Archers thread #163: Too much aggro, not enough agri! 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, 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 @LikeTalkingToLassie for the thread title idea! She and @LillianGish had fun with this theme on the last thread:

More farmer, less drama
More ploughing, less rowing
There's mileage in silage.
More sheds, fewer beds.

All good points. Fair to say nobody on the last thread was delighted to see the return of Harry. I think we all agree that Alice is a blithering idiot to get involved with him again. Most of us also think that Miranda is up to no good. Other storylines in play at the moment:

Alistair and Denise, with the massive complication of John and Paul
Ed and Emma - another doomed Grundy enterprise? Does Will still have the will to wang them some wonga?
Whither George - YouTube sensation or Borchester Magistrates' Court?
Will Markie cause mayhem at The Bull?
Will Harrison haul him in to Borchester nick?
Will Hannah get off with Chris?
Will we ever get used to the new Robert?
Will there ever be a new Roy?
Why do we hear so little from Brookfield now? (Although if we never heard Pip again, I for one would be delighted)
Will Stella dump Pip?

There are probably others I've missed. Over to you!

No I haven't to be fair. I think mats could be a trip hazard though.

I don't know whether it's the new thread title that is making me hyper aware of it, but it feels like there is literally no farming left in The Archers these days. All farming now takes place off stage leaving us with love triangles, alcoholism, gang violence (or threats of it) and the after effects of coercive control - I'd quite welcome a chainsaw massacre because at least that would be related to an agricultural activity.

We had the lamb with a broken leg this week, which IMO would not have put into a cast, but that was just to get Ed and Alistare conversing.
We had the Stables inspection but that was to show a hyper Alice.
Was there anything else?

No calving or lambing or sowing or spraying?

And no mention of flooded fields either.

I'm sure Stella mentioned something about having to resow a field by the Am because it had been so wet, but it was only a mention.

Ambridge has its own microclimate. Unlike Clickyheelston, it is not cold and drizzly there today. Brrr.

Yet we get plenty of post-coital bedroom scenes and illicit embraces.

That was weeks ago! Yes, she did, or rather I think Brian mentioned to Justin that she had. Very much in passing.

Lol 😂

I'd like rural agricultural-themed stories that are believable, and characters I can care about.
No chainsaw massacres please. No bedroom scenes. No komedy kapers or maid marion outfits.

I really enjoy storylines about things like the herbal leys. Even the stuff about Brookfield’s milking arrangements are moderately interesting. We haven’t even heard anything from the pigs lately!

It might as well be set in Weatherfield or Walford for all the country stuff that happens these days.

We haven't heard about the bees for ages. At least when Will was a gamekeeper we used to hear about the pheasants.
Now we get birds and bees of a different kind.

Oink!

Now that it’s moved to a different time slot I’m not sure I’ll ever remember the Omnibus still exists.

But I hope Will, Ed, and Emma have time to catch this after lunch …

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001ypzb

The biggest non boop to the SWs this week must surely go to Helen's tale of Henry leaving his veggie chilli in the bottom of his bag for two days (and then being disappointed when she wouldn't serve it up for tea).

Not bc of a teen boy forgetting what was in his rucksack, but a mum (and esp Helen) apparently forgetting that the results of Food Tech were in her DS's rucksack - including letting him return to school the next day with it in there presumably! She would have presumably planned for the dish to form at least part of their tea that evening, as well.

Er, no. "Didn't happen.", as they say on MN!

My daughter has a son of a similar age. |On his birthday last year he had some friends over for a sleepover. When she checked on them for the night one of them was lying with a large tupperware next to his head - it was his Home Ec soup. He was persuaded to let my daughter keep it in the fridge until the next day.

i feel like we have fewer farmers to work with. Dave and Ruth and pip DO farming, but Pat and Tony have retired and their kids seem to spend all their time in cheese or deliveries so what are they still farming and who is doing it. Brian is basically retired but Stella can’t be doing everything on home farm alone so who is? Ed has his hobby sheep but do the family have much else farm wise? Rex and his pigs have clearly floated off down the Am… (apologies for no grammar have baby in the other hand)

(Oh I love thinking about TA thread babies!)

@CaptainMyCaptain that’s hilarious!

Could have happened if the lesson was a Friday (though clearly the Thai green curry wasn't.)

Struggle to believe Helen doesn't know their timetables better than her own sons do, though, so would have known there was a veggie chilli.

We used to have to take the ingredients in with us to school that morning so H would have definitely known if a veg chilli was on the cards for that night’s supper. Especially as she would have got Uncle Tom to handpick the vegetables for Henry.

I don’t mind Helen sticking to ill-informed small talk for a bit though. Henry unpacking his cricket phobia, while illustrative of the long-term fall-out of abuse, was something I could certainly do without more of. Even Denice’s exercise class was preferable (without the snogging).

It all seemed a bit odd and confused to me - Hellin reacting with evident shock when Harrison thought Henry was a novice, and saying ‘but he DOES play cricket!’ ….then later saying to Henry ‘you haven’t played much cricket before’ - which is it?

Also, how old is he, 12? Isn’t he able to walk home by himself in daylight in a small peaceful village where he’s lived his entire life (and is related to a good proportion of the population)? I know H is overly-protective but it’s getting a bit excessive now. And Rob is safely out of the picture…

Of course he can walk home, but Helen wanted to observe him.

Ambridge
It all seemed a bit odd and confused to me - Hellin reacting with evident shock when Harrison thought Henry was a novice, and saying ‘but he DOES play cricket!’ ….then later saying to Henry ‘you haven’t played much cricket before’ - which is it?

I'm reasonably certain Helen would have had no excuse for thinking Henry already played cricket. (If nothing else, surely she realises they have special kit for that, and Henry doesn't have so much as a bat of his own?)

When Harrison first mentioned Henry and cricket practice to Helen, the first she'd heard of it, on Monday 22nd, he rattled on while she made dubious noises and eventually explained
"Sorry, Harrison, I'm a bit confused."
"Ow dyer mean?"
"Henry hates cricket."
"Does he?"
"Well, I think so."
"Right. That's funny..."
"Did he say that he'd be interested in the youth team?" (and so on for a bit).

So she didn't say he played it, she said he hated it, though I had to listen three times to be absolutely certain because she was swallowing her words a bit.

Later in the same episode, at bed-time, Henry explained to her at some length about his feeling that for him cricket was bound up in Rob having forced it on him: the BBC synopsis has it "Henry explains to his mum that he doesn’t know if he likes cricket - his experience of the game came from playing with Rob, which wasn’t fun. He wants to see if it’s different with someone like Harrison coaching him. Helen’s impressed and thinks that’s a great idea."

The other synopsis is a bit more detailed:
"Henry is reading in bed when Helen comes to chat with him: she offers to go with him to the cricket practice Harrison has arranged with him for tomorrow. He reluctantly agrees when she says that she'd like to, but warns her that he doesn't want her to stay because he might not be any good at first. She didn't realise he liked cricket; he informs her that he doesn't, or at least doesn't know if he does or doesn't and that's why he wanted to try it out. He thought he hated cricket, but Mr Reeve thinks maybe he hated it because of the way Rob forced it on him. At least, he didn't say that but Henry was talking to him about how Rob used to make him play cricket and he didn't like it because the ball was too hard to catch and he had to play for hours and hours. Henry thinks that if he'd played with someone else, like Harrison, he might have ended up liking it, and might even have been really good at it. And if he never plays, then it's like Rob's stopping him even though he's dead, so he thought he'd give it another chance. Helen thinks that's a really good idea. Henry wants to know if he can now finish his chapter. Helen tells him she loves him, and as duty-bound he replies that he loves her too.

(Mr Reeve was the nice understanding master Henry was able to talk with at school.)

If they can hang on to Blayke Darby, they'll be very lucky. That lad is a natural actor.

If anyone is interested, has an interview with him.