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.

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 enjoy playing badminton with Derek Fletcher, 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.)

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.

I'm Team Harrison too.

It was in the final couple of mins of Thursday’s episode.

The Bridge Farm clean up is really annoying me. We had an incident in of the office toilets once- not sure what exactly happened but something had to be cleaned up. No one, including the usual cleaners, was allowed in and a specialist firm was hired.

Yeah, I think it’s usually specialist cleaners too. Even when it’s outside, I know the water company have sent somebody specialist to clean the garden when there’s been a sewage overflow. They use specific chemicals.

Now we know the mysterious Gills have been in and out of the village shop and Grey Gables the whole time maybe we'll get to meet them eventually.

How very dare you . Lynda has always been one of my favourites !!!!!

Oh, don't fret @Fannyannie - I am an equal opportunities listener and hate almost all of them apart from Old-Never-to-Return-Robert and, naturally, Jakob.

I think apart from Lynda , I agree - Robert was gorgeous and Jacob is lovely too. Perhaps I would add Neil for good measure.

Everyone else is either meh, disliked or hated with increasing force. Why do I listen I really don’t know !!!??

I would love a slice of raspberry and almond sponge now. Susan said hers was a simple twist on a Victoria sponge. This is fancier than that, but sounds good: https://www.goodto.com/recipes/almond-and-raspberry-sponge-cake

This one is simpler but not really a Victoria sponge: https://www.wearetateandlylesugars.com/recipe/simple-raspberry-and-almond-cake/

I did have a Mr Kipling's bakewell finger earlier, but I want real cake.

Jakob even !

I fully expected to click on the thread to see a thoroughgoing debate on how to pronounce "almonds". Susan said "ALmonds". Mick and Tom said "ARmond".

I'm an ARmond person.

I’m team Almond but I’ve had the piss taken out of me for it before!

I was expecting to click on the thread to see at least 20 posts going wahoo mention of Home Farm - in fact not just mention, people about to go and stay in it!! And a first name for a Gill!

It was in the final couple of mins of Thursday’s episode.

Thank you @WitcheryDivine I listen on Sounds as I'm falling asleep so missed that entirely!

Can't believe some one would want mucky mick living in their house. 🤷‍♀️

And yet more milk gushing into the drains. The agricultural story editor must be on gardening leave.

My thoughts exactly. Never a mention and then suddenly Mick - a man who until recently was sleeping in his van in the GG car park - is the person who knows them best! So well in fact that they’ve invited him to move into their house. It’s even more unrealistic than Helen offering Bridge Farm to Joy. It’s a strange way to introduce the Gills - who are presumably meant to be loaded (skiing in Aspen!) There are definite shades of making up as they go along (and yes I know it’s all made up, but I liked it when you could pretend that it wasn’t).

I would love a slice of raspberry and almond sponge now

That’s exactly what I came on to say. I was googling almond VS recipes immediately after the credits rolled. I have been on a (protein heavy/intermittent fasting) diet since end-Oct (and lost about a stone and a half) and now all I can think about is Susan’s cake. I might have to make one to lance the boil so to speak. I didn’t even have one mince pie over Christmas.

Can’t wait to hear the Aldridges’ thoughts on Mick and Joy house-sitting. I hope M and J do a tour of the house and highlight all the features for us. And does this mean that the Gills are finally about to be unveiled? I’d like to hear more about their glamorous lifestyle (inc the trip to Aspen) although we have been speculating on them selling HF back to a local - or even Vince - for sometime now.

Perhaps it will be Fallon having the drunken shag. Then we'll be subjected to weeks of her agonising whether to tell Harrison, followed by more weeks of him making weird strangled cat noises when he finds out. Especially if she gets pregnant as a result.

But you could've ended up with anoother man's behbeh, Fallon! 'Ow could you do this to me?

I'm just hoping Harrison is for the chop - literally rather than figuratively, at the hands of a maniac. That would give Fallon something to whine about and perhaps put Pastrygate into perspective.

Maybe he will be killed by a block of frozen pastry

I think actually he’ll be given the chance to move back home at the end of the project and just choose to stay away. At this point I think Fallon loves him quite a bit more than he loves her.

I’m so puzzled by Muck, the writers seem very taken with him don’t they. First pick for the panto, best mates with the Gills, turning to his hand to anything at Grey Gables, Joy wants to marry him - but coming across to us as a grubby bore. What are we missing?!

Is Mick still a security guard at Grey Gables? It seems unlikely, even for Ambridge, but maybe the Gills are regulars at the Spa and/or restaurant. Offering their home too Mucky Mick sounds even more implausible than the scam week in which Jakob and Kate fed and watered American randoms.

If the Gills are off skiing, maybe they will be deaded in an avalanche or another terrible accident.

I’m a few days behind, my listening had tailed off when the writing around the panto went to absolute shit, so I was highly amused to tune back in and hear that Ambridge was now drowning in literal shit 😀.

I just wanted to confirm that the whole “r-word” thing was indeed an in-joke between Khalil and Lynda going back to when he first arrived and she had a go at him thinking he’d dropped litter. I can’t remember the exact details but it involved him accusing her of being the r-word and then saying “Rural I mean”either to her or his mother. There absolutely was some implication from him then that she was being racist but it was relatively quickly smoothed over. They did even say “and I don’t mean rural” in one of the recent episodes. I can see, though, that it just sounds like weird euphemistic writing if you were not aware of the back story.

Hmm... I reckon Joy will go rooting around in Home Farm and find evidence that the Gills are shifting tons of cocaine into the UK. They'll wind up being part of the cartel of villains Harrison has been despatched to spy on.