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.

Natasha is very much on Top Form at the moment, isn't she? The credit card business and her interaction with Fallon were both great. I assume she's heading for disaster, though at this rate it may not be in any of our lifetimes. And then Tom's sense of entitlement re the cricket captaincy ... They really deserve each other.

Oh the hilarious conversation between Lynda and Freddie over the phone when Freddie could hardly hear Lynda had me in fits, NOT!.
Glad dopey Fallen has at last seen How nasty Natasha is. She does look down her nose at every one.
I think financially Tom and Natasha are going to be in a lot of trouble. Maybe they will have to sell the tea room and Fallon will buy it and run it as well as the pub.
Glad Tom didn't ask about Ramadam when Lynda said about fasting (yawn,) and cricket is boring in real life as well as in TA. But that's just me.

Cricket? Nah, @Nettleteaser101, it's not just you.

Azra doesn’t have ‘health anxiety’. She has a well founded and perfectly justifiable reason to be anxious about her son’s health. I agree. I do know someone whose PFB had a severe allergic reaction as a young child, and they overprotected him, probably resulting in mollycoddling him too much, and now in his late teens has struggles wit social anxiety and other issues. He's obviously very bright but the damage is done. I feel for his poor younger siblings, and his parents.
The parents admit that their over-protectiveness did not help. They are such a lovely couple and only meant well

@Brefugee , I like the Maliks too. I think the SWs are over-egging the pudding a bit with the info on Ramadan, but I'm in a multi-cultural area, where sourcing halal meat is no issue, and I know plenty who fast for Ramadan.
Maybe there is a reason why the SWs are making a big deal of it.

I'm enjoying the thought of Natasha not getting the house in front of Emma just a little bit too much.

I'm enjoying the way they signal Natasha's advent with the sound of those tip-tappy heels. Just by itself, without anything more, it signals brilliantly how hurried and stressed she is, to say nothing of her level of annoyance with whoever it is she's approaching.

I can’t help liking Natasha. Or perhaps relishing is a better word. She does inject a kind of energy into scenes.

I like Natasha simply because she actually has a personality. She is awful but she does bring energy and sense of purpose. Compare and contrast with insipid Helen or dreary Kirsty.

I wouldn't say Helen was insipid or Kirsty dreary, but Natasha does bring energy.

I yearn for a medical storyline revealing that the stellar twins are not Tom's children, and that Natasha has always known this. Because the scriptwriters may as well go full-on crazy soap

Kirsty is definitely dreary and Fallon, imo, vapid. Helen isn’t insipid, she’s a monster.

We're on the new thread!