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.

Pip goes to the knacker, Stella gets the farm and has to bring up Fat Rosie. So much to look forward to.

I don't know anything about farming, but it would be great if somehow getting rid of the Anguses turns out to be a terrible error and Tony is vindicated
could they have a role in re wilding perhaps?

I don’t need a story about someone young dying of cancer cheers. I haven’t heard tonight’s yet but I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if the dopeys are clueless about human genetics. They barely have two GCSEs to rub together and don’t seem to listen to the news or anything.

Also it would just mean more Josh and quite honestly I don’t feel the need for that either. If Pip must get ill I’d like it to be something that affects the voice box only. Question - would we still find her as irritating if she had a Stephen hawking style voice?

I don't want a breast cancer storyline either, but maybe Pip could spontaneously combust.

I'm all for raising awareness of cancer but not on The Archers. I've lost members of my extended family to breast cancer and they were young or youngish women with young children.
They did the Ruth SL allegedly to make listeners feel sympathetic to her.

Stella wouldn't get the farm unless Ruth and David died before Pip would she?

Short answer, not very likely.

I think Pip should be forced to listen to her own voice (off-air, obviously) until she bores herself to death. It would seem fair.

The lump is that voice thing that you get inside talking toys.

Maybe the lump will be benign but it will prompt Pip to get the genetic testing done. If she has the BRCA gene she could have an elective mastectomy. Might be a good public awareness story. Stella seemed far more aware.

I really felt for Tony. And the minimising of not telling him by Peggy: "I forgot to tell you that tiny detail about the auctioneers."
Still, she got out of the episode without the herd of plastic Anguses being shoved up her fundamental orifice.

So that's nice.

I meant eventually...

I find myself listening later and later, with decreasing amounts of attention/interest. But if David and Ruth haven't already made their Wills, with provision for Pip tragically carking it, if they're going to have to remake them before hurling themselves into the Am in grief and unintentionally leaving Brookfield to be divvied up in equal shares among Josh, Ben and Rosie.

<Caveat: this is based on poor memory of the rules, but probably not 100% inaccurate.>

I know it’s fictional but was always surprised that after Ruth bc nothing has ever been mentioned by Pip about it , in fact it’s almost like it’s never happened

having had bc I’m not sure how I want the storyline to go but if they go the route that she has bc I hope they handle it well rather than in the airy fairy way they seem to handle storylines these days eg Neil suddenly being a foundling that reared it’s head, left lots of questions unanswered and has just drifted away

The Mental Health Initiative chat sounded so ... natural.

I hate Pip's delivery and don't want her stuttering stoically through a bc storyline. Hopefully she'll get hit by a bus on the way to her appointment and spare us the ordeal.

Is Ruth the only person to have ever had cancer in Ambridge? Has any character ever died of it as I can't recall anyone that has? That's extremely unrealistic. I'm early sixties and so many friends and family have been diagnosed with different types and tragically some have died.

Well Rob Titchener did (brain tumour ?) but not sure he really counts. A relatively short term character in the grand scheme of things and he didn't live in the village any more.

They could do with one of the male characters having prostate cancer, men often ignore or unaware of the symptoms. It's so common, there is no way none of the older gents in the village would have it at some point.

Early 70s here, and I agree that the representation of cancer, i.e numbers in TA isn't realistic. Nor is dementia.

It's fiction I suppose, though there's no shortage of unplanned pregnancies.

Yes, a large percentage of men die with prostate cancer, and some do indeed die of it.

There definitely should be more prevalence. They could always start with Derek Fletcher or Richard Thwaite if a speaking character is too great a step.

Pip must be trampled by many, many cows. I mean, I’m happy for the ghastly little witch to have cancer too, but the trampling is essential for general cosmic justice.

While we’re at it, can Ben please be strangled by a loony he’s plonkingly empathising with ?

A previously unknown villager called ?Mrs Barraclough died of cancer umpteen years ago, leaving a legacy to Dr Richard Locke in gratitude for his devoted care in the last months of her life. Her son was understandably very put out by this and complained to the GMC. I think the complaint was about sub-standard care in that some morphine left in the house, prescribed and dispensed by Richard as is not uncommon in rural areas, had gone missing. Richard was reprimanded for poor record-keeping but nothing worse, IIRC.

Causes of death in Ambridge don't seem to reflect national trends, oddly enough.
Grace Archer - died in a stables fire
Polly Perks - car crash
Mark Hebden - car crash
John Archer - tractor accident
Freda Fry - died in the Great Ambridge Flood
Sid Perks - heart attack
Betty Tucker - heart attack
Jennifer Aldridge - heart condition
Nigel Pargetter - fell from the roof
Nic Grundy - sepsis

Not much dementia, which I for one am glad about, as it would make for very grim listening. A great many deaths from extreme old age.

I don't want Pip to die of breast cancer, nor did I want Ruth to die of it either. I'm not averse to a public safety announcement to check for lumps and to get lumps checked out. That said, the whole episode felt a bit like a public health warning - either for mental issues or breast cancer. I did like Tom's contribution - to just push on through it - despite the fact his own father-in-law (who admittedly he never has any contact with because he lives outside the Ambridge force field) is bipolar. I also loved Pat's solution of buying Tony a herd of Anguses for his model railway - and the unspoken suggestion he should leave the running of the farm to the kids and go off and play with his trains.

There was Jack with dementia, wasn't there? I thought that was well done, though hard to listen to and sometimes like a Beckett play.

Not much dementia, which I for one am glad about, as it would make for very grim listening. Didn't Jack Woolley have dementia? I agree it would make for very grim listening if we had much more. Instead we have characters who sound very old (because the actors who play them actually are) leading very active lives, while the token declining oldies (I'm looking at you Carol Tregorran) sound positively sprightly and with it.

Yes, that's what I meant when I said 'not much dementia', because I can only think of Jack Woolley, which is unrealistic given the extreme old age of many Ambridge residents, but welcome.

Extreme old age is all a bit close to home for me at the moment. My Mum, now 93, doesn't have dementia, but she is very frail and sounds it. It sticks in my craw to have Carol Tregorran voiced by an actor who may be 20 years younger than the character (we couldn't find this out upthread, but there's no way she's in her 90s) and sounding as if she could go for a brisk walk up Lakey Hill and back every morning.

Jethro Larkin - killed by David Archer, using a tree branch

Jack Archer - drank himself to death

Greg Turner - shot himself

I am quite sure Richard Locke did kill his rich patient (he was very greedy and jealous of people he thought had more status or property than him, Shula and Usha both had lucky escapes) but the BBC chickened out of continuing with the story post-Shipman.