Archers thread #176: In which Ian puts the I in PTA. 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 from Wesley the ashtray collector, 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 @DeanElderberry for the pithy phrase in the thread title and @CaptainMyCaptain for suggesting it should go in there. At least we've got the spooky disco out of the way for now. Plenty of wooden dialogue in the last few episodes that could go on the village bonfire next week. It's all been too dispiriting to discuss in greater depth. I'll just say that I don't hold out any great hopes that the production team will make a good job of reflecting concern in the farming community about the changes announced in the Budget to inheritance tax for farms. So often they get an expert to talk them through stuff like this but instead of ending up with a realistic storyline they pick out the bits they like the sound of and cobble them together in a totally unrealistic way. Maybe I'll be proved wrong this time. I hope so.

Over to you!

Yes, but I'm sure they count as 'signature bakes' that she could agree, under duress, to never cook again.

If she agrees to anything not in the contract then she is a bigger idiot than I thought

I don't think they're being made anymore anyway. She was able to finally get through to Tom about how unsuitable the ideas he was suggesting were and that she knew more about baking than him. I don't think he was entirely convinced, and she had to placate him by saying that she would still try to incorporate more Bridge Farm produce, but we haven't heard of any weirdness since (if you don't count things like marmalade cake which some people on these threads hadn't heard of but turned out to be a relaively mainstream idea) so we can assume that Fallon has managed to get him to back off.

Did anyone else suspect Lillian of tampering with the car when it broke down?

On now: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06bcv9s

It's media folklore that the death of BBC soap opera heroine Grace Archer was a ploy to thwart the launch night of ITV on 22 September 1955.

But for the first time, this drama delves deep into The Archers' archives to reveal what really inspired 20 million people to tune in and left tens of thousands of listeners distraught.

Starring Simon Russell Beale, Eleanor Tomlinson and Ysanne Churchman.

Many thanks for the link to the play, @nauticant and @BoreOfWhabylon. Is that a repeat? I have a dim memory that it was on before. I'll try to catch up with it later in the week.

It's really good.

I see it’s directed by the dreaded Sean O'Connor…..

ETA and yes, it first went out in 2015.

I love Simon Russell Beale. Would listen to him reading the telephone directory.

That would make it a special for the 60th anniversary then Ambridge.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c134yn03dpmo

Can't think how I missed it first time round! Loved it though.

I’d be interested in how the intellectual property of recipes is approached - my contacts have always said that anything I create as part of my job is owned by my employer, but I’m not involved in an industry like Fallon’s. What’s the norm in the catering industry?

As for George, I can’t work out how on Earth he couldn’t see it was best to keep his head down and his mouth shut, not go around antagonising hardened criminals. I’d have thought he was savvier than that.

Maybe it's just because I'm an old person, but I thought schools gave a pretty thorough grounding in the rules around never snitching no matter what. Actually, good if they don't any more, because it was a bully's best friend, but I'm slightly surprised if it's totally forgotten.

I regarded that play as a nasty slur on a dead man who could no longer speak in his own defence, directed by a man who did his best to reduce The Archers to anti-woman porn. (And who was on record as saying that he started to be keen on TA when someone beat up one of the female characters and he thought that was terrific and exciting, even if – as we who knew the programme realised – he didn't remember who had beaten up whom and got that wrong.)

For the record, Ysanne Churchman was employed again by Godfrey Basely and played a part in TA for several years, which makes the slander look rather less totally plausible. Given that, I'm sightly surprised that Ysanne Churchman went along with vilifying her old boss. Seems unnecessarily vindictive somehow.

I think Fallon should boycott her leaving bash given how badly they treated her.

Unless there's going to be an incident the leaving bash is pointless and implausible.

I think that should read An Incident - because I'm hoping for something much more serious than a mere lower-case, not in bold, incident.

Oh absolutely.

It might, if particularly juicy, get upgraded to THE Incident…

Oh Harrison, there appears to be some cries coming from the middle of the bonfire and we haven’t seen Jack all day

oh no, Harrison’s gone into the bonfire and here comes Jack with a toffee apple

What's that you say, Skippy?

Harrison Burns

Just saying.

Going back to the Christmas Carol scenario:

Martyn and Justin are in the car waiting for breakdown service.
Martyn: [sigh] Actually, I'm getting a bit peckish again...
Justin: Now, ah, well, there are some sweets in the glovebox
Martyn: [scrabbling noises] Ah... no... I can't see any
Justin: Are you sure? There should be a bag of humbugs.
Martyn: There's an empty packet...

Yes it was heavily signalled - why did they choose Martin though?

it does feel like the sw are using gcse students to write their scripts

Apologies to all gcse students