Archers thread #184: It’s a shambles! And we don’t mean Casey Meats. 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're looking forward to Morris dancing on the radio, 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.)

Right, to business. I can't say I'm delighted that the focus is on Rochelle and Casey Meats at the moment, because I'm not. All far too peripheral to Ambridge and too new. As I say ad nauseam, more farming storylines please, and where are all the long-standing members of the cast? The discussion about inheritance tax in The Bull the other night was a bit clunky, but what a refreshing change to hear two familiar voices, both farmers, talking about farming-related stuff, even if BBC balance meant they had to be challenged by two non-farmers, and even if it is months after the Budget introduced these changes. Ah well.

I was tempted to put one of my Dad's terrible jokes into the thread title as an oblique reference to George's coffin-making idea, but it wouldn't have made sense to anyone else. He loved referring to the cemetery as the Dead Centre of the island, so I was pondering something about Grange Farm becoming the Dead Centre of Ambridge. It could happen yet. Emma and Ed could provide willow branches and Clarrie could sit in the kitchen weaving them. Surely it must be similar to knitting?

Finally, if the SWs are lurking and looking for new storylines, it's been very dry recently and there have been lots of wildfires in rural areas. There was a bad one on Gaspmother Island a few days ago. Many farmers are very worried about this at the moment, as reported on Farming Today last week. But what am I thinking! This is a story that only works in a rural setting, so in the current incarnation of TA, it's not soapy enough.

Over to you!

Joy’s finances get curiouser and curiouser. She seemed a bit strapped for cash when she was talking about the refurb of her kitchen following the sewage incident. Didn’t she only replace the bottom cabinets because the insurance wouldn’t cover the top and it would be too expensive to pay for them herself. Which means she now has unmatching top and bottom units. Of course, this is not a life and death issue but I would have thought that would certainly matter to someone like Joy. It would actually bother me long-term too. Yet suddenly she has cash to spare to give to Rochelle.

I remember my mum on her hands and knees polishing the Lino with that pink polish.

Couldn’t Joy’s money have come from the divorce? We know she and Rochelle were strapped for cash when husband left, possibly because he had controlled the finances, but it doesn’t mean that there wasn’t any money (or assets) to be split. If he was difficult it could easily have taken a few years to sort everything out.

I’ve been supporting a friend going through such a divorce and it’s taken ages - but finally she’s about to go from no money to being extremely well off.

I don’t think there is any suggestion they were well off before he left

i I would imagine if Joy had money through Rochelle’s father then Rochelle might feel a bit resentful

I don't think the SWs have given the first thought as to where Joy's money comes from. She is not a complete character - she just exists to have a mysterious daughter, with a mysterious backstory who is now about to trigger some DRAMA in the most ham-fisted way possible. The SWs are missing the point that without all the little details the big DRAMA becomes too unbelievable to bother engaging with. I'm much more interested in who is going to sleep in which bedroom in Tom and Natasha's new house than in whatever chaos Rochelle is going to unleash on the abattoir.

I kind of want to hear the Beechwood shared-house drama and kind of don't think I'm strong enough. May have to have hands over ears.

I’m sure someone mentioned it and I just can’t remember for the moment but Joy will also have lost her single person’s Council Tax discount when Mick moved in with her…..which can be a useful chunk of money.

Please let her not have known so she ends up in prison for council tax fraud!!

Joy only offered to help Our Rochelle with money for a rental. Assuming she’d be looking at a one bed or even a studio flat (since the bairns do not exist are not coming to stay), Rochelle could be paying maybe £600 or so a month? I don’t really know much about rental costs outside of London but I don’t think it would cost Joy a fortune to front up the deposit and a month’s rent which is what I imagine she meant by helping out.

I do agree that the source of her funds is a mystery. Is the cheating husband dead? If they never divorced she might have inherited as next of kin.

Joy did mention Rochelle getting somewhere big enough for the bairns to stay

agree That the ridiculous beechwood sardines sl is at least giving interesting characters a chance. I’m so sick of joy, mick and Rochelle dominating

Exactly this.
It's the minutiae that make a character believable. The editor/ SW have decided there must be big drama constantly but actually there doesn't, that's partly why I liked the Archers, it wasn't "soapy" like other soaps( although of course it is one). But now it has become exactly that type of programme.

I sometimes wonder if the storyline with, for example, Helen and Rob would have been done half so well these days, years and years of the characters gradually building the story which is going to have ramifications for Helen forever and follow through to the next generations.

This silly abattoir story will come to a head and be over and done with, the whole story plus joy, Mick and rochelle could be lifted out and forgotten. If they wanted to do this story they should have involved one of the existing characters. I know joy was already there but as the SW haven't bothered to flesh out her character, give any background or reason to turn up in Ambridge, she's been very flat and one dimensional which is why no one cares what happens with her.

In the 1980s a friend of mine lived in a large block of flats in south London which had previously belonged to the council but was in some kind of communal ownership and was always referred to as The Commune. Although she was in a well paid job and could have afforded to buy her own house, she was very committed to the principles of communal ownership/ living and she played a big role in the democratic management of the block.

Everyone who lived in one of the flats had to be vetted and approved before they took up residence and had to agree to pay their rent and maintenance contributions on time, to spend a specified amount of time each month on activities for the communal good (cleaning, maintenance, financial management, etc) and to attend monthly meetings of all the residents to take decisions.

My friend put her heart and soul into it but eventually became very disillusioned because - you guessed it - only a tiny number of people did anything or attended meetings and she spent enormous amounts of her time chasing people for rent and trying to sort out maintenance issues.

I assume Rochelle's commune is smaller and more intimate.

Very subtle PSA on dog poo on farms🙄

why is he doing the electric fence ‘for pip’?

and how contrived was Rex and Helen

shame Joy had to pop up. Could the sw give her a rest. It does feel like they are keen to keep Helen in gainful employment too - was she really the right character for this?

I'd actually forgotten Leonard existed.

I am starting to think the Joy actress knows some serious dirt on someone senior involved in TA. How else do we explain why she is in virtually every episode? Surely they must be aware that listeners don't find her interesting?

I quite like Joy. The abattoir story is absurd but it's so absurd I'd like to hear how it pans out. I'd take it over Khalil Doolitte re- creating Ma and Pa's wedding photos which I hope happens off air.

Although I do wonder about the selection of actors- Leonard's lovely but peripheral. Ian, Adam, Oliver, Ruth, Will, Denise and Josh have disappeared. Alastair and Jim have only had fleeting appearances

The public service broadcast was tedious although I suppose serves a purpose.

Would anyone take relationship advice from Helen?

I do agree that the source of her funds is a mystery.

It's like The Bull simultaneously going like a fair with Fallon's cooking to the point they need another employee and hardly doing any trade. Or how Helen could possibly have afforded any house.

I do agree that the source of her funds is a mystery.

Inheritance, divorce settlement, lottery win, compensation for something or other ... and no doubt several more possibilities. I don't find it very interesting.

It’s just part of the poor storytelling around Joy et al

Yes contrived is exactly the word for H and Red scene, do they even really know each other and suddenly he's confusing in her 're Pip scenario - feelings we've never ever heard him voice previously!

And why did we have all the hellos and goodbyes along the hallway in Brookfield, it was like the intern had studied a module on "giving aural depth to radio scenes" and was desperate to try it out.

grr I thought I'd edited the autocorrect before posting, sorry
Rex..... confiding

Oh yes, @Brefugee , I do!
Grew up in quarters as an army brat.

Heavy petting

Blimey. These day we just get dog poo lectures.

I’m going with OnlyFans, after she did that life modelling at Lower Loxley (was it organised by Russ?) she got a taste for it and now makes a fortune.