Archers thread #185: Some farming would be nice. Discuss The Archers here.

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

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Over to you!

I wish there was some force field which meant they can’t do anything outside ambridge. I really hate Rochelle and Joy. And rochelles panic over Rex 🥱.

i thought she had to leave the area - being just outside felpersham is outside the area?

it was nice to hear Alan and Usha but Joy still needed a name drop 🙄. Is there any conversation or scene that doesn’t need her mentioned/involved!

I'm glad Lily had a go at Joy even though I don’t like Lily!!! It’s a bit more realistic than everyone being sweetness and light and understanding all the time

I feel like lilys closing line was a bit barbed to the listener!!

Jack arrived in 1962, when he was forty-three, and bought Grey Gables either before he first spoke on air or shortly afterwards. He intended to turn GG into a holiday centre, and only fell in with the country club ambiance after he'd been in Ambridge for a few months. (And under the influence of Valerie Trentham, who became his second wife a couple of years later.) He was still very much not retired at that point, busy amassing more land and more property on an almost weekly basis.

Bruisername
I'm glad Lily had a go at Joy even though I don’t like Lily!!! It’s a bit more realistic than everyone being sweetness and light and understanding all the time

Me, I simply wondered how Lily would have liked someone (Kate, say, or Pip) having a nasty go at Elizabeth over Freddie selling drugs in the village. I have a feeling Lily would have been very upset about anyone doing that.

I thought Lily came out of that looking worse than Joy. And as for the "money isn't everything" comment said with a tinkly laugh [ you read about "tinkly laughs" a lot on MN, but I'm not sure I've heard one in real life]

Rex is unbelievably nice, but he is nice to have around.

I like to think that in reality, a lot of people would distance themselves from Joy. Pity the only one to shun her is an obnoxious little bitch whose opinions are worth nothing.

IHaveAlwaysLivedintheCastle
I thought Lily came out of that looking worse than Joy.

She also came out of it without the important urgent shopping she'd gone in there for, so it was a nose-cutting exercise.

Well that’s the beauty of it!!

it feels a bit to me that they are trying to rub the rough edge off a lot of the characters and I think in reality we would hear a little snipe/wondering how much she knew rather than everyone being all understanding

lily is almost a panto villain at this point

I can’t recall how it felt at the time of listening , as the timescale was obviously across years, but when one reads written accounts of Ambridge history (currently away from my books so can’t offer titles) financial bequests and inheritance of land or property seemed to be the one thing that really drove change and progress in the village right from the start. (My own listening begin in the 60s.)

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when that pattern changed but things do feel incredibly different now. And the not-actually-interested-in-Ambridge-heritage SWs are gradually excising every building that isn’t on the Beechwood Estate - so a huge amount of story potential has gone.

Home Farm
The Lodge
Willow Cottage
Jill’s cottage - which iirc will go to her daughters but is never mentioned even though Carol supposedly still rents it.
The gamekeeper’s cottage.
No one’s said who is moving into the house Tom and Natasha have just vacated …

And no one seems to own anything in Borchester these days! I used to love that constant conversation with the town - Jaxx, and the Bridge Farm shop (plus forgotten etcs). The contrast and the demands of urban businesses gave context to the village(r/s). It’s all so flat and one dimensional now.

I know all that’s been said before - but what I’m seeing is that the SWs no longer see inheritance (or patronage, naturally,) as a propulsive factor in Ambridge life, so I have no great hopes for the divvying up of Peggy’s estate …

And she's rubbed Rex up the wrong way too.

My vote is that Hilda becomes the sole inheriter with Tony as trustee.

And in five or seven years time who scoops the pool on Hilda's death?

Or what if she goes missing and the corpse is never found?

I foresee potential for endless shenanigans here.

sorry, back to the wealth thing. Justin is elastically wealthy. As is Lilian.

There was a murder she wrote where the dog inherited and if by he dog died suspiciously or disappeared then it went to charity

so they decided to get rid of the dog by framing it for murder 🤣

I mean, I think it’s pretty obvious she will immediately choose to move in with Joy!

Small point, but was it a little bit silly to name Mick’s friend Nick?

Some farming would be nice. I'd like to know what they're doing on the farms now and how it impacts life. I got really into Clarksons farm for that reason. As a suburb and city dweller I'm so distant from that world and i wish The Archers gave more insight into it.

Great post. Jennifer was always going into or coming out of Underwood's Food Hall. Nelson's Winebar was where all the young Archers and their chums hung out in the 80s. Shane and his quiche. Ruth hurrying to the 'supermarket on the bypass' and not to Tesco or Sainsbury's.

Oh yes! The supermarket on the bypass!!

I think this highlights how this is moving away from everyday life

eta they all seem to go to the village shop which is not realistic

God, Lily's horrible. I'm glad Rex stood up to her. Her high dudgeon at Rochelle having the temerity to be speaking to her daughter was awful but in character. Just as she conveniently forgets that Freddie did in the past, she seamlessly moves on from paying cricketers to appealing to their better nature to play for nothing.

Unless she's going to be set up as one terrible gorgon, the SWs will need to dial her back a bit. They need someone to take over from Lynda Snell in time, but Lily lacks her intelligence, culture, humour and essential good nature in putting the village first.

Not happy about the way Joy is being overused as a character, as well as bent out of shape to serve the vegan protest SL.

I don't think Freddie will be happy when he hears about Lily. He seems to take a more balanced view, and will recognise Joy is not Rochelle.

Lily has clearly forgotten she was the relative of someone in legal trouble, that impacted other’s wellbeing. People in glass stately homes houses and all that.

Oh wow what a surprise - Joy's starring again.

So according to Usha, Rochelle digging up a few spuds will look good at her trial

Lily is such a know it all she really needs taking down a peg or two.
When I heard Joy's voice once again I thought what's going on. I'm sure she has been on more than Helen last year.
Oh and it's so good that Rochelle and her are getting on so well because I am so invested in their story. Oh and Joy does the church flowers too.... she is flipping marvellous and I for one can't get enough of her 🙄( nor can the sw's either it seems).

I find it odd that no one has similar names! I have four Davids in my class at school , but the SWs come up with unique names ( or 'yooneek' like Baby Names on MN!). I know it makes it easier in same ways on radio, but they differentiated Robert and Rob without getting them mixed up.