Archers thread #189: Brian reaps what he sows, in spite of himself. 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 want to hear more from Markey, 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.)

Over to you!

@SurferRona your post prompted me to turn on the programme - and I immediately thought the narrator sounds like Annabelle Dowler (Kirsty in TA). Googled and the AI says the narrator is unidentified. Nothing obvious online about it being Ms Dowler - but it’s very much her voice and intonation.

🤷‍♀️

Yes @TottersBlankly you are right, it was Kirsty!! I kept flipping to no, it’s Stella, then back- but I was wrong on both counts!! Not as if the actors all sound alike at all either!!

I missed the credits at the end. Was it her?

I checked the credits and it was Annabelle Dowler. I then had a quick listen and it sounds like Kirsty, but without the scratchy/croaky voice. When did she adopt that? I can't remember how she sounded before being left at the altar by TomTit, but perhaps that shriek of anguish rendered Kirsty permanently hoarse?

The peregrinations of the village shop don't ring true at all

One of the many things I love about these threads is learning words like peregrinations.

Last week it was Totters and her finagle.

What I don’t understand about the shop is this: it’s a community shop, yes? And the dreaded Hazel owns the building itself, iirc. But who actually has ultimate responsibility for the shop? Is it Susan? Because she seems to be the only person making all the ludicrous decisions about shifting it from pillar to post, storing the stock with every neighbour she can bludgeon into submission, etc etc. Is she in charge because she's the official postmistress? (and yes, there’s surely no way any PO activities could continue - money-handling and official documents cannot be dealt with in the village hall or the church).

I don’t understand why there isn’t some sort of committee taking these decisions. In fact I just don’t understand the SL at all.

What has happened to Robert Snell? Has he been kidnapped and replaced.

We've lost all contact with reality. We have to make our peace with this or break the habit of a lifetime (well, I do).

Robert is in London looking after Leonie and Mungo because James is overseas and Leonie has some sort of back problem. He has been heard trying to talk to Lynda on the phone and being audibly pissed off because she very clearly wasn't listening. Don't blame him for being off with her since.

How old is mungo?

Born August 2014, according to Lay-oh-kneee's BBC Archers page, so 11 this month.

Robert's supposed to be 82.

Thanks. So what help does leonie need? Seems very contrived

I feel like we could do with mungo back in the village. Preferably wants to be known as Gary and finds his parents unbearable

although we already have one ‘daddy’ so I guess that doesn’t work

Anyone no longer able to use the Sounds app, just try deleting and reinstalling. It worked for me but might only work for the four weeks grace period.

Ambridge
I don’t understand why there isn’t some sort of committee taking these decisions.

When the shop was set up there was a committee, of which Pat was I think the chair. It also involved David, Lynda, Usha, Kathy, Brian and Oliver. It's certainly the case that all decisions then were not made by their only paid but half-time employee Susan. (Half-time because she works half of each day at Bridge Farm dairy.) No decisions were made by her back then, in fact, except as just one member of the committee.

Go Brad!

Yay for Brad!

Why the hell is Chelsea grovelling to Amber? I don't believe Chelsea bullied Amber.

Please can Amber come into close proximity with a large piece of heavy, runaway farm equipment.

I fear Amber would be protected by the thickness of her skin and her make-up.

I'm going to be disgusted with the SWs if Amber's teeth don't all fall out at the moment that causes maximum humiliation. Pain would be good too.

This, absolutely. When he gets it right he really does get it right.

As does Jakob. They are both of them speakers for truth.

IHaveAlwaysLivedintheCastle
Why the hell is Chelsea grovelling to Amber? I don't believe Chelsea bullied Amber.

The only reason I can think of is that the BBC has given TA a brief: "you must have a storyline about bullying". Since TA didn't have any bullying available, they had to do a bit of hasty history-invention. It would have been less implausible if they'd had Mia as the victim of bullying, or Brad. They did try doing it with George claiming that everyone had been horrible to him at school because his mum married two brothers successively, but it was clear that nobody believed a word he said so that didn't work.

Come to think of it, the well-matched liars are matched in this as well: invented bullying syndrome.

Someone should introduce Amber to Martyn Gibson: a match made in heaven for our entertainment.

Well done Brad.

At what point in the Amber/Chelsea SL will it be pointed out to Amber that George will be judged by some for the rest of his life for what he did?

I thought Chelsea was doing her hair and make-up, or did I imagine that?

Thanks Asking. I thought there must be something like that in place. So why Susan appears to be in sole charge of everything shop-related remains a mystery.

As for Amber - ugh. Apart from anything else, she’s just so…..odd. Really, really odd.

That was so tedious, I started to pine for Joy.