The Archers spoilers thread #11: Can't wait for 7.02pm? Join us here!

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Spoilers thread for The Archers on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds. All Archers listeners are welcome here, whether you post on our main Archers thread or not. There's just one rule: please keep all spoiler-related discussion in this thread and do not spill the beans on the main Archers thread.

We usually add the BBC teasers and cast lists for forthcoming episodes as they become available, plus the Radio Times and Daily Mail previews when possible. Feel free to add anything else you come across, e.g. cast news, scriptwriter tweets!

That time of the week again.

8th February 2026 - 13th February 2026
08 Feb There’s big news at Brookfield, and Ruth’s got Stella all confused.
09 Feb Fallon has a brainwave, and is George ducking out?
10 Feb Chelsea’s full of excitement, and Emma’s left wondering.
11 Feb Jazzer’s got the bit between his teeth, and Lilian has a rude shock.
12 Feb Accusations are flying, and George is hiding something from Will.
13 Feb David’s happy with his lot, and Brian has some words of advice.

Writer: Tim Stimpson
Director: Pip Swallow
Editor: Jeremy Howe

Brian Aldridge … Charles Collingwood
Ben Archer … Ben Norris
David Archer … Timothy Bentinck
Josh Archer … Angus Imrie
Pip Archer … Daisy Badger
Ruth Archer … Felicity Finch
Lilian Bellamy … Sunny Ormonde
Alice Carter … Hollie Chapman
Ruairi Donovan … Arthur Hughes
Amber Gordon … Olivia Bernstone
Emma Grundy … Emerald O'Hanrahan
George Grundy … Angus Stobie
Will Grundy … Philip Molloy
Chelsea Horrobin … Madeleine Leslay
Tracy Horrobin … Susie Riddell
Jazzer McCreary … Ryan Kelly
Stella Pryor … Lucy Speed
Fallon Rogers … Joanna Van Kampen

Radio Times 7-13 February
George plays Poirot as nagging suspicions have his little grey cells fizzing. Amber tries in vain to keep him on track and he finally confronts someone. As emotions run high there’s an admission of guilt. Ben’s graduation celebration is derailed by Josh pushing David and Ruth to reveal their plans for Brookfield. Chelsea’s business plan proves difficult to implement, and Alice reveals a juicy secret.

TV Times 7-13 February
As Valentine’s Day looms, one villager comes to Ruth’s aid after she gets herself into a muddle. An unlikely ally also rescues Chelsea, who gets more than she bargained for after she shares an idea with her mum. Meanwhile, Ben’s graduation celebrations go awry, emotions run high as George is plagued by nagging suspicions, and Stella has an exciting visitor on the horizon.

Total TV Guide 7-13 February
At Brookfield, Ben doesn’t get to celebrate his graduation as anticipated when Josh demands Ruth and David unveil their plans for the farm’s future. One of the younger Archers receives their parents’ news with admirable equanimity - but is their reaction all it seems? Meanwhile, Chelsea reveals her own scheme for her hairdressing business and finds herself in a hair-curling situation - it’s clear she’s out of her depth. As Valentine’s Day closes in, Ruth is tied in knots, but another local aims to fan the flames. And there’s a fraught showdown after George confronts a villager with what seems irrefutable evidence. It’s like ‘Who Shot JR?’ all over again, but with less Ewing oil, more tractor diesel.

15th February 2026 - 20th February 2026
Sun 15/2 - Alice has a suggestion to put to Rex, and at Berrow Farm, Hannah is sceptical
Mon 16/2 - Akram challenges the system, and a new arrival at Brookfield shakes the tree
Tue 17/2 - Ruairi exceeds expectations, and Rex gets the wrong end of the stick
Wed 18/2 - Brookfield’s guest continues to stir the pot, and Ruairi steps up
Thu 19/2 - Tom has reservations, and Stella has some mopping up to do
Fri 20/2 - Contemporary drama in a rural setting
No cast list for this week yet.

22nd February 2026 - 27th February 2026
22 Feb Chelsea’s getting more hopeful about her business plans, and David is reluctantly learning how to recruit volunteers.
23 Feb Susan and Helen are on a quest to find new staff for the dairy, and Chris and Hannah despair for the future of Ambridge Cricket.
24 Feb Lilian throws a spanner in the works, and there’s a glimmer of hope for David in his quest for volunteers.
25 Feb Chelsea follows Susan’s advice, and Brian is grateful to Rex.
26 Feb Brian tries his hand at matchmaking, and Helen has the time of her life.
27 Feb Helen is in reflective mood, and Chris and Hannah are looking for a challenge.

What can one say? "Soap" did parody so much better.

I'm pleased to hear Chelsea has a business plan!

Loving the character list for this coming week - a proper spread of core Ambridge family members.

And yes, fingers crossed Chelsea’s business plan actually involves her concentrating on the thing she’s good at. Because it’s just as likely to be refurbishing old motorbikes with Zainab with a free haircut thrown in every other Wednesday …

Sad news to report by virtue of a post on X by Mike Allan (son of Eric Allan, who played Bert Fry for the last 25 years of Bert's life). Eric died peacefully in his sleep.

He has left a big hole in Ambridge life.

Thanks for letting us know. Sad news. I loved Bert Fry's contributions, especially his pomes. I'm glad it was peaceful.

Bert was real 'the Archers' no one is filling that niche now.

I hope Stella's visiting sibling expresses horror at her engagement to a turnip and points out that a holding with a messy ownership background managed by idiots who didn't start their succession planning decades ago is something to run away from fast, not to hitch herself to.

Pip gets the farm + livestock +machinery + farmhouse etc minus 30 acres
Josh gets Hollitree + Glebe Cottage (which belongs to Shula & Elizabeth)
Ben gets the boong-gah-loh and Rickyard Cottage.

Now that sounds fair, doesn't it?
If I were Josh, I'd be meeting Aunty Shula and Aunty Widderbreath and telling them.

13 Feb David’s happy with his lot, and Brian has some words of advice. I hope Brine puts some sense into Dopey.

Might the Pryor brother point out to the Dopeys that their will is not fair? I do hope so.

I've been listening for but I am truly fed up of the current storylines.
Given that Dopey Dave is 66 (I get that it isn't very old but it isn't young either) and Ruth has had a potentially life-threatening illness in the past, and there was all the fuss with David's siblings, wouldn't they have already sorted the inheritances out?

If Pip inherits as planned, I hope that she and Stella divorce acrimoniously and that Stella takes her to the cleaners.

Rw. POTW, I thought the acting from Amber's parents was fine but not Amber's.

Do we still think that Chris is a likely candidate for whodunnit to George?

Also: I have a wooly brain at the moment thanks to the flu so I googled who is Martha's father in The Archers. Bloody AI confidently informed me that it was Phil Archer 😩

Surprisingly accurate forecasting from you there, Totters!

Cripes! I saw somewhere recently (probably on another thread here) that one AI bot recently explained that Anne Frank was one of the best known survivors of the Holocaust.
I pay little attention to what AI says. I was of that mind anyway and then last summer I was contemplating my journey north and foolishly thought maybe AI would dredge up some information about which ferries would be running from which ports that I'd missed (Calmac had at that point not published any timetable for the period I wanted to travel ). I was confidently assured that there were several rail operators running direct trains from London to Glasgow and several ferry companies running services from Ardrossan in Ayrshire to Brodick on Arran. Every single point in that was wrong, at that time. It would all have been accurate in the 19th century ...

My sibling is shopping for a dress at the moment - and AI is telling her various shops exist in her city, when she’s standing in front of the buildings and can see with her own eyes that they’ve shut down …

The Radio Times has come up trumps with a teaser for Friday 20th and a cast list for that week. The teaser must be in the print copy as the online version has nothing for 20th February, so with thanks to the indefatigable spoiler lovers of Mustardland.

Fri 20 Feb - Josh drops a bombshell, while Alice takes her chance.

Writer: Keri Davies

Brian Aldridge … Charles Collingwood
Josh Archer … Angus Imrie
Pip Archer … Daisy Badger
Ruth Archer … Felicity Finch
Tony Archer - David Troughton
Tom Archer - William Troughton
Alice Carter … Hollie Chapman
Neil Carter - Brian Hewlett
Ruairi Donovan … Arthur Hughes
Rex Fairbrother - Nick Barber
Akram Malik - Asif Khan
Stella Pryor … Lucy Speed
Hannah Riley - Helen Longworth
Lynda Snell - Carole Boyd
Zach Pryor - Alex Austin

I can believe it, unlike what AI says. What I particularly hate about it is that the pronouncements are so confident. That must be what takes so many people in.

I think you need to log in to read this Radio Times appreciation of The Archers by Libby Purves. You can read the RT for nothing but registering does require an email address. https://www.radiotimes.com/audio/radio/the-archers-at-75-stars-celebrity-fans-newsfeature/

I'll just quote the first paragraph: For all the gentle storylines about lemon-drizzle cake and family tiffs, there is something oddly majestic about The Archers and its survival for 75 years. It’s not about thriller events – though there’s a grand shock revelation coming very soon. The more solid pleasure of the radio drama lies in getting to know the characters over years, watching them arrive, reveal themselves, scrape against the others, maybe intermarry and bear children, with all recognisable tensions and worries and rows.

I had some interesting non-existent cast members emerge the other day when I asked Chat GPT to knock me up a spreadsheet of the characters and their DoB's. As with a lot of things on t'internet you have to check sources on the basis that it could easily be rubbish.

The cast list and spoiler are in the "Borrowbox" print edition (sorry I didn't spot we short of the cast and Friday - it turned up earlier than I was expecting this week).

Is it too much to hope that Pip decides that she fancies the pants off Stella's brother (or maybe he lets slip how Stella and Justin knew each other before she started working for Brian)?

what happens WHEN pip sells the farm cos she will

Radio times article I wonder when it was put together 6 months ago or ……

It was George at Lillian's according to the BBC Sounds plot summary

I was about to come on here to say "knowing the BBC, it was probably James Bellamy at Lilian's door"! I certainly didn't recognise the voice as George (at a push I would have plumped for Rex or Ruari, but that didn't really make sense).

Why would a 78 year old lady stalk a strapping great lad at midnight and bop him over the head with a bottle of cheap Chardonnay?

It makes no sense

I've listened again and I'm pretty sure "Lilian, can I come in?" was David.

So there was the doorbell + banging chez Trace'n'Jazzer - I took that to be an impatient beer delivery driver. Then there was banging on (another?) door with George yelling "I know you're in there!" And the third one was David, arriving at Lilian's.

@Gonners , I've listened again and it definitely didn't sound like David. It was George.

It was definitely George, he just dropped his voice from shouting to talking normally albeit somewhat breathlessly.

I've been scrolling through the BBC episodes website, listening to WatO. Have we had the cast list for 22-27 February; Finlay returns!!!! I wonder what has happened to Dane (or was he called Dean)?

Writer: Liz John
Director: Kim Greengrass
Editor: Jeremy Howe
Brian Aldridge … Charles Collingwood
David Archer … Timothy Bentinck
Helen Archer … Louiza Patikas
Lilian Bellamy … Sunny Ormonde
Alice Carter … Hollie Chapman
Chris Carter … Wilf Scolding
Susan Carter … Charlotte Martin
Rex Fairbrother … Nick Barber
Chelsea Horrobin … Madeleine Leslay
Tracy Horrobin … Susie Riddell
Akram Malik … Asif Khan
Jazzer McCreary … Ryan Kelly
Kirsty Miller … Annabelle Dowler
Hannah Riley … Helen Longworth
Lynda Snell … Carole Boyd
Finlay … Mark Bonnar

Whoop whoop! Thank you for spotting that. Be still, my beating heart ...