Archers thread #177: Will Bridge Farm get a PassiveAggressivHaus? 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 love to have a moribund camper van parked indefinitely outside your home, 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.)

Over to you!

My utter misremembering of the non-existent key safe shows just how closely I am paying attention! Time to give up on TA, perhaps?

You're spot on, though, @IHaveNeverLivedintheCastle - Jakob would never leave his house keys under a plant pot any more than I would leave mine under the front door mat.

It is just absolute drivel. I cannot imagine anyone new listening to this week's episodes and ever wanting to listen again.

I so miss The Archers, it just reminded me of home and everything I miss since I emigrated.

but as @AskingQuestionsAllTheTime said above, Kate would lock herself out.

@DadDadDad Totally OT, triggered by a thread on a other board - do you do the RSS Christmas Quiz?

Oh dear. My plan was to listen to both this weeks and last week’s omnibus today and catch up with some housework, but this seems like it might be a pretty painful affair from a skim of this thread 😬

Jakob still wouldn't do something as unJakoblike as leaving a key under a flowerpot.

There's loads of options for Kate if she forgets a key- all of Brian, Lilian, Adam or Alice would take her in/ keep a key for her. Chris as well.

Only bothered with today’s omnibus in the end .

I do wonder if reading this thread and thus being primed for it, and possibly also hearing it as part of a omnibus (as opposed to in 12 minute fragments) made me a bit more amenable to it. I just kind of let wash over me and actually didn’t hate it by the end 🫠 but wtf, it was ridiculous wasn’t it

as you were, everyone…

No - should I? I've just looked at last year's and some of them are ridiculously difficult, so I'm not sure it appeals.

409 posts in a week! Unfortunately some marketing types would probably regard this week's trip as a great success if judged purely by the volume of comments. I don't subscribe to the view that all publicity is good publicity, as Gerald Ratner would probaby agree (one for the older listeners there).

If people had to visit an abattoir there'd be a lot more vegetarians.

I used to do it, but increasingly the answers have become dependent on happening to know, or having a lucky guess, on niche knowledge, like the number of runs in a 4th innings chase in test matches on the Indian subcontinent. I know only one person in real life who does it, and he often wins or gets an "honorable mention". I was just curious as to whether you did, as I no longer know any statisticians in real life.

Ratner was relatively recent! I feel 150 years old now!

If you go to YouTube and search "Gerald Ratner", that 1991 IoD speech is there. It's so much better than the mere M&S prawn sandwich remark!

Meh - even if this thread kept this pace up for the next week, it isn't going to be in the top 50 fastest-filling threads of all time, and a long way from the 11 threads that filled in less than 1 week.

Assuming you mean Mumsnet Archers threads here - is there a list of these @DadDadDad? would be fascinated to know the top 11

@Yardbird - only the list that I keep in my spreadsheet (or spreadshit as the agriculturally-minded like them to call them here!). I'm not Royal Statistical Society material (sorry, @MereDintofPandiculation ) but I've been tracking the stats since the early days of these threads. Here's the top ten for what it's worth:

Rank | Thread | Lasted | Date ............. | Key event
.. 1 . .... 52 ........ 24.2hrs.. 03 Apr 2016 Helen stabbing of Rob
.. 2 . .... 53 ........ 41.4hrs.. 04 Apr 2016 Aftermath of Helen stabbing Rob
.. 3 . .... 65 ........ 76.4hrs.. 11 Sep 2016 Verdict in Helen's trial
.. 4 . .... 51 ........ 82.1hrs.. 31 Mar 2016 Helen talks to Jess; stabs Rob
.. 5 . .... 54 ........ 91.5hrs.. 06 Apr 2016 Includes poems for Rob in hospital
.. 6 . .... 64 ........ 93.7hrs.. 07 Sep 2016 Last stages of Helen's trial
.. 7 . ... 164 ........ 95.4hrs.. 05 May 2024 Alice drunk, car accident
.. 8 . .... 50 ....... 121.4hrs.. 26 Mar 2016 New smiley discussion
.. 9 . .... 48 ....... 142.0hrs.. 13 Mar 2016 Ramping up of abuse by Rob
.. 10. .... 86 ....... 158.0hrs.. 23 Feb 2018 Nic Grundy's death

The 11th was another Helen / Rob storyline thread, and the 12th lasted nearly 200 hours so it's way off the pace. Kirsty and Tom's (non) wedding got a huge reaction, but is now at 15th place.

I’m usually a reader not commenter on here, but had to come on to talk about the absolutely ridiculous story line this week. I hadn’t clicked it was related to the whole scam week thing at the beeb. But honestly what a waste of my life listening to the omnibus this morning. Who would choose to sleep on a camp bed in a barn as their holiday let was a scam?

And how did everyone have time to get in and sort a thanksgiving dinner etc? Madness. Hopefully back to something like normality next week.

And yet it got on POTW...

Thanks so much! I suspected they were mostly Helen/Rob related. I was a junior listener with my grandma back in the early 2000s, but only got back into it again as an adult around the tuna bake times.

Where was this thanksgiving meal prepped and cooked?

And by whom? It surely can't have been Ruth!

I’m afraid I’ve got to the point where I listen if I remember- which says it all. Unfortunately I remembered tonight- but after listening I wish that I had forgotten.

It was only a few weeks ago that we had the culmination of the George drama which was, of course, excellent. How can a show be so patchy? Thanksgiving and Justin’s CC have been real low points…

I think Clarrie was doing the turkey and Jill the pumpkin pie, but I wasn't listening hard.

yeah, Jill was doing the pumpkin pie 'under instruction' from Chuck
tbf pumpkin pie not in many british cooks repertoire
and when I asked an american friend to tell me we fell at the first hurdle as she only knew how to make it with tinned pumpkin pulp, and I had an actual pumpkin

Yes, I made pumpkin pie once for a work-related Thanksgiving do, the recipe was basically a bought pastry case filled with tinned pumpkin mixed with sugar and cinnamon iirc. I doubt Jill appreciated having Chuck’s grandmother’s recipe bestowed upon her. A lot of trad US recipes are made with tins - it’s a big country and presumably they couldn’t all get the same fresh ingredients, especially for events like Thanksgiving.