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!

Granny Weatherwax gets called Esme (short for Esmeralda of course) by Nanny Ogg and I can't imagine Nanny saying "Esmé" instead of "Esmee".

I’m feeling too southern for this thread

Thank-you for the earworm, for giving eet to meee…

I know an Esmae. No doubt about how to pronounce it. Also taught an Esmé pronounced correctly despite being Northern(ish).

I was at school with a girl called Meriel in the late 1970s. She's the only one I've ever heard of apart from the Archer one.

I don't think Esme is an uncommon name. Esme Young is one of the Sewing Bee judges. I'm sure she pronounces it Esmay.

Nobody else watches the Great British Sewing Bee, then? One of the judges is called Esme. She and Granny Weatherwax would get on like a house on fire.

Anyway, new thread. https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/radio_addicts/5428595-archers-thread-191-mulligan-stew-made-from-odds-and-ends-second-chance-after-poor-shot-both-fit-the-bill-discuss-the-archers-here

oh now i am only ever going to see Granny Weatherwax as Esmé from the sewing bee. Naughty Gasp!!!

Am finding the dead farmer/guilty daughter storyline too emotional. I may have to stop listening for a while.

Esme is a very popular name right now, like Isla. There are a large number of late-teen/twenty-something Esmes and Islas. Which took over from Isabella and Mia.

Ottilie is going to be the new "Let's think of an unusual name!", like Esme, Isla and Elodie once were.

@RuttleTuttle , Darkgreener suggests otherwise. Esme
The new "Let's think of an unusual name!" seem to be Maeve and Bonnie.

Isla, Isabella, Mia, Freya etc will start to fall out of favour soon.

Buxusmortus
I was at school with a girl called Meriel in the late 1970s. She's the only one I've ever heard of apart from the Archer one.

I had, maybe still have, a cousin called Meriel – we lost touch quite a while ago. She is Greek, if she's still alive.

I listened to The Archers again, and had no issue with Ruth's pronunciation.

Jolene should have a backbone and show more consideration to Fallon's feelings.

I knew someone at school with an older sister called Meriel - her loving sister used to call her Merry Hell.

Sounds like you made the right call.

It was Ruth's 'I like her' that convinced me that Esme would become Josh's wife.

Which is a bit strange really, since Ruth does not like Josh.

I do not understand how Josh (or Ben or Pip, for that matter), would have failed to notice a "girl next door" who was a few years older. Unless she went away to Boarding School, which seems unlikely, they would have all been on the same school bus to enable them to pass through the barrier that is the bypass.

It's about time some of these 20-30 year olds settled down (or at least showed some interest in a heterosexual relationship).

George remains obnoxious idiot. He'd be far better popping round to Mulligan's to ask for some work. At least he has some experience with farm work and Pat would probably put in a good word for him.

Maybe George should set his cap at Esme!

I do not understand how Josh (or Ben or Pip, for that matter), would have failed to notice a "girl next door" who was a few years older.
We don't know how old she is. Maybe she went to a different school. We had a choice of two schools, but most went to the one I went to.

We a choice of two primary schools too. Two of the neighbouring farms DC (same age as me) went to the one in the nearest village, we went to the one in the village in our parish.

I wouldn't know children from neighbouring farms had I not been at school with them or their siblings or mixed with them socially, especially if they were 4 years or more older or younger.

If Esme is older than Josh, she'll be a lot older than George. Josh is 28.

@Buxusmortus , I reported CJP. Posting here to avoid interrupting the main thread.

I didn't mention panto or Am Dram, but it is inevitable. After all Christmas is a season of tidings and ...
Will the panto be a turkey?

O tidings of comfort and ...,
Comfort and ...
O tidings of comfort and ...

Just taking the ...

Don't mean to get on your ...

@Buxusmortus , I probably got the same reply as you following my complaint.
I'm hopeful that my feedback to Feedback will be aired.

Interestingly I looked up the complaints report for the period covering that episode, which covers a about a fortnight. They have to specify any programmes which have over 100 complaints, in the period there were 2, one was about a BBC news report on Gaza, the other was that CJP episode which had 103 complaints.

After you mentioned it I also emailed Feedback but that was only on Monday, so don't know if my comments will be included. It will be interesting to hear what's discussed on Feedback.

I only posted to Feedback yesterday, so it will probably be missed. Shame because I used an unusual first name.
They will say more or less what the email said, I expect

"Jonathan Pie is a fictitious political journalist who has been hugely successful for a number of years as a comedy character with audiences on social media and has an established reputation for departing from the on air decorum of an impartial reporter to engage in highly opinionated rants on controversial topics, reinforcing his views with colourful language. This sitcom on Radio 4 relocates the character as a radio phone-in host and shows the audience how his professional and personal worlds collide.

There is certainly never any intention to upset or offend listeners and we always aim to balance the potential to offend with our aim to bring some of the most established, popular and successful comedy performers to as many in Radio 4’s overwhelmingly adult audience as possible, and at times when it’s convenient for them to listen. Although originally broadcast in a late night slot, as Jonathan Pie is one of the celebrated comedy creations of the day, we were keen to make the programme available to the much larger audience in the 6.30pm comedy slot. To do this, we made a significant quantity of edits to the strongest language in the programmes. The language heard in the versions available online and on BBC Sounds is significantly stronger than in the edits we are broadcasting at 6.30pm.

We recognise that the programmes still include some lower level, moderately offensive language (as defined by Ofcom’s language research here: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv-radio-and-on-demand/broadcast-standards/offensive-language), and that this isn’t to everyone’s taste. However, there is no watershed on radio in the UK and instead, in keeping with all other broadcasters, we are required to take account of the likely audience. In the case of Radio 4, it is firmly established as an adult radio station, covering predominantly adult topics throughout the day and with a predominantly adult audience at all times - research suggests that negligible numbers of children listen even when they may be at home in the evening and available.

Even so, we also give consideration to the editorial purpose served by language that has the potential to offend. In this case, the language is never condoned as, in a satire of the media industry, Jonathan Pie is frequently shown to be a character on the edge who is rebuked for the way he conducts himself and, despite the apparent certainty in the way he expresses his opinions, comes to see the error of his ways.

We understand that some listeners have different opinions on the use of strong language in our output, but we hope this response explains the consideration to the use of all language that has the potential to offend. We broadcast a great range of comedy styles, so we also hope that you will find plenty of other programmes on Radio 4 that are more to your taste and that you can enjoy.

Thanks again for letting us know your views. We always value audience feedback, as it helps to inform our understanding of audience reaction and our editorial decisions about future content.".

So the other day Pip was all "I want to make Rosie's Halloween costume, not buy one!" and today she's saying she wants to take Rosie to choose one in a shop?

I mean, it's not a biggie, but that was literally three days apart 😆