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!

Ooh, I’ve just had a happy 30 minutes exploring a rabbit hole (I’d forgotten about this website):

Inspiration for the cruck barn (written by Keri Davies, so he is probably coming up with old bits of Ambridge to appease cast member who have been absent for over a year!):
https://thearchersarchives.org.uk/usha-doubts-clive-s-need-of-a-psychiatrist-i-but-nigel-might-well-need-one-i/

https://thearchersarchives.org.uk/alice-makes-a-mess-of-things-blurting-out-a-racist-remark-to-amy/

Who was Ashok?
https://thearchersarchives.org.uk/usha-gets-involved-in-the-sleepout-hoping-that-ashok-will-too/

At this rate they will also remember they have a bloomin great orchard (good year for English wine, they were saying on one of the early morning farm programmes this past week):
https://thearchersarchives.org.uk/anticipation-of-future-events-is-exciting-for-kathy-kenton-and-nigel-but-stressful-eddie/

So the barn opened in June 2004

https://thearchersarchives.org.uk/kathy-s-on-a-crusade-over-school-meals-but-budgetary-constraints-prevail/

https://thearchersarchives.org.uk/joe-is-rumbled-leon-still-is-not/

Well Harrison didn’t remember her mentioning it either so maybe it didn’t happen😅

Just when you think the storylines can't get any more unrealistic we have Lizard spending a fortune adapting an ancient building without having tied the person she expects to run it into a watertight contract. As it is they seem to be suggesting that there was some sort of conversation off air and only now the project is actually completed is she talking to Fallon about it.

Let alone the chances of a major builder having a window of opportunity for a major project at short notice.

I’m shocked that Fallon would want to work for an employer who is this terrible at communication.

Thank you, @Madcats! I haven’t generally bothered with The Archers Archives (because I waste so much time already) but it’s on my Home Screen now, so good luck to anyone who hopes I’ll ever do a stroke of work from this day forward.

To be fair he hasn't been there for months.

The cruck barn may not be old. A place up the valley built one from scratch twenty-odd years ago using green oak. Goodness knows what it cost. They weren't farmers, anyway.

I think 'cruck' must have the same derivation as 'crotch' as the curved timbers meet like a pair of... ahem...upper thighs...

The cruck barn isn't ancient. I remember when it was erected.
I might be a tad long in the tooth but I'm not that old.

@muddyford , it's from the same origin as crook.

Crook as in stick with a hook shape not a criminal.

Ashok was Usha's brother, I think. Or maybe Aunty Satya's son.

Just dreadful writing... And what if Fallon says 'no'.... Is there an alternative candidate?

Thank you!

Chelsea could run it and park the horse box in the grounds. Maybe😁

Is this where the multi-talented Lily comes to the fore, adding lustre to Lower Loxley and her own status while the true heir to the Targaryens lies fallow in an abattoir?

As we've never heard anything more about a campsite, it's reasonable to assume that it's been abandoned and rewilded.

I thought the crook barn was built as a project by Nigel - greenwood from the estate etc etc. Which makes it very odd that it wasn't immediately incorporated into the LL offering.

Or I could be rambling.

I also don't believe in the cruck/crook barn, let alone the ret conned conversation in December.

However I do believe in Monty the Dobermann. Lynda tried a few different breeds including a destructive bichon frisé called Lady (not the Silmarillion!) before settling on Monty. I think the village was rather surprised that she'd picked an Aggressive Looking breed.
Lady: https://haharchers.blogspot.com/2018/05/help-lynda-pick-pooch-bonus-posting.html?m=1
Monty: https://haharchers.blogspot.com/2018/06/joanna-van-kampen-fallon-rogers-i.html?m=1#:~:text=Robert

Lewis last appeared in 2013 according to IMDB but I don't recall him at all, I started listening in 2009 but paying attention in 2013 ish. We rarely hear of named silent staff working anywhere. We don't even get told about the Buttons or Booths these days.

Gosh, I miss the Lower Loxley staff!

And Jack Woolley’s driver, Higgs. (I must have been four when he was taken on, so at an early stage of conscious listening.)

Betty cleaning for the Aldridges.

And Emma …

I was quietly seething when we recently heard of Brian - three million year old Brian Aldridge - doing his own cleaning. Just as I am when we hear the residents of LL taking the vacuum cleaner round.

But I won’t go on. Again. 😄

(Not that Lewis was staff, of course. He was faaaamly.)

I don’t really understand why Harrison needs his mother in law to pay for a hotel room for one night.

I think she offered. Much to his ill-concealed horror.

Jolene’s keenness to create opportunities for her daughter and son in law to have sex is seriously gruesome.

Honestly, does any 21st century midlands mother behave like that?

Mr Batchelor and I have had a couple of periods of him working away. We just got on with it and none of our families thought it was an ordeal for either of us.

She did but he did sound dubious first when then she suggested a night away and said he might stretch to a budget hotel.

I know the SWs like a compare and contrast, but the ‘past the point of no return’ burnt garlic bread was a bit on the nose!

Lizzie assuming Fallon would jump was typical of her (and general Archers/higher orders mentality), see also Lizzie’s bafflement at why she couldn’t get enough free slave labour “volunteers” to run her stately home for her. Like others here, I’ve no recollection of this development being mentioned previously.