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!

Over played it with Neil, too much.
Thanks for the article on him LillianGish.

More of this year please - Usha, Jim, Jazzer, Brian and Neil🤞
Less of - Harrison and Chelsea

Surely a foundling in the 1950s would have been adopted?

I'd have thought so. Born in 1957 according to the BBC, which makes him four years older than me. Peak adoption era, I believe. Neil sounds much older than that, which as we have discussed here before will be because Brian Hewlett was born in 1939 so will be 86 this year. (Many thanks for that link to the article, @LillianGish, very interesting and touching.)

Realistically, by the end of this year we should have said goodbye to Peggy, and now that June Spencer has died, surely that's on the cards for the near future. They may also decide it's time either to kill Jill off or officially make her a silent character. Unfortunately Patricia Greene's voice doesn't seem up to a radio acting role now. Christine is a silent character now, but will also not live forever. She's 93 now.

Given Brian Hewlett's age it would be wise to start thinking about retiring Neil too. If he's still living in Norfolk and travelling to Brum for recordings, how long can that continue? And then there's poor old Brian. I hope Charles Collingwood is in good health, but as many have noticed, he seems a bit breathless now. He'll be 82 later this year. And finally John Rowe (Jim) was 84 yesterday.

It's a bit distasteful to be speculating in this way, but unfortunately the production team really should be grappling with these issues. There's been a lack of forward planning to develop strong characters who can fill the void when those above are gone.

(They can kill Justin off as soon as they like. I wouldn't miss him.)

agree that they haven’t created strong characters so are reliant on the octogenarians

in terms of younger characters development I think only Bridge Farm has done well.

They’ve not really developed any characters like Brian and Neil. Feel like they are trying to fit Chris into the Neil mould

It does make me sad that such well acted and interesting characters could be bowing out in coming months/years.

Re: the ridiculous selling off of Home Farm, I wonder if they didn’t want two inheritance storylines and chose Bridge Farm as the family with more dramatic potential.

(They can kill Justin off as soon as they like. I wouldn't miss him.)

Absolutely agree @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g Completely agree. I think over the past couple of years the SWs have panicked and thrown in storylines for younger characters - Mia, Brad etc. But the storylines , by default, dont appeal to a broad demographic. Plus they are relied upon too much instead of being a slow burn over the years.

In my view, they need to concentrate more on those in the middle age-wise so that they become the new generation of headline characters

And more slow burn stories that aren’t just dragged out but develop naturally - like Brian and his affairs

at the moment it feels like the stories pop up unnaturally. Like Harrison - I’m expecting bad things for his career but it’s not ongoing - it just sort of pops up every now and then

it looks as thouogh the first dedding of 2025 is going to be Neil, which is a shame, i really like him. Of course they may be toying with us and it will be Brian. Shame also because i like Brian as a character. Love the actor's voice.

Characters who i can live without hearing (indefinitely):
Joy
Rochelle
Mick
Jolene
Justin
Lilian
Alice
Pip
Pat
Jill
Leonard
Paul
Denise
Ian
Adam

hmmmm i wonder why i actually listen sometimes.

Are they really going to kill off Neil now they’ve introduced this new back story? Or are we getting a dna gift set?

it looks as thouogh the first dedding of 2025 is going to be Neil, which is a shame, i really like him. Of course they may be toying with us and it will be Brian

I refer the hon. poster to my earlier prediction. KOGOF.

The Neil actor is 86?!! Bloody hell that’s a shock. I’d have put him at 65 max.

I wonder how he feels acting all the chilli night scenes!

Really hope they don’t kill him.

It was so sad about Graham (Block?) who played Robert dying so soon after retirement, with him being a GP as well you’d think he’d be well placed to spot warning signs of illness early.

i wonder if Neil is going to have some sort of life changing event (heart attack or angina scare or something) and go off on a quest to discover his true identity.

and discover that this mother is Jill or Peggy - I would say the shock of which knocks her off her perch but maybe she dies just before he finds out, introducing a whole set (moral) of inheritance questions.

And more slow burn stories that aren’t just dragged out but develop naturally - like Brian and his affairs or even a bit more of characters just living their lives in homes and sets we can picture. So many encounters seem to happen out and about these days. When I think of Jill, I think of her in her kitchen (a kitchen so warm and homely Elizabeth insisted on recreating it in Lower Loxley). Similarly Jenny - though generally catering on a grander scale. I never managed to picture the house she and Brian downsized to. I can see Peggy in the Lodge with her cats or in the garden with her roses. I vividly remember Neil building Ambridge View for Susan and can picture them in their spick and span dream home. Where do Kate and Jakob live? Couldn't really tell you. Likewise Adam, Ian and Xander. Grey Gables - transformed beyond recognition now barely features. The various properties on the Green - no Christmas lights switch on this year reminding who lives in which one. Ambridge needs to be the star to allow characters to flit in and out. Christmas is often a time to cement this featuring activities at various locations - this year we had the arrival of a non-Ambridge resident to surprise one Ambridge blow-in having Christmas with another. I would be happy to see Kirsty buy Roy's house and for Natasha and Tom move into Beechwood then constantly be at loggerheads with Helen when she finally moves to Bridge Farm. I would love Tony and Pat to build their Passive Haus. The Archers needs this kind of scaffolding when other sets are being erased from the map.

Regular reader of this thread (and the spoiler thread) but v rare poster. Thanks all for the chats / insight / links! For some inexplicable reason I sometimes feel too anxious to listen without knowing what's happening first from this group, so I appreciate it!

Coming in because the Neil revelation is wild because Susan must know and there's no way she wouldn't have mentioned it every time he was grumpy / stressed / acting odd. "Well of course it's Mothers Day next month and while he says he's fine I don't believe him" etc etc in a very concerned tone.

I think the purpose of the story (and for Hannah asking him if he always knew he wanted kids) was for Hannah to become a foster carer in the near future.

Yes - it does seem clunky

I’m also not sure I would welcome a foster carer sl as we will have a stream of kids coming in temporarily to cause issues and new sl

an adoption sl would be better as would have a long term angle

especially if the kid is jacks age and we get a snooty Helen only to end up with the new kid being an angel compared to Jack being a devil!

I'm just catching up now and DNA testing was my first thought too. Mrs Bun the Baker is definitely his Mum albeit long departed. I guess there will be siblings.

Kirsty and Rex are soul mates meant to be together but releasing beavers illegally is a crazy idea.

They need to watch that episode of the simpsons where the frog ends up in Australia!

there’s a reason these things are controlled so they would be absolute eco vandals to do it illegally.

Cracking idea! I wouldn't put it past them to do something as ludicrous as this either.

‘I’m not your mother’
’YES YOU ARE’!!!!

Great post.

Willow Cottage was very small, so something like this?

Adam and Ian live in Nelson Gabriel's old house (Tim and Siobhan Hathaway lived there in between) - Honeysuckle Cottage. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00w47v9/p00vyqbr

Who lives in Nightingale Farm these days? That used to be home to Mrs Antrobus and her many Afghan dogs. She was a good character. The BBC link above tells me it then went to Matt Crawford, but that's a good few years back now.

Couldn't be Peggy who was well established in Ambridge in 1957. Jill arrived in Ambridge in 1957 - don't know the date. Neil was born on 22nd May 1957 so I suppose it's an outside possibility that she could have given birth to a baby, abandoned him and then hotfooted it to Ambridge, never revealing to Phil that she had this huge secret.

Yes, I am procrastinating.

Coming in because the Neil revelation is wild because Susan must know and there's no way she wouldn't have mentioned it every time he was grumpy / stressed / acting odd. "Well of course it's Mothers Day next month and while he says he's fine I don't believe him" etc etc in a very concerned tone. This with knobs on. Also there was the time Caroline and Oliver were fostering - not a peep from Neil.
i was also thinking of Nightingale Farm with it’s adjoining flat @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g. Another once vivid location now erased.

The Bridge Farm passive-aggressive house thread title still makes me laugh when I see it. One of my all-time favourites. Whose genius was it?