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.

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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!

I'm getting seriously wound up that Kenton & Pirate aren't going to the ball.

They're the bleedin' landlords!

I thought it was Zainab too. Then some generic stereotyped West Country accents.

The Maliks buy the farm and employ Joy to make cheese and yogurts and they win loads of prizes that top Borcester Blue.
Perhaps the Maliks had an arrange marriage and thats how the plumber and doctor got together. Not everyone meets thier life partner at uni.
I know it's really lovely of David to help with the Mulligan farm ( Esme is a lovely name), but how does he find the time and wouldn't Akram lose money also by helping out.

I could have sworn there was some mention of the Malik family having a farming background either in Pakistan or the UK - but Google AI denies all knowledge …

Before Akram appeared, he had been back in Pakistan for ages sorting out his father's estate and I idly wondered what it was that took so long. Maybe it was selling land?

Wasn’t it an arranged marriage?

I don’t remember them saying it was an arranged marriage. But then there’s a lot I don’t remember.

I thought it was implied and she was young And the parents died shortly after?

The SWs offered a background story to the Malik marriage. It was so desperately unconvincing I’ve wiped it from my memory.

Yes that’s true - it was weird

Arkram definitely talked about being used to working on a farm as his father had one. Much smaller than Brookfield though.

@MinnieBaldock
“I know it's really lovely of David to help with the Mulligan farm ( Esme is a lovely name), but how does he find the time and wouldn't Akram lose money also by helping out.”

Though farmers can be miserable sods they can also be very caring. A local farmer has recently suffered a terrible bereavement and all the neighbours have come together to help out. Remember it’s only two days since David discovered Mulligan so won’t have had time to sort out relief milkers etc, and no dairy farmer would leave cows unmilked.

If it continues though, or the untrained Maliks takeover we will know it’s literally a load of bullshit.

How much would 160 acres and a herd of Guernseys cost? I don't imagine Esme will be giving it away. Nothing at this point has suggested the Maliks are rolling in cash? Maybe Esme will be looking for someone to run the farm, but that's going to involve a lot more than just milking the cows - however good Akram is at connecting pipes! We've already got Ruairi doing a crash course in farming, how many more amateurs do we need? It's starting to feel as if the SWs have literally lost the plot - three generations at Brookfield? It's four including Pip since the programme started and I'm assuming Dan and Doris weren't starting from year zero. I know they are making it up as they along, but I wish it didn't feel like that - it didn't used to.

I have a vague recollection of there being a family farm too - I want to say the grey gables manager who’s name escapes me went back to help on it (or helped out on it as a child?) - but as he is azras brother, and she shows absolutely no sign of ever having previously been involved with the countryside or animals, I suspect I am wrong.

Adil Shah - aka Ronny Jhutti, the man with the beautiful voice. Bring Him Back!

@LillianGish land is around £10,000/acre, guernseys will fetch between £1,000 to £1,500 each (although there will no doubt be some old ones which will be nearer £500). So land is £1,600,000, cattle say £100,000, and then there’s the farmhouse, which in my area, with a few acres would be at least £1,000,000. Plus equipment, but I’d assume most would be old, so no idea of its value.

So realistically the total value would be north of £2.5 million.

Didn't Akram say his family had had a farm? Something about it not being as big as David's.
Wasn't it Adil who mentioned the farm?, @RuttleTuttle . I think it was also mentioned by Azra when Adil got an allotment.

@LaMarschallin , one of my school friends went to a top university nearly 200 miles away, but continued her relationship with her boyfriend back home. He had a local job that didn't require qualifications. After she graduated, he dumped her.

I knew a GP whose husband was a gardener. I believe he has now done some further education himself having supported her through her studies.

He said it last night. In the episode. To David.

@RuttleTuttle , I meant it was mentioned a long time ago that Adil and Azra came from a farming background, or that his grandmother had a farm, so it had been mentioned before Akram said it.

Got you! 👍

Woo hoo. Land and property disputes in uh, the Old Country are a whole genre of soap opera in their own right

Right! Im shippin' Esme & Josh (they'll meet through David). Josh will move his egg empire to Mulligan Farm, Esme will give up the office for milkin' and the Archers dynasty will continue.

I was thinking Esme and Ben … I wouldn’t wish Josh on anybody !

Why would you wish drippy Ben on anyone?

I want Josh to have a better farm than pip though