Archers thread #180: Burgeoning backstories! Continuity, what’s that? 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 think it's a great idea for Helen and the boys to lodge with Tom, Natasha, Seren and Dippity*, 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 www.mumsnet.com/talk/radio_addicts/5244480-the-archers-spoilers-thread-10-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.)

*Can't remember who coined this, but it's genius.

I was strongly tempted to use one or both of the posts suggested for the title of this thread on the last thread, but went for something a bit briefer. However, they're brilliant and will kickstart this thread very nicely, so here they are:

@Sidebeforeself: Beavers, bridge, bunny boilers and busybodies - it's all a load of bollocks!

(I couldn't agree more!)

@DeanElderberry: I don't usually speculate much on the appearance of characters, but do wonder what it is about Miranda that is bringing out the chest-thumping silverback in Brian and Justin? One little bridge game and the course of Ambridge rewilding is set. The face that launched a thousand beavers.

Over to you!

Now they’ve brought up the loss of Home Farm again it has annoyed me afresh that Kate did what she did and seemed to have no remorse, even after her mum died. Her character now is quite different from that.

Can’t quite understand why Freddie didn’t stamp his feet and whine ‘it’s MY bloody house!’

Maybe someone will remember this and Vince and Elizabeth can go and buy home farm…. (Also think there’s a reason it’s being mentioned again….)

I can’t remember if lower Loxley has some kind of dower house?

I thought the same about Freddy he is going to inherit LL so surely Elizabeth can't let Vince move in. If the flat is so small will there be room for Vinces sheepskin coats and sovereign necklaces and rings?.
Poor Brian he seems at a bit of a loss at the moment, shouldn't he be retired or something, how old is he?
Can do with out Pip.and she can stuff her roast chicken. It's marvalous how all the young parents can dump their kids on everyone at a moments notice.
Again talk of the panto what's that all about? Why is everyone going and the build up is going to be nothing. Everyone will go then the next day everyone will say what a great time they had. ( classic TA at the moment).

LL appeared to have either a dower wing or a dower flat, occupied by Julia and Lewis and then by Lewis alone. (At least that’s how I seem to remember it, rather than their living with Nigel and Elizabeth?) Anyway, that must be where Lewis still lives unless he quietly moved away on a day I somehow missed. The actor Robert Lister who played him died in July 2023 - so essentially whatever dower accommodation exists is available for Elizabeth and her beau to move into.

Poor Freddie needs to buck up and get married or civilly partnered if he wants to stamp his authority on the ancestral pile. That would be a trigger for Elizabeth to retire to some other part of the building. She isn’t required to buy a separate house elsewhere.

Rethe panto - does Joy actually have enough tickets for all these people that want to go and also enough coaches?

I thought that Julia and Lewis were in an apartment close to the main Lower Loxley house; was it above the coach house? I don't think it was in a gatehouse (but presumably Lower Loxley has a couple of those that we've not heard of).

The Titcombe's house is probably sat empty as well.

It's marvalous how all the young parents can dump their kids on everyone at a moments notice.

In fairness to Pip, her child was with its other parent, not just dumped on a random.

Re the Titcombes - I’ve been very sad that the creative team decided domestic servants were no longer acceptable. I miss the the unspoken presence of the LL housekeeper. And Jack’s chauffeur. Even cleaners have been wiped off the Ambridge map, when in reality half the village - particularly executive home commuters, in addition to wealthy farmers and elderly residents must employ them.

This is true but I was pointing out how easy it is to get a baby sitter in TA.

Mainly because most of the parents of young children in TA are surrounded by extended family. I think that's reflective of wider society: people who live close to where they grew up and have multiple relatives nearby rarely struggle for ad hoc childcare.

And the other half are likely to be them

Nah - they couldn’t afford to live in the village. (Every former council house on The Green must have been bought and sold countless times. The Horrobin house must be the only one not privately owned now.)

Was reading an old Telegraph article about the relative prices of Inkberrow houses in, I think, 2007. Even then the thrust of the article was that everyone in Ambridge lived in a house worth over £1m. (Not The Bull, though!)

What was surprising was that at the time they valued LL as around £2m - no more than the generality of Ambridge farms and considerably less than Home Farm. Whereas I’ve always had the impression that in addition to the house it encompassed extensive land and tenanted farms - and was considered in a different league of wealth by all the local farmers and landowners.

The panto coach was sold out a couple of weeks back but suddenly they have enough returns for pip, Helen etc etc

Perhaps while virtually everyone in the village is at the panto, burglars will strike. Raid orchestrated by George and chums, using information supplied by poor clueless Brad.

[Pollyanna mode: ON]

Now, that would be a proper scam!

I’m currently dedicating my waking hours to Vera (ITV, innumerable seasons) and I don’t think that particular plot has come up yet. Will look out for it.

Lucky you! I love Vera. I've read most of the books and (I think) seen all the TV versions. Brenda Blethyn did a splendid job with the character.

I’m currently dedicating my waking hours to Vera - I love Vera @TottersBlankly . I occasionally feel as though The Archers is morphing into Vera since Rochelle arrived in Ambridge and has so many two-hander scenes with her mother and occasionally Ruth! Re Freddie and Lower Loxley, I never feels he is champing at the bit to live there on his own. In many ways he still seems quite childlike despite, or perhaps even because of, his time in prison. I couldn't imagine him running the place single-handed - perhaps Lily at a pinch - but it still feels very much like Elizabeth's domain and don't see Freddie challenging her for supremacy at this point. He and Lily have a very easygoing relationship with their mum and seem very protective towards her - an understandable dynamic in view of everything that has happened. Yesterday's episode helped to remind us that while LL may be grand, the family essentially live in a flat within it.

True about Freddie. The Great Houses of Ambridge are all at different stages with regard to generational transition. But I really don’t think he’ll be taken seriously until he gains a life partner.

Vera is a bit of a marathon! Until a couple of weeks ago I’d never seen any of it, and only started because Shetland was over and I needed landscapes to look at. It’s a good thing I have no imminent deadlines to meet - even the dull episodes are addictive. And I know where I’m going for my first summer trip this year ..

Julia, who like Elizabeth had the right to be housed by her son during her lifetime, lived in the main house, Lower Loxley Hall, and made Elizabeth's life difficult.

We know this for sure because it was into Julia's room that Elizabeth later moved her own mother on one of the occasions on which Ruth chucked Jill out of Brookfield.

Since Lower Loxley Estate includes five farms as well as Lower Loxley Hall, they could cease to let one of those to its current tenant and hand it over (without any land, which could be divided among the others or even sold off) for Elizabeth and Vince to live in. We know it has those because Elizabeth wanted to sell one to pay for the conversion of the Old Dairy into accommodation, and the Trustees wouldn't allow it.

Talking about storyline that were just disappeared , didn't Rob dump Charlie's body on a culvert during the storms?
Was he ever found?

Although it is ridiculous, I don't mind the pantomime SL. It's the kind of boring every day thing people used to do in TA before the writing deteriorated to a series of short-lived East Enders style SLs.

I will mind a lot though if the panto trip is the vehicle for another sensationalist story as some have posited.

Yes agree. Although the coach breaking down and everyone missing the panto but having a jolly good singalong would be worse imo

its a bit of a motley crew going atm so could be some interesting conversations!!

The two pantos that were on locally both finished about 2 weeks ago.

So did Julia and Lewis live directly with Nigel and Elizabeth? I don’t remember that period very well - must have been during one of the times when my listening became a bit intermittent.

But yes, there should never be any need or pressure for Elizabeth to quit the estate. I hope the SWs understand that.