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!

Yes I thought there was a link

didnt similar happen to a greys anatomy actress

Is Kate really going to give the loathsome Father Crispin a massage? I'm with Jakob in finding it a bit odd and Jakob is usually a good judge of character. Perhaps Father C will get a bit handsy and Kate will have to go cap in hand to Alan and ask him to take over the funeral

Talking of caps, I have a mental image of the preternaturally aged and mature Henry as a tiny wizened old man wearing a neat prep school uniform complete with blazer, short trousers, long socks and a cap. I'm a very easygoing woman but I always have a strong desire to pull out a machine and spray him with bullets whenever he opens his mouth.

Wasn't it only his shoulder?

Thanks! I'm a long, long way from WW. Just home from a stint at the food bank and absolutely knackered. Feel about 104.

I had imagined Kate whipping out the massage table and fitting it between the pews tbh

but him being handsy in a future massage works too!

I'm a very easygoing woman but I always have a strong desire to pull out a machine and spray him with bullets whenever he opens his mouth

🤣
Seems perfectly reasonable to me.

So Henry, the great empath. There’s something creepy about him. Same as Ben really.

I don’t generally enjoy children in drama as they tend to be written as mini adults and they tend to be either a genius or “hilariously sassy”

much prefer they be kept in the cereal cupboard until they turn 18

Thank you, @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g - perfect title.

Only wish I had something to say about the pile of tosh we’re currently being served …

To honest, with your user name I'd expect nothing less.

Godesstobe
Talking of caps, I have a mental image of the preternaturally aged and mature Henry as a tiny wizened old man wearing a neat prep school uniform complete with blazer, short trousers, long socks and a cap.

Isn't there a character who fits that description in the books about Uncle (the Elephant) by JP Martin?

I am obviously a mean and graspy person, but I would have been asking a lot of questions if my elderly mother had re written a will while in a care home and I had been neither consulted nor informed - especially if that will had disinherited the family and left large sums of money to an unknown charity she had come across in the home and with which she had had no prior involvement. Were there no Powers of Attorney in place? Surely all rational adults of Peggy’s age and affluence would have these.

Peggy may have been a special case but I know of few, if any, people who are aged 95+ and in residential care, who would still be deemed to have sufficient capacity to make this kind of decision on their own. And I would have thought that the solicitors drawing up the will would have wanted to insist on some medical proof of capacity and proof there had been no undue influence.

The Archer clan clearly consists of living saints as most would have been banking on an inheritance in the tens of thousands if not more. For them ALL to shrug their shoulders and accept they were only going to get c £250 and an unwanted group holiday strikes me as highly unlikely. There would at very least have been a discussion of the issues.

Why haven’t any of them seen the will?

I've had to Google J P Martin as I had actually never heard of him or the Uncle books. My bad clearly.

Some one else mentioned a while ago that there was an exposé on Radio 4 recently about individuals who prey on vulnerable elderly people and persuade them to agree to them taking a LPOA and then draining all their money. This is often done with the connivance of a care home owner who then (presumably) takes a cut. I am starting to see The Laurels in a whole new light.

Not your bad AT ALL, because they've been out of print for absolute yonks so there isn't any particular reason that you should have done; in fact I only have them because somebody bought the copyright and crowdfunded to bring them out again. Unfortunately the single volume is a bit unwieldy to read.... I just wondered whether the ancient schoolboy complete with cap might have come from there. (And I think his name may have been Noddy Ninety. But clearly I shall now have to reread and find out.)

They're no good on line because the illustrations by Quentin Blake are an essential part of the package.

Phoebe!!

Borchester is 6 miles - I always assumed it was a little further than that. I’m surprised anyone needs the village shop tbh

performative athleticism 🤣. And then Kate killed him!!!! I’ve always believed exercise is bad for you. but why on earth didn’t she call an ambulance before Jakob. And Jakob - no he won’t be well enough and Alan will have to step in obvs

Stella and Justin on farming so that was something. Interesting that Adam was getting a lot of the credit - wonder if thats leading anywhere. Not sure I’m keen on Justin’s late life crisis. And he doesn’t actually own it all does he? He’s not the sole/majority shareholder of damara is he? And he would be putting BL into a loss making position so the directors would be failing in their duties if they agreed it? Although I guess it’s a pipe dream

Well! That was all sorts of hilarious! 🤣

The panic in Stella’s voice was pretty convincing.

Bruisername
Borchester is 6 miles - I always assumed it was a little further than that.

Borchester six miles, Felpersham twenty. And Hollerton about four miles, in the opposite direction from Borchester.

Six miles is a sensible distance, enough to make Ambridge feel 'separate' and to not want to drive back for a pint of milk or a packet of loo rolls - but meaning the shop really should be open until 20.00 at the very earliest. And all day Sunday.

I am deeply disappointed in Crispin. Having revealed himself as violent and creepy the least he could have done was die mysteriously leaving a cloud of suspicion and doubt.

not dead! that's a shame, I thought Kate killing the vicar was the funniest thing to happen in ages.
Hopefully we'll have Kate having to do a reversal and ask Alan if he could take the service rather than stand up and direct the traffic. I was hoping she might grovel, but too much to ask from Kate.

I may be expecting too much but I would have thought that someone running a wellbeing service like Spiritual Home would have to have obtained some kind of basic first aid certificate, and that the training might cover, oh I don't know, CPR or, at the very least, how to ring 999.

Having said that, I am enjoying TA much more at the moment. All the old characters seem suddenly to have been released from whatever pit they were being held captive in, farming is taking place and Joy is confined (or at least only being doled out in manageable quantities). Surely the powers that be have not been listening what their audience wants?

Where is the Ambridge village defibrillator kept, and why didn't Jakob bring it with him?

Cheers for the thread. A few episodes behind but sounds like we've gone to Archers lala land again.

Aren't they usually attached to something?

I'm not sure because I've not done the training, but in Ireland they're usually wall-mounted on a fairly central public building - pub, shop, hall.