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Discuss your favourite podcast, radio show or The Archers episode.

Archers thread #184: It’s a shambles! And we don’t mean Casey Meats. Discuss The Archers here.

992 replies

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 14/04/2025 12:03

Thank you, @PseudoBadger, for kicking off this long, long series of Archers threads.

Archers 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. Grin

Archers 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!

Archers 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. Hmm

Over to you!

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Gonners · 04/05/2025 19:41

Yes, Wanda was played by Chelsea. I am bewildered by them giving her the surname Lafromboise and then making her so very English!

I listened and the word that springs to mind is "crap".

Bruisername · 04/05/2025 20:10

Cba with Laurence

What a nightmare getting your devices taken like that

too much time with Joy and Mick

surprised Rochelle turned herself in tbh. I guess that means we’re stuck with her

so again joys funds something expensive with no knowledge of where those funds come from

CaptainMyCaptain · 04/05/2025 20:11

I'm surprised they brought Laurence back. The cricket talk was tedious.

IHaveAlwaysLivedintheCastle · 04/05/2025 20:12

CaptainMyCaptain · 04/05/2025 20:11

I'm surprised they brought Laurence back. The cricket talk was tedious.

I wanted the other side to win. Lynda is so annoying.

Bruisername · 04/05/2025 20:14

IHaveAlwaysLivedintheCastle · 04/05/2025 20:12

I wanted the other side to win. Lynda is so annoying.

Yes! Was all a bit paint by numbers

DeanElderberry · 04/05/2025 20:31

Who gets to eat the 'cricket tea'? The players? Spectators who pay to get in at a turnstile? Is there a stand? I realise I don't really understand cricket - not the rules of the game which I sort of understand, but how the crowd control works in a village match situation.

DeanElderberry · 04/05/2025 20:37

Googling suggests these teas are eaten by the players. How did Lawrence know what was served? Was he playing? Is he a mascot? Why did he think blinis were a good choice?

There is so much I need to know.

Gonners · 04/05/2025 20:59

Crowd control is not really a problem at the average village cricket match! Our local team generally has fewer than a dozen people watching, but only if it's a sunny day. Wives and kids, mostly. Hardly anyone is actually watching ... they're gossiping. I don't know about cricket teas. Here it's far more likely that everyone adjourns to the "social club" across the road for a pint and a packet of crisps.

PatChaunceysFruitCake · 04/05/2025 22:24

ARGHHHHHHHH. Legal advice at the police station is free. The custody officer would have made this very clear to Rochelle.

Ambridge · 05/05/2025 00:24

In a former life I had a DP who played cricket, and therefore partook of cricket teas. They happened during the break in a match, not at the end. At first there was a hint of a suggestion that I might like to get involved with the preparation of said teas, but I squashed that idea pretty sharpish, so I don’t know exactly what was provided, but the players sorted it all out themselves, and were the only ones eating it. I’m fairly sure that crisps would be welcomed. I’d be staggered at any idea that blinis were cricket-tea fare.

BeatriceBatchelor · 05/05/2025 03:44

Do the players have to pay membership fees in order to play and eat? I can't see that being enough to pay for outside caterers.

BeatriceBatchelor · 05/05/2025 03:46

Joy's opening line "oh, Mick, can't we just pretend we're not here?"

Yes, please.

Nettleteaser101 · 05/05/2025 05:20

I would think cricket tea was like darts sandwiches and crisps, though these were served in a pub or men's! Club.
I think cricket is for the players more than fans. I've seen my local team playing and there is nobody watching.
Hope Rochelle is put in the slammer and does bird for years, but I fear she will be a regular and be forgiven. She has really shown her mum up.
How could you forgive your child for having the shame of having your home searched by the police., especially if you have been estranged for years. Should you blame yourself even though your child is an adult.

OP posts:
CaptainMyCaptain · 05/05/2025 07:22

Ambridge · 05/05/2025 00:24

In a former life I had a DP who played cricket, and therefore partook of cricket teas. They happened during the break in a match, not at the end. At first there was a hint of a suggestion that I might like to get involved with the preparation of said teas, but I squashed that idea pretty sharpish, so I don’t know exactly what was provided, but the players sorted it all out themselves, and were the only ones eating it. I’m fairly sure that crisps would be welcomed. I’d be staggered at any idea that blinis were cricket-tea fare.

I had a friend who made cricket teas because her husband played. She said she had to. She was shocked when I told her I wouldn't have done it (but then she was always complaining she had too much to do but wouldn't get her family to contribute to household tasks).

DeanElderberry · 05/05/2025 08:21

Thanks for the explanations, including some scepticism about blinis. I still don't know what Lawrence was doing there - he sounds too old to be a player. In Ireland local GAA matches can have a lot of spectators, but afaik there's no catering - back to the pub, or hang sangwidges and a flask of tay consumed in the car are more usual.

Gonners · 05/05/2025 08:47

@DeanElderberry I still don't know what Lawrence was doing there - he sounds too old to be a player.

The same as Lynda, presumably: being bossy, unpleasant and interfering.

BeatriceBatchelor · 05/05/2025 08:55

Edit: wrong thread!

DeanElderberry · 05/05/2025 09:14

Gonners · 05/05/2025 08:47

@DeanElderberry I still don't know what Lawrence was doing there - he sounds too old to be a player.

The same as Lynda, presumably: being bossy, unpleasant and interfering.

Fairy nuff, the grit around which the pearl grows.

FizzingAda · 05/05/2025 09:16

There was a comedy series some time ago, about cricketers and their wives doing the teas. Timothy Spall, Josie Lawrence, Brenda Blethyn and Robert Dawes. It was very good, but I can't remember the name of it. Poor wives were doing a full scale buffet!

DeanElderberry · 05/05/2025 09:28

If the TA scriptwriters are nicking ideas from other shows I wish they'd take a look at 'Welcome to Our Village, Please Invade Carefully' which did a much better job of conveying the everyday realities of village life than anything I've heard on TA in recent years. Come to think of it, cricket teas might have featured - cricket certainly did.

ArmySurplusHamster · 05/05/2025 10:16

Not remotely like the grit around which the pearl grows, @DeanElderberry ; Vibrio parahaemolyticus would be closer to the mark. Insufferable hag.

PassivAggressivHaus · 05/05/2025 12:11

@FizzingAda , Outside Edge

FizzingAda · 05/05/2025 13:25

PassivAggressivHaus · 05/05/2025 12:11

@FizzingAda , Outside Edge

That's the one, thanks! I really enjoyed it, and the awful Lawrence made me think of it.wish they would repeat it.

Possiblyfamous · 05/05/2025 14:05

FizzingAda · 05/05/2025 09:16

There was a comedy series some time ago, about cricketers and their wives doing the teas. Timothy Spall, Josie Lawrence, Brenda Blethyn and Robert Dawes. It was very good, but I can't remember the name of it. Poor wives were doing a full scale buffet!

Outside edge! Loved it at the time!