Archers thread #170: The scriptwriters have cast a Paul on proceedings! 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'd like to hear more of Drunk Alistair, 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 https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/radioaddicts/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/radioaddicts/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 @OverArmour for the title. I was tempted to try some sort of complex riff on chocolate names, given @PedantScorner's lightbulb moment - Paul's sister is Cara Mack! - and all the nonsense in last night's episode about coffee creams, but I couldn't be bothered, beyond thinking we must all be Cadbury's Fruit and Nutcases for listening at the moment. Let's hope the SWs take a walk along Quality Street or we'll have to put a Bounty on their heads!

And over to you ...

I’m not really familiar with FASD but I think there are other symptoms such as learning difficulties. Martha is about 4 now so I’d expect her to have missed a few toddler age milestones if she had it. The meltdowns also seem to have only started since Alice’s latest relapse which suggests that is the cause. But who knows!

Will had therapy? When was this?

I’m sure he did! And the making the pots was part of it??

I’m going to hunt through some old episodes…

The pots sounds familiar, but I thought that was just him having been encouraged (by Clarrie?) to get a hobby?

Hmm, I’m just musing on when Brad and Mia first got together … I think it was then, and Eddy was winding Brad up? Lots of talk about ‘The Grundy Way’ and how you never rat on family.

But Emmur has got a foot in both camps - her beloved brother and niece or her darling son? I think she’s on the horns of a dilemma. Which I always picture as a rather shaggy, friendly sort of bovine.

12th June 2022: "Ed is amused that Will has signed up for a weekly pottery class to encourage Mia in her studies"

And a little later he sold a sculpture to Toyah at the fête, Pat having invited her to come to it.

Am I imagining it or did Will have therapy years ago because Emma/Brian/gamekeeping was getting all too much for him, he was verging on the suicidal and Neil gave him some avuncular advice? Didn't want a repeat of Greg Turner.

Wait - so are we saying the blessed tray was actually, secretly ‘Made By Will’?

(The doormat, btw, was just there to tell us Emma was entering No 1 The Green - as we might otherwise have thought George had gone back with her to Little Grange.)

Will would have had 'councilling'.

A pottery tray may be slightly more useful than a chocolate teapot.

Well, I don’t know, @WagnersFourthSymphony - he was ridiculously excited about it. I was sort of thinking he might have expanded his skills into painting on whatever material it was made of. I wouldn’t mind if this presaged a new area of enterprise for him.

He could go into business with Fallon.

Who might be single soon.

Like him …

It was actually Nic's death that finally pushed Will over the edge. This article doesn't mention therapy so perhaps I imagined that. I agree it was weird, the degree of enthusiasm he showed about the (Look! squirrels!) tray.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4xbtKsmy00njyfrz99gpjbV/will-grundy-poacher-turned-gamekeeper

Feedback just finishing now. Entirely devoted to The Archers. I came in halfway so am still on the bit where they're doing a studio tour and talking about sound effects and how they stop the scripts rustling.

I don't think any Grundy would ever suggest that another Grundy should pay money to go to a therapist or for counselling; all they did when he was in bad state after the death of his wife was take away the tools of his trade, and thus his job and his house, in order to help him. And after Emma went off to live with his brother and before Nic's arrival in his life, I don't think he was on speaking terms with Neil much, because he felt that Neil (as Emma's father) was opposed to him, and incidentally to all Grundys in general and Ed in particular.

Oooh, interesting. Will enjoy hearing your feedback on the feedback!! So far it sounds like it’s more of a PR session!

Quick - fill up the thread!

Then we can suggest ‘Look! Squirrels!’ as the next thread title …

Which of you was it who said they preferred shorter titles? I rather like extremes. Maybe just:

‘Squirrels’.

Feedback always does sound like a PR session. Anyone who criticises the BBC or any of its programmes is deemed to be misguided. I gave up bothering with it decades ago.

Feedback? Seriously? I’ve been sitting here with my silent phone in my hand.

This is what comes of messing about with radio 4 scheduling.

True true

I once had an email read out and my mum called me up and said ‘that was you wasn’t it?’ Despite it being first name only

This exactly. I've just listened to it, although I missed the first couple of minutes and the very end.

It was very dull. Not enough listener feedback and what there was was blandly dismissed by a man with a calm, reasonable voice. So, for example, anyone who thinks that the SWs don't have enough background knowledge of characters and stories is just mistaken.

I should have known better than to listen. Feedback (the programme) is just an opportunity for producers to ignore any feedback and tell the stupid listeners why they are wrong. I don't normally bother to listen for precisely that reason. This episode felt like a really lost opportunity.

@TottersBlanklyIntoThePhysicGarden . 'Look! Squirrels!' has far more effect.

@Bruisername , Maybe she shouldn't have called you Shula-Elizabeth.

Someone writes in to say that they feel the scriptwriters don't have enough background knowledge of characters and stories, and this is denied on air by a spokesman; the person who wrote the original letter has no opportunity to say "well if they have, why don't they use it?", which is the obvious response to that particular bromide.

That’s the problem with the format - read out the question. Person answers that no that’s not true or they don’t agree. End of conversation unless the presenter tries to push back on behalf of the questioner. Which they never do.

Yes, the usual whitewash. There were some criticisms voiced, but Jeremy Howe (the Editor) as ever simply batted them away. I've been listening to Feedback on and off since the very early 1980s and this is how the BBC has always reacted to criticisms. Chris Dunkley, the first presenter, was audibly irked by this, and I always assumed that's why he was removed and replaced by the more emollient Roger Bolton, who has also now been replaced by the even more 'Yay! BBC!' Andrea Catherwood.

Frankly, I don't know why they bother broadcasting it.

Still, it was interesting to hear that they can't get hold of the particularly thick, non-rustling paper they used to print the scripts on and so they've had to find a lectern device for the actors to put their scripts on instead. Also good to hear Angus Stobie's own accent, which is posh Edinburgh, as I expected it to be after discovering the other day that that's where he's from. And also to hear Emerald O'Hanrahan saying what so many of us have commented on over the years - she and Charlotte Martin (Susan) work hard on sounding more and more alike as the years go on. One of the little things that keep me listening, I suppose.