Archers thread #200: Trouble in Ambridge! (All 200 threads could have had this title.) 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 to be Brian's child or stepchild, 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.)

Over to you!

For my sins, I am on our local “Nextdoor” app. It has occasional flashes of brilliance, such as recommending specialist tradesman or social events, but is generally focussed on lost and found pets. The dogs that go AWOL tend to belong to visitors/tourists who let them off their leads to have them bolt.

What with running an occasional B&B, I would have thought that Lynda’s dog would need to be exceptionally well trained and in a secure garden (and probably NOT allowed out unsupervised for the sake of local cats and squirrels).

It’s a shame the ‘dog gone feral’ didn’t belong to one of the more recent arrivals in the village…. Or maybe it will turn out to be the case.

What’s happened to Esmee? George seems very busy not working for her these days!

to be fair though, I don't think the police rely all that much on the testimony of people who had the crime narrated to them while they were doing the washing up 😆

(I'm sure if we had actually seen any of these dogs, we would remember what breed they were)

I hope Harrison is checking all the local hotels, B&Bs and holiday cottages for guests with dobermans. I seriously doubt that Monty was the only one in the vicinity at the relevant time.

If memory serves me Lynda used to have Afghans.
Then one sired a litter via Jack Woolley's dog Captain (whatever breed he was)
Can't remember where Monty appeared from.

Or is my memory full of holes like half these plots?

According to the excellent research done by @LivelyGreyShark , Captain was a Staffordshire Bull Terrier.

So the combination with Lynda's Afghan... that's quite the size differential 😮

I've just had a thought: Has Miranda (or her houseguests) got a dog?

FWIW Marjorie Antrobus used to have Afghans (did she breed them?)

I think Lynda had a marginally problematic dog when she and Robert first came to Ambridge, but I can't really remember.

You’re mixing up Lynda and Marjorie Antrobus (aka “the Dog Woman” as Joe Grundy used to call her …or was that Walter Gabriel? 😀)

Ignore my previous comment...I was imagining a Bulldog, not a Staffie!

Oh you are so right. The time line did seem a bit stretched, that explains it.

Lynda and Robert don't seem to be at all the kind of dog owners who wouldn't notice a loved dog had been missing for a good hour.

I loved Marjorie Antrobus. She did indeed breed Afghans. Her gels, as she always referred to them. This is a lovely column about The Archers in the 1980s, with the main focus on Mrs A: https://www.1980sactual.com/2009/04/80s-archers-part-1-mrs-antrobus-and.html

This is good too - the follow up to the above piece is about how Carole Boyd created Lynda Snell. https://www.1980sactual.com/2020/02/the-80s-archers-part-two-creation-of.html

What fabulous pieces about the Boyds (apparently they weren’t related, according to Wiki)! I should have paid a lot more attention to the goings on in Ambridge, during the 80’s, but my head was turned by Neighbours in the latter half of that decade.

Oh that's got me wondering - who moved into Nightingale Farm after Matt Crawford left.

Oh, that article about Mrs A was LOVELY. I started listening in the late 80s (I was born in 73 and my parents always had it on - my Dad as much as my Mum). Definitely remember Nelson's wine bar. The storyline that really caught my attention was when Kate went missing and Brian had to go and identify a body, which obviously turned out not to be her. I remember my Dad really feeling that, presumably because I was a similar age to Kate. I think I also remember Caroline’s affair with Brian, though in my head it gets conflated with Deirdre Barlow’s affair with Mike Baldwin in Coronation St. Remember Alice being born and Jenny worrying about Down’s, and Mark dying.

Am I right in thinking that Hayley lived with Mrs A for a while?

Just remembered another 80s iconic storyline- David’s girlfiend Sophie with the silly voice.

She may have done, Ruth definitely did (I think?)

Everything gets muddled these days!

While we are tripping down memory lane Chris Carter was born with a cleft lip and Susan wouldn't take him out for a while.

Do people remember Martha Woodford with the shop, and did she look after the telephone box after it was discontinued?

So Harrison's five-star, black tie shagathon is in jeopardy. Never has so much emotion been expressed by one reedy 'yes'.

Possibly my favourite character and role-model (although I am married with only one dog).

Marjorie Antrobus was great, because she actually had a credible personality.

@PuggyPuggyPuggy 😂😂😂😂

While we are tripping down memory lane Chris Carter was born with a cleft lip and Susan wouldn't take him out for a while.

Yes, I remember that, @TeenToTwenties. Also the Caroline-Brian affair. They used to meet outdoors and canoodle in fields.

What is Lizzy thinking? She should have been keeping Fallon informed all along. Obviously Fallon can’t just drop everything!

I remember the Chris/cleft palate thing- Susan didn't bond with him at all but somehow (details hazy) he got menaced by an escaped pig and then she realised she did love him after all!