Archers thread #174: God it's lame! But it still limps on. 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 Ben-meets-Zainab is on a par with Elizabeth-meets-Darcy, 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/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 @Bruisername for the title inspiration. She said God it's lame and that seemed to strike a chord with many, for some reason.

I am terrified of wasps and live in fear of encountering a hornet, so that was a tricky episode. I hope that's the last we're going to hear of them, except for confirmation that they've been nuked. [shudder]

So what do we reckon - custodial or suspended sentence for George? Will Clarrie return from Great Yarmouth or will she realise that actually life as a carer for her (presumably disabled) sister is easier than the endless and thankless drudgery at Grange Farm? Will any more tables collapse at the Village Hall?

Over to you!

That is exactly what Jill did about 30 years ago.

Men’s handkerchiefs are still large. You need a large handkerchief to wipe the screwdriver you’ve just used to open the can and stir the paint.

@Trivium4all No eggs? One of the “weird” things I found when I moved to Yorkshire was it was impossible to buy an egg salad sandwich because hard boiled egg was a salad ingredient - ham salad, cheese salad all came with hard boiled egg halves scattered through the greenery.

however, given Lynda was so worried about how azra may perceive the incident perhaps that suggests her intentions were racist and she’s realised More likely, that she realised it could have been perceived like that, and was horrified because that wasn’t her motivation.

Yes, precisely. Which is why I said Lynda wouldn’t have an ingrained anti-townie prejudice.

Or - perhaps we also need to be more sensitive to intention and understand someone is being a certain way because of age/actions rather than skin colour

Exactly.

More likely, that she realised it could have been perceived like that, and was horrified because that wasn’t her motivation.

I think that's likely what happened.

It was the way Lynda spoke slowly, spelling out the word animals, as if she didn’t think Khalil understood English, an assumption she was presumably making based on the colour of his skin. I don’t think she would have done that if he had been white. It feels like the SWs are trying to make some point about an Asian family moving to the village - there was the whole Asian invaders joke with Zainab and the hornets. Maybe they are just trying to make it clear because we can’t actually see - a few people on here didn’t realise Denise was black straightaway.

Maybe it's going to be a teaching point where people realise, through Lynda, that intentions don't trump perception or negate impact.

Been meening to say for a while, if anyone's worried about the food in fallons vegan cafe... try the pasteries from here:
https://www.alexgoochbaker.com/story
100%plant based and very very tasty Chocolate Croissants

And I've got some very rich vegan chocolate cake /tort recipes (vegan friends)

*although I do agree about the oak milk in tea... I can drink it but its not the same

Not necessarily. Sunningdale isn't rural, but it isn't your average commuter belt village. Not unusual to see a someone famous in Waitrose.

I'll give chocolate croissants a miss. I thought the point of croissants was that they are buttery.

Maybe they are just trying to make it clear because we can’t actually see - a few people on here didn’t realise Denise was black straightaway.

I think pretty much everyone didn't realise she was black until her hair was mentioned - in connection with the awards ceremony where Chelsea came to the rescue with her collection of charity shop evening dresses. I can't remember whether she was a speaking character before that, but she had been around for decades.

She was a silent. About as vociferous as Joanne. We will hear Joanne when the SW decides that South-East Asians are under represented in Ambridge.

Carlotta will similarly find a voice when they decide Ambridge needs a Latin-American-heritage resident.

Who's going to be Ambridge's first trans character?

I didn't mean that there would be an exact match in terms of clientele, more that I'm surprised she's making an effort at all to attract return customers for employers she cannot possibly have any respect for when the future success or failure of the business is of little interest to her personally, and in fact its failure would possibly be more beneficial to her.

Who knows who the customers at the terum are now! I no longer have any idea what it looks like after the various episodes of decluttering, school dining room soullessness, cow hide chic in and then out again ...

Delighted to hear that Patricia Greene is still working from her care home, and that does explain the slight dissonance.

Frankly if George doesn’t go down after all this palaver, I might stop listening. They have dragged it out too long.

Frankly if George doesn’t go down after all this palaver, I might stop listening. They have dragged it out too long.

Still a lot quicker than it would be in IRL.

I note radio 4 have got in on the spin off fandom podcasts game

https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/bbc-radio-4-launches-official-archers-companion-podcast

Whoever it is playing Adam is a terrible ham. He permanently sounds like he's been told to read his lines sounding like a lothario

It's yet another attempt to push listeners into using BBC Sounds over their preferred podcasting apps, so I won't be listening for now. I will trust you all on these threads to tell me if it becomes unmissable!

Edited to remove superfluous pronouns. Pronouns get everywhere!

I think Adam is well-acted. One or two of the cast seem a bit weaker than others or less believable, but generally they are good.

I'll give the podcast a go. Emma Freud seems all right. As long as it doesn't have the jingle that ruins Americast and the like. Why shouldn't the BBC promote it's own podcast service?

The interviews with the actors videos are good but I've not watched many.

I'm very worried the new podcast will make the SWs self-conscious and that they will start playing to the gallery.

I’m happy to stick to this thread - the podcast doesn’t interest me

The SWs wouldn't read this thread anyway, would they? A bit unfortunate if they saw some of the disobliging things posted.

They'd have to have crystal balls for it to have any effect on what they had written six weeks earlier!

Never stopped posters on the BBC's own messageboard (aka Mustardland) years ago! I always wondered if that came as a nasty shock. They may have expected us to be more like I imagine Archers Addicts to have been and sit around saying 'Ooh, isn't Shula marvellous!' and 'Who's your favourite character? I can't say, there are so many to choose from!' and 'I do love the comic storylines! Bring on the Christmas panto' and so forth. If so, they will have been sadly disappointed.

I just meant I’m not interested in a podcast and am quite happy to enjoy the archers through these threads!!

AlanFranksDiary
I'll give chocolate croissants a miss. I thought the point of croissants was that they are buttery.

They are still 'buttery/flakey etc.... not sure I would know they were vegan if I didn't ask ...my point was basicaly - very tasty bakery items can be vegan (and i just love chocolate, it's probbly a bit more like a Pain au chocolat).... now I've make myself hungery for pasteries

Why shouldn't the BBC promote it's own podcast service?

I can't speak for others. My personal issue with BBC Sounds is not that they promote it incessantly, but that they have some podcasts (e.g. this Archers one) that are exclusively available there and others that are only released to other platforms after a month. I don't mind the month's wait for non-time-sensitive things like In Our Time, but it's ridiculous for news, current affairs, and topical comedy. From a public service broadcaster that's not on, IMO, it goes way beyond promotion into trying to create a monopoly and control listeners' choice. There's a lot of small things that BBC Sounds could do to make it a better platform, and that way they might get more people to switch, but fundamentally there will still be people like me who want all my podcasts in one place and no matter how good BBC Sounds gets I won't switch over unless & until it also hosts all my non-BBC podcasts.

I imagined a great big brown thing on a plate tasting of palm oil and cocoa powder. I'm nowhere near any of the bakeries.

It hadn't crossed my mind to seek podcasts other than the ones on the R4 schedule. I pick and choose what I listen to now as I find more and more of them tedious. I would have been at home in Archers Addicts, I suspect.

When the BBC repeats trailers repeatedly, I find that I will usually avoid whatever it is.