Archers thread #162: ‘This is like talking to Lassie’ – how right you are, Fallon! 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 think cowhide-covered walls are a great idea for a cafe with vegan and vegetarian customers, 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.)

Title comes from one of the better scripted conversations of recent weeks, when Fallon said ”Harrison, this is like talking to Lassie! Just TELL ME”. So true of so many conversations on TA where you just want to shake them and yell 'Just TELL US, and quickly, so you don't get interrupted before you can say the important bit', but of course they rarely do and days pass before the conversation resumes. @TheBell suggested putting it in the title, so thanks for that.

@OverArmour had a great if more obscure idea, paying tribute to a Peter Greenaway film: The Policeman, The Drunk, The Vet and his Lover. That will do very well as a starting point for the new thread. Will Alistair leave? Will Denise tell John she's leaving him? Will Paul learn to be less noisy? Do any of us care?

I do care a little about Harrison and Fallon. I want Harrison to get a grip and realise he needs a paying job more than the captaincy of the cricket team. I don't care at all about Harry but I think he's been brought in purely as a plot device so with any luck we can all forget about him very soon.

Over to you!

If it's vegan butter it's going to be UHP. Unavoidable unless she just uses olive oil instead of butter for everything.

Vegan butter has almost the same amount of saturated fat in it as butter anyway so there would be no point in eating it for heart-health reasons.

Vegan butter: Plant Oils (Coconut, Rapeseed, Sunflower, in varying proportions), Water, Faba Bean Preparation, Emulsifier (Lecithin), Natural Flavourings, Colour (Carotenes)

Vegan marge: Vegetable Oils in varying proportions (Rapeseed, Sustainable Palm, Sunflower), Water, Salt, Emulsifiers-E471, Lecithins, Preservative-Potassium Sorbate, Acid-Lactic Acid, Flavourings, Colours - Annatto Bixin, Curcumin

Butter: Cream (Cows' Milk)

My grandmother would also say eat butter but eat less of it. I tend to spread it quite generously but don't have it often. I don't have it with other toppings or fillings.

Given the current speculation about those who have not been seen only for her to have visited the family's farm shop, where's Helen?

I wasn't recommending it. It's butter only on my toast.

The Lillian lurch from Tiger/Matt to Justin was never believable. I do miss Matt (although not the ludicrous Russian shenanigans)

It will need to be at Brookfield, so David can be involved in the execution of the fall, that also has a chainsaw involved. Then there can be a big issue regarding liability and insurance which both will have stopped paying due to, respectively, Pip and Grundy fecklessness.

Yeah, I gave up marg years ago for the same reason

I might have said the same, but when I think of it, it’s no butter because usually what’s on my toast is pâté, scrambled egg, or banana with lime pickle

I do know Robert has been there in the background but its nice for lyndy to have a conversation with him now instead of telling people "well Robert said" and "Robert is just in the other room " sort of thing.

Not sure how that works. The Robert actor passed away and it might have been quite tough to mention a much loved and admired colleague. A new Robert won't change that IMO.

Back to butter and marge, the baking marge ingredients lists tend to look more scary.

It also doesn't taste so good in baking as butter does, to my palate. And I certainly wouldn't use marge to fry an omelette!

Owing to having a mother who fell for food fads, my DH had never had either full fat milk or butter until he met me, and they were a revelation to him. Then, being a medic-trained lad with an enquiring mind, he started to look at the metadata about the health effects of each, and decided that his mother had in fact been trying to kill him, she just didn't realise it.

I remember when my kids were little - they were always slight and yet the health visitor was insistent they should be on skimmed milk instead of full fat.

advice on food is awful in this country. I remember when dd was 7 she came home having done healthy eating at school - telling me fat and carbs are bad so she should only have fruit and vegetables.

anyway, hopefully this isn’t a cack handed way to signal Brian is going to have a heart attack. And speaking of Brian dying (please not for a very long time!!) I will have to stop listening if it happens a la eastenders

Chris and Hannah then? It’s nice to have some more character interaction at least!! Stella was being a bit ott about the Chris thing. What a gossip. Overuse of the word ‘fancy’. I guess this will end with her getting hurt when he tries to make a go of it with Alice.

having to sit through Rosie’s puppet show sounds riveting🙄. Pip has such an odd way of talking to her girlfriend. And I’ve never heard anyone pronounce Rosie like that.

seem spoilt tonight with the number of voices!

Chris now?

The SWs are a bit cruel - the way poor Hannah always has eyes for men who are out of her league. Natasha with her clicky clacky heels and houseful of beauty products. And the fragrant Alice?

Bit insulting of the SW to imply women only play sport to attract men.

Love that Stella is already bored with the whole step parent role!

Stella actually sounds bored with Pip, which is understandable.

I have no recollection of Tom and Hannah’s ‘relationship’.

@Eastie77Returns , they were FWB.

Tom and Hannah had a FWB relationship for a couple of weeks or so because they lived in the same house so why not. Or some such. Then he started to go out with Natasha, and didn't want to stay in with Hannah any more.

Wow I’d completely forgotten that.

I'm really enjoying all the Kate/Brian stuff, their dynamic is great.

Unusually, for an Archers character, Brian is capable of discretion, at least where a prospective shag is concerned.

It was totally out of character for him not to keep his story about what he was doing on Friday evening straight. Brian simply would not have told two different stories to his two daughters who talk with each other all the time and are Pauline Prys about his business.

Brian/anyone's dynamic is great, but the dynamic between him and his daughters and step-daughter are good.

If Debbie has anything to say about it they aren't friends; she is so habitually unpleasant to him that it's amazing he bothers to speak to her any more, when all he gets for it is mouthfuls of vile abuse and wild (unfounded) accusation.

Why would anyone think Jennifer a wonderful mother, when they look at her children? Each in his or her way is utterly awful, and in Adam's entitled case at least Jennifer spoilt him completely by indulging him so much.

I thankfully missed the Tom & Hannah FWB storyline. I do tend to zone out when either of them speak though. Tom is obnoxious and Hannah is just...dull. She reminds me of Ben's ex girlfriend, Beth. There's just nothing to her and I can't work out what her character brings to TA. I also still can't forgive her for being so awful to Neil all those years ago. Whatever happened to her mother who had dementia?

I can't wait for Justin to find out about Brian and Miranda. I can already hear his spluttering rage and Lillan's chuckling.

Pleased to hear Robert as a speaking character again. Or course will never feel like the "real" Robert but I had missed his and Linda's interactions, they always made me smile, probably my favourite couple in the village. I hope they manage to keep a similar dialogue between them, he seemed very uncharacteristically grumpy on his return to the script!

I hadn't even thought about the potential for a horrible tree surgery accident. That could be a big storyline coming up 😬 We've had tree surgeons in a couple of times and the rigging and equipment they used was incredible, you could understand the costs involved.... What sort of training are they going to do? I admit I haven't been paying full attention lately!