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!

Agree that mick is terribly written

I thought the lyndy/robert scene was badly written too

I'm losing suspension of disbelief tbh

glad we’ve not heard from George - I like to listen to the archers as dipping in and out of the village so hate being taken to different locations!!!

I think that’s a good analysis.

Which was why it was good seeing him have real emotions and an actual opinion.

I find it slightly amusing that the only character we've heard using a washing machine in several years (I think the last time may have been when Phil hilariously dyed some of Jill's clothes pink while she was away for a week, or some such comedy caper) has been called "Mucky Mick" here, presumably on the basis of Helen not liking his using Joy's hot tub...

Personally, if Helen said it was raining outside I'd check, and if she gave her opinion about anything I'd tend to assume the opposite until I had proof she wasn't wrong, but that's probably just me.

I wonder if part of the problem is that a lot of the really good longstanding characters are getting old and we need that new blood

unfortunately they haven’t managed to make the Brookfield kids engaging. And then we have the new characters who don’t seem to hit the spot

the horrobins are good I suppose

It’s all so rubbish I can barely be bothered to comment - although I do enjoy keeping up with the threads!

but I have to note how sad I am at how they’ve ruined Robert. It surely can’t be hard to maintain consistency- he was a well defined and well written character before but he’s just a grumpy old man with none of his previous personality! The old Robert would never have ranted “you can jolly well do it yourself” and then stomped off. Never!

The old Robert would never have ranted “you can jolly well do it yourself” and then stomped off. Never!

Which is perhaps one reason Lynda is the monster she is today.

I don’t get her rewilding idea. So their garden will look an overgrown mess but they will educate their guests.

I am assuming they don’t rely on the b&b money?

although given the writing atm we will no doubt have guests saying how amazing it is and how they’ll cancel their day trip to hear all about it

The old Robert did get into stupid fights over things that were beneath him, though: the competitive twitching with Jim, for instance, and the taking revenge on some B&B guests because their children, who were camping in the garden, used the bathroom.

Do you think anyone involved in TA reads our posts?

Only the intern.

@Bruisername I don’t get her rewilding idea. So their garden will look an overgrown mess but they will educate their guests.

It will be "rewilded" in a very manicured way - I expect Robert will be sent out every morning with the kitchen scissors, to tidy it up and make sure that not a single plant strays beyond its allocated space.

Are we finally going to get Joy's backstory?

You've been discussing pointless new characters and hanging storylines. This is the first time the effect of the accident on Mick and Joy has been mentioned.

Alastair and Denise have vanished.

I thought Joy and Emma's conversation was good. I liked the fact that Joy can see Mick's point of view, but she doesn't support what he's done. I think Mick has a point about Emma's integrity.

I can't be doing with all this heartwarming. Are we going to have to put up with it until the cows come home Christmas? Admittedly we had a little bit of vinegar from MM yesterday when he had a go at Emma and a bit more today when Ed was talking about George, but the overall tone is still schmaltz.
Joy hinted to Emma about the dark thing she did 'for the best' WRT Rochelle and evidently still thinks of herself as a good mother (despite whatever awful thing she did inc going NC).

It is my opinion that Emma probably wouldn't recognise integrity if it were served to her "on a plate with parsley round it", to quote PG Wodehouse.

It's actually rather sad that she clearly has no idea what the concept means, since she was able to say indignantly and presumably with a straight face that she had always abided by The Seven Principles of Public Life that she signed up to and went on a course about. I can't help feeling she falls by the wayside when it comes to number six, given that she knows perfectly well that the dwelling she lives in has never had planning permission and that she and the other people in it have never paid council tax. Even ignoring the obstruction of a police enquiry, and the downright theft of goods, surely a councillor ought not to turn a blind eye to that sort of theft from the community?

Did Joy go NC, or did Rochelle? At some point they'll presumably have to make this story ever-so-slightly less unclear. As it is, I don't much care about it, though <controversial opinion klaxon!> I don't dislike Joy. And (in my head) Rochelle and the kiddies are probably fantasy characters who only exist in Joy's head.

Oh ... and Emma needs to be dumped by Ed and to get back together with Will. Serve the pair of them right!

Ooh, now that would be interesting.

Whenever I have got in touch with the parish council I have been asked for my address. Same when I contacted my MP. They won't act if you aren't paying council tax in the parish or don't live in the constituency. As Muck hasn't got an address and doesn't pay council tax, I can't see why his complaint has got any traction anyway. If he uses Joy's address she loses her single person discount. But I suppose this is Ambridge.

She really is a monster. I really don't understand why people keep caving and doing what she wants. I find her going on about theatrical matters so painfully embarrassing...it's like a bad caricature of a bad stereotype of a bad actor. Ugh.

What would Emma think if she found out that she got basic sausage rolls and Helen got Sachertorte, which takes the best part of two days to make?! I do love a good homemade sausage roll, mind.

Um, I returned here tonight to see what people thought about the Ed and Fallon convo - can’t believe no one’s commented on it?!
We know where that’s going, don’t we…..
OK that’s implied, possibly, in the posts above about Emmur going back to Will.

Me too!! Although I didn’t think of the Emmur / Will twist, and I can’t decide if that would be genius or a lazy re-hash (although another layer for George to add to his future therapy agenda). Either way, Fallon escaping Harrison gets my vote.

I feel like crying for Emmur.

otoh, there is quite an energy between Ed and Fallon. (I don’t think I’ve ever even used that phrase before!)

The trend in gardening today is towards a more informal look and greater friendliness to wildlife. “Prairie” look with grasses and drifts of perennials. Resisting the urge for an autumn tidy-up and leaving dead stems to catch the low sunlight and to be outlined in frost. The RHS is trying to get us to love snails.

Quite nice that one person living in a mobile home and paying no council tax is complaining about another person living in a mobile home and paying no council tax