Archers thread #192: Village of the Dammed. Discuss the beavers here. Throw in the odd word about the Archers if you must.

[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 love to have Kate present as you give birth, 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.)

I'm more excited about the arrival of the beavers than anything else going on in Ambridge at the moment. I hope there will be a webcam.

Bets on how much of next week is set in the castle or on the way there/back? I'm bracing myself for at least 50%.

Thanks

Oh what a lovely picture. 🥰

Thanks for the new thread @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g

Bill’s accent is excruciating. And Phoebe sounded strangely like Carly.

I thought Bill's voice sounded like Will trying to do a cockney accent, it was so off.

Anyone think the scriptwriters are planning a mass offing of Archers/Aldridges in a pile-up on the M6?

There will definitely be be some sort of lame attempt at Traitors-style intrigue in the castle.

Yawn

Love the title - thanks Gasp

I think Joy was joking about the strip poker. Not everything on TA is meant to be taken literally.

The Scottish Edition!

Thanks@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g!

It’s a weird joke though given it’s a family holiday! Suggests she has poor boundaries

Thanks for the new thread!

Is it me, or do all animals look faintly anxious when they are swimming, even seals and otters who let's face it swim all the time? That beaver looks as if it knows it's late for an important appointment.

Spaniels don’t look anxious when swimming, ime. More gleeful/triumphant. I’m thinking particularly of one that used to ‘fall in’ - she wasn’t swimming deliberately, oh no, perish the thort.

Love ‘village of the damned’, @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g

I was thinking of a dog of my acquaintance who used to dive into any body of water she was anywhere near whenever the opportunity arose and clearly loved swimming, but still had a furrowed brow as she swam.

I also thought Bill sounded like an older version of Will(!). I’m not sure what his accent is meant to be, it’s so bizarre. The East Londoner is me is offended at the idea he is meant to sound like a Cockney!

Thanks @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g

Thank you.

Im from South London and don't like being called a Cockney. Some think if you are from London then you must be a Cockney. I sound like a snob but I do have a South London accent.

Geaser Dad wants to protect his daughter and Amber's Mum and Dad must be worried sick because they know she will have nothing if she stays with George, and let's be fair you want the best for your child, not an ex-con. They must be so anxious in case she gets upduffed. I know I would be worried.

I thought Bill's accent was all over the place. And I have to say that as the daughter of a man in the motor trade (who DID go to university!) I am slightly affronted by the stereotypical characterisation of Bill the Geezer. I don't personally think that persona works any more in that particular business.

Anyone who works in ‘trade’ on TA is caricatured as boorish, loud and poorly educated (as in “I left school at 15 and went to the university of life”). See Vince. Bill was never going to be softly spoken and reasonable. It’s just lazy writing and suggests the SW’s have very little knowledge of people who are not middle-class professionals.

Exactly this.

They've also become terrified of portraying anyone as a middle class professional( probably because of the BBC's diversity targets and general wokeness). No new characters are ever from that demographic. Even the local GP has to be married to a plumber.

The Amber back story would be much more interesting if her parents had been seemingly nice people from a professional background.

Buxusmortus
The Amber back story would be much more interesting if her parents had been seemingly nice people from a professional background.

Yes, it would!

Sometimes the treatment of characters outside the immediate experience of the writers and editor reminds me of Vanessa Whitburn's claim that she understood all about the countryside because she commuted through it to work every day.

The Bill character was just so weird. I genuinely don’t understand why they keep bringing in new characters if they can’t be bothered to make them realistic or interesting. It is very hard to care about any of it!

Having said that, I enjoyed hearing Kate and Phoebe together.

Thanks Gasp.

Caught up, I agree re Bill. He seems such an anomaly, almost a characature of a car salesman from the 1990s.

I like scenes with Kate mainly because she is so dreadful I find her really entertaining. Phoebe is dull really and pregnancy hasn't made her any more interesting. It's annoying that she won't just tell Kate she doesn't want her to stay and play the doting grandmother. Anyway as far as I'm concerned, Hayley is Phoebe's mum. Kate is of course only a mother when it suits her.

I was dreading the holiday to Scotland and thinking of listening to something else this week

... but this was much more entertaining than expected.

Poor Jakob

Yes, it was good. Enjoyed seeing Tom getting the outcome he so thoroughly deserved.

Thanks for the new thread, @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g

TBF I come from a large farming family and that build up to the Scotland holiday is exactly every family holiday/gathering/occasion to a tee.

Thanks for the new thread, @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g.

I rather enjoyed this morning's (to me) episode. Jakob is a properly good egg. Nice to see Tom hoist on his own petard.

I thought George was being approached about covering the absence of the Archers and their impedimenta?