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!

Yes there will be some. But for them to lose fifteen sheep the dog would have had to be there for ages to savage all of them. I think it's likely a combination of sheep being directly attacked and others dying of the shock.

Surely the signs and indeed the fencing is David’s responsibility. We rent out fields to a variety of different livestock and as sheep and say horses have very different requirements the owners ensure the fencing is appropriate I.e working electric fencing for the sheep and any barbed wire is sectioned off for the horses.

I normally re listen in the middle of the night but it was too distressing. The sheep only moved there a couple of days ago didn’t they? My first thought was Cleo but isn’t it a long way from home for her. And who looks after her during the day. I thought she went to work with Stella. Maybe Jill and Leonard were looking after her and she escaped during a cake crisis.

I have a feeling Cleo is a small terrier, but I'm not sure why I think that. The barking we heard in the distance sounded like a big dog but I wouldn't expect that sort of detail to be accurate, it's likely just a sound effect that came to hand.

I do think that as we are being treated to a constant stream of PSAs at the moment, the most effective way of doing the "don't let your dogs loose near livestock" story would be for the the dog to be one that is known to the listeners, and belongs to a regular character. Otherwise this is just a slightly random (awful) event that happened oit of nowhere to some farmers and their sheep - the audience need to see the other side because they are far more likely to be on the other side.

Someone we may or may not like, who seems like a fairly normal, averagely responsible person needs to have been in a flap about the dog having got out / run off during a walk, and then have the dog return covered in blood. Panic because the dog is injured, but wait, there are no injuries... what on earth has happened? And then the awful realisation that it's their precious darling, who snores on the sofa while the family watches tv, that has literally chewed bits off someone's lambs. This is the bit people need to get their heads around: it's normal pet dogs that do this.

Did Lynda Snell ever get a new dog? And has Lilian still got Ruby?

@PuggyPuggyPuggy , I'd say 'I'm going to Brookfield' not 'I'm going to Ruth's'. If I was going to '1 The Green' and didn't know anyone else living in The Green, I's say 'I'm going to The Green'. If it was a flat and the occupier moved often, I'd say 'I'm going to Katie's'.

We call people by the farm/house name. David would be David Brookfield etc.
Bumping into someone who wasn't a relative, I'd say 'Hello, Aunty Pat, Bridge Farm' or 'Hello Aunty Pat' depending on how close the relationship.

a constant stream of PSAs at the moment and it's not going to end anytime soon.

I'd quite welcome a 'Do not feed horses' one.

@TottersBlankly , Pip and David are both so unconvincing, and then the wooden PC turning up didn’t help. Jolene’s overacting had already irritated me!
I agree.

@JudyCoolibar , Thanks for clarifying. I thought the pp was saying Ryan Kelly (Jazzer) was Javert.
Anthony Head (RIP) also sang as did his brother Murray.

Cleo savaged Fat Rosie's giraffe toy. It was a portent of savagings to come.

While Adam, Ian and Brine know about the attempted GBHer, there's been no acknowledgment that this is why Brine acts as he does. This makes the SL open to a reveal by Adam (horrendous backstabbing literal bastard); Ian (well, what do you expect from etc.etc). and Brine, who has not, so far made any link between his behaviour and anything except to blame everyone else.

Over to you, Ruairi.

Do sheep dogs ever attack sheep? Bess is (I think) the only dog that hasn't been mentioned yet.

@NetballHoop , no, not normally. They might round up the sheep. An untrained sheepdog is not to be trusted around sheep. By sheepdog I mean a dog with herding instinct, and includes mongrels and crosses. An alsatian (GSD), for example, counts as a sheepdog.

Chekhov's giraffe!

👏

LOL at Chekhov's Giraffe! Is Lynda/Robert's dog a Doberman?!! I had no idea...I assumed it was some sort of fluffy lap breed?

Going back to what we call people’s houses. It’s normal in my family and was standard in my friendship group in late teens/ twenties when we often had house shares.

I thought they really hammered home that they were able to swab the dna from the sheep. Very interesting but wonder how vast the doggy dna database actually is?

Please be Cleo

In my head, Cleo is a whippet, but I could easily be confusing her with another dog.

Weaver was a whippet, I think. Cerberus Cleo is a mixed breed.

At least I'm not totally losing it, then.

Very late catching up - I forgot to listen and it turned out to be the best episode for ages! I think what that episode was pointing to is just how unfit Brian is to run the farm on his own. Adam has quit/been fired and yet Brian was sitting round in the pub dreaming about going on holiday - no wonder Jolene and Alistair were struck dumb. The fact is, Brian can’t actually be arsed to run the farm anymore and with Adam gone he has no one else to run it. And the sheep savaging incident showed just what a huge responsibility it is. Striding around saying: « But it’s my land » won’t get anything done.

She’s a mixed breed,but mostly terrier. And I don’t think we know what type of terrier so could be something like Airedale. And they can definitely chase and savage sheep, very high prey drive.

I did wonder why Adam decided to be Xander’s biological father when a)Ian is younger so might have been a better fit and b) Adam was never really that enthusiastic about having a child in the first place. He more or less reluctantly went along with it to keep his husband happy. Ian seems much more hands on and interested in an actual parenting role, involvement with the school etc. Adam rarely sounds interested in his child and is keen to palm him off onto his aunts whenever possible.

It probably is for longer term plot purposes as it means Xander is a blood Archer and it keeps the drama/potential rivalry going with Martha and possibly their South African cousins who might arrive to stake their claim at some point.

I seem to recall that Ian was firing blanks.

As I remember it, poor Ian was gutted when all his sperm were discovered to be too lazy to get out of bed. Adam had no choice.

And Phoebe and daughter, too.

If anyone has listened to tonight's episode, please can they let me know if there's much talk of animal suffering.