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.

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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.)

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!

The Pirate is so tiresome. My heart sinks every time the CA mentions her in the trail. I would like to think that she and K will fade into the background now the secret is out but we still have the police hunt for Markie to get through. It’s all such a bore…

As for Alice- she is addicted to drama and her life is quite dull at the moment so I can see why she is not running a mile from Harry. A PP said she should be speed-dialling her mentor at this point - which she absolutely should (but won’t) do.

My concern at the moment is that we’ve not really seen that type of relationship filter down to the next generation and we are overly reliant on the older characters in a nutshell. I was pondering this very point last night - too much high drama and not enough laying down of strong characters and relationships to fill the big shoes that are opening up. Ambridge feels like it lacks proper scaffolding at the moment (particularly when coupled with the disappearance of key locations).

Yeah, but Felpersham is on the Hereford line out of Paddington. Different proposition altogether. The only Euston-Birmingham journey I remember was to my best friend’s registry office wedding. I got a train which would arrive 2.5 hours earlier than the ceremony, 5 minutes walk from New Street. Seemed a reasonable margin on a two hour journey. We then spent 3 hours sitting 50 yards outside Euston.

This would have been early 70s.

And no farming! I might have missed it, but I think the only reference to the wet conditions has been via Ed's Texels' soggy pasture. And this when a significant percentage of the UK harvest will be impacted. Have the SWs not noticed that it's been raining a bit??!!

Didn't Stella talk about having to resow some fields because of all the rain?

OMG Alice
so self absorbed and disrespectful with Harry's mum
there is some very selective thinking going on there if she won't let herself imagine what it might be like to be the mother of an alcoholic- and what she herself put her family through
but, we have learnt that this is a very longstanding problem so that raises the question of his horse riding career (insert technical term there)....so I wonder what that's all about? was it actually longer ago than he's been making out?

I I actually thought that was really good! I don't have a personal experience of alcoholism, except with my best friends, youngest child, and everything that was said, there rang true

A at some point, you just have to say no more

It’s only a few weeks ago since Eve met Alice for the first time and and was so pleased Harry had a new girlfriend, gushed over the pair of them, took pictures and invited Alice out for the day.

If, as she said today, she and her husband gave up on Harry a long time ago and are battled scarred and hardened by years of his relapses then I don’t understand why a new girlfriend would have elicited so much excitement and a sudden belief that he’d turned a corner. Eve would have been a bit wary and hesitant during that initial meeting.

Alice’s limited empathy astounds me

Alice running her mouth again spilling info to people, no lessons learnt

I thought that was really good scene but yeah, the timescales don't make sense! And I wish Eve didn't sound like Carol Tregorran.

Presumably Alice will now do some thinking and some new grieving for what Jenny must have gone through?

A plea for help just left on end of prev thread:

Alice and Harry storyline is stupid. Loving Chris the hot Tik Tok farrier. We always knew he looked good in his apron.

I like hearing Brian in lothario mode again but it’s a shame that it’s so unrealistic given he’s meant to be 80!

I just came back from Belgium, where I saw they had a beer made especially for Ed

Also living the chat button on the Texels beer website 😀.(click on pic to see it properly- bottom right).

Not completely unrealistic for an 80 year old to be in lothario mode though - but you might expect a few more aches and pains to impede. Do we have any idea how old Miranda is?

Yes Alice was very lucky to have the support from everyone in Ambridge,so it seems. She seems to have stopped drinking and now they have brought in someone who cant.
Why is she even bothering with Harry and his family, she should be staying well clear because it might set her off again.
Yes more farming. I like when David and Ruth are in the cow shed milking its quite atmospheric with the cows in the back ground.
More Mooing, bleating and clucking would be lovely in stead of elderly pillow talk, and im 69 so not against getting it on, I just dont want to hear about it.
Actually theres been a lot of that at the moment. We had Emma and Harrison where everyone thought Emma might get accidentally pregnant.
Pip and Stella and now Brian and Miranda ( dont think theres much chance of Miranda getting pregnant.) Also Lillian is taking Brian and Miranda in her stride which I think would be out of character for Lillian, and why didnt Justin just tell Lillian that he went to see Miranda to warn her off Brian? After the trouble it caused going behind Lillian's back before when she nearly left him for good you think he would have known better.

Emma and Harrison 😱. I missed that! Fortunately I think you mean Fallon.

Other good ancient storylines:

David and husky voiced Sophie, especially when Nelson Gabriel tried to seduce her.

Anything involving Mrs Antrobus

Brian and Betty Tucker, Siobhan etc

Yes I did mean Fallon, early morning brain.🥴 But Emma and Harrison would be a good story line. Shake it up a bit.

The Tuckers were proper country. (Maybe not Brenda, other than in running away as soon as she could.)

I adore Tracy but there’s no evidence that she would actually choose full scale country life if it hadn’t been for the space in her dad’s house. I daresay that in itself is true to life - not every village resident keeps chickens, or breeds pigs, or has the stewardship of acres, some just cater to those who do - but it would be lovely if she had a few animals or a plot of land of her own to care for or tend. And make a little money from.

@JanglyBeads I’m sorry, there’s a website, often quoted here, where you can catch up - either audibly or in print. But I don’t recall what it’s called as I’m tethered to the radio / phone and never have any need for it. Someone else will know!

@meridianB

Lowfield Archers Archive

Didn't Tracy wax lyrical about Ambridge in the "reading group"? Or was that mainly Chelsea, can't remember (don't choose to remember!)

I agree, it would be nice if Tracy had somewhere to keep some animals. I bet Jazzer would quickly fill it with pigs and maybe even a Highland cow!

Marjorie Antrobus - now those were the days!