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!

He’s too chummy too.. keen to meet everyone and accelerate the relationship with Alice

yes!
he's grooming them!
but why??

I noticed Chris didn't want to tell him where he lived.

Would love to hear Susan’s opinion

Like @Brefugee i am currently in a listening hiatus…

Harry was trying to make it sound like Chris was trying to turn up where Alice was on her date I thought. I wonder whether it’s to drive a wedge between Alice and Chris’ good relations and eventually Alice will choose Chris.

Can't work out what he's up to but it's not good. We'll learn more on Tuesday when Alice meets Mummy.

He got excited about meeting Martha's DGPs in The Bull but he hasn't actually met Martha yet has he?

In the falling-in-the-mud episode, Harry sounded like Rob at a couple of points.

But even without that, the terrible acting and the timbre of his voice make him excruciating listening.

Nobody else notice that Jolene time travels? She could surely sort all her problems out by nipping back to the year she met the ruffian!

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g thread title suggestion: "Was it an XL bully or just a big bully from Jolene's Past?"

Harry sounded like English isn't his first language, he was reading carefully word. By. Word. from a script, AND had never come across basic equestrian concepts. Again. Not sure if bad acting & SWing, or trying to make a point of painkiller addiction affecting speech?

I'm not at stop listening point, but I am at "I don't really care about any of these SL any more" point.

I think it’s just that the actor struggles to do the accent and is focusing so much on his diction that his prosody goes out of the window, making him sound robotic. I wonder if his natural voice is a strong regional accent.

I too wont stop listening but do enjoy this thread more I think.
Harry is so in your face what on earth does Alice see in him?.I wouldnt be surprised if he had something to do with the horses shoe coming off and then sort of saying oh never mind Chris accidents happen, and then keeps on sabotaging chris's farrier work somehow.
I also did notice Chris didnt say where he lived.
Jolene didnt mince words with Harrison when he mentioned moving in, but that was to protect him and Fallen. This story line is so far fetched but its better than listening to Helen.

I don't think he had a regional accent in Call The Midwife.

Harry was vair posh in Call the Midwife so I suspect that’s the vibe he’s going with, but unfortunately it’s coming out - to me, anyway - as though he’s escaped from The Play that Goes Wrong. Lots of declaiming in a monotone with occasional random emphasis OF words that makes no apparent sense. Then it all gets A BIT INTENSE for a minute.

Alice.

And repeat.

(btw I agree with @ArtG about his natural accent being different. Google is helpful here)

IRL I don’t think Harry would give a monkeys about meeting Martha’s grandparents. It was odd when he was describing the farrier’s year to Chris. I’m not sure why he did that either. I can forgive it all if he is revealed to be on painkillers (surely he must be?) but if he’s just poorly written and even more poorly acted then we are heading for (another) new low.

I won’t stop listening in spite of the stupid pirate- it’s only Eddie Grundy japes that actually make me switch off. Thankfully Joe is dead as he also had that effect on me too.

Oh my! Apologies if anyone’s posted this before (I’d have skipped it as I find podcasts mostly unbearable). The Harry actor being interviewed on All About The Archers. (I also find watching people - blamelessly - zooming from their bedrooms excruciating so have only watched a couple of minutes.) And I’m afraid the link does come up as a photomontage, even if I reject the optional Huge Link.

I'm listening to yesterday's episode now and Harry does sound extremely weird. He sounds like he's declaiming from a stage or drunk - maybe it is the painkillers. Alice seems to be getting a bit embarrassed too.

So is Harry the vicar from CTM?

Yes. I don't remember him sounding like that so I think it must be Acting for a reason.

I remember very little about him from CTM but then he was very much second fiddle to Trixie first of all and then the one that died and went on to be Alison in Ghosts.

I’ve never seen either of these shows but I would’ve made the effort if I’d known that the cast of Ghosts included a real one!

It all feels very laboured at the moment - as if the SWs are rushing things along instead of letting them develop at their own pace. Every plot seems to be signalled IN CAPITAL LETTERS these days with stuff coming out of nowhere (Jolene's Wolverhampton encounter - if it didn't happen years ago then why hasn't she mentioned it before? - a champion eventer living locally that no-one at The Stables has ever heard of). If they want drama I'd rather they picked up genuinely dropped threads - the sinkhole or bring back Latif who sold Lilian and Justin their Arabs (two that I can think of off the top of my head).

Or George. That was shaping up to be a brilliant SL - the slow-burning horrible son (postbox/leading Brad and Henwee astray etc). And then it just came to a quick head with Helen in the tearoom and now he’s a model farmhand who is a bit cheeky to his Mum.

🤣

I'm really struggling to remain engaged at the moment - I can't ever remember it being this bad. as PP said, the fact it's only 12 minutes long and available on demand is the only saving grace!

Yes @Roysnewshirt I agree - that had real promise and was a slow burn but now just appears to have been dropped. It's frustrating!