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

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

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!

It wasn't a criticism of your useful link. They could use the website to attract and retain newer listeners but it looks neglected.

Still, if Helen's buying a house that is an ex-council house semi ... well, how are the mighty fallen!

But she chose to do it! I'm sure she said to kirsty something like she could buy something bigger but then she'd have a mortgage( um, like many people do).

I’ve long believed that shows exactly how little regard the BBC has for The Archers, @FatRosie. I mean, how much would it cost to have the intern spend a couple of hours a week ensuring that website is up to date?

She's only ever rented before. And if she is buying a three-bedroom house in the middle of the village... Well, the last house on The Green that sold went for more than £100,000 and that was twenty years or so ago, so if she doesn't have to apply for a mortgage she's saved a great deal of money in the less than tenyears since she had none and her parents had to increase the mortgage on Bridge Farm to pay her legal fees.

Don't encourage them! They'd only invent a load of garbage to suit whatever lies they have dreamed up this month.

Helen has saved a lot by not paying for childcare for her 2 sons.

Tens of thousands, though?

She doesn't seem to spend much on anything.

True. Even so, it's a fair bit to have saved considering that her income must be minimal if the farm is making a loss and she has a partner's share in the profits.

She has been renting accommodation for many of those years, as well.

She has been renting accommodation for many of those years, as well. At mates' rates.
We don't know what she earns.
Is the farm making a loss? I thought they said it was doing well apart from the Angus herd.

Varies from plotline to plotline, really.

If it's doing well I think they are total asshats to deprive Tony of the small herd of cattle that he loves.

We know they are total asshats!

Happy Easter everyone. 🐇

Asshats? Have we gone Republican?

It seemed to suit the BFNI.

I thought when they discussed the results of the audit Helen said all areas were doing really well apart from the anguses.

Helen is an absolute shit for taking away the only part of the farm that Tony really loves. Putting them up for auction without him knowing was a disgraceful move.

What's interesting, and I don't know if it's deliberate, is that Helen, despite the awfulness of the coercive control storyline, in which listeners had every sympathy for her, is actually a horrible selfish person, who gets away with it because her family still tiptoe round her in case she becomes anorexic again or is upset in any way.

I do wonder if it's a similar thing to Pip, in that listeners are apparently supposed to like the character, but the reality is that she is unremittingly awful.

@Rosamutabilis ... Helen, despite the awfulness of the coercive control storyline, in which listeners had every sympathy for her ...

Some listeners, perhaps, but not this one.

And I.

(That's Shakespeare, that is: two of the five words of my part in A Midsummer Night's Dream when I was very young. It was not what I would call "demanding".)

Oliver/Michael Cochrane gets dedded in the new Beyond Paradise (iPlayer, S4 E1). (Not really a spoiler as it happens in the first few minutes, corpse of the week.) Perhaps a foreboding of horse related incidents to come.

Oh I hope not! In my mind it’s completely fixed that he’ll leave by emigrating to America to live with his estranged family. (Can never remember if it’s daughter or daughters.)

Why couldn’t the farm subsidise the Anguses? If it was the only area that wasn’t doing well then it would hardly bankrupt the farm.

As pointed out on the other thread, apparently Angus beef is selling at really good prices nowadays so there really shouldn't be any need for them to be subsidised. Maybe all they need to do is check their pricing policy.

The thing is, though, that it somehow makes a difference that Helen is played by a good actress, whereas Pip isn't. I can accept Helen on that basis, whereas my heart sinks every time Pip turns up, especially when they give her a major storyline that you know the actor just can't handle.

The thing is, though, that it somehow makes a difference that Helen is played by a good actress, whereas Pip isn't.
Pip's delivery is wrong. She stresses the wrong words.

I can accept Helen on that basis, whereas my heart sinks every time Pip turns up, especially when they give her a major storyline that you know the actor just can't handle.
Most of the characters are believable but Pip just comes across as a not good enough actress.

Good point, @GoodQueenWenceslaus

What a week; half of Ambridge is being underhand or just plain nasty!
How on earth did everybody "forget" to tell Tony that they were listing HIS Anguses? He deserves to be furious.

What do they actually do with the Anguses? I only ask because they never seem to do any calving (or milking for that matter) so presumably Tony just buys in calves to fatten for market (in which case they could simply run down the herd over the next few months).

It was bad timing for the writers in a week in which Farming Today was celebrating the hefty price increases for beef in 2025.