Archers thread #183: The Scorekeeper's Apprentice. 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 like to share a hot tub with Mucky Mick, 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 @TottersBlankly who suggested it and @BeatriceBatchelor who coined this lovely phrase. (It's led me to take a look at the Wikipedia page for The Sorcerer's Apprentice. I had not known before that the animation in Fantasia that goes with the Dukas symphonic tone poem is more or less unadulterated Goethe, and the story goes back to ancient times. You learn something every day.)

At the end of the last thread, there was an apocalyptic tone as we were all bemoaning the lack of continuity and farming storylines (especially lambing, which used to be a big theme at this time of year). Are there any reasons to be cheerful? (Not just Part 3 - another reference for the older listeners here. ) Over to you!

I do feel like the SWs wanted to inject some racial diversity so have gone all out on showing how well everyone is getting on with the Maliks. They even managed to shoehorn in fasting etc. Whilst it’s great to have positive storylines and new characters with a different background, it does feel like it’s a big “tick”as far as the SWs are concerned.And Lynda is so noble for becoming firm friends with a young teenager…and she saw off that bigoted bloke in one episode..

I do feel like the SWs wanted to inject some racial diversity so have gone all out on showing how well everyone is getting on with the Maliks.

They could have done that by giving the Gills a voice. We could have heard them trying to integrate into Ambridge. Some Ambridgers would resent the usurpers pushing the Alridges/Archers out; others would be happy to see that Brian Aldridge taken down a peg. Home Farm farmhouse remains in the plot. Who cares about a third new house on Beechwood?

Didn't Tom'n'Tash complete their purchase on Monday? Seems a bit odd that we haven't heard about them moving their stuff in and evicting Helen from the main bedroom.

If they did complete the purchase, I'd be surprised. It was only two weeks ago (20th March) when Nocasha caved in and agreed to stop fannying around and buy the place. I can't see arses having been got in gear so quickly. It could be done, but ... this is the Bridge Farm mob we're dealing with.

I was wondering the same @AuntAgathaGregson. After all the bellyaching about stamp duty.

It’s remarkable if they made the stamp duty deadline. We did—but that was having contracts signed and ready to go about a month before.

I'd be surprised if Mr & Mrs Tit even have a solicitor yet, given that Kirsty will no doubt have enlisted the Only Solicitor in the Village, aka Usha of All Fields of Law, Mistress of None.

Just listened to yesterday's Archers podcast, and, I don't think for the first time, Emma Freud and guests are talking about Wayne being a non speaking part. DH and I are sitting in the kitchen with a glass of wine, somewhat puzzled - we're both convinced we've heard Wayne speak. Can anyone confirm?

This seems definitive, @Reetpetitenot:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/3Wx162kkDm2v8mYjSY4VrWG/wayne-tucson

There’d be no need for an actor if he had always been silent. And they quote him. (I have a vague memory of his speaking when he first showed up in the village, but the memory is hazy.)

I’m sure I’ve heard Wayne speaking.

ETA: to no great purpose, mind you….

Vindication! I have some memory of him speaking during the festival when there was drug dealing. Was Freddie involved?

Wayne definitely spoke - I remember the actor had a very annoying voice.

So did Joy have to disappear to give Rochelle the ability to get onto Vince and the abattoir?

He fitted right in, then?

One of the message boards called Wayne Tucson (as opposed to Wayne the reporter for Borsetshire radio) "Phlegm" because when he first spoke he had pneumonia from sleeping rough, and talked as one does if one has. He got over the disease and ceased to speak like someone who has it, but the impression stayed. He was sleeping at The Bull for a while, much to Sid's displeasure. Sid thought he was stealing from the pub during the night, but had miscounted during a stock-taking. Eventually he moved out and rented a room from the younger Booth (can't remember Nathan or Neville).

The selling drugs to Freddie among others at Loxfest was quite a lot later, and lost him his job at a bakery and his home with his girlfriend, and Jolene insisted that he must be given the job cooking at The Bull.

What I can't remember, but Asking will, is how Wayne's job at The Bull fitted in with Freday Fry, long-term cook there. Did he assist her? She died in the Great Flood, but was she retired by then?

Wayne was Freda's assistant for quite a while before she died as a result of Ye Grate Fludde; she said he was the best assistant she'd ever had.
Quotes from Lowfield:

Sunday 30th August, 2009
"Sid tries to call Wayne's bluff by offering him work in the kitchen - an offer Wayne accepts with alacrity.
...
"Wayne shows what he's made of in the kitchen, to Sid's annoyance. Fallon points out that he did once work in a bakery. Freda has warmed to her new assistant, and has asked him to continue working with her. Sid can only try to sound pleased."

and
Thursday 3rd September, 2009
"Wayne's enjoying his job in the kitchen at the Bull, especially Freda's pastries. Sid is less enthusiastic; he can't wait for Wayne to go."

and
Friday 4th September, 2009
"Bert comments that Freda thinks Wayne the best kitchen assistant she's ever had."

Then we got
Wednesday 23rd December, 2009
"Wayne is at The Bull for a handover from Freda; he will be deputising as chef at Christmas with Fallon as his assistant."

Shortly after that Wayne went off to wherever he was when not needed in TA for a storyline, and stayed away until Loxfest in 2014: he was needed at that point to be a baddy and a source of strife between Fallon and the sex-pest Harrison. He was sacked from his job at a bakery after his conviction for dealing drugs.

Then in February 2016, after Freda's death, the chef Jolene had employed (name of Zoe) to replace Freda walked out because she had not expected to make pancakes on pancake day, and Jolene rang Wayne (against Kenton's objections) to ask him to come at least to cook for Valentine's Day the following week, and (still in spite of Kenton's dislike) he stayed until this year.

Thanks! Even more chaotic and non-continuity-informed than I'd expected.

I think Emma Freud is a fraud

My father used to refer to her ancestor as "Sigmund Fraud", and had very little time for Freud's assumption that any women claiming she had been sexually abused must be mentally ill....

Long time lurker, infrequent poster here, just popping up to ask if anyone here has seen "Harrison" in his new role in Coronation Street? I am finding it very disturbing - he looks like "a Ken doll" (cf a poster on the Corrie thread) and it's all very weird.

I don’t watch C St any more, I will have to record an episode or two to see what he looks like.

Harrison really is in deep cover in The North, isn’t he?

Oh, dear, it looks as if his true identity will be ‘exposed.’

I hope he's not going to be written out of Corrie, because while he's doing that he's off my radar.

Was I the only one thinking that Brian was about to start a gay affair with the twerp Martin Gibson? Bridge lessons...Psaw.