Archers thread #187: Send not to know For whom the bell tolls, It tolls for Peggy. 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'd like Harrison to hasten home, 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.)

Thanks to John Donne for the title inspiration. The funeral of the century beckons. How much of it do we think we will hear? Kate confirmed tonight that Shula, Debbie, Noli and Sipho are all coming. If we hear one peep from any of them I'll be amazed. Bets on Hazel turning up?

Over to you!

That would make sense for Kate to say if she is number 27 except for the fact there are a large number of children who won’t need to be involved in the planning!

I thought Brian was sweaty palm nervous about the bridge, not intimidated by his surroundings.

Have we counted Johnnie?

And obviously Joy, Mick and Rochelle can't be left out. It's the law.

Whoops, sorry, forgot him.

So add Johnnie, remove Brodie as no one knew he existed, maybe remove Chris as divorced. Gets to 26?

God, this is like an A level maths question!

When was the last time we heard of Peggy leaving Ambridge for a holiday???

Can’t help feeling she danced a jig of glee when she thought of this particular torture for her descendants.

Joy and Rochelle drained all pleasure from being a listener. It feels like old times again tuning in now. The ‘proper love yous’ may not have sat quite right but I’ll take that scene over and above silly sulky Rochelle being a vegan and making/not making a cauliflower supper ANY day of the week…

I would definitely skip the family holiday btw. It sounds like hell on earth though Albania is actually great.

Maybe they used joy and Rochelle to try and get us to accept shit writing/character changing

brian just did not sound like Brian

"brian just did not sound like Brian"

Quite. I half expected him to announce that he wanted to go "exclusive" with Miranda.

If Peggy/Kate has excluded Ruari from the “fabulous 27”, I’m tempted to start an AIBU thread about it on here!

Has a budget been mentioned? I secretly hope that Kate is working on £5-10k/head all in (they’ll all need feeding and entertaining).

Brian said “I actually think I might love you, properly love you.”

Plus Miranda echoed back what he said, and she definitely said “properly”.

It did jar a bit but not as much as if he’d gone all Jolene.

No budget mentioned, but Kate keeps saying Albania is cheap so I think the budget can't be massive. That defeats the object, if you're going to give your family members a holiday via your Will, then at least make sure it's an extremely luxurious one, with enough money to hire out villas or a castle with full maid service and private chef etc or a superb hotel or a yacht.

I also can't believe that none of them have made any mention of how much Peggy left to the dementia charity. It could be £1000 or a million and if the latter explains what happened to her money. They all seem to have forgotten about it.

No 81 year old that I know would be talking like Brian and Miranda at the end of the episode, especially someone with Brian's personality. I'm adding not knowing any old people to the list of things the SW appear to know nothing about.

Just checking in to the "new" thread...I've not yet caught up on most of June... looks as though I'm in for an interesting ride! 🤔

And obviously Joy, Mick and Rochelle can't be left out

I was amazed Joy & Mick didn't turn up at the bridge tournament. And win it.

I expect that Joy was acting as Tournament Director (referee) for the bridge tournament. It was a skill she picked up when she was working undercover for the Intelligence Services.

Joy wont go on the holiday. But she will provide cover at the dairy, the farm, the stables, Amside (or whatever Lillians business is called), BL’s board ,look after the hens..oh and run the pizza van whilst they are all away.

And she’ll still find time for a session in the hot tub with Mick on an evening.

I am starting to feel uneasy that this holiday is being set up to wipe out a large chunk or archers so they can focus more on joy

I hope I never hear another word about the sainted effing Peggy.

So this beaver enclosure - a fence 1 metre deep and 2 metres high to keep in the beavers. What about other wildlife that needs to roam and gets caught inside the enclosure as the fence goes up?

Yikes hadn't considered that - they better be travelling on separate buses/planes.

I'm hoping they end up in Butlins.

How’s the baby @Poppins2016 ?

Why were Lillian and Justin at the Bridge tournament (which also seemed to be a garden party)?

Why was Brian impressed by a swimming pool and croquet lawn when he used to have one at Home Farm (and presumably still owns the shoot, a fishing lake and a cross country eventing course)?

Why was it odd for Miranda to leave home at 19? Most of my friends all went to Uni, never to return except for short stays (and I'm probably only a decade or so younger than her).

It would have been more fun if the Gills had hosted the tournament; opportunity missed.

Also Miranda may have been kicked out but she was still financially supported by her dad - didn’t she say Justin’s money came through her as she was wealthy and implied through her dad. I’m sure the story will now be that her mum was a hugely successful entrepreneur who invented the computer and it was that inheritance that set Miranda up

For many years the IT co my husband used to work for would take staff and their families on holiday (not as horrid as it sounded as we were free to do what we wanted when we got there). Yes they did allocate staff to different airports/airline/flights to minimise the risk of wiping out whole teams.

I hope I never hear another word about the sainted effing Peggy.
I'm very bored too.

Why were Lillian and Justin at the Bridge tournament (which also seemed to be a garden party)?
There's so many script oddities that one passed me by.

Why was it odd for Miranda to leave home at 19? Most of my friends all went to Uni, never to return except for short stays (and I'm probably only a decade or so younger than her).

Given Miranda's age, she's of the generation who could leave school at 15. There was nothing unusual then, or frankly at any point in my life, in a 19 year old leaving home.

"Given Miranda's age, she's of the generation who could leave school at 15. There was nothing unusual then, or frankly at any point in my life, in a 19 year old leaving home."

My mum, a tiny bit older than Miranda was married at 19.