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.

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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’m willing to bet Malvern pudding has nothing to do with Malvern. Apart from anything else, it’s hard to grow apples on a 1000ft high lump of granite.

Shropshire isn’t that far away, it shares a boundary with Borsetshire

Ha ha! I was wondering why someone would have a chicken in an old folks home!

isn’t Hilda quite old?

Ox kidney would be cheaper for S&K. Lamb’s kidney is more tender, but by the time you’ve cooked the S&K I don’t think you could tell the difference. I get ox kidney from the supermarket (Morrisons). They used to do steak and kidney but I don’t think they do now. No matter - allows me to increase the proportion of kidney which is the bit I like.

It was a culture shock moving from the SE to Yorkshire thirty five years ago. “Buns” were what I know as fairy cakes, and actual buns are “breadcakes”. Not just mushy peas on the supermarket shelves, but several varieties. Salads always had hard boiled eggs in. Several varieties of “apple and something” jam. It’s all getting a bit more uniform now, but they still don’t know the proper names for their baked goods.

My dad’s nursing home is thinking of getting a duck

The care home my late mother lived in had two chickens called Paxo and Stuffing.

Getting to the bounds of the unbelievable, but a colleague’s grandfather was in a home in Ireland with a ‘therapy sheep’.

She had photographic evidence.

Oh sounds like it might be worth a listen

Definitely! An episode with Brian and Gnasher at her Bossy Boots’ best! A real classic.

Surely Brian will end up with Hilda?

Why do some posters call Helen Helbel?

Will listen to the repeat for sure!

Hilda will find her forever home with Joy.

Bruisername
isn’t Hilda quite old?

Peggy got her second-hand from Fabrice-the-Hairdresser in May 2017, when he was forced to move into a flat with a "no pets" rule. She was described as "set in her ways" then, and I took her to be quite a mature cat. That was over six years ago, so I would expect her to be slowing down a little by this time.

Mind you, she is a strange specimen, suddenly having a litter of kittens after not having had any during the two-and-a-half years she had been with Peggy at that time. If it hadn't been for the two-and-a-half years, that would have suggested a queen just out of kittenhood.

I wanted them to present their bill for all the coffees and cakes Gnasher and Tom have been snaffling. Still, maybe they're keeping that for Tom.

Not in a care home, but a friend of mine who kept chickens on his allotments (and eat them sometimes) had a cockerel who had been intended to be the centrepiece of a festive meal. But they couldn't bear to, when it came to it, and immediately acquired the name CD, short for Christmas Dinner.

Although writing the previous paragraph has made me wonder if they committed the cardinal sin of livestock owners - naming creatures destined for the pot, however jocularly - which could have been the root cause of the cockerel's survival.

So happy after listening to today's episode Knasher, Fallon, Emma, tea-shop, and Lilian, Tony, Brian, Hilda, exactly what I've been wanting to hear.

Eating kidneys <shudders>

Yes I enjoyed not hearing Helen or Henry. I think the SW forget they have more actors waiting in the wings.
I hope Fallon and Emma stage a walkout and Gnasher cant find anyone to replace them. She is really awful. Reminds me of where I used to work. New brooms trying to fix every thing that wasnt broken and not listerning to anyone. Grrr!!!

So nice to have a change of scene and cast. The tea room sounds horrendous - the fake flowers and the music. I'm imagining it's pretty much a captive audience - farm shop/dairy-viewing visitors. No-one who lives in the countryside is going to go out of their way for fake wisteria surely? If the coffee and cakes were still the same I might continue going there, but once if Fallon leaves I think they'll see a substantial fall off in trade. Never mind saving a few pennies on the paper napkins - Tom and Gnasher should be cherishing their most important asset.

Surely if trhey want to restrict napkin use they could just sling one onto the tray, without going through all the faff of wrapping them around the cutlery? I hope Emma quietly ignores it, then says "You told me to do it when I had a quiet moment, and I haven't had any".

When Helen threatened to leave and go elsewhere, I did wonder why her loving relatives didn't ask her what she proposed to do about free child care and premises for the cheese business in that event.

I’m afraid my ears/brain can’t accept NuTeaRoom as a thing, even an imaginary thing. Tom and Natasha go out in the world - they absolutely cannot imagine that fake wisteria and that ghastly plinky music are in any way attractive. It’s harder and harder to believe Natasha was introduced as a Nuffield superstar.

Definite SW fail.

Yes, I was going to say that. And contentment will turn her from a hell cat into a pussycat.

I think Hilda will cure Brian of his loneliness.

Speaking of Brian and pets, something that’s always puzzled me is that the Aldridges don’t appear to have had dogs - specifically labradors - as gun dogs and pets. I can so clearly picture Brian in faded red trousers and a checked shirt sitting by the fire with a whiskey in his hand an ancient farting lab at his feet.

Just listened - enjoyed the sibling/bil divvying up and squabbling

natasha doesn’t realise where she is!! And love the music - she’s clearly not going for a relaxed vibe

If Natasha is simply looking at how many times people take photos of the plastic wisteria and not noticing what people are saying, she may be missing that it's becoming a huge joke, or people saying things like 'Went to a tearoom on an organic farm and look at this plastic monstrosity at the door! WTAF?' Much as if the Post Office's communications team were all to be high fiving each other because the PO is being discussed left, right and centre this last fortnight ...

The music was horrific. I would avoid the place for that reason alone. I will give the SWs a BOOP for that, as it made me laugh (and wince).

More episodes like that and less about the titchener stuff please! Less Helen and Henry and more of todays characters!

I did laugh at Natasha's version of letting the staff on the ground decide what works best for the day to day management of a place: you can choose which playlist you play on which day! From my pre-approved USB stick of doom.