Archers thread #202: How are you finding your visits to Ambridge? Fill in your feedback forms 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 think working as a hotel receptionist is a perfectly reasonable career choice for a graduate from a family with a stately home, 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-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.)

Over to you!

The Khalil actor's voice has broken nicely - it is lovely.

I think he sounds exactly like Ben!

How can one person, no matter how many platforms she uses ruin someone's reputation so quickly

I doubt they could. Yet another daft SL.

@DeanElderberry you are absolutely spot on with your radio drama comparison. That is exactly what it felt like. I can’t imagine who came up with planning for that particular episode - “Why don’t we do a PSA about discussing the importance of end of life care and fear of dying and then lighten up with a game of Scrabble between a schoolboy and his elderly neighbours referencing a previous PSA about their rehomed dog?” It feels as if The Archers is now being written by people who don’t listen to The Archers. No mention of how hard the harvest has been hit after the dry summer, no mention of harvesting at all. Nothing to situate us in the farming year.

Yes but that takes some working out. Another one might be Lady Margarita A-J and Tim Lawrence, but TL is about 10 years younger than Brian.

(I'm not much of a royalist but I couldn't think of any other famous cousins-once-removed. Prefer the Royals to the thought of a President Farage or Polanski.)

Farming Today had a feature on rustling. There was a link on a previous TA thread on cattle rustling where the perpetrators were caught, but the overall outcome wasn't that great.
(Dodgy farmer had some losses, kept the ear tags. Cattle stolen to order and re-tagged. Thieves caught via rural officers using CCTV and mobile phone data.
Cattle found approx. 125 miles away and they recognised their owners. Thieves charged with the offences. )

I wondered about Robert saying Monty was a proper name. Wouldn't it be allowable as a scrabble word on the basis of "the full Monty"?

Gosh, that was a touch close to home. My Mum had a fall in July and didn't break her hip but did chip the bone, which was very painful, reduced her mobility to almost nothing and probably precipitated her final decline. There was no possibility of an operation as in her already very precarious state of health she would not have survived it. Carol must be more robust.

Fortunately she is otherwise not too similar! It's a great help at these difficult times to have a sibling or other close person you get on and agree with to share the visiting and decision-making. Anna doesn't have that.

But yes, as others have already said that, why on earth didn't they make this storyline all about Jill? If they'd done it a few years ago Paddy Greene could have had some really good final scenes while she was still physically capable of acting. Even if they'd waited till now, they could have had scenes at the hospital with other family members. Perfectly realistic for the dying matriarch not to be able to speak any more. Carol and Anna are effectively blow ins for most of us who weren't listening in the 1950s-70s so a storyline like this feels very tacked on, while the Brookfield Archers themselves are hardly ever heard, or so it feels.

I suppose what's happened is that Mia Soteriou has been brought in with the clear brief that she will be playing a much older woman at the end of her life. It feels like the production team felt unable to say to their older actors something on the lines of 'Thank you for coming in for this chat. We want to be sensitive about this with our much valued cast members, but we've been doing some thinking about longer-term storylines and we have to face the fact that we have several key characters who are now very elderly. We feel we must start including some realistic storylines about the problems of getting old, the family issues that throws up, caring needs, and, in due course, end of life care. I'm afraid this does mean that we will have to plan storylines to include some deaths at realistic ages ...'

It mattered to her mother though and that is important. Dismissing her mother's concerns in that way was wrong, you don't do that to anyone particularly someone with dementia. She could, at least, have spoken more kindly about it.

All very well if you like that sort of thing, but not the Archers. Because no Archers.
Agree wholeheartedly.

For once the SWs are doing a top job in conveying just how exasperating Carol can be, but still engaging our pity and understanding.
They might be if I could be vaguely interested in Carol or Anna.
The bat was ok but even a cricket bat would have been more interesting than the Tregorrans.
There was nothing wrong with the script or acting, just the characters used.

I wondered about Robert saying Monty was a proper name. Wouldn't it be allowable as a scrabble word on the basis of "the full Monty"?
The word monty has a dictionary entry as does the full monty.

Speaking of names:
Kahil - he's Khalil. Not to be confused with kalil, which is a separate word.
Khalil is a name meaning friend, kalil is a word meaning little and not a name AFAIK.
Kahil is not a name and is probably related to kohl (as in eye-liner).

It was post-Covid and at that time the doctors had got used to doing what they like and basically ignoring patients’ wishes.

Or, maybe, to rephrase that, doctors had got used to making life and death decisions regarding unconscious people in a stressful situation.

That is exactly what I thought, too.

Of course she could.

But Anna is at the end of her tether with her Mum refusing help she needs. Being called up and having to travel because of a bat was the last straw for her I think.

it is easy to sit in judgement on what people should do in the calm of being outside, but that is different to being caught in the middle of the storm.

I have had elderly parents including a mother with Alzheimers. I am now getting old myself. I do understand. My daughter phoned me at 2am once because she had a mouse in her house (it turned out to be infested) and just had to calmly talk her down.

Just caught up as I'm the other side of the country from usual, visiting family. Loved Robert saying they had no compunction about using swear words in Scrabble! When DH was dying a few months ago our hospital didn't have Respect forms, but TEP, Treatment Escalation Plans. DH's was all printed in red, which meant no intervention. It took a week to get his ICD (internal defibrillator) turned off though, with lots of hand-wringing and mutterings about the ethics committee).

@CaptainMyCaptain My young adult but then teen DD has mental health struggles. For a long while she would ask every night if her water was fresh. I knew the best answer was to say 'yes'. But occasionally I was tired/frazzled and might answer 'what do you think?' which half the time lead to collapse from her. Somehow I still couldn't manage to always be endlessly patient.

I am far from endlessly patient but perhaps a lifetime of teaching small children has trained me to put on a face of patience and calm while screaming inside.

Ah yes, teaching small children probably developed skills in you that i did not develop.
I hope Carol survives her OP. She should do as she doesn't appear to have complicating health conditions. But she'll need rehab and a zimmer ...

I remember a day when I was feeling very ratty at the end of the day because one boy had been hurting other children and I'd had to be on to him all the time. As we walked out at the end of the day a little girl skipped beside me and said 'Haven't we had a lovely day today Mrs Captain'. Made it all worthwhile but I deserved an Oscar some days.

All teachers deserve Oscars! Well, perhaps not all, and not every day, but most of them most days. (My Mum was a primary school teacher.)

I don't think they do. I had a few fantastic ones, the odd one barely competent, and most just about ok. Generally got the impression that some had a vocation and the others had drifted into it and gone to school, college, PGCE, back to (the same) school.

It has the advantage of being 'a respectable occupation'. I'm in awe of a friend who's an A&E 'Sister' - she saves lives every day, but she says it's just her job.
She's not an 'Angel' just because she is good at her job.

Paddy Greene could have had some really good final scenes while she was still physically capable of acting. Even if they'd waited till now, they could have had scenes at the hospital with other family members. Perfectly realistic for the dying matriarch not to be able to speak any more.

They're still visiting Aunty Chris in the Laurels, and she hasn't spoken for years.

The Aunty Chris actor is 92. Lesley Saweard - Wikipedia
It would have made more sense to record a character we know and love for these sort of scenes. Could be tricky though because the characters are often infirm or have retired.

I do agree this one would have been better at brookfield. IME a fall can really age a person. I’ve known a several fiercely independent, robust pensioners go quickly downhill after a fall.

I also know a few families where eldest daughters are more tactless and direct with elderly parents and younger siblings more tactful and gentle in their approach.

💐 for @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g

thanks for the new thread and hope you’re okay.

It all resonated with me too. My mother had The Fall at 96 - had been living independently until then. She didn’t feel well and thought a walk to the baker’s to buy a croissant would be just the pickup she needed. Sadly it wasn’t, she had cellulitis and after 2 months in hospital lost the ability to walk, so is now in a home. Thankfully no dementia and can still win the quiz at 101. She’s also always been positive - “I can’t look after myself, they’re all very kind here; and really the food’s quite adequate”.

But it would have been so much better if it had been Jill dying - she is totally unbelievable.

Wow …

Finally a reminder of why I listen.

Is that the first two-hander (a la Den and Angie one Christmas on Eastenders) that TA has done?