to ask the vet if the pony is too fat, and 2) needing a lecture on body condition scoring and the risks of laminitis. Actually, asking to confirm that it's too fat, I can just about see, given the amount of information the BHS feels it necessary to pump out about the "equine obesity epidemic", but surely, anyone that manages a yard knows about laminitis risks and metabolic issues. They probably already have to manage several liveries with Cushing's or EMS. Surely, there was a way to script this scene to be informative, without making the characters appear like idiots!

They did that before when forty-plus-years-experienced Shula, taking a horse out hunting, failed to notice that its "harness" (not its bridle, its harness) was broken, and then had to be led back to The Stables by Big Strong Man Rob rather than whipping some baler twine out of her pocket and lashing bits together before making her own way home with her horse.

Maybe Lillian and Alice aren't used to Shetland ponies.

Yeah, she had a late miscarriage. But the pregnancy was wholly unplanned and if I remember correctly, she debated whether to proceed with it or not. Nor was she excessively distressed by the miscarriage ( Tom, who in some ways is very like his sister, did a sterling job of making it All About Him, of course), to the great disappointment of bystanders, who didn’t think she was grieving properly, the arseholes.

Could be. If they expect them to be like the ones that Thelwell drew, not noticing the poor little beast is too fat is an understandable mistake to make.

Except Lilian did notice, and then Chris of all people needed to be told about being fat being bad for a pony's feet. He's a farrier, equine feet are his professional business even more than they are Jakob's and in real life Jakob would be asking his advice not the other way round.

It's a Shetland. It is almost by definition going to be very fat!

(Don't come at me, I know it's perfectly possible to have lean Shetlands, but come on, most of them are fat)

They're not fat, they're big boned.

How far along was Kirsty when she gave birth to Wren? I remember it being pretty far, close to 6 months (when it would legally become a stillbirth, I think, if one is being pedantic)? But maybe it wasn’t so far and I was just a bit sensitive about the storyline.

She had to go through labour and deliver Wren, didn’t she? Awful. Skimmed over, if I remember rightly, or perhaps I fast forwarded.

Don’t forget, Champion!

I remember her as being not that far along, maybe only just over the three months? We it public, I didn't think that that many people knew she was pregnant?

I don't want that storyline

Well, you'll almost certainly get your wish. Although I do wonder why you have such an issue with adoption.

It was conceived in September 2016 and the miscarriage (they were explicit on air that it was a late miscarriage) was 12 Feb 2017.
The (ridiculous) name Wren was retrofitted for bonus mawk during the twin Titlets’ gestation.

Guess how I found out about that... 😉

Did you mean to sound that insensitive?

How hard is it to tell the sex of a horse?!
A guinea pig isn't straightforward to sex... But a horse? Surely it's fairly obvious?!
(I know nothing about horses and find the horsey bits of The Archers very dull but of course horsey things are a big part of rural life).

Well, have you heard the phrase “hung like a horse”?
Champion is not going to turn out to be a pregnant mare.

However there may be a tragic accident when Alice takes him out trotting along on a lead rope behind some flighty Arab…

Indeed I have 🤣
I'm guessing there is something wrong with Champion otherwise why would they have even talked about it? ... Unless a chubby pony is deemed by the writers to be an interesting storyline... 🫣

If Jakob looked the pony over before Chris bought it then perhaps it’s a SL to call into question Jakob capability?

Perhaps this is a non-story and Champion is just a bit on the tubby side. Isn't Jakob a horse specialist? He didn't seem unduly concerned.

Rabbit hole thought:

I’m wondering (again) how far in real life a Lynda would continue to be involved in the life of her step-grandchild Mungo, once her husband (the actual blood relative) was gone.

Only because of my proximity to an Archer thesis … When I used the word ‘crave’ yesterday - that probably applies most to the Lynda / Lilian / Mungo situation and how the shared grandchild has elevated their scratchy friendship to a closer familial care that’s completely fascinating.

So the only reason I’d like Kirsty to have a child with Erik is that if Kate (currently 46) also had one with Jakob, the two children would be cousins - giving Kirsty - finally - a tangible family relationship to Archers.

(As I’ve probably said a million times, I suspect poor Roy - the character - would have been written out soon, anyway, since the SWs magicked his Archer daughter away to Scotland and gave the impression that he and Kate never spoke, despite living in the same village, sharing a child and being on perfectly amicable terms.)

Hence my suggestion that the need for exercise will result in an accident..

Has it been specified that Champion is a gelding?