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!

I also find it irritating for the real life professionals that Brad seems to have taken on all that work

But maybe Leonard wants to move in to Brookfield? I think more to the point the SWs want him to move into Brookfield so he can be incorporated into whatever plot they have in mind. I'm almost wondering if we are building up to the death of Jill and the SWs want Leonard in position so they don't have to write him out and he can be permanently installed there as a character in his own right. The whole Leonard/bicycle storyline felt like the an introductory scene from Casualty from the start - quite literally an accident waiting to happen. Everything about it from discovering and restoring the bike (to establish a previously unsignalled love of cycling), his love of speed (ensuring D and R would be on his case), the cycling helmet safety warning (to make sure he wouldn't be too badly injured), and finally the unnecessary hooting (to ensure they would feel obliged to move him into Brookfield) has felt like the manoeuvring of a chess piece.

Yup!

Long time lurker here, temporarily delurking to say I agree Leonard is being manoeuvred by the SWs into Brookfield but I think that can only be a good thing. A decent actor as a central figure, yes please. And also a character who seems to have something about him, which that branch of the Archers badly needs.

I don’t think we’ll hear much from Jill again, again a good thing. I’d rather remember her as was than what she seems to have become. I suppose the type of farmer’s wife she represented is a dying breed but back in the day you could almost smell the aromas from the Brookfield kitchen.

While I’m here, new Robert makes me sad for old Robert. I would love to know what direction the actor was given for such a personality change.

I want to know how a cycling helmet would be able to prevent a broken wrist. Spinal and limb injuries were more common in bicycling accidents than head injuries by a long way, even before people started wearing helmets, and helmets do nothing to prevent them (and may actually cause spinal injury, which is a horrible thought: the treachery of it! Damaged by a thing that is supposed to protect you!)

Fantastic first post @Dontevenlookatme - I agree with everything you say about Leonard, Jill and Robert. Lurk less, post more!

They are going to turn Leonard into an opioid junkie, addicted to his painkillers once the pain has abated.

I think the helmet was so a broken wrist wouldn’t be combined with a skull fracture, or at the least, a concussion that would prevent Leonard ringing Jill and getting an invite to Brookfield before David and Ruth had worked out to barricade themselves

I agree. Leonard needed an injury serious enough to require him to move into Brookfield and bad enough for David and Ruth to feel obliged to agree (coupled with the fact they felt partially responsible due to the beeping), but not so serious there was a threat to life. I would have thought a broken collarbone was a more usual cycling injury, but presumably a wrist in a sling was thought to be more disabling.

I wonder now my fave Leonard is moving in will Jill leave him a chunk of the farm if she expires. Has she got a share in the homestead , im not sure but that would piss David and Ruth and not forgetting Pip right off. I dont think Ben or the other son would be that bothered. But I would think Leonard would turn it down cos he is so nice,but cat amongst the pigeons so to speak.

Jill owns Glebe Cottage (still ostensibly let to Carol?) and gets a pension from the farm. I don’t think she retains any of the A or B shares in Brookfield.

Does she still have the bees? She could leave him those!

@TottersBlanklyOnTheEdge
Does she still have the bees? She could leave him those!

Oh blimey, then we'd have Leonard telling them if/when she pops her clogs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telling_the_bees

I love the tradition of telling the bees. I wonder whether Jill told them about Beth's pregnancy. And whether they showed a suitable lack of moral outrage.

I've not listened in a couple of weeks.

Hang on.... Jill? I thought she was...

I wonder whether Jill told them about Beth's pregnancy.

I shouldn’t imagine she mentioned Chelsea having got herself upduffed* to the bees: they would have swarmed to see off the trespassing Horrorbin.

*Given the circumstances, that strikes me as a fair description.

My goodness, David is an arse. From the very beginning - surely you would at least offer to help do up the trousers?! That would take no time at all and not put you out. I understand that he was getting a bit miffed about taking hours out of a busy day to pack up the house, but he must have been able to see that there wasn't another realistic option. So ungracious and mean spirited. And with Leonard barely out of hearing as well.

Oh yes, I meant Chelsea of course.

@LillianGish I'm almost wondering if we are building up to the death of Jill ...

I do admire a bit of hopeless optimism.

What was Dopey doing with the shirts that he had to be reminded to fold them? Rolling them up in a ball? I enjoyed Leonard getting a taste of power, and hope he remains extremely demanding for the next six weeks.

It would be so much easier just to have dumped Jill at Leonard’s house.

Meanwhile, DH was demonstrating he was perfectly capable of doing up a trouser button one-handed, with his non-dominant hand.

It would be interesting if they did the decrepitude other than generation by generation. Once you get past 65 or so, all bets are off. On Mumsnet elderly parents board, there are people struggling to support frail parents in their 70s, while DH and I (early 80s, mid 70s) are ourselves supporting an elderly parent. It would be good if a David generation could become frail before they kill off all the Jill generation.

I thought he was hauling them out of a tumble dryer and, as you say, just rolling them into a ball.

So the SWs have turned Leonard into an unempathetic idiot to suit the plot....

Thanks for the welcome @LillianGish. I love reading these threads, I find the posters so insightful.

I’m a long term listener too and I’m in awe of the collective memory here, I’m constantly reminded of so much I’ve forgotten!

Oh hang on the actress who played Peggy has died irl not Jill.

No idea what's going on with Lynda Snell but maybe that's a blessing.

Given that Blake is such a very minor character, the evil in me rather hopes that he is washed up drowned (having hurled himself into the Am) with a note in a sealed plastic bag in his pocket saying he couldn't live with himself after what Lynda said. And when Lynda weeps and wails, for an unsympathetic Robert to point out that she admitted that she had been very unkind to him, and that she'd just have to live with it.

Old Robert would never have said such a thing, but with NuRobert all bets are off!