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%.

I have a friend who is East Asian and recently qualified as a doctor. He's been the target of all types of racism by all types of patients. He's started doing martial arts, just in case. This is in London, but yes Lawrence's type of racism does exist.

There is subtler racism. You might not even notice it unless it happens to you.

I agree with that! If the three of them are that untidy they would have had personal things lying about all over the place. Leonard and Joy basically invited themselves in to have a good nosey.

Are Paul and Ruiari still a thing? Funny R wasn't mentioned when they discussed Nina and Mason.

I'm starting to go off Leonard. Did he and Joy do the bedrooms?

How old is Leonard? Late 80s? 90s?

Immaculately cleaning a tip of a 3 bed house in an afternoon with one other person seems a stretch of stamina.

All the older generation I know (particularly Leonard's age) would smile sweetly and say "you'll just have to do what you can and tell Shula that you've been unwell", whilst thinking that it'll teach them a valuable life lesson.

I also found it odd that Leonard went round to help when everyone was unwell, that was beyond stupid. Norovirus is horrible, but 3 twenty somethings would be able to cope with it on their own (goodness, I've even had norovirus when in sole charge of children - DH was away. You just have to muddle through in survival mode).

I’m not sure we have ever heard how old Leonard is supposed to be. I think we knew that he was quite a bit younger than Jill (95), who he met a good decade ago, and he was supposed to be very fit for his age. There was that daft “I’ve bought a racing bike” storyline last(?) year. To have him any younger than late seventies would make him much closer in age to David than Jill.

I think even Joy must be well into her 60’s.

Will we actually hear Shula return, I wonder?

I’m not impressed that three able-bodied young adults let their living environment get in such a state. Yes, they were ill, but iirc it sounded as though the house was a tip even before that.

They’re all perfectly capable of running a Hoover round, washing up and doing a bit of tidying. An 80-something (?) and a 60-something shouldn’t be doing it for them!

(And while I’m at it, the regular wheeling out of Leonard as some sort of octogenarian fairy godfather, able to fix any problem with a wave of his wand, is starting to be repetitive and tiresome)

To be fair (which pains me) the Stables Three didn’t ask the interfering old buzzards to clean up after them.

Lawrence’s turn and the appalling behaviour on his part that led to it was witnessed by everyone in the waiting room. I don’t doubt it would have been the talk of the village. Asking how he was after that seems like a reasonable inquiry and Azra didn’t really know the answer which is what she said. She didn’t really say anything that wasn’t known already, I think the norovirus three being stuck at the stables was a great way of meshing those characters into the storyline, reminding us what they have in common and what challenges they are facing. I’ve long thought the younger characters were hazily defined while the old stalwarts are dropping like flies. They sounded believably like housemates this week, though I agree it’s unbelievable Leonard would go in and clean for them! The Maliks failure to move back to Pakistan on the other hand felt a bit unnecessary - no one believed for a moment they would go after being so comprehensively introduced. I don’t see why Azra can’t just be the doctor, Akram the plumber who is looking for his true calling with the kids having all the usual problems Gen Z have launching themselves these days. If we have to have racial stereotypes couldn’t they at least have been brilliant cricketers who led Ambridge to victory. Anyone who missed this week has missed very little in terms of plot, but I like the fact I now know who Josh is and how he feels about his place in the grand scheme of things, likewise Lily.

So basically the main character actors had their winter holidays in October/November? (ie when episodes are recorded)

Which is why we've got all these minor characters right now?

I concluded that this weeks' episodes were shoe-horned in to ensure that long-term (or soon to be long-term) characters managed to get their hours in this calendar year. What with it being :the Horville show" for a big chunk of the year.

If Lily is expecting that Freddie will be running Lower Loxley, I wonder whether this has dawned on the Trustees and Lizzie (the Trustees were so ridiculously hands-on at one stage, but seem to have vanished without trace).

The trustees of the Lower Loxley estate were conspicuously absent when the heir was sent to prison and his mother had a breakdown which meant she was unable to look after the business of the estate. I would have thought that was one time they ought to have been taking a helpful interest in what was being done for her and for the estate of which they are trustees, but apparently not. Thy waited until the dust had settled before they declared that clearly a jailbird could not be allowed to inherit under his father's will, or at least would have to wait until they decided that he was to be allowed to.

I do somehow doubt that Nigel's will mentioned the possibility of Freddie being sentenced to a term of imprisonment before the date on which he was supposed to inherit. Someone here must be a lawyer: is it usual for parents to put that sort of proviso into their wills?

So Lily’s mum and her twin brother didn’t do anything for her birthday 🤔

She mentioned nothing for her brother either, did she. You'd think she might have had something ready to go before she came down with the norovirus.

New thread: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/radio_addicts/5459508-archers-thread-193-christmas-in-ambridge-dont-expect-any-wise-men-or-women-discuss-the-archers-here

Already?!

They must be doing something right!

15th November this thread started. We have on occasion needed a new thread within days. Four weeks is fairly standard, I think.

Thanks for the new thread @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g.
Wasn't the shortest thread the car accident one?

I'm listening to P&P and the narrator has said 'drawring room'. (Chapter 2, 15:42)

I have been side-eying the Pride & Prejudice narrator across this weekend’s broadcasts. The fact she’s been able to devote time to that feels like betrayal.

In what way?

It’s Tamsin Greig.

Much missed as Debbie on TA.

I knew it was 'Debbie' but it might not be her fault that she's so rarely heard on The Archers. She is probably busy with other work but the storylines haven't included her. Unless she hears that there's a farm tenancy likely to become available in Ambridge soon.

(It doesn't excuse the intrusive R.)

I know there's a new thread but my post was only loosely TA-related.

It's probably a lot better paid than TA. Also, it's not as if an actor can tell the production team that their character must be included in a few episodes because they have a gap in their busy schedule. I miss Debbie a lot but I think that ship has sailed, sadly. (Much like this thread. Over to the new one!)