Archers thread #191: Mulligan: stew made from odds and ends; second chance after poor shot. Both fit the bill. 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 like George you like your steak very well done, 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.)

Mulligan mostly makes me think of John Finnemore's Souvenir Show. This is good, and tenuously connected to a recent TA storyline

Over to you!

she is sorting things out though. And she is having a reaction to her father's death.

She is also, IIRC working from home, and keeping her livliehood going. The fact that a local farmer and another family has stepped up is neither here nor there, tbh. She didn't ask them to, and if they hadn't offered she would have had to sort something out.

Esmee seems a bit of a dishcloth to me. Josh is by far the best Brookfield Archer. He is also the best actor so sounds like a believable person rather than a post-drama school construct like Pip or Ben. Pip’s accent is as unreliable as Dane’s. She often has a northern twang when talking to poor Stella. I wish Stella would find someone else btw.

I am so glad I don’t have to go on the family holiday.

Surely Miranda knows Lynda puts on the shows - didn’t Justin and Lil get it together in one of the village shows?

Having grown up where the Archers is set, I’ve always felt somewhat offended by the central casting ‘yokel’ accents of the lower orders in the show (excluding Ed and Neil). But the actress who plays Esme really takes the biscuit. Hearing her cycle through RP, to nonspecific Northern, to Benny Hill yokel and back again makes me SO ANGRY!!! I assume we are being set up for a Josh (or is it Ben - can never remember which is which) wedding and Brookfield/Meadow mega-farm - at which point i will have to stop listening to avoid throwing my radio out the window.

Just chuck the radio out through the window.
I'd miss mine, I say 'Oh, f**k off' to it several times every day.

Isn't the stipulation of the family holiday in Peggy's will that everyone has to go? Ruairi (not even a blood relative) seems to have forgotten this. He also seems to have forgotten all the other branches of the family. Are the Bridge Farm lot happy to down tools at the drop of a hat and is Helen happy to take the boys out of school? What about James and Mungo? Have Nolli and Sipho been erased from Kate's memory now Phoebe is pregnant? It was a silly plot to start with, but what was the point if it's not followed through? And wouldn't it be better to keep a handle on all these existing characters before adding new ones?
I like the way George's release is being handled (if you remove Amber from the equation and she does seem to have been silenced) - his crime hit too hard into the heart of the community for him to expect an easy ride. The person he needs to talk to is Freddie and possibly Lynda who could give a good insight into what it's like to be a victim of crime.

The holiday is ridiculous and the whole ‘there’s enough money left to pay for relief farmers’ is just such lazy writing. And why on earth would they all let ruari bulldoze them like that

and it sounds like a shit holiday tbh. Scottish castle in the summer - great. In November - not so much.

I think the Scottish castle holiday is a pathetic cross-sell of the Traitors, personally. Deeply cringeworthy.

Yes the BBC are getting a lot of cross promotions in

Scottish castle in November could be lovely, I suppose. Roaring fires in huge fireplaces, excellent central heating providing background heat away from the parts of the rooms and corridors more than a few inches away from the roaring fires, comfortable armchairs and sofas dotted around in immaculately decorated rooms, heavy lined curtains blocking out the cold and the dark and the rain and the wind in the hours of darkness (i.e. most of the time in Scotland in November), beautiful gardens to wander about in if the rain stops for a few minutes, good mattresses and pillows, thick quilts, extra blankets, top notch plumbing, flowers everywhere, unlimited piping hot tea, exquisite and plentiful food cooked and cleared away by other people, lots and lots of booze. None of that would come cheap and it would all be as naught if one were to be cooped up with a family at war.

With very young children though?

There would be an old-fashioned nanny (strict but kind) assisted by a nursery maid. The children would appear for an hour before dinner, immaculately turned out, to play decorously with their parents. They would then disappear with Nanny. It would be blissfully quiet and restful.

are you hosting us? put me down for a room with a 4 poster!

Sadly, I do not own a castle. There is one across the bay from my Mum's house but nobody lives there now. It probably was much as described above many decades ago, but my grandpa was one of many badly paid staff members making it so. When the Duke of Montrose felt the pinch a little during the Depression, he decided one good way to economise was to force a pay cut on all his servants, Grandpa included. What an absolute [redacted]. When I look at the ornamental gate in the grounds supposedly paid for by his devoted tenants and staff for one of his birthdays, I feel my blood pressure rising.

See reference to roaring fires...ideal for the Starry Twins. "This evening we are playing Infant Immolation."

on the positive side, in November there will be no midges

I really liked the conversation between George and Freddie, their ease about common experience making a crack in George's defensiveness.
His humorousness about the prospect of the abattoir was a nice touch, too.

Yes, I liked Freddie stepping in, I wonder if he was asked to contact George? Freddie’s one of my favourite people

I ❤Freddie.
I hate Pip

I got the feeling Will had had a word with Freddie?

So Pip lost her posh girl voice tonight. And Amber seems to be toning it down.

I don't understand why Lillian is still talking about the castle holiday as something that is definitely happening. Surely it can't under the terms of Peggy's will, given that half the family can't go? Or is Ruari hoping to persuade Justin to cough up?

@BeatriceBatchelor - Amber is being played by a different actor this week. I don’t know why.

Though Google AI informs me that Social Media suggests the original Amber, Charlotte Jordan, may have other acting commitments. Olivia Bernstone sounds younger, but much less distinct to my ears.

Weird having a different actor.

But why have a different actor when you can just have one actor with 5 different accents @Esme. Today we were on Northern again.

another BOOP for Freddie/George scene, it was nice. Will thanked Freddie for coming and it was mentioned that he’d asked him to get in touch.