Archers thread #160: Ram a lamb a ding dong! To rate the mass wisteria in Ambridge, tap the feedback tablet 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 have given a home to Hilda the Hellcat, 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 @MerryChristmasToYou, @OverArmour and @LillianGish for the thread title ideas.

This week is a bit better than last week, but the Brad/Adil/Lily stuff is very odd. Coming up to the anniversary of Jennifer's death (22nd January last year). We need a new matriarch - could that be Natasha? I find her quite an interesting character. Sometimes she's awful and then she has moments as last night where she utterly redeems herself.

Over to you!

The customer who has been going to the bull for the longest time

neville claims to be 90

I agree about the names. There was some labouring over getting the names right, as it should be, but hardly worth air time. It's the radio equivalent of that lingering shot of the very stabby kitchen knives in the teacher's house in "Final Destination". They could have just as well inserted dah dah DAH to draw the audience's attention.

Um... What year Neville Booth moved to Ambridge and started drinking at The Bull? It's the daft competition about who has been drinking there for longest. Kenton said that a photograph of Neville as a baby (which is utterly irrelevant) looks like one of the first ever photographs, which would make Neville well over a hundred: there are photos in our family albums dated in the 1880s and even earlier.

I always get muddled between Neville and Nathan Booth. I know they're uncle and nephew, and that's about the extent of my knowledge.

If Neville is vying with Bert for the title of Longest User of The Bull, he must be the uncle. Well, there have been instances of nephews being older than their uncles (it happened with one of my cousins and one of my uncles; my mother came from a long family), but I imagine it's quite rare these days when there are not usually nine children to the family.

Kenton's idea to sort Bert's "evidence" by landlord seemed like a good one. It also seemed obvious that Detailed Knowledge of the History of The Bull + Spreadsheet Mastery was what required. Of course, this led me immediately to pinpoint exactly who was needed

Scenes featuring Jolene - Kenton makes it worse, but Jolene is enough on her own - provoke murderous rage in me. An unpleasant and unbelievable character, and imo badly acted. And these Bull- centred things are always so utterly stupid.
They should settle the Longest-served Drinker question by a “Guess the weight of these livers“ competition, both organs freshly excised and glistening ( probably only slightly, to be fair) on the bar.

And when that’s done, there’s the effing fashion show. A catwalk with real fleas. Yay.

Just waiting for Jolene to say " Shiver me Timbers".

Skidding in late to say thank you for the new thread and now up to date with TA after a holiday break!

guessing the article won’t be to Natasha’s taste
and Rebecca sniffs a story… The piece is commissioned by Natasha and is paid-for advertorial. This means she will get copy approval - so she can correct Helen Titchener to Helen Archer for example (after Helen's throwaway remark: "Yes - you can use my name"). If Bridge Farm is paying for advertising it is vanishingly unlikely the Borchester Echo would be publishing anything to interrupt that revenue stream unless it was a very big story - so another ecoli food poisoning scandal yes, Knob/Helen tittle-tattle no. I suppose they might have covered the land purchase, but unlikely unless there is a definite planning proposal.

I suspect the paid for article will be fine but then she will follow up with a hit piece. It also seems relevant that she has clarrie and Susan’s names - everything she needs to dig up any of their history. Convicted criminal! Working for a woman who stabbed her husband!

@Poppins2016 , will need to pop into Sainsbury's when next in Surrey.
I don't know why the 'real lancashire eccles cakes' don't appeal to me. I've never been tempted even when offered one. I am terribly fussy though.

Rebecca will write two articles. One on Tasha and the Tea Room, accompanied by a photo of Tom's Tractor. The other one will be about Helen. Natasha will approve the tea room one.

E. coli. Convicted criminal! Working for a woman who stabbed her husband!

I can’t work out what angle the “Helen” story would be - other than Rob having died, what else is there to report? He was never convicted of abuse/rape/coercive control so his death isn’t really a story.

So public domain is that Helen stabbed him. He’s recently tragically died from cancer after having been kept from his son for many years. Perhaps Rebecca will speak to Bruce and miles. Journalists are very good at pushing an angle.

maybe Rebecca will dig out who Joy is!

It's the Borchester Echo not the Daily Mail! They can't afford to piss off their readers (and more importantly advertisers). They would have covered Helen's court case and they'll almost certainly be interested in any planning application for the land - if Miles want to build a mausoleum for Rob for instance! Otherwise what's the story? Fallon doesn't seem to be interested in the pushing the landlord snatched my business from under me line. This doesn't mean I don't doubt the SW will come up with some implausible plot twist.

Does anyone want to bet for or against Brian turning out to be allergic to Hilda? That's what that coughing sounded to me as if it might be.

I think the sw are trying to make Rebecca a dm style journalist!! I’ve given up on anything being reasonable

Wouldn't surprise me, @AskingQuestionsAllTheTime . Hilda and he are getting on remarkably well.

Rebecca will interview Radio and Clarrie and the story will get twisted. It will be published while Helen is in Paris and she'll come back to find herself headline news.

I enjoyed that episode. It was lovely to hear Brian urging Alice to use her time well. That feeling of his being overwhelmed by the number of people in the house, and the cough. Ominous...

ClickyHeels
Rebecca will interview Radio and Clarrie and the story will get twisted.

I would think/hope that after her experience with Rebecca getting her drunk in pursuit of a Story last time round, Susan might be a little chary of talking to her.

I think it more likely she writes bad stuff about Susan and clarrie and helen

yes I thought so
we'll hear he's lost weight next

It's the strangest sounding situation I've come across, neither one thing not the other. I suppose they may be paying for a review, (but then why is a journalist doing it not a food critic?) but normally for a paid article (advertorial) the copy is supplied and no journalist needs to step foot near the place. It's why I hate advertorials - not only is it bloody obvious it is paid for (they're literally labelled as such), but the copy style sticks out like a sore thumb because its written by a PR professional (best case scenario) or a business owner, not the journalists who have written most of the other copy in the publication.

It's also usually a poor use of limited marketing budget - you can normally get a free article in local press by submitting it as a press release if you know how to find an angle - and if you don't that's why you employ a PR agency. Although I admit poor use of budget is right on brand for Gnasher.

I know most listeners won't have any insight into the Marketing/PR/Press industries and won't care, but it's grating on me as yet another example of ill-informed content.

What are they doing to Brian?

😨

Hoping it is just a cat allergy. Really hoping.🐱