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!

I love Natasha. She doesn't pussyfoot round Helen, like Tom and his parents do. And a whole episode without the ghastly Rochelle and creepy Joy!

I like toms attempt to get rid of Helen by suggesting a rental and putting her back up. Is she the only one in the world who can’t see what an odd set up it is!!

and that old cricket bat has only just been noticed 🙄. And what a coincidence… the sl are all so bloody contrived

how old are the twins?

I don’t think Natasha’s that bad tbh. She just doesn’t take any shit

I like Gnasher as a character but if I were a potential customer and she spoke to me the way she spoke to Lynda (or for that matter most people) I'd take my business elsewhere.

I know a Natasha in real life and she's insufferable.

Tbf, Lynda was trying to pull a fast one

Bruisername
and that old cricket bat has only just been noticed 🙄. And what a coincidence… the sl are all so bloody contrived

Aren't they just.

What are the chances of a cricket bat used by someone in the nineteen forties having been left lying around by him – in a pavilion that was built on a cricket ground given to the village by Jack Woolley in the1980s? I think Jack also donated the money to build that pavilion, at that time, though maybe it was only some of it, or making up what was still needed after the team raised some, or something of the kind.

Bruisername
I don’t think Natasha’s that bad tbh. She just doesn’t take any shit

Except that she did and does: she backed down and gave Lynda exactly what Lynda had cheekily asked for.

The real life Gnasher I know is just like the Ambridge one. The same sort of aggresive attitude when she wants something, no understanding she isn't my or anyone eles's top priority and perfunctory one word thanks email if you do help out. I delete almost all of her emails, even if I could be of help.

Natasha also seemed to be taking Helen's side against Tom, when talking to him, saying how marvellous the boys were with the twins etc. I don't believe for a moment that she likes Helen (or her boys) so assume this was just because (a) it's a relief for her to have the twins off her hands and (b) she doesn't much like Tom. I can empathise with her on both counts.

I do hope Helen ends up skivvying for them.

Didn't The Archers have some kind of archivist/ historical reference person working on the team in the past? They sure as hell haven't got one now.

I'm pretty sure you're right about the pavilion, but even if that wasn't the case how would a bat, that took Linda a minute to see, be under a bench for 80 years FFS! Even if the bench or pavilion was 80 years old there would have to have been some kind of maintenance in that time and it would have been discovered.

The SW really are just taking the piss, they no longer care about even trying to make a storyline realistic or fit already established facts, if they want to shoehorn something into a story they do it anyway. It's like the Neil the foundling story, just shoved in senselessly.

Ian and Adam now have "mentioned in passing" status.

I could well be misremembering and getting mixed up with some other programme, but didn't the cricket pavilion once burn down?

I'd happily put my name to a petition or letter of protest to Feedback or the BBC or whoever.

I imagine Feedback is absolutely inundated with letters from disgruntled Archers listeners!

i would write in but I feel it’s a lost cause. I’m not sure they can get the magic back

on Natasha - yes she did give in to Lynda but she clearly has a plan!

Just to insert a note of light relief here, members of this thread might like to get themselves over to Radio 3 on Sunday at 6pm this weekend, when 'Words and Music' is on the theme of 'Pirates' and one of the readers is……….

……….Buffy Davis, AKA Jolene!

😂😂😂😂

Thanks for the warning. @Ambridge!

Can’t believe Lynda managed to underpay a struggling local indie business with the offer of exposure.

I’d have thought she’d go to Fallon anyway.

I assume that’s where she’s going - Natasha will do this tea cheap and then next time she’ll go to Fallon and piss Natasha off

Wonderful.

(Scriptwriters please take note).

I’m definitely writing in. It won’t make any difference , but I’ll know they know….

on Natasha - yes she did give in to Lynda but she clearly has a plan!

I was v disappointed Gnasher backed down when speaking to Lynda about the teas. I hope she has a plan. Lynda is just a bully. I would have given up humouring her a very long time ago if I lived in Ambridge.

It was wonderful not to have to listen to Rochelle and Saskia tonight.

You have prompted me to write to Feedback too. I just assume it’s pointless but it needn’t take long. I will do it tomorrow.

Lynda is just a bully,
well she is, but so is Natasha

Done! Dear Feedback….

I am writing about The Archers.

In recent months, the poor characterisation and increasingly unbelievable plot lines means that I have had to switch off on a regular basis.

Issues are crowbarred into the storylines in a clunky way and characters parrot lines that help with BBC boxticking eg Scam Week or Ramadan but do not make for entertaining listening.

I am a regular contributor to an online Archers comment thread and dissatisfaction levels are high. The general consensus is that the BBC is looking to drive regular listeners away so that the show can eventually be taken off air and retired entirely.

The focus on farming issues has faded to such a degree that we have had minimal references to lambing and other highlights of the farming year.

The recent storyline on animal rights activists infiltrating the local abattoir is weak and very very tedious. We are all hoping it will be over soon and the newly introduced characters will be written out as quickly as they arrived.

The cast list is long so the regular introduction of new, insignificant and poorly-drawn characters is testing our patience to the limit.

Inconsistencies should be picked up by a good editor but it seems there is no quality control with the writing any more. And the agricultural content is just window-dressing.

To lose listeners who have been listening to the show for decades is irresponsible. Of course it can’t be brilliant every night but the scripts should be stronger and have fewer holes than something written in a creative writing evening class.

You’re being generous with the creative writing evening class!!!

I think the cricket bat is a prime example - completely ludicrous a bat wouldn’t have been noticed in 80 years even if the pavilion had stood since then - which the sw should know it hasn’t!! Are they going to come up with some rubbish excuse later down the line

the worst is Neil the foundling.

The problem is, though, that it was made pretty clear that Knob had an abusive childhood which accounted for at least some of it. In theory at least Gideon shouldn't necessarily go the same way.

It would have been slightly more credible for the cricket bat to have turned up in the Aladdin's cave that is the Lower Loxley loft, or even in the cellars of The Bull behind the valuable brewery ashtrays.
It's just lazy script writing and a decent editor should have stopped this.

Could it be a cunning double bluff and the cricket bat is a fake? Pub chat - 'oh we found a 1940s cricket bat in the cricket pavilion isn't that amazing' - older resident replies 'absolutely amazing, the pavilion was only built in 1980!'

Disclaimer - new Archer's listener and I have not verified when the cricket pavilion was built