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!

Impressed they pulled/called an attacking dog off so quickly and scarpered.

When I first heard the strangers in the pub I thought they might be casing the joint for possible lamping. But I’m not sure lamping dogs are particularly vicious?

(Impressed not the right word, gobsmacked?)

Lamping in a car park?

Yes, didn't Will find out they were meeting in a barn or something, when he was still a gamekeeper?

Loan sharks making a point to discourage other defaulters seems like the best idea so far. Makes sense of Jolene's suspicious behaviour keeping out of the unknown Brummie's way and takes into account the known financial difficulties at The Bull.

On a related note, I've always wanted to know why Kenton behaves as he is the joint owner, when he isn't, unless Jolene has made over some of her share of the pub to him without anyone bothering to say so on air. She inherited a share of the pub when her previous husband, Sid Perks, died. She married Kenton after this.

Sid's son Jamie owns a smaller share too - can't remember whether his daughter Lucy got a share as well - but nobody ever worries about that now, and Jamie has left the village, which was only mentioned in passing years later. Lucy is in NZ and not at all likely to return.

I'm not clear how much Lilian owns - is it as much as half? I think she stepped in to help Sid and Jolene when Caroline, Oliver's now deceased wife, sold her share to release funds so she and Oliver could buy Grey Gables. Caroline had inherited it from her previous husband, Guy Pemberton, who similarly stepped in to help Sid and Kathy (his previous wife, Jamie's mother) to buy The Bull when Peggy sold it. (What a lot of previous spouses - anybody would think this was a soap or something ...)

Anyway, Kenton would be able to claim part of the pub if Jolene and he divorced, and he should be in line to inherit her share if she doesn't leave any to Fallon, but as her husband he has no legal claim at present, surely. Maybe the licence is in their joint names?

Just at present, though, it looks more as if Jolene might face being widowed again. I do hope not. When in the hands of one of the better SWs, Kenton can be very entertaining, especially when he calls David 'Dave'.

I'm going to have a break from listening to the Archers. It was difficult enough having to listen to Lynda's pain and anguish when she was recovering from her burns.

@Thomission No. Meeting in the car park.

Loan sharks making a point to discourage other defaulters seems like the best idea so far - except that to my knowledge there’s been no suggestion whatsoever up to this point that Jolene has borrowed money from a dodgy source. Have I missed something?

Also I like Kenton - believable character, consistently written, distinctive voice - he and his brother and sisters sound like they really are siblings when you hear them together. I don’t want anything to happen to him 😢

There hasn't, but I wouldn't put it past the SWs to invent an entire back story that's been kept off air till now.

There's big money in illegal dog dealing and breeding, hence the proliferation of the XL bullies and similar monstrosities. There was a very good documentary about this last year
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001hl5l
I think this is what was behind the car park business.

The 🔮 is confident that SuperSarge Burns will get to the bottom of things just as soon as J'lene tells him all about the dodgy bloke from the other night, whom she recognised from her hitherto unrevealed past.

Kenton can be very entertaining, especially when he calls David 'Dave'.

Agree, he’s one of my favourite characters and a great foil to the self-importance of the rest of the Brookfield Archers (as is Josh at times).

Poor Kenton!

Perhaps they seem normal because you “have lots of ND traits”

They seem normal to me, but I know from sad experience I don’t seem normal to others.

Perhaps it’s because they all share a technical problem-solving mind rather than one attuned to people and their reactions?

Real baddies would have driven off the moment Kenton appeared. Real baddies wouldn’t have arrived quit so conspicuously.

I wondered that when Jolene described them as having trailers but would she have said 'caravans'? Caravans are pulled along behind a vehicle (or horse). The self drive monstrosities parked up in quiet spots in all our National Parks are trailers. Travellers of the sort that turn up in the middle of the night and take over a carpark or a public park tend to use trailers.

I suspect they’re travellers not dog fighting. If you’re operating on the fringes of society, living in trailers not bricks and mortar, and parking up where you’re likely to face opposition, you need some sort of defence, so maybe will have dogs. There again, while you might threaten, it’s pretty stupid to actually set the dogs on to someone, that’s bound to attract unwanted attention.

@MereDintofPandiculation , I have lots of traits on here.

Some common and challenging signs of neurodiversity include:

• Social communication difficulties, such as trouble making eye contact while talking or not reading body language
• Speech and language challenges, such as stuttering and repetition
• Learning challenges that may be related to difficulties with focus, reading, calculation, ability to follow spoken language, and/or problems with executive functioning (important skills, including working memory, flexible thinking, and self-control)
• Unusual responses to sensory input (sensitivity or unusual insensitivity to light, sound, heat, cold, pressure, crowds, and other stimuli)
• Unusual physical behaviors, such as rocking, expressing tics, blurting things out, and shouting at unexpected times
• Inflexibility (inability to adapt or to change interests based on age or situation)

From that list I can say yes to some of each one.

A group of Travellers have turned up close to us this week (I have no problem with this - we have plenty of Travellers in church every week and get on fine with them). Their dogs are all ridiculously small - miniature dachshunds and the like. I know they're an aggressive breed, but they're not your typical guard dog! I can't work myself up to get scared of a few little yappy things.

You’re right but there have been a lot of money worries and Jolene was acting strangely. So there’s likely a story we don’t know about. Not that the scriptwriters follow storytelling rules that often though! As in - they are likely shoehorning something or other in, or they’re just leaving random bits of behaviour hanging out there. Either could apply to be honest!

There have been money worries and there was a loan from David IIRC, but no hint of loan sharks. I know it’s made up and the SWs can write whatever they like, but I would like there to be at least a semblance of build up. I can’t think of a single instance of Jolene behaving suspiciously or being nervous or preoccupied in any way beyond her sudden urge to do the glass recycling when those men came in the pub the other night.

We've hardly heard from Jolene and Kenton recently, have we? A few brief scenes when Lilian and Justin were at odds and Lilian was vile to Tracy. Not much otherwise.

It is all a bit odd. And graphic, that’s exactly the word to describe it and what I don’t expect at 7pm from The Archers.

Our local village pub does have barriers on the carpark at night to prevent overnight arrivals settling in, but that doesn’t sound like the case here as they were gone immediately.

Is The Bull right next to other houses in the village or set apart? I should know this!

The Bull is next door to Woodbine Cottage, which is where Fallon and Harrison live. It is on the village green and near several other houses in all directions.

The history of The Bull can be found at https://ambridgereporter.org.uk/Bull_History.html As far as I know that's accurate and doesn't miss out anything important, and Kenton has no financial interest in the place; he is married to someone who has.

Judy Bennett played the child Kenton, when she was an adult. She also played the child Elizabeth, and I think others of the children too, before she started to play the adult Shula. She had specialised in voicing children's parts on radio for a while before getting the Archers part long-term.

Judy Bennett was born in 1943 and Richard Attlee in 1963, so twenty years between them is right. I don't suppose Attlee wants to retire at sixty.

Hadn't listened to TA for a while then randomly tuned in last night 😱.

It was a horrific listen. I hope Kenton is OK. Mia went a bit far but I can see how the stress is piling on her and she is desperate for it to be a success. Easy to forget how vulnerable we feel that young.

It was horrible last night .Needlessly graphic.
Couple of other observations/questions:
Why was Jolene so quick to call the police before they’d spoken to the trespassers? Also it was Police Fairy time again in that they agreed to drive by straight away!
Where can this possibly lead - there are other characters who need an exit story line .Unless Jill has a heart attack with the shock? But then that’s unnecessarily gruesome .Cant people just die normally?!
The fashion show seems like a pointless storyline now - and definitely not a Friday cliffhanger..unless theres a connection beyond the location?

The noise Kenton made was truly chilling. I wasn’t expecting to feel so unnerved.