Archers thread #178: Ambridge or Scambridge? 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 fancy Mucky Mick, 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.)

The scars from Scambridge week will take some healing. Most of us felt we were the ones scammed - where was The Archers we know and (very occasionally) love?

Anyway, onwards and - almost certainly not - upwards. Will it be the best Christmas ever in Ambridge? Do we still care? Over to you!

I'm very much hoping Joy does have a dark past as that would be much more interesting than just having a daughter who blamed her mother for the divorce, went off the rails and became estranged. If that were all there is to it, there would have been no need for Joy to move to the middle of nowhere (ie Ambridge) and try to reinvent herself. Like @LillianGish l always felt Joy never expected to see Rochelle again and she does seem anxious about what Rochelle might say to others. (Was her migraine genuine or was she too nervous to go to a social event with Rochelle?)

I like the idea of over-nice, ingratiating Joy (who I have never liked) having done bad things in the past. A bit of moral complexity would be very welcome. I doubt that's what we are going to get though. These are the same people who brought us Scam Week after all. So I am expecting the great revelation about Joy's past - and, please God, let it come very soon - to be banal and boring and for everyone in Ambridge to fall over themselves trying to support Joy.

Never knew that about Neil!

Covering two current radio 4 topics - fostering and the shipping forecast!

Please don't let Neil die !!!

I don't think Rex would say, "get a shower".

Bankholidayhelp
Never knew that about Neil!

That's because that is not what happened. It is purest invention. I wish the current editorial team didn't think the listeners know as little about the programme and the characters in it as they do.

They could at least bother to have a quick look in the BBC's own reference book about The Archers before wishing saccharine hokum on us.

I am shooketh! I've listed for more decades than I like to admit to .

This rather interesting article published last year
https://www.greatbritishlife.co.uk/magazines/norfolk/23232925.neil-carter-celebrates-50-years-archers-40-norfolk/
contains this quote from the actor who plays Neil: He certainly had no background, and to this day I am still waiting to hear anything about his life before being a 16-year-old! Which rather confirms what @AskingQuestionsAllTheTime just said.

So taken up with Neil’s revelations (sorry about the photo!) I completely forgot to ask how on earth do you just randomly get your hands on a beaver family? I wouldn’t know where to start - saw some in the Loire in Nevers earlier this year, but the idea you could just scoop a few up and ship them off somewhere else is baffling!

Local zoo/wildlife park for the beaver... It's got to be illegal to release them just randomly

It is illegal - hence fencing and licensing.

LillianGish
this quote from the actor who plays Neil: "He certainly had no background, and to this day I am still waiting to hear anything about his life before being a 16-year-old!"

Someone ought to have shown Brian Hewlett his character's entry in The Book of The Archers: that makes it clear he was born in Oxfordshire and then later moved with his mother to Birmingham before coming to Ambridge when he was sixteen.

I think that stealing them from whoever has bought them and is keeping them behind fencing in an enclosure is also probably just a little illegal. I hope Rex, being a little more sensible than his brother Toby, might think better of this.

I live on the East Kent coast and beavers have been introduced in a couple of non-tidal rivers. They seem to be daft creatures, as they frequently swim too far downstream and are washed up, dead or dying, on beaches.

Been listening around 50 years and the news about Neil was a revelation.

Or, a complete load of rubbish.

@Godesstobe (Was her migraine genuine or was she too nervous to go to a social event with Rochelle?)
I suspect the latter, because another character (I forget who) said 'Oh, I didn't know Joy suffered from migraines' - or words to that effect. And nor did we. SWs nust have included that line for a reason.

The wild beavers are going to be fun aren't they. And where are they going to get them from without breaking the law? You need a licence.
https://www.advocates-for-animals.com/post/will-new-laws-better-protect-beavers-and-their-habitats

(I'll leave the picture as it's rather cute.)

WagnersFourthSymphony
The wild beavers are going to be fun aren't they. And where are they going to get them from without breaking the law?

Kirsty will revert to a previous life and get in touch with her friends from her eco-activist college days, who will put her in touch with the beaver bombers.

She will then break the law without actually having to steal the beavers from some other rewilding project.

Heh. She's hardly going to be able to keep it a secret. Do you think they'll be able to blag that the creatures made their own way there, spreading naturally? Or is she going to be a prosecuted persecuted eco-activist, achieving some classic BBC both-sidesism?

Yup that was utter rubbish about Neil. Someone who'd been through 9 children's homes before the age of five would not and could not be as balanced as he always has been.

Also, Soosan would have never agreed to marry a foundling. Think of the neighbours!

I'm betting on baker's wife for Neil's real mother. If she was inconveniently pregnant by someone other than her husband, one of the easiest ways to keep it quiet whilst making sure the baby was looked after properly, would be to take the baby to the police

It was all terribly Dickensian good orphans.

Like Isatis I suspect Mrs Bun the Baker might have had a bun in the oven.

Who else was it for whom the editors suddenly invented a long backstory last year?

So for those thinking that Joy had never wanted to see Rochelle again why would she have her address in her address book (?) and why would she go telling everyone in Ambridge about her daughter Rochelle and the baton twirling etc etc

• but then in the other hand why did nobody (looking at you Lynda and Susan) never think it strange that Rochelle and the kiddies didn't visit

• I appreciate I'm too wrapped in this....

Can we discuss who we’d like to hear more of in 2025?

Brian without Miranda.
Adam (who I'm liking now he's not exhausted all the time) without Ian.
Jakob.
Alistair and Jim (without Denise and Paul).

The Bridge Farm lot - especially Natasha.

Kirsty & Rex - I want them to get married and adopt a sibling group and live happily every after. And bring back Toby (without Pip and Rosie).

Tracy and Chelsea (without her sinousy voice).

I agree everyone is so interested in Rochelle why? Surely there must be other family's in that area that have grown up children that turn up and no-one gives a monkey about. Just goes to show how Joy has integrated herself and hasn't stopped talking since she turned up out of nowhere.
I reckon Rochelle was a mule and Joy found out and threatened her with the police. That's why they fell out.