Archers thread #186: Eavesdropping on a home for the terminally confused. 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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Thanks to @WitcheryDivine for the title inspiration. Over to you!

I also noticed the horses seemed to be walking on hard ground and never broke into a canter.

Clarrie is clearly working at the EV charging centre. I've been to Gloucester Services and it could be a mini version of that. GS is a victim of its own success and is always absolutely rammed, in the summer anyway. The design is very good and makes it possible to get right away from the traffic for a break. There is a good dog walking area too.

The horse’s hooves were all sorts of wrong. It took me a while to work out what the noise was meant to be.

A fast charger will charge a car in 15 to 20 minutes. I know as I have one so a " grab and go" shop is not so stupid. Unlike Joy.

Preposterous storyline about Lilian suddenly deciding to go and live in Canada.

Never make decisions after being so recently bereaved.

And Canada is bloody freezing in winter.

I realise where I have been going with the Archers. It's not about farming now it's just a soap opera set in the country.

As long I remember this I shouldn't be surprised at the stupid storylines and very poor scripts.

At my age, unfortunately I do forget and then I get very cross at what I'm listening to.

Yes I thought that about the charging station. I wonder if the sw are going to make the same mistake as joy

i still don’t understand the problem with having a new local shop tbh. The village shop isn’t a commercial enterprise

as for Lillian - why are they so obsessed with Canada. I think she would be far better suited to the south of France or Italy

It’s time for James and Leonie and Mungo to move to Ambridge. That would give Lilian a reason to stay.

This looks rather exciting - though I’m not actually listening to it at the moment:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002cpqs

(Slightly surprised the presenter deigned to cover an hour focused on mere women.)

A week dedicated entirely to women in the farming industry in TA might be rather excellent and worthwhile.

Someone will jog my memory on this but wasn't Tom meant to go to Canada. And didn't?

He did go to Canada - with Rob’s secret support. Ran away after jilting Kirsty. Came back months later with a new voice. (Leaving a somewhat furious previous actor …)

And Alice flew to Canada for a job interview but had to race back after a horse kicked Christopher.

Thank you @TottersBlithely, as you have revealed, Canada is the place to be. At least in TA.

I found that EV scene very odd. The complete lack of sound FX (apart from a bit of distant bird tweeting when they were, presumably, outside) and the dead acoustic of the shop interior gave me the impression that Fallon and Joy were completely alone in an empty building. They wouldn’t need to go as far as piped music, but a tiny bit of background 'hum' would have given the impression that they were indeed in a shop with other people there - as they mentioned Sabrina and Clarrie, there were clearly other customers around.

(And of course it was Joy who had to go along - she hasn’t been shoe-horned into an episode for a few days! 🙄)

yes in the underwoods local you would have expected to hear some beeping and people noises. And in the car park some cars pulling in and out.

odd that the only sound effects they put in were the dodgy horses

I’m pleased the EV station is open after all the fuss that was made in the planning stage. I’d assumed the script writers had forgotten about it. I know I’ve tried to forget the ‘sit in’ Jim tried to stream on social media.

You’re right. I was listening to the empty echo and wondered why they’d broken into the venue and whether security would come and make a citizens arrest for trespass.

Joy just tags along to anything. May be the actress lives locally to the studios and the BBC doesn’t have to pay travel expenses if they use her. She can be dropped in here and there for minimal cost. It must be something like that though having said that there was absolutely no need for her to go along with Fallon at all. Fallon could have had a quick chat with Clarrie alone in the new shop and then ran into Susan for a debrief without Joy. Susan could have had the brainwave of a customer survey all alone. Hmmm…ok, I know I am overthinking this but it is a bank holiday…

I agree that the Joy actress must live close to the studio. In fact, I'd go further. I think she is homeless and sleeps on a camp bed in the studio and does the cleaning, fetches everyone tea and coffee, and puts the bins out, all without any pay. I think the SWs felt so sorry for her that they have given her a major part in TA and include her in every possible scene.

Either that or she knows an awful lot of dirt on someone very important.

Found the cricket chat was a bit 🥱. it feels like there is a cricket fan amongst the sw. I am a fan of cricket but I don’t really want to hear about village cricket in this detail.

at least Lillian is looking at something other than Canada. Justin doesn’t have to go on the holiday surely. And why can’t they afford it? Is Justin rich or not? So inconsistent. And why does he need to keep Rex and Kirsty in line. He is far too hands on for what they set him up as.

Why would Dane take a first date to his workplace?

on the plus side - Joy free!!!

Why would Dane take a first date to his workplace?

Staff discount.

When does the cricket season end?

And Alice and Chris, just get on with it.

She’s going to mess Chris about for a while isn’t she?

we’ve got months of cricket

is Grey Gables still on TripAdvisor?

there is, it's still there
GREY GABLES HOTEL - Reviews, Photos

The horses were walking too slowly and their stride was rather short; clippy clippy (pony strides) rather than clippy cloppy (horse strides). ps I am a riding instructor

Yes Gloucester services is amazing, ( if somewhat pricey), and always busy. The commuting locals do drop in for organic milk, sourdough loaves and locally produced pottery. But its on the M5 motorway mid-way between Birmingham and Exeter, NOT on some tiny back road in rural Borsetshire. I am sure that the dog walking facilities do contribute to its success though.