Archers thread #199: Kaboom! The Aldridges are self-destructing, and it's GLORIOUS. 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 drop everything to help Helen create a new cheese on national minimum wage, 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.)

If you haven't heard last night's episode (Friday 22nd May) you really must. It's episodes like that that keep me addicted. Funny how often they involve the Aldridges, the most dysfunctional and also by far the most interesting family in Ambridge. Also very well acted on the whole. How lovely to hear Tamsin Greig in TA, but I wonder if we ever will again.

Some cracking posts towards the end of the last thread, which is here: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/radio_addicts/5518503-archers-thread-198-josh-sent-to-patagonia-pip-stays-put-wrong-way-round-discuss-the-archers-here

Over to you!

Apropos of nothing, why does everyone always call the Home Farm office ‘the eco office’. In real life, who would speak like that? Makes me chuckle every time 😂

Was that when Stella left and Brian was prepared to let the harvest be wasted? But then Stella and Ruth went and cut it anyway, because it woukd be criminal to waste so much grain deliberately just for Brian to be stubborn about Stella going.

Anyone feeling they need advance warning about a certain person's presence in or absence from the cast lists might find it helpful to keep an eye on the spoilers thread. We're usually able to put up cast lists three weeks ahead of time, which would give plenty of time for mental preparation.

The omnipresence of a certain person was so OTT it made me think maybe she'd made the production team an offer they couldn't refuse. 'Ah'm staying with me daughter in Brum for six months while Ah have ma hoose completely gootted and refoorbished, but she works from home and doesn't want me oonder her feet, so Ah wondered if Ah work for nothing could you find me something to do? Ah'd be so gretful!'

(Apologies to anyone from the North-East. Lovely part of the world. Just a shame it spawned two of the most annoying TA characters ever to draw breath. I suppose that's why Shula's been inflicted on you. Most unlikely missionary ever.)

I thought Denise already lived with Alistair.

Doesn’t Kirsty share her house with Kate?

Jim’s exit was really bizarre.

Adam's solicitor can't be that good if he was aiming to base a case on Adam's view that Brian has dementia. Any fule lawyer kno that you can't just take the client's word for it on something like that, you need some hard evidence.

Tbh I can’t remember, @Eastie77Returns - it’s been so long since she was last mentioned.

It’s almost as if there was one specific writer covering Denise and Paul, and they’ve been sacked, and now we’ll never hear from either of them again …

Particularly since Ruairi has been banished. (Wasn’t that him loitering with lawyerly intent on ‘Criminal Record’?)

Sadly, we won't hear from Jim again. The wonderful character deserved a better send off than the Edgbaston nonsense. The farewell to Roy was much better. Meanwhile Jill continues as an eerily voiceless character.

And silently get crushed under a huge wheel of Borcester Blue

Has the actor who plays Jim definitely left then?

Ah … This looks definitive. Haven’t listened yet:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0nd93y7?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

Photos:

Thanks @TottersBlankly Yes it does look like a send off.

Could I have a link to the Spoilers thread please. Thanks

(yes I know I could google but I’m looking for my new air fryer).

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/radio_addicts/5538836-the-archers-spoilers-thread-12-cant-wait-for-702pm-join-us-here?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=app_share

Wasn’t the harvest strike down to some disagreement between Brian and Justin? And this led to Stella leaving? Might be misremembering.

Has the Jim actor died?

Yes they had a spat, Brian told Stella not to do the harvest, she did it anyway as she is a farmer and wouldn't let a good crop go to waste.

Not as far as I can see. It's possible his health has deteriorated.

Maybe the Jim actor was taken ill and was not available.

Presumably Denise will now leave her room at Kirsty’s house and move into Jim’s house to live with Alistair? Freeing a room for Hannah.

How old was Adam when Brian got together with Jenny? 8 or 9.

Ruth saying she'd wanted to be consulted about it. None of her business!. She's Pip's mother and the results will affect her.

Pip's in the 'what if?' stage. If she had the test and the results, she'd know one way or another. The actor isn't skilled enough IMO.

@FourSeasonsTotalLandscaping , IIRC Brian wanted to let the harvest go unharvested.

@JoelenesParrot , He doesn’t care about the land itself, he cares about owning the land and is behaving as if it’s his right to have it. I disagree. He cares passionately about the land and he's the only one of the family who knows it inside out.

@ExitPursuedByABare , if you go to the top of the thread, there's a '< Radio/podcast addicts'. Select the '<' to go to that then scroll down to the spoilers thread. It's usually about the 2nd or 3rd thread.

@Eastie77Returns , Denise lives at Willow Farm with Kirsty and Kate.

Not as far as Google reveals, @UhOhRatPoo.

But John Rowe is 85, so it’s understandable he might want to retire.

Just a shame his leaving was such a non-event on air.

Anyway - I’m listening to the podcast right now, and it’s very definitely Here’s Jim’s best bits.

Denise doesn't live with Kirsty. She was going to but had to pull out. Can't remember why. I hope she remains silent.

Thanks. I’m surprised that any actor who gets this sort of fun contract work would want to draw a line unless they were sadly too unwell to ever come back for a few scenes. Or moved to New Zealand like Old Clarrie. It’s so easy to make someone a silent. I guess maybe they wanted the house freed up for plot purposes but didn’t have the space to fit in an immediate “Jim’s died” storyline.

I guess Angela Piper was different - too vital to go silent/become an occasional, nobody would have tolerated a recast, and her death was a big storyline opportunity. We hear nothing about her but I do hope she is healthy in retirement.

It is a really stupid plot line to have a man in his late eighties just going off interrailing. Oh, but, hold on- wasn’t there a plot line ages ago about Jim having a mole investigated? And we never heard a definitive outcome. Maybe pp are right- he has terminal cancer, has kept it entirely to himself and is on his way to Dignitas! And it is actually a big plot point.

Thanks for the link to the podcast. Just listened. I very rarely do that but this was a good one - Michael Lumsden and Ryan Kelly (Alistair and Jazzer) reminiscing about the Prof. The fact that John Rowe himself was not there and hasn't spoken on air for nearly a year (and he sounded very frail indeed then) suggests to me, very sadly, that he isn't strong enough now to carry on. He will be greatly missed. A wonderful radio actor.

Those scenes with Jazzer, Alistair and Jim when Jim revealed he’d been a victim of sexual abuse were some of the best acting Ive ever heard on the programme.