New baby: missed 7 whole months of the archers. Please help!

[Goldrill]

I've heard odd bits and am trying to catch up. I have never missed this long in my life before and I hate not knowing what is happening! And mustardland has gone!!!!

Please tell me:

1. What did Darryl do that was so dreadful?
2. Did Chris and Alice go to Canada (I heard a bit where he was in hospital after being kicked)
3. Elizabeth and Ifty...?
4. Did Ian find out about the Polish chap and has he left?
5. Matt didn't actually kill Paul or anything like that did he..? Do we know whether he still loves her or is he going to stick the knife in?
6. Are Ed and Emmur still at the in-laws?

Thankyou!

1. He was involved in dog fighting with some bloke he met in the nick
2. No they didn't - Chris was involved in a terrible accident while Alice was in Canada for the interview and she was so guilt-ridden, she turned the job down
3. She invited him over for dinner, he (understandably) thought her intentions were romantic, tried to kiss her and she freaked
4. No and yes (but may come back as the assistant herdman for new mega-dairy)
5. No although he had him threatened. What he was doing in a hotel in Cardiff is anyone's guess
6. Yes

:o

I'm not the expert but I can give a brief précis:

1. Got involved helping a dogfighting group by letting them into (Brian's?) barn. He told Mike, who told the police, in the resulting melee Mike got shot (not seriously).
2. No.
3. Nah, she backed out and we haven't heard them since.
4. No. Although summer's on its way...
5. We don't know. All that is (hopefully) coming.
6. Yes.

Hope that helps!

Dogfighting??? Crikey. That's a bit serious - and Elona found out - I heard the bit where she was being annoyed with him but no idea why. Has she left him because of it?

Gosh. I had him down as nice but easily led, but dog fighting is beyond appalling. He is certainly not nice. Hmmm.

Thankyou for the info. Shame about Ifty and Lizzie - it was such a long time in the setup I thought it was a sure thing. Maybe it will recur.

He wasnt doing the fighting, he had the venue keys and was more of a.... steward :o

Badger, I guess it's just one of those subjects I get quite wound up about - facilitating it is nearly as bad as taking part IMO. Favoured passtime round here has been to catch a badger and stick it in a skip with a lurcher or two. Not pretty - there are some total bastards in this world.

Humph. I know TA isn't real and all that, but he seemed so nice.

Oh he didn't like it at all - he was very uncomfortable but Elona was pushing him to make more money and he was desperate.

He puked up when he had to clear up afterwards and reported the perpetrators (anonymously via Neil) to the plod.

God - badgers in a cage is horrible :( Why are men people so fucking sick?

Sorry I didn't mean to imply I thought you were overreacting! I just wanted to say that he wasn't the criminal mastermind behind it.

Panzee 'twas Neil who was shot, hence Susan being a bit annoyed Darryl & Elona were going to dinner up at Jennifer & Brian's with her & Neil. Jennifer is upset with Jim as Jim wrote a hatchet piece on Brian for Borchester Life. After recovering from a heart attack Tony has agreed to sell the cows at Bridge Farm. One of Lynda's llamas died from TB, the others were fenced off to keep them away from the boundary with Brookfield but this was mentioned once by Joe & never again (although there is a reactor in the Bridge Farm herd).

I always get Mike and Neil mixed up!!
I thought they copped out of the llama TB story? I'm sure I heard them tell Linda it wasn't TB.

No it wasn't TB (annoyingly!)

ahhh - cool - the Jennifer/Jim thing also had me wondering. Thanks everyone!

(they're not really setting up the tom and Kirsty thing are they - I just heard the bit of them drinking champagne in the park and felt vaguely queasy?)

Darrell wasn't doing any more work for Matt because of the old bloke dying due to Matt's evil machinations, so he was out of work, so when an old cellmate got in touch and said he'd pay him to steal Brian's keys to have them copied, he couldn't resist. Then the cellmate blackmailed him into helping with the dogfights as door steward (nice to know that dogfighters follow H&S regulations to that extent). Then the dogfighters did what all villains do, which is to randomly drive a 4x4 at people as a threat, which Neil and Ed saw as they returned from the pub, at which point Neil forced Darrell to tell him what was happening. Neil called the cops, they did a raid on the dog fight, Darrell pretended that they had just been passing and seen suspicious activity, and then the cellmate drove off in his 4x4 wildly firing a shotgun and got Neil in the shoulder as he pursued the car, writing down the numberplate.

Jenny and Brian invited Elona and Darrell to dinner to thank them for thwarting the thieves, and Elona was so embarrassed that she left Darrell.

This has led to the exciting story of who will be Peggy's new home help.

When I missed months of episodes when DD was born I used the catch up to, well, catch up -

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qpgr/broadcasts/2013/08

It's got a really detailed synopsis of every episode. Amazing. It's almost as if you were really there!

Nancy Banks-Smith gives superb monthly recaps too!

www.theguardian.com/culture/series/a-month-in-ambridge

Oh, and congratulations on the new baby!