Archers thread #190: Carry on, Cleo! Best new character for ages. 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 be delighted to have your wedding reception across the lawn from the local Flower & Produce Show, 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.)

Charlotte Smith must have been delighted to get back to Countryfile and Farming Today. What a pile of piffle tonight. Ah well.

When is George expected back? It can't be long now, surely. It occurs to me that I can't recall whether he's ever spoken on air to Ruairi. As their actors are currently the best (IMO) amongst the younger members of the cast, I hope they will cross swords in some way.

And finally, I can't mention Carry on Cleo without squeezing in one of the best lines ever written (Denis Norden and Frank Muir have the credit): Infamy, infamy! They've all got it in for me! Currently, Lily probably feels this way.

https://youtube.com/shorts/eRnd48yTC5A?si=N05njp3uLfpSjAmI

Over to you!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b010lyyd

here for anyone else who wants it - all credit to previous poster though - and it needs to be opened in sounds I think due to the new BBC changes

Jill will thank Ben very much for the vouchers and immediately redistribute them amongst the family. I suppose she might take the meal for herself and Leonard.

I have to admit to sniggering about Nathan Booth's limp cucumber.

"Courgette poisoning"

PSA. Squashes are easy to grow from seed, and cross-pollinate with other squashes. If you grow your own, and grow the next crop from their seeds, the resulting fruits might be poisonous especially if they've been cross-pollinated by gourds.

I've grown from seed, but not two years in a row.

I'm catching up. I'm on Tuesday. Azra and Lily are the most boring thing I've heard in a long time. Although Jazzer is a colossal bore too.

Tonight preparing us for demise of Jill?

I do love an optimist. (I haven't listened yet.)

I find it difficult joking about Jill’s decline and death because I associate her with the real person acting her

when Amber did that whole 'I'm going to tell you something but you must never tell' thing with Susan, I was actually expecting her to confess-
that she actually began her correspondence with George as way to generate 'content' for her influencing thingy
and that she would tell Susan that in the end, she actually really DID fall in love with George
although in fact that last bit is untrue, and George's heart will be broken when he eventually finds out

I'm up to Sunday, it was a dreadful week.

Re the flower and produce show- it's such a load of cobblers, I can't be bothered saying more.

And bore off Amber.

Was that the usual Jill actor speaking? It sounded really strange.

Jill tonight was quite wonderful. That line "I've been blessed with the life she was meant to have" made me cry.

Leonard, as always, is a pleasure to hear.

No joking from me. I thought it was well done and moving but the scene felt prophetic.

I didn’t mean it as a criticism and not your post in particular. I know she’s a fictional character and I wouldn’t normally be bothered but with Jill and Peggy they feel more real somehow!! Maybe because I am more aware of the actresses and their advances years and it seems a bit tempting fate!

Oh don’t worry, I know what you mean. The passage of time in people’s lives is sometimes so poignant.

Amber seems to be turning herself into quite a pathetic character. Perhaps we are meant to feel empathy for her? If so, sorry but no. Poor Amber, so shallow and so very transparent in her unpleasant manipulation..

I feel more sympathy for George, whose downfall was caused by pure Grundy/Horrobin stupidity. If he'd admitted on the spot that he'd been driving, and explained why (because - he could reasonably have claimed - he was afraid that Alice would drive home when she woke up, still drunk) then he'd have got a slap on the wrist and a "don't do it again".

I found the scene at Grace’s grave incredibly touching. A story stretching back through the annals of Archers history - Jill finally letting go of a long-held resentment and understanding, at the age of 95, that love doesn’t die when a person dies. All helped of course by Leonard - who is always magnificently acted (and who is the person I wish I knew in RL). It’s a theme that has been subtly returned to and remembered ever since Jill and Phil got together with the arrival and departure of various Fairbrethren over the years and the naming of Rosie Ruth Grace. So much more satisfactory than Neil the foundling and the invention of Amber and reinvention of George as letter writer extraordinaire! Jill sounds doddery - as well she might at 95 - but l liked the theme of forgiveness even if it was vanishingly unlikely Briian and Justin would spontaneously decide to join a bible study class.

Countryfile episode visiting Inkberrow the inspiration for Ambridge. Ifeaturrs the fabled Charlotte Smith.

t's on now on BBC2 signed atm. The last person they interviewed just said she stopped listening in the 1970s

Countryfile, The Archers:https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002jm2m via @bbciplayer

I too would like to know Leonard in real life. He is so lovely.

I was at a WI federation committee meeting last night, where we were going through the minutiae of our Spring Show, which will be held in May. At the last meeting in July we decided the theme of the show (‘books books books’ if you’d like to know) and what classes to include (Bookmark (any medium), Gatsby’s boutonnière, Paddington’s marmalade, Queen of Hearts’ tarts etc). Last night we discussed judges, stewards, timings etc. For info, we have a flower judge, 2 cookery/preserves judges and 2 craft judges. Each of those judges has a steward working with them who brings them the exhibits one by one. We will have another meeting in November, during which we will discuss who’s bringing what for the judges’ lunch and punters’ refreshments. When the discussion ended last night I asked if anyone listened to The Archers and one woman said yes. There followed an outburst of horror and condemnation of the Flower and Produce debacle, with the non listeners being amused and aghast in equal measure. My fellow listener recalled that Ambridge WI used to arrange the show, so when did that stop? I know we’ve already talked about all this and I know it’s a drama etc etc, but really does it have to be so ridiculous and unrealistic?

Yeesh that was long, many apologies!

All these things take months of planning, usually starting pretty much as the current one is taking place. It would be tedious as anything to have to sit through committee meetings about it all, but it s so weird that they seem to do everything last minute. Especially as farmers have to think ahead all the time.

Don't apologise, it was justified and wonderful.

❤😆

I have just one question, @TherapistInATabard ... how many Lynda Snells do you have? Be very careful ... if you say "None" then we'll all know the answer is one, and it's you! 😆