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.

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'd swipe right on Dane, the new Grey Gables manager, or other unusual views.

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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/radioaddicts/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.)

Thanks to @WitcheryDivine for the title inspiration. Over to you!

Do you think so? Maybe he's just supposed to be a nice person.
Brian always had that hard, ruthless, alpha male streak alongside being smooth and suave which made it perfectly understandable why he would be capable of being unfaithful, but the Malik dad just hasn't got that steely edge, or the charm.

I'm glad it's not just me totally confused about the inheritance SL. After Piggoi changed her mind about leaving it all to Tom and Helen, we were supposed to believe that she'd realised that it would be wrong to do do anything other than leave it to her direct children. ISTR an earnest conversation with Tony when she accepted that she hadn't always treated him well, that he thoroughly deserved credit for building up the organic farm business and coping generally, and that was one of the main reasons for changing her mind.

If she's supposed to have changed her mind yet again without giving any reasons, and without anyone knowing a thing about it at the time, that's just nutty and would be completely out of character.

BBC news feature on the risk during Open Farm Day of cryptosporidium.

That's going to be the pay off for the Archers so isn't it

that’s just nutty and would be completely out of character

Not sure how to break this to you, but..,

That would at least be a realistic and relevant story, unlike others we've had recently. David's been worrying about violent protestors but this could be the unseen enemy ... Not that there have been any indications that Brookfield isn't on top of health and safety standards, but that wouldn't deter the SW.

I don't believe Lilian and Justin would be so relaxed and accepting about the bulk of the money going to a small, local charity they had never heard of.

And good point by LillianGish re Lil never having met or heard about Arthur.

But I think it is likely that Peggy would choose a dementia charity because of Jack.

Let's hope that Sybil Ruscoe (the Agricultural story advisor, who appears to be somewhat missing in action) was listening.

I wasn't paying huge attention to what time it was on, but did anybody else catch the piece about stork rewilding at Knepp Farm in Sussex? I would love Kirsty and Rex to introduce them to Ambridge, only to have them decide to nest build on top of David's barn.
https://knepp.co.uk/rewilding/reintroductions/white-stork/

I don’t think it’s unlikely that she’d make such a reference to Jack in her will - but in neither of the past two major updates that we heard on air did she indicate an intention to deprive her family of the bulk of whatever she had to leave.

In a weird crossover of art (?) and life, ‘Natasha’ (Mali Harries) is a judge on the BBC Food & Farming Awards. She was on the Food Programme on R4 yesterday talking about it.

She gets around - she was also in the Sunday night BBC1 cosy crime drama with Tim Spall last week. I recognised her voice but she was playing the middle-aged pushy mother of a teen and had grey-white hair and looked nothing like I imagine Natasha to look.

that has 'the grundys' written all over it

Agreed on all points!

Do the Brookfield Archers allow the general public to fondle their animals? They are not the ones with the petting zoo; does Bridge Farm still have theirs, or did that vanish when Rob was stabbed?

Did anyone else think that Tony had genuinely forgotten the conversation with Kirsty and Justin about the Longhorns and then blustered to cover his forgetfulness up? It made me wonder if we were going to get another dementia SL.

I may be completely wrong but I was instantly reminded of my of my mother whose short-term memory is now non-existant. (She doesn't get angry like Tony, just embarrassed and then offers complicated, unrealistic explanations of why she has forgotten.)

If Tony has dementia so do I, since the GPS idea was completely new to me. I don't think it has been mentioned on air before.

I think Tony is developing Dementia and it's a slow burn storyline that will play out over time. It was over a year ago now but there was an episode when he was speaking to Tom and completely forgot the names of some vegetables or other and also couldn't remember what he did earlier in the day. I remember commenting on it at the time.

I remember that.

Me too.

Indeed, but then Neil's foundling story had never been mentioned on air before either.

Are we going to get a PSA/storyline about Cryptosporidium? I see the Beeb is mentioning it in the context of Open Farm Sunday:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy5e1wn6n22o

Is another Millie Robson, but this time for Brookfield, too much to hope for?

@Godesstobe @Eastie77Returns @CaptainMyCaptain

i would agree that Tony would would be great slow burn sl for dementia/parkinsons. There’s been a few times on this thread over the last year or so where there have comments about him acting out of character or being randomly angry or forgetful which would be very realistic for how it appears in real life.

which makes the whole episode with the psa with Lillian and Justin meeting Arthur just so unnecessary and irritating.

Millie Robson?

Was she the child who got E Coli from Bridge Farm ice cream because of Clarrie's hygiene lapse?

Catching up on this weeks episodes and I agree ref Tony and a dementia storyline.

I also do not understand how Lilian had never heard/met Arthur before - she was always visiting her Mum especially after Jenny died so surely if she hadn't met him Peggy would at least have mentioned him ?

I'm wondering whether Helen will get even keener on Dane but he dumps her for Kirsty ?

As for Harrison - either killed in the line of duty or gets together with another police officer who either has children or after a short fling gets pregnant by Harrison ?