Archers thread #181: Panto Week's behind you! Was that the nadir? Discuss The Archers here.

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

Thank you, @PseudoBadger, for kicking off this long, long series of Archers threads.

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Will it be onwards and upwards for TA now, or do we fear even more of these special weeks (Martin and a Christmas Carol, Scam Week, Panto Week) and sudden reinventions of long-established characters (Neil)? I for one have had enough of all that. I want a quiet period of change counting in the village shop, farming talk with suitable sound effects and village gossip over coffee at Terum or a pint in The Bull. Slowly developing storylines featuring the full cast, not a subset for a few weeks with no mention of the others, and all behaving in character. Not holding my breath we'll get any of that, though!

Over to you.

Also, why was he eating at the Bull alone on a Sunday? Isn’t a Sunday roast a staple on the Brookfield weekly calendar?

I wondered that. Are they (the BBC) running short of cash and can't afford to pay for more likely Sunday diners e.g Alastair and Denise or Lynda and New Robert because they also had to pay Ben to shoehorn him into that later improbable dropping in at Azra's?

IIRC, Princess Diana's engagement ring was given to Prince William and the Princess of Wales wears it now.

The ring I wear as an engagement ring was my grandmother's. I was given it after she died because I was the only granddaughter. When we decided to get married, we were penniless students and I thought it was pointless to spend money on a new ring when I already had a lovely one I would be happy to wear. The jeweller who resized it for me last year thought it was Victorian, which would mean my Grandpa bought it second-hand. This figures, as he wouldn't have had much money for a ring.

Which name ? Fallon, Tom or terum?

Gonners
An engagement ring is traditionally given by the man to his wife-to-be, though, isn't it?

In which case an engagement ring is not much of a present to give a lad on his eighteenth birthday, is it, if the expectation is that he won't be keeping it.

Arf! True, but if people are trying to pass it on down the family line, by which I mean surname, you'd expect them to give it to the son ... whose wife would be 100% certain to (a) marry him (b) take his name and (c) pass it on to their son. Obviously, his wife would also be expected not to introduce any cuckoos into the nest ...

Is tonight an extended metaphor for the scripts?

’Sewage Soup’

I almost had to switch it off. And it's the first time I've listened in months because it's all been ... well... a bit shit.

Listening live for the first time in ages!

Glad Helen was as equally surprised about Neil but feels like that line was the sw trolling us

Glad I wasn’t eating when that was on. Pat didn’t sound well. The cheese is going to have an interesting tang to it. Helen is so irritating.

so they are spending loads on extras like Laurence and the Dame but that means we are stuck with Ben representing Brookfield? I was getting him confused with Tom.

Are we allowed to comment on the CAs closing comments?

Please do! I haven't heard tonight's offering yet, but I have eaten, which I gather from the above is a good thing.

OMG.

Horrible.

But it sounds as if this will be what pushes Pat and Tony to move out and let go of all responsibility for the farm.

(They can’t seriously think they’ll be able to sell any dairy produce they saved?)

Please do I missed what he said

I'm no food hygiene specialist but surely any food in the room full of human poo needs to be condemned, not just the stuff on the bottom shelf?!
And how Susan and Ben were then off to join Tom to pack the veg boxes... They've all been wading in shit all day!
I mean, I know a lot of farmers spend their days wading in animal shit... But this is a sewage situation.
I found it quite funny.
I expect this'll be the main drama now for a bit and all manner of other stories they've kicked off recently will just get completely forgotten...

He said something about Zainab finding something out that’s upsetting - sorry distracted by making dinner - could it be something about her dad

before sewer soup Helen was going on about how the grandkids see the farmhouse as home so I guess this is going to speed up the inheritance question

Sorry I’m miles behind but I accidentally misread this as “Aslan and Usha”, quite the mental image 🦁

I'm listening on catch up. You don't get the closing comments. What a satisfying episode.

Although is it now mandatory that Ben pops up everywhere for no reason?

Bens there to provide mental health support by asking everyone if they’re ok and telling them how sorry he is

I feel I must contribute: re-name the episode "When the Shit Hits the Am". I know it wasn't but artistic licence don't you know.

I also think all the food would be contaminated as if you can smell it, it's particles in the air. Bleurrgh.

I liked the bit about Gnasher running a tight ship. Cue lots of angst about cups being left by the sink.

<makes note>

I don't think there's any reason to suppose that either Zainab or her mother wears a "headscarf" in England.

As it’s radio they could be wearing a hijab or have bright blue hair or wear an inflatable sumo suit and we’d be none the wiser. Especially as everyone in ambridge is so right on they wouldn’t comment anyway

why do all major dramas in Ambridge involve water (The Great Flood, Geeeorge's attempt at "helping" Alice....) - is it to metaphorically or conceptually counteract the fire in which Grace died all those year ago??

Also, I'm not ready for another drama, can't we please have some normal Ambridge for a bit? Maybe even someone being happy??

If I were Zainab I'd probably have said "Ben works for my mother, FFS, and your brother is just weird ... and they both have a mental age of 13!" So, hats (or hijabs) off to her for tact.

It was a great improvement on recent episodes.

A very low bar.

(What am I doing, paying to be on MN?? 😬 I wasn't going to, but I wanted to know what you lot had to say.)

There’s no way I’d be eating anything out of those veg boxes.