Archers thread #182: The Shit hits the Am! 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 be delighted to oblige your employer by cleaning up sewage spills without proper training or equipment in place of your normal duties, 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.)

Credit for the title goes to @echt. Can't think of anything much to say about current storylines. Credulity is strained to its limit on many fronts, unfortunately, but there are a few nuggets in the slurry. I did enjoy hearing Natasha's outrage that Fallon is doing obvious, sensible things at The Bull even though it might hit Terum. I thought Natasha was supposed to be an entrepreneur!

Over to you!

What a great story. I wish they'd done something like that for Brad, but I'm not giving up hope yet.

Thanks Totters and Lillian for the story of John.

I haven't been listening to TA recently as life has been quite busy with other things. I haven't felt motivated to catch up with the programmes (which is very unusual for me) and have mostly just kept up to date on here instead. I've started listening again now it is not just the Joy and Maliks Show.

But I fear TA may be irrevocably broken for me, partly because of poor writing and SLs (Justin and the Christmas Carol, scam week and pantomime week) and partly because of the lighthouse effect (which I assume is down to budget cuts) with a few characters getting intensive attention for a week or two, while the rest are in total darkness and stop existing altogether. I never thought I would miss Alistair and Denise but I do.

I'll keep going I expect out of habit but the precious vase is broken and the damage is just too obvious to ignore. (No kintsugi here unfortunately.)

We could talk about this, but I'd put money on the production team having given this no thought whatsoever.

There’s mention in The Times Diary of TA’s coming 75th anniversary next January - and what the writers might do to mark the occasion …

So I’m guessing they’re already laying the ground for whatever’s to come.

Sinkhole, please! We could start again with the very few survivors and a more or less clean sheet after the very patchy storylines of the last few months. Lots and lots more farming storylines. That would suit me.

@LillianGish, I agree re John. Pat moved me when she talked about getting on with grief day to day and then it surging all of a sudden.

It made me think of a much loved colleague who died suddenly 7 years ago. I don't think of her for weeks at a time and suddenly something will crop up and I find a new reason to miss her brilliance, skill and companionship when navigating a tough job. Perhaps not the right comparison as I'm sure Pat and Helen think of John every day but for some reason it was my colleague who sprang to mind and I am missing her all over again.

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g a sink hole... 😂

Oh gosh - that was a bit more something than usual … Tony and Henry; Akram and Khalil. Proper life stuff.

Why does Khalil shout all the time? And yes, proper farming storylines are required.

What health thing is wrong with the young Khalil guy?

Two bouts of leukemia in his childhood.

Henry asking Tony about Uncle John 😢

Compare and contrast again. Grief does come and go.
I've not experienced much, but it is different for each person and each loss.

A family friend recently lost a second adult child. They children were my contemporaries. She's so nice, and life is so unfair.

Another acquaintance had two very young children die. They were just babies. She's a lovely person, as is her husband, and their other children and it's just so unfair.

If that was supposed to make us sympathtic to him, he's still awful.

I really don't understand the weird Malik hatred here. They seem mostly harmless to me, for teenagers whose lives have been disrupted by moving to dreary Ambridge and the long absence of their father.

Me neither @Gonners . i like that the teenagers have made friends and have their own opinions. I like that Azra is intelligent an has her own career.

Also they all (including Azra) seemed delighted to see Pa Malik on his return.

The children are rude and boring. Azra is ok but dull. They are getting far too much airtime and serve no purpose.

I took a dislike to Khalil over that nonsense about lying that he wanted a cat and his mother being dim enough to go along with "borrowing" Hilda to see how it might work out.

Khalil's voice has broken fully since the last time he was on. I thought it was a new actor at first.

I wish they'd make up their minds about Henry's accent.

Yes, the actor playing Henry started out well, but now sounds as though he's auditioning for a variety of other, more interesting roles.

My issue with the Maliks is that Zainab sounds a good decade older than she is. Her brother is odd, but so is Henry, but I can cope with that.

I've still not figured out why Adil was parachuted in to do something at Grey Gables. The new owner is AWOL.

I like Khalil. I am warming considerably to his Dad. That was a much better episode than most recently. Henry and Tony were good together too.

I like the interaction between the young Maliks and their new friends.
It seemed a bit too Maliky at times, but it will be for a reason, I expect.

The arrival of the Malik’s and Khalil in particular is bringing Henry to life as a character. This is just what he needed - a friend who is interested in farming and who is egging him on to do other stuff than toe the line around his mother. That episode was also a good way of getting Henry alone with Tony so they could have a chat about John and tractors. It felt very natural. Interesting too to hear Khalil feeling over-protected in the way Henry often does, but for different reasons.

I imagine Zainab sounds older than she is is because she took on a more adult persona when her little brother was potentially dying, twice.