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!

I enjoyed that too.

Couldn't happen full stop! <remembers this is Radio Addicts and not FWR, sits on hands>

Amber is absolutely loathsome. When I think we could be hearing about haymaking, silaging and the prospects for the various harvests, and instead are having this drivel inflicted on us, I could weep.

I don't mind Joy as a character, I just don't want her to be a central character at the expense of The Archers. What an absolute mess the programme is currently.

There are a few transwomen who pass but they have had considerable surgery and I agree it is extremely rare

it is not a SL I would welcome at all given how the bbc tend to deal with it (the worst being them telling the mother of a newborn that she was a bigot and needed to accept the father as a mother 🙄)

Couldn't happen full stop! <remembers this is Radio Addicts and not FWR, sits on hands>

I've said before, if TA go TWAW then I'm out. Hayley in Corrie seemed so harmless back then ...

And I like Joy but not her omnipresence.

I think if Amber had been Ambrose at school then even George or Brad would have remembered that!

I’m wondering if she did change her name - to something she feels is more influencer

(but if I did have the laughing emoji option I would have given you that for Ambrose!)

I doubt that TA would use a female to play a trans woman so I think we can exclude that story line.

I think this is it but not the trans thing.

Brad would have hung out with the bright kids which very clearly would not have included Amber.

He might have known of her though. Also if he'd had a friendship group of bright kids he wouldn't have been so easily influenced by George. I think he was a loner.

I’m currently out in the sticks, occasionally getting a whiff of a phone signal (but not enough for Radio).

Isn’t Mia the same age as Amber and shouldn’t she be back from Uni by now?

Mia wouldn’t have stood for the way Amber spoke to brad and I really hope we hear her back and sorting her out!!

wouldn’t Brad have hung out with Mia at school?

For plot purposes, I imagine Mia has a summer job in Newcastle.

😂

Oddly enough I was in Newcastle today as it’s been tipping it down up here (so didn’t fancy being drenched/blown away on Hadrian’s Wall)! We had a lovely lunch in Fenwicks (I can see why Jenny would have always been in Underwoods if that was the dept store it was modelled on).

I reckon that Mia would nip home on. Flixbus/Megabus as soon as she heard that George had a ridiculous girlfriend (I don’t ever recall a string of girlfriends, however much the SWs would like to reinvent history).

Newcastle is a great city. We stayed there for a few days a couple of years ago. We like UK cities and that was one of our favourites so far.

Yes! Wasn’t it Will or Ed who mentioned something about George not behaving the way he had with previous girlfriends? I was mightily puzzled because I’d thought his nascent incel tendencies were pretty much the point of George until he was convicted. I don’t remember a string of former candidates …

I thought his love life was imaginary.

I thought so too ... and also that he didn't seem to have any friends, or at least none who liked him.

The only girl we've heard mention of really is Tilly Button, and not really in a reciprocal way.

I think Amber is impersonating someone at school and is some sort of catfish/influencer type thing.

They haven't been out of school that long and it's very unlikely neither remember her.

I was in a small secondary, about 600, but there were plenty who I didn't really know. Even in my own year, if they weren't in my house or my set for classes or on my school bus - I probably knew them to look at, but not more, and I didn't necessarily remember them well within a short time.

With the rise of social media it's more likely you have some recollection of them. I don't buy that she's completely unknown. Having cousins and siblings across multiple years jn the school it's even less likely. Brad said he didn't recognise her at all, that's odd. You'd have expected some recognition. The SW also put that line in there for a reason.

Amber sounds like the kind of person who would have a face full of filler and we know she already wears loads of make up. She probably dyes her hair too. In that case she could easily look very different from how she looked as a schoolgirl, so it's not particularly surprising if Brad didn't recognise her, especially if she didn't move in his circles.

I don't think we know how big the school is either, it could have ten forms each year like my grandchild's school, in which case it would be hard to know who everyone is.

Im not listening at the moment and to be honest none of you are tempting me to! 😀