Archers thread #193: Christmas in Ambridge! Don't expect any wise men (or women). 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 you'd love a couple of acquaintances to clean and tidy your house without your permission, 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/5457344-the-archers-spoilers-thread-11-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.)

What do we think - best Christmas ever followed by a nice quiet New Year? No, me neither. We have the tractor run to look forward to , and then whatever they've got lined up for the 75th anniversary of the first ever episode - New Year's Day 1951. I can't imagine that anybody involved with the programme then expected it would still be on the air 75 years later. I wonder what they would make of the current direction. The lack of farming content would be a surprise, given that was the whole reason for devising the programme in the first place.

Over to you!

I only eat the Korean ones

You've reminded me that I need a trip to the Korean supermarket in New Malden to stock up again.

No need to apologise. Pot Noodle is labelled Pot Noodle. Many instant noodles seem to need cooking, which is no good if limited to the kettle-only cooking method.
One of my hotel room recipes is cup soup (don't read the ingredients) with added soya chunks.

I can't eat 'chinese'. I don't generally eat oily or fried food and it makes me ill. Soup is the same but I make two cups from the one cup sachet and seem to be ok with that.

If I'm cooking from scratch I use rice noodles. It's stir fry but not like UK stir fry.

Ha ha, nice to know I'm not the only one who eats the occasional Pot Noodle when in a hotel to stretch funds out 😋

I don't think I have eaten it in a hotel room. The first time I was working away from home my diet was appalling and after the first few weeks I started buying food from a supermarket not ready made. The kettle meal was a light supper.

I suspect that Kenton and Jolene were using the words "pot noodle" in a generic way (like Hoover or Biro) and meant cheap knockoff ones, own brand from Tesburys as it were. Otherwise it would have been advertising, and as we know, the BBC doesn't do that.

It was product placement. At least we didn't have to hear them eating it. 'Moi darlin' said with a mouthful of UPF would have grossed out most of us.

Fascinating … I have never bought, or tasted a Pot Noodle, or any differently named but similar product.

(Pizza tends to be my hotel Deliveroo choice, partly because it makes a decent breakfast the next morning.)

I've never ordered a pizza delivery or a deliveroo. I can walk to several takeaway places but never do. I have had some but the nearest ones that I've tried were cheap and horrible. XP used to eat them and managed to persuade me to try them a couple of times. They were so cheap you wondered how they could make any profit. Let's say the proof of the pudding was in the eating.

There are nicer ones but they're a bit further. Still walking distance but about 15 mins away.

Oh dear, this isn’t good. I know George has Amber (at least he thinks he does) but he’s held Fallon in such high regard …

I wondered whether she had him backed up against a wall, or what. She scared him, as Kenton signally failed to do.

I think she hurt him. George doesn’t care what Kenton thinks, he does care about how Fallon sees him.

Definitely raised my hopes for him doing something.

That's true. Well, I hope her contempt stung him to the core.

The announcer pointed out it's the Archers 75th anniversary next week. (As well as another plug for the podcast with a Handy Guide for where newcomers to TA can start).

I noted the comment one of them made about wishing he would go away forever. Will this foreshadow a long overdue Folk Horror mashup with George being sacrificed in a burning Wicker Man on New Year's Day

I wouldn’t mind if George was forced to run away. Even Rob was allowed a period of grace overseas before coming home to meet his end.

(I don’t want to hear about the blinkin’ podcast. They should be promoting the primary show.)

It does sounds like George is going to be found in a ditch or something. We will then get a whodunnit, with his growing list of enemies e.g. Lillian, Kenton, Hannah, Rambo Fallon etc. as suspects.

I wonder what happened to the dog fighting gang and Marky. They/he will still want revenge.

I wish Fallon had pointed out to George that he's out on licence. I'm sure his behaviour is becoming close to threatening so he could be recalled to prison.

I'm going to be very disappointed if all we get is George going back to prison and people angsting on about 'is it my fault?'.

No. George is an adult. He's been making destructive choices since his teens.

Markie, if he knows that George got him shopped, will definitely have it in for the little scrote.

Just listening to the Xmas Day episode on catchup. The idea that a publican and her husband could possibly take Xmas day off, or for two people who have never run a pub to take over for the day, when they've got a dining room full of people expected 🙄 Just beyond laughable.

@UserNom , Fallon has worked in the pub for years.

Working in a pub is not the same as running it. And Harrison hasn't, has he? Xmas Day can be the busiest day of the year. It takes a lot of planning. It is laughable that one barmaid and a copper could cover adequately for two owners with zero notice.

ETA: And now the inexperienced 'Arrison is supposedly behind the bar, with Kenton. On Xmas Day, when they are serving food as well as drinks. Our local village pub serves two drinks a minute on Xmas Day lunch, and they don't even do food. Absolute nonsense episode, even for The Archers.

Fallon has probably looked after the pub before. Her mother's been running the pub since Fallon was a schoolgirl.
Fallon has also run the tearoom.
SPOILER ALERT - It is a fictional pub.

I thought it was odd that the Chef took the day off to spend quality time with her husband and then they both spent it working in The Bull.

I do wish Fallon et al would just ignore George like you would a tantrumming toddler instead of feeding his anger and giving him an opportunity to intimidate them.