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!

I thought Jakob was bloody excellent in his exchange with Alice, up until he seemed to allow her to convince him to stay quiet. Here’s hoping that was just a bluff to end the conversation.

He might be happier with a parrot.

Must get an occasional chance of a cheap one too.

I hope they haven’t done this to drive a wedge between Jakob and Kate when the shit hits the fan

No thats the pirate in the pub.🤣

Interesting thought, @Bruisername - but I can’t help thinking it’s more likely to drive a wedge between Kate and Alice. Kate appears to understand Jakob and might not be impressed with her sister’s manipulation of him.

I didn’t like the way she blamed Fallon not being around for her.

Is it just coincidence that Lilian and Kate suspected Alice of falling off the wagon before it actually happened or is it possible that's what put the idea in her head in the first place

I felt that the scriptwriters did this so that it would make it harder for Lillian and Kate to confront Alice once she did actually start drinking and enable a more long drawn out storyline of her falling back in alcoholic ways. The romantic in me hoped she and Chris would get back together but this can’t happen now.

So likewise I’m going to watch this thread but not listen. Yes, I am taking a radio programme too seriously! And even if it’s realistic, I hate how the women bylines feels a tad misogynistic to me and I don’t like the storyline involving a toddler. Definitely on the more agri than aggro side.

Well that was a better episode. New Robert is growing on me. nice to hear Jim. Didn’t nee him to facilitate Denise’s affair

not so keen on the barnaby sl. Who is the dancing vet? Pretty obvious it was going to take off - I wonder what they will be saying about Lynda. Hopefully not negative

who knew Chelsea’s employment would create so much airtime

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2024/apr/30/shardlake-star-arthur-hughes-cj-sansoms-disabled-tudor-sleuth

So Jim has moved from encouraging the affair to fully facilitating it. So unlikely. And how will Denise engineer a night away from home at the drop of a hat to sleep at Alistair’s house, bearing in mind they live in a village.

Noooooo …

New Robert sounds too artificial and BBC sitcom straight-man. He’s acting. Whereas you could hear all of life’s joys and vicissitudes and the specificity of having moved to Ambridge and being married to Lynda in the old Robert’s voice.

It’s like a too new tweed jacket or pair of jeans - needs roughing up a bit.

Those who don’t like the saucy scenes may not want to listen if Jim’s plan works🙄

@Eastie77Returns i just came to say how unhappy I am with how Jim has been written lately. I can possibly imagine him being (stand-offishly and perhaps a bit anxiously) happy that Alistair has found someone, but what is this ridiculous meddling and non-Jim like behaviour. Pre lockdown he was a taciturn classics scholar with occasional (and wonderfully acted) dives into rich emotional depth. This is just nonsense. /strops

Alistair lives in the village of Ambridge, Denise doesn't. She might get away with it: she probably does sometimes spend the night at the surgery looking after poorly pussy-cats or distressed Dobermans or guinea-pigs recovering from anaesthesia. The person who will have a hissy-fit about it will be Paul, who of course will know that she wasn't at the surgery overnight.

I can't say that I find the idea of Jim as Pandarus particularly convincing: would he really be so keen to help his son break up someone's marriage?

If my parents lived to be a million years old they would never, ever, ever tell me to my face that they were leaving the house we shared for the night - to facilitate the progress of my sex life.

What is the SW on?

There's a lot of sex in the classics.
(Still scarred by A-level Latin...)

Dancing vet was a reference to Alistair taking part in Denise’s dance-fit class. I assume it was something that “Bartleby” said.

Robert incorrectly used “Lynda and I” in tonight’s episode, something along the lines of “It makes a huge difference to Lynda and I”.

No way that Robert would make that mistake, living all those years with Lynda.

(Unless he has been watching too much Masterchef recently and has been infected by John and Gregg’s chronic bad grammar).

I thought exactly the same thing about Robert’s lapse!

I did too!

I think he just needs a bit more time and the sw to remember who he is supposed to be

It is entirely possible that at least some of the SWs don't actually know who Robert is supposed to be; this week's one only started to write for TA last August and may never have heard Real Robert speak. (And may not know when someone in his eighties would use "I" and when he would use "me", because she may never have been taught this detail of grammar herself: it may not have been mentioned in English lessons at school any time more recent the early nineteen-sixties.)

I'm assuming you meant Robert rather than Jim, who is also out of character for someone in his eighties.

Not just sex life but an affair!

I am quite angry about how this affair is being pushed, both by the characters and in the plot, as a normal and ok thing. Affairs aren't ok! Leave your partner if you're unhappy. Then start a relationship with someone else. And crossover in anything physical is wrong.

Why does no one in Ambridge tell Alistair that?

Glad I’m not the only one who was spluttering with disbelief at Jim going for a sleepover at his friend’s house in hopes his son would get his leg over (!) with his married (!!) colleague (!!!)

I didn’t notice the grammatical lapse I’m afraid, too busy wondering about what this ancient puzzle is supposed to be, any thoughts?

I assume Bartleby will spot Denise tiptoeing out of Alistair’s house in the morning, and this will be the theme of his next video.