UKH

 

I used to be a keen fan, even joined a couple of fan clubs (inc Archers Anarchists!)

But I fell out of love with it during the Eddy Grundy's thieving brother emotional farrago, and the Helen / Rob trial thingy, when it all went a bit Eastenders put paid to it for me.

Catching snippets now and then hasn't done anything to rekindle my imagination.

Anyone still a fan?

In reply to Big Ger:

I was an avid listener from some time around the death of John Archer, when he rolled his vintage tractor into a ditch, up until the day the scriptwriters threw poor old Nigel off the roof of Lower Loxley. That episode was the final straw for me, just couldn't face the inevitable endless recriminations and jacked it in.  I've never listened beyond the first couple of bars of Berwick Green since - it's lovely Cerys on 6 Music on a Sunday morning for me now.

In reply to deepsoup:

Ah, dear old Nigel, a great loss...

In reply to Big Ger:

Yes, I guess that to a climber that prolonged scream must have sounded particularly incredible. 

In reply to Big Ger:

Yes, my wife. She uses it to clear a room,  as i and the children flee as soon as the theme music starts. For my sins i was the one who introduced her to it.

In reply to RX-78:

 

I used to listen reguarly and consistently until the rob/helen stuff. Bit too much like my work at that point. I struggled as it was very true to life etc but i hated Helens character so struggled to empathise with her.

Now i drop in drop out... ive listened for the last couple of weeks but then hadn't listened to it for a month or so before that.

In reply to Big Ger:

'still' ?

In reply to idiotproof (Buxton MC):

Oh god, me too!  I briefly empathised with her after Greg's suicide, but it didn't last.

That was the other reason I dropped out after the episode where poor old Nigel was killed off - it was also the one where Helen gave birth.  She'd been unbelievably annoying in the run-up to the big day, and I found the idea of her becoming an even more annoying new parent almost as unappetising as the recriminations that would be (and presumably did?) break out in the aftermath of Nigel's death.

 

In reply to deepsoup:

Turkey baster boy?

 

In reply to Big Ger:

Used to be an avid listener (since 30 years), until it became East Enders with conflict, controversy, tension, marital strife, aggression, cliffhangers, trauma all the way through every episode. Stopped seriously listening a couple of years ago, but dip in occasionally.  But then BBCR4 Today seems to have adopted the same tactics, so maybe it's just me....

 

In reply to Big Ger:

Dipping in recently, I hear that the long suffering Nic Grundy died.

I remember when the Grundy's provided lighthearted yokel jinks and escapades.

In reply to Big Ger:

yes, it's definitely gone eastenders, but I cannot stay away, mostly because there are so many characters to hate (most of them, TBH)

In reply to Removed Userena sharples:

I’m an occasion listener, it’s certainly the nearest I get to following any soap. I’m sure you are supposed to hate most of the characters.

In reply to The New NickB:

That's why they threw Nigel off the roof, he was far too likeable. I started listening in the 70s but killing Nigel Pargeter was the final straw for me.

In reply to Clarence:

that will really be when there is a nerve agent attack in the village or an airliner crashes thereon.

Having said that I thought Jack Woollley's daughter was going to be quite entertaining before the Eastenders takeover.

In reply to Big Ger:

Didn't the Aussies have an equivalent radio program?

That could have been worth listening to.

In reply to Big Ger:

Listening to it now. Where else  can you get lines like 'Tinder for dogs?)'

In reply to Big Ger:

my wife's family were properly into it so I listened to it by default on and off until that ridiculous Xmas special when the guy took about 30 second to fall of a roof a few years back. My mother-in-law also disapproved of the Eastenders type content and stopped entirely...she had listened to it her entire life!!!

In reply to Big Ger:

Yes, I still listen to each episode, while having a soak. Old habits die hard, and a bath doesn't feel right without it.

In reply to Big Ger:

This about sums it up for me: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02mlwdp

In reply to Big Ger:

there is a trend emerging here. Rob and bloody Helen almost put paid to me, but I have been drawn back in by the foxy Bulgarian "aw what the heck, I'll be the surrogate mother" Lexi. 

Oh, and Brian Aldridge might finally get what's coming to him. Or maybe not.

 

In reply to Big Ger:

It has gone a bit EastEnders in recent years. Seems less light-hearted. Still listen as I need 5 hours of podcast for a normal commuting week and about 10 more when I'm travelling.

In reply to Big Ger:

I find it so strained / forced acting. They try to hard to keep it topical, but I think the quality of some of the actors and story lines keeps it well away from real life agriculture / rural these days.

I do dip in, always have but never been a huge fan.

In reply to Big Ger:

Anyone remember Eva the au pair?

 

Or the Brigadier dying after falling taking a gate or a fence

In reply to Big Ger:

It's absolute turgid drivel - the number of car journeys where I am listening to something interesting on Radio 4 only to have it interrupted with the sodding Archers. It seems to be on permanent repeat as well throughout the day. Cancel it!

In reply to Big Ger: and to think, it replaced Dick Barton Special Agent, on the Home Service! Now that was a shame

 

In reply to Big Ger:

It was never the same after they killed off Joshua Merriweather

In reply to Hat Dude:

or Walter Gabriel, though he hung on long enough

In reply to Big Ger:

I had a very nice neighbour at my childhood home, who during his less charitable moments vaguely reminds me of Brian Aldridge, having grown up with it, and then rebelled against it, I find myself listening to it just for Brian Aldridge, for some reason I quite like his grumbling mean spiritedness, he's almost like a badly adjusted to adulthood version of my childhood neighbour.