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!

While I was out with the dogs I remembered that Elizabeth had a heart problem years ago. How about Freddie inheriting it unbeknownst, carking it (as my sister would say) and Lily and Harrison getting LL?

I bet someone saw Kenton accosting Lily and will mention it to Elizabeth.

I listened to Michael Frayn on This Cultural Life yesterday. He is 92 and you could really tell by his voice. Obviously they couldn't easily cast a 90 year old to play Carol but they should at least require the actress to adjust her voice accordingly.

An early stage of the disease maybe rather than early onset.

That was to @Every1ElseInKnowsley but I see it has already been clarified.

I have started to fast forward through anything involving Carol and Anna. I have no desire to listen to this for any kind of entertainment.

Even better if he'd secretly married Chelsea first and left LL to her, totally unencumbered by any trust arrangement ...

Can you imagine Chelsea keeping her trap shut about that?!

Or listen to Alan Bennett or Patricia Green for that matter (RIP) or anyone you’ve ever met in that age bracket. However compos mentis they are, you can hear their age in their voice. The story is now heading for Alan getting into big trouble - a cautionary tale, but you can see it coming a mile off. It just feels so manufactured.

Agree it was a) bloody ridiculous not to know of dog fields and b) they are not the greatest ads for dog ownership!? Monty killed their bnb fgs, let alone a dog related business!

Very up for freddie/chelsea secret marriage, lizzie's heart would explode upon hearing the news

Alan has walked into something, sadly.

Usha is also a lawyer. Hopefully she’ll be there to face off any challenge from Anna.

But once Alan has been chased away, we’ll have room for St Shula to step in at St Stephen’s.

I must say that with the state of things as they are I would prefer some rather more upbeat stories. There's a bit too much angst for me.

D’you think Judy Bennett could be persuaded out of retirement? Or maybe revoiced?

Shula’s 68, I think, - I’d be surprised if the Church is hiring vicars of that age to start their careers.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/B1NZNWymYHmXBgw1XVzV0Q/shula-hebden-lloyd

I have to say I've never heard of dog fields until someone mentioned them here, so it’s perfectly possible to be in the dark about them.

If they were going to revoice Shula, the actress playing Carol would have been perfect.

I miss Shula's voice. And Jenny's.

No need to bring Shula back, Joy will turn out to be a vicar along with everything else.

I don’t miss Shula but slightly long for Dan’s return.

It would be impossible not to miss Jenny …

is it me, or does a Dog Field sound like an unwise choice for someone in a farming community who has just accepted a caution for a dog-related offence?

It could be part of their marketing.

Don't let your dog savage sheep! Let them run free for a tenner in our field. Bring your own poo bags.

No, but he could be run over by her horsebox a few minutes after the ceremony. Nothing against Freddie, but I'd love to hear Elizabeth's reaction to that!

Are you a dog owner?

Is there an imminent electrocution accident/death about to happen?

The repaired hairdryer just makes me think something is in the wind...🤔

If so I hope it doesn't belong to Chelsea.

Well, it's Lynda's hairdryer, isn't it?

Please don't do away with Lynda!

She's my favourite character out of all of them!

muddyford
How long was it between Sid's demise and Kenton getting his leg over Jolene?

Sid died on 8th June, 2010, and Kenton didn't actually seem to have his sights on Jolene (he was still living with Kathy, after all) though he was happy to give her a hand with the pub as well as running Jaxx. It wasn't until 1st March, 2011 that he declared his affection to Jolene, after some avoiding-her-because-it-was-too-soon which mightily offended her. I don't think they DTD for a while after that, but Kathy found out about them being a couple now on 17th March, 2011, and was badly shaken, even though she had thrown him out the previous year and he'd been living at Lower Loxley for a while by then.

(I don't think Kenton's ever had a place of his own: he's always found some woman with a house he could scrounge a bed from. Rent-free, natch.)

So rather more than six weeks!

Jenny was such a great character, wasn't she? Such a mixture of generosity and snobbery and so well voiced.

I’m actually looking forward to an Amber ‘baby drama’ of some sort (presumably next week) so we have some respite from Fallon feeling grumpy and Harrison pouring heart and soul into his phone messages. If I were Lily I’d be dusting off my passport and heading somewhere with an iffy phone signal.

Carol’s aftercare seems very different to when my DM broke her hip. Admittedly local catchment area for her hospital was an elderly demographic, but they had her up and moving within a couple of days before sending her off to a rehab centre for a fortnight to walk walk walk.

There has to be a market for actors who can do “elderly” on the radio. Carol sounds as if she would be perfectly able to cycle across Ambridge to do the morning milking for Esmee.

My neighbour, a couple of years younger than Carol, fell in the garden and broke her hip, lay there for several hours until the ambulance came, was operated on that evening and out of hospital to her son's home two days later and to her own home two days after that (with her son or daughter-in-law visiting her every day). This was a couple of years ago, so not in the distant past.