Archers thread #201: Tempting fête in Ambridge? Free entry to 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 administer Bert's mucus medicine, 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/5538836-the-archers-spoilers-thread-12-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.)

There's a fair amount of stuff going on at the moment but I don't feel inspired to say anything more about any of it for now. Over to you - I hope you all have more enthusiasm than I do!

I suspect the SWs have entirely forgotten Lynda and Robert’s ages and want to keep Ambridge Hall in play as an occasional hub for random peripatetic characters.

(I mean, a B&B is a great thing to have in the village, in terms of small, non-farming related drama. But Lynda and Robert would definitely have retired by now.)

I was listening to the programme at the time, and no, Robert did not get a pension from his own company after it went bankrupt, and no, he had no savings left afterwards because he used them all to pay his creditors. He was presented as a computer wizard and not in the least financially savvy. This was in 1994, when he was 51; well before usual retirement age even if you are not bankrupt.

(He started as an employee in Sunningdale and then struck out on his own and failed dismally. Trying to get agency work after his company went under was a failure too.)

This was why Lynda stopped running a car and bought a bicycle, and found herself a (low-paid) local job (originally working as a chambermaid until Caroline promoted her); because they needed the money to eat and to pay for the upkeep of their house. It wasn't until a little later that she thought of running their home as a B&B to make ends meet.

I expect that like everyone else in the country he gets a state pension, as does Lynda. They are likely to be eligible for winter fuel payment, too.

Oh dear tonight’s episode has started somewhat unrealistically.

Lawn? I have dry earth with dead grass sticking out of it.

Aren't halal lambs killed by cutting their throats?

Josh won’t come back for the wedding …

And how dare the SWs have a Brookside heiress move house without letting us hear it as it happens?

And - where has Hannah gone??

I was thinking the same re Josh.

If I wasn't invested in the George and Amber storyline (and Kirsty's baby, too), I would be tempted to give up listening. As if the Monty business was not bad enough, we are now going to have weeks of Ruth going on about the "weddin".

We do need to know where Hannah has gone, poor Hannah, always an afterthought.

O for goodness sake David and Ruth weren't horrible. They'd had sheep mauled and killed by a dog. What you expect them to say? " O never mind, Monty killed and maimed our sheep, but lots of people think he's a dear little doggie so it's fine". Ruth said the police make the decision not them.

Ambridge is a rural farming village, I would think most of the villagers would want Monty to be put to sleep. After all, if David or Ruth had caught him in the act they could have legally have shot him to death.

Tonight's episode with Akram fussing about his lawn was ridiculous. Everyone's lawns are totally yellow and dry and have been for weeks and weeks, if he'd been watering it in the drought surely that would have come into the conversation. No one is titivating their dry crunchy lawns. They should have pulled that filler bit and put something else in.

I find it bizarre that not one farmer in Ambridge has mentioned the drought, which is affecting crops and planting schedules in real life.

It's not been a dry summer throughout the UK. My lawn is brown and yellow.
The brown is bare earth, as I've been clearing bits. More loo areas for DCats.

What's this about Brookside heiress? Speaking of Brookside, one of my uni mates went to the same school as Alex Fletcher (Jacqui Dixon).

Aye, never mind our loss of earnings, we'll take your word that your pet will never maim sheep and lambs again.

I thought Ruth was horrible, but then I very much dislike her in general. It was wrong of Khalil to go round and shout at them, but David and Ruth - especially Ruth - are just so self-centred, and I think that strangely enough, in the context of this storyline, Khalil was dead right when he said they don’t care about dogs. The story (which I hate) illustrates people’s very different relationships with their animals - pets, working animals, and livestock.

I feel very sorry for Lynda but when she gets over the shock I think she will very sadly and reluctantly understand that Monty poses too much of a risk to local livestock to come home. It is very sad though.

Fallon is insane to be cutting her hours when her financial situation has just become more difficult. I would not work for Elizabeth for anything. Fallon is capable, entrepreneurial and hardworking, but I remain unconvinced by the storyline. It’s quite hard organising the kind of programme they are talking about, and she’ll be doing a lot of work if she has to fundraise for all of it. There will be tons of admin, marketing, evaluation - and developing a pool of local artists and people to work with. I’d rather work at the Bull - she really seemed to be doing well there.

What is the legal position on someone else's cat, a very welcome daily visitor, ripping the whole wing off a wood-pigeon in your garden? This happened some years ago. MrG had to finish the job with the bird, while the cat watched in horror before slinking off.

He knew what he'd done was "wrong" - though not by cat rules - and came back the next day rather cautiously. We forgave him. He was just being a cat.

in the context of this storyline, Khalil was dead right when he said they don’t care about dogs

When my hens were ripped apart by an escaped german shepherd I didn't much care about the dog either. I cared about my poor birds.

I cannot bear the idea that Elizabeth had a rennovations at LL without any discussion with Freddie.

I also cannot bear the idea that Monty got out, back, washed up and calmed down by strangers and settled during the course of lunch.

It beggars belief.

Lambs, chickens, ducks and guinea hens got eaten by foxes. And people think they're sweet.

I’m trying to work out who was responsible for my typo. I’m certain I wrote ‘field’ - and my phone changed it …

SWs do it all the time. The BBC is either cheap and don't hire the actors for the SL, or SWS couldn't care less about textual coherence. I can see that Elizabeth might not discuss things with Freddie because she is ginormous cow, but she would announce them.

The Fallon working at LL is so that it all goes pear-shaped and there's a tussle about whether Freddie or Lily gets to it sort out.

I thought Ruth was horrible, but then I very much dislike her in general. It was wrong of Khalil to go round and shout at them, but David and Ruth - especially Ruth - are just so self-centred, and I think that strangely enough, in the context of this storyline, Khalil was dead right when he said they don’t care about dogs.

Why on earth would they care about a dog that had savaged and killed their animals? It was outrageous that Khalil went round and called them liars.

I quoted that post and actually never noticed the typo!

Sorry, but I like foxes.

And I hate how they are maligned and hounded.

It’s not the fact that the renovations were had off air. It’s the idea that Freddie and Lily didn’t notice they were happening, Lizard didn’t mention them, or that they did notice they were happening but never questioned why or what the plan was.

Off air is one thing, but the fact that a close family member was as in the dark about it all as we were is what my head cannot get around.

My ‘Monty is innocent’ theory is that he fought off the attacking dog, got bitten and the other dog transferred his dna to the sheep. The bite is somewhere hidden so L&R haven’t spotted it, but that’s why he’s been out of sorts. He’ll die of the worsening infection in clink, they’ll find the wound, which will (inexplicably) still have the rogue dog’s dna in it, and the police will discover that there were two different dog dnas the whole time. Poor dead Monty is innocent and Harrison will somehow identify the real culprit.

Is that any more far-fetched than anything the SWs inflict on us?

TherapistInATabard - and…
Harrison identifies any dogs linked to the Archers as the culprits as they are in a secret gang - David has to shoot them like he did the badger, misses and takes out Ruth. He goes to prison and we hear Nigel laughing as he is banged up.

I like foxes, but I hate the buggers when they eat (or rather just kill) our chickens. Electric fencing works. I also like rabbits, but am annoyed that they leave holes all over the fields, which can cause injury to horses. I am quite grateful to the foxes for keeping the rabbit population down (our dogs appear to not be a deterrent). Animals are what they are, it amazes me that people think they can introduce an animal into their homes which is quite literally capable of ripping them apart, and not recognise they have responsibility for this (we have three large dogs!). It sounds like Linda had a good set up for Monty, esp with b&c guests around - not sure how he escaped the kennel into the garden with an insecure gate (no locks?!) - but it sounds like she got lax and this was the consequence. I think Ruth and David made the right decision - the PSA clearly being that even responsible owners need to stay viligant. I can’t see how any sort of community order would reside the risk of it happening again.

Now that the SWs have remembered that the Malik’s took over Adil’s allotment, presumably to grow fruit and veg, it makes it even dafter that he’d ditch his plumbing job to pack veg boxes (or did he decide that he didn’t like being bossed about by Helen and Tom in one of the weeks I didn’t listen?).

Ambridge is a rural farming village, I would think most of the villagers would want Monty to be put to sleep.

I live in a rural farming village. There are some very cruel (and illegal) practices towards animals including the local hunt. And there are people who very much view their dogs as part of the family.

The bloody Maliks are back! I want Elizabeth and Freddie and the Battle for Lower Loxley. And Ruth dedded.

I am fond of the Maliks. Though they are mostly poorly written.

And I’m glad Khalil and Keira are friends. (He needs someone other than the preternaturally wise Bridge Farm heir.) But making Keira lie is a bit daft. I hope it doesn’t end badly.