Archers thread #197: Runs, Ambridge, runs! 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 find it credible that Kate, who changed continents twice to get away from her own children, has now morphed into Grandmother of the Year, 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.)

Well, Finlay may have made good his escape, but we're all still stuck inside the Borsetshire forcefield. The cricket team is rising phoenix-like from the ashes but will now be The Bull's team, not Ambridge's. Will Alice and Rex make a go of things? Will George cope with a month off the booze? Will the real Brian Aldridge re-appear? Will we hear a bit more about farming? We did get a lambing scene the other night, which was good.

Over to you!

P. S. The pointless new AI title generator MN has introduced in spite of absolutely nobody ever asking for it wanted to call this thread something like Discuss The Archers here, no spoilers. I won't be following its suggestions.

Thanks @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g for the new thread.
Brian is definitely starting to crack under the strain of "bottlegate". That business with Kate and Jakob was totally bizarre, but glad to hear them clear the air. And also glad to hear Kate being so professional this time with Amber.

I never thought I'd say this, but I think that was a good episode. Kate's scenes with Brian (has he gone mad?) and Amber (astonishing to hear Amber apologise, it must be pregnancy brain talking) were unusual and the scene with poor Jakob was quite touching. I was slightly bothered, though, by Jakob's inability to imagine working for anyone other than Lovell James! Has he been smitten by Ambridge Brain Rot?

How very Brine to chivvy Kate along to put Jakob out his misery. The one he started. I wonder if the SWs are starting a Brine goes off his chump SL?

Oh, and thank you for the new thread, @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g.

My bet is that Brine and Miranda will move into Home Farm and he will promptly go full-on bonkers and start calling her Jenny Darling.

😂

Anyone else want to hear Brian managing Spiritual Home? 😂

😂 Brian offering women a message might be uncomfortable!

My bet is that Brine and Miranda will move into Home Farm and he will promptly go full-on bonkers and start calling her Jenny Darling

Bonkers - yes but not senile. I can see him suggesting they replicate Jenny's kitchen and Miranda caters for shoot lunches.

I didn't realise it was Amber until Kate said her name, and even then for a few seconds I thought she said 'Anna'. I thought Jakob's comment about no LJ branches north of the border was very odd. Another person who can't apparently envisage working anywhere than in Ambridge.

I heard part of the shearing conversation here and thought with nostalgia of Ed and Jazzer … Farm incomes generally touched on in TA. Robotics, not so much …

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002smyj

Jakob was making a little joke there, was he not? "Hell of a commute from Ambridge to Scotland every day, haha" - not so much "out of character to the extent the listeners don't get it's a joke" as "oh look, he's not a complete robot", surely?

Brian suggesting he ran Spiritual Home made me howl.

Maybe Brian's being reading MN for ages and Brian from Hull got him thinking:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/mumsnetclassics/1729276-Yoni-Vaginal-Massage

I'm obviously not good at sharing links - meant to start from page 1.
Don't know when the MN contingent named him Brian, or why...

A hands-on manager.

I thought it was a very Jakob comment. He is very happy working for LJ, quite happy to change branches (as he did to come to Ambridge) but doesn’t really want to change employer and systems.

Someone on the last thread was asking about Brian’s possession. The SWs appear to have forgotten that when Brine and JennyDarling sold the farm house they put loads of stuff into storage in a barn at Home Farm. You’d think he’d be badgering his children to take what they want so he can get rid of the rest!

I thought Jakob was just being a bit autistic - it makes perfect sense to him, they're discussing a country change, not a job change. See also: Kate knowing she needs to give several years' notice of any sudden changes.

So what’s the background with the cricket stuff? Clearly there’s a lot of bad feeling - what on earth happened?

Freddie and Lily managed the team last year and wanted to pay good players (Rex) to play. Against the rules, but Lynda took the one for the team, saying it was her idea, then Lilly fessed up. Caused shock horror at the time (if I remember correctly!)

Return of Carol Tregorran and her daughter Anna! That's been a long time coming. For the avoidance of doubt, the spoiler lovers have already looked into this. Anna is played by the same actor as before, Carol isn't. Eleanor Bron, who played Carol when she returned to the village a few years ago, has presumably retired or can't/won't travel to Birmingham for recordings. The new actor is Mia Soteriou.

(New listeners start here: decades ago, John and Carol Tregorran were central characters, but eventually they moved to Bristol. When Helen needed a barrister to pull off a miracle and get her acquitted of stabbing Rob, Jill Archer contacted Carol and asked if her daughter Anna would take on the case. She did, and of course the defence was a soapy triumph. Anna was having some relationship problems at the time. I can't remember how they turned out. Did we hear from her (female) partner? Can't remember that either. Carol, who is widowed now, lives in Glebe Cottage, which she rents from Jill Archer, who used to live there before moving back to the farm when she became very lonely after her husband Phil died.)

It's been a very long time, but I didn't notice the change of actress. So the new Carol did an excellent job of sounding like Eleanor Bron.

Didn’t Jill move back after cataract surgery or something? (Was there a car accident or was it simply that she had to stop driving? I would look it up but I’m concentrating on Oscar coverage.)

Mia Soteriou used to be in all the Radio 4 dramas - when they were good. I used to be in awe of her versatility and authoritative performances. I thought she was brilliant thus evening.

"Lynder" going "A PUB team?!" put me in mind of Lady Bracknell's famous handbag comment, it sounded as if it was intentional.

I wonder what/who the common factor is between the lack of speedwatch volunteers and people not wanting the Ambridge cricket team to reform... I won't ask for answers on a postcard as the postman would be crippled.

I was very pleasantly surprised by how helpful Tom was in coming to Carol’s rescue. A bit more huffing and puffing about the inconvenient timing of it all would actually have probably been much more in keeping. My brother would almost certainly have helped in this scenario but only after mentioning it was a Sunday morning, looking at his watch, rolling his eyes and saying he needed to send an email first…It was surprisingly nice of Tom not to complain or be mildly irritated by it. He is generally very very selfish but was actually quite jolly and happy to help.

Btw, I really can’t bear how old people falling over is called ‘having a fall’…

Lynda's potentially very employable, isn't she? If you were the local GP/dentist you could cut your workload significantly by hiring her as a receptionist. And she'd be great as the person who answered the phone at a local council complaints department. "Since hiring Mrs Snell, we have found the number of complaints has dropped by 85%."