Who the hell are Oliver and Caroline?!

[Hiphopopotamus]

So I've recently got into the Archers, and I thought I had reached a point where I had everyone and their families sorted. I'm listening to this weeks catch ups, and bloody Oliver and Caroline pop up. Who the hell are they?!

[ppeatfruit]

"OOOar me beauties there be a stranger in t' Bull tonight watch yer step" something

I totally agree about the falseness of the row with Oliver and Caroline; she could always have called for Tracey to do the childcare!!!

[harrietspy]

The thing is with the Austerity Archers - I'm assuming BBC has radically cropped the actors' contracts to cut costs - is this: pre AA, you'd never know if a tedious conversation about the shop rota or a milk churn was going to turn into something semi dramatic because most characters were pootling about on the scene. Now we have this clunky swinging spotlight on a few characters, so we know something major is going to happen to Oliver and Caroline, whereas before it could have been a rumbly bit of poshness in the background. I now spend less time listening and more time speculating. (Not that I mind that) But it does mean that when old established characters are flung into said spotlight every few months, they have to be reintroduced and we have to hear more establishing stuff eg Oliver's retired, Caroline's busy and newer listeners don't know who they are, so nobody wins. Bring back the Archers of Affluence!

[Somethingyesterday]

Harriet "Well said that man!"

[PseudoBadger]

Absolutely!

[imademarion]

If they get rid of either of them, I really will stop listening.

I've been considering hurling put the radio at the unspeakable New Clarrie bollocks, the Saint Pip/Devil Pip saga and Helen's Eternal Quest of Whining at Everything, a direct inheritance from Moany Tony.

It's lazy and insulting scriptwriting. I LOVE TA because shag-all happens to loads of great characters.

I do not need to be patronised with one-dimentional foolery and dull cliff-hangers.

[LondonMother]

The really odd thing is that they don't have contracts. Every single member of the cast is hired by the episode as and when needed with no guarantees about how long the work will carry on. This is what we were told on the old BBC messageboard, anyway. It certainly still seemed to be still the case when poor old Nigel was chucked off the roof, as his character's actor was simply told a week or so before the final episode was recorded that this was about to happen and he would no longer be needed in the future. Accordingly, I have to assume that the decision to focus on a smaller number of characters for weeks and weeks and weeks [e.g. Lilian and Paul which was almost unendurably tedious] has been made from choice and not necessity.

[ppeatfruit]

Hear Hear imademarion!! When you thunk of the huge pay offs they've given to the hopeless board members and managers they've had to 'shuffle off' it makes yer blood boil to think of the penny pinching that's going on in TA.

[OliviaMMumsnet]

OMG Caroline and BRIAN?!?
when was this?
does Jennydarling know?!

[JessieMcJessie]

Yes, Olivia, I am afraid so. I believe it was in the 80s, probably round the same time that Mike Baldwin was getting hot and heavy with Deirdre Barlow. Certainly both are memories of my teenage years. I can't remember if JD knows, someone else more knowledgeable than me will no doubt remember.

[LondonMother]

Jennifer does know, and so does Peggy. If I recall correctly, she threatened to horsewhip Brian.

[JessieMcJessie]

That was over Siobhan. Though Peggy's ire may have been magnified due to his being a repeat offender.

[LondonMother]

You're right, Jessie! The affair with Caroline was so long ago now - quarter of a century? - that frankly my memory of it is very hazy. I'm now wondering if Peggy did know. Of course, she wasn't married to Jack Woolley then, and so wasn't Caroline's employer or employer's wife, as she was later.

[campion]

Brian tried to make hay with Betty Tucker when she was the Aldridge's cleaner. I seem to remember it was by their swimming pool. Anyway, Betty was having none of it but she was boring

The affair with Caroline was only ever referred to in a passing remark along the lines of 'Not again, Brian. Get stuffed' ( I paraphrase) and we assumed it had happened in the medium past.

Caroline still being obsessed with Grey Gables doesn't ring true these days. She is, after all, the poshest character by far and should be spending more time with Oliver and the gee gees in their twilight years (O and C's).
And she wouldn't have kept changing her name every time she got married- at least, not professionally.

Those scriptwriters. Pah!

[Somethingyesterday]

Oooh! I remember Brian and Betty. Was funny. But I thought I remembered Brian and Caroline having illicit meetings. Perhaps I imagined that.

I don't think it's unrealistic for Caroline to be pre-occupied with Grey Gables. She's sold her inheritance from her first husband to pay for it. She's worked there almost all her adult life, had to persuade a sceptical Peggy that she could manage it and probably wants to keep things going as Jack would have wanted.

I'm glad they've brought her back - even though it's probably only temporary. Trying to make Lower Loxley the centre of village life has never worked. It's so artificial to pretend that everyone in Ambridge pops over there every other day.

[OliviaMMumsnet]

OMG
Brian and BETTY TUCKER?!?
Are there more?!?
I am not sure I can take it

[JessieMcJessie]

campion are you sure? I recall the Brine/Caroline affair being played out on air and a major storyline. Can anyone else remember?

[R4]

I agree with JMcJ. It's a long time ago so I can't remember detail but I do remember that it was played out, not merely mentioned in passing. The only definite I can recall is a scene on a picnic blanket.
I believe that it was my first encounter with CharacterConfusionitis. It's so unlike her, isn't it.

[curlew]

Are we reaping up for a heart attack for Caroline, do we think?

[curlew]

Gearing up, I meant.

[Somethingyesterday]

curlew That would be such a cruel thing to do to her! Is back pain a symptom??

I am fearful of anything that leads to the closure or sale of Grey Gables .... But it does seem to be building towards something like that.

Oh! Olivia Do you remember Caroline and Nigel??? Was very brief!

[Theas18]

It's more like who HASN'T Brine had an affair with!

Ido like a dose of Auntie Cardboard as she was known in mustard land, but I'm not sure I can take too much of it though.

Baaaaadddd things are going to happwn to nice Brenda aren't they :(

[campion]

Oh dear! My extensive Archers memory must be getting selective. I've obviously blocked out the more horrific scenes somewhere along the way.

Caroline. How could you?


Brenda nice??

[Theas18]

I think she turned " nice" so they can have nasty things happen!

[mummytime]

I always found it amusing that the actors playing Brian and Shula are married in RL.

[snice]

I have asked this before so apologies but can anyone explain what happened to the long storyline about Oliver and Caroline fostering children-they talked about it and trained then nothing happened did it?

Did the SWs decide they were just too posh?