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[PseudoBadger]

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It's another character switch...

The real Eddie would have been heartbreakingly anxious about his father - not looking for help from anyone. He would never have thought of compensation - and certainly not from his elder son's godmother - unless some local troublemaker suggested it to him.

I know people change over time but this is too big a change. His default reaction is always bafflement - not vengeful anger. If he was persuaded to seek compensation he would have had to be dragged into Caroline's office by someone else - and would have apologised for bothering her.

Will and Ed would have been very different people if they'd grown up with the angry person we saw last night. And Clarrie would have left. Gentleness and sweetness are Eddies most redeeming qualities. He's so hapless - no-one would put up with him as he was written yesterday.

Exactly -Clarrie was acting as I would expect . Eddie was not himself.

I thought it was in character, actually. Clarrie not wanting to cause any upset and Eddie blustering because underneath he probably does feel a bit guilty that Joe was certainly three sheets to the wind and as usual Eddie was encouraging him to drink. Eddie will be absolutely devastated when Joe eventually goes to the great cider club in the sky. He's devoted to his dad.

Blustering, guilty, devastated - yes. That's exactly Eddie.

Roaring up to a posh place, elbowing his way in, threatening vengeance - not him.

Do you think they were unpleasant? Daft , not honest and petty criminal (am thinking back to the days of cat and fiddle and baggy and snatch etc). They were a version of Darrell but with more personality ( seriously I would have left him in the fucking bus shelter if I was Shula but not st Shula , our lady of the home companies ).

I do realise that I am over invested in the archers..

I never thought of them as unpleasant....

Counties not companies but I bet Shula likes bunting and cupcakes. Bet Jenny darling does too.

I remember being slightly concerned for Clarrie when Eddie first started sweet-talking her, because he wasn't much of a catch. Then years of haphazardry. Then the slow, inexorable build up to their bankruptcy - the odd unexpected bill, Brian and the quarterly rent....

I was horrified by the farm stock sale - I never thought they deserved it.

Blimey Something we're going back a bit there I always felt that Clarrie married 'beneath' her and that she'd pull the family up which she does a bit; but they're what they are.

Oliver should be abasing himself before Caroline and Lynda for having insisted on putting Sleazy Ray in charge.

In terms of character, yes, Clarrie married beneath her. In socio-economic terms, though, she was probably climbing a rung of the ladder. Jethro Larkin, her dad, was a farm labourer at Brookfield until he died when David carelessly lopped off a tree branch onto Jethro's head. Ned Larkin, who I think was Jethro's brother rather than cousin, was shot dead while poaching in the woods back in the 50s. Tom Forrest shot him. Tom was the gamekeeper before George Barford and his sister Doris was married to Dan Archer. Tom was therefore uncle to Phil, Christine and Jack Archer, ie almost an Archer, hence by default could not be found guilty of murder. It is the law in Ambridge that no one in the Archer family can be held to the same standards as ordinary mortals.

The Grundy family, although extremely disreputable, were tenant farmers of long standing, so probably slightly more affluent than the Larkins and certainly (on paper, anyway) more solid citizens.

Crikey LondonMother have you got an extraordinary memory or comprehensive book of all the family trees in TA?

Are you accusing LondonMother of nicking your book? :o

Lurked on here but now have a question.

Kathy mentioned that they had appointed a new General Manager at the Golf Club so she wouldn't have to deal with loathsome Martyn any more.

Eh? Has she resigned? Was she not General Manager in the first place? Have I missed something?

Surely the scriptwriters aren't depriving us of an explosive denouement?

Kathy is bar and restaurant manager. I missed what had happened to the previous general manager.

I have both an extraordinary memory for dross like TA and several books, not one single one stolen from anyone, I may say.

I have a very erratic memory for most other things, I hasten to add, and as my children are not slow to remind me I am a deeply sad obsessive when it comes to The Archers.

Thanks lottie.

LondonMother It is only deeply sad obsessive types who can ever fully enter into the Archers world.....

Having read on here, I couldn't face catching up on Thurs and Fri via the omni, but I heard tonight's epi.

I didn't want to hear Eddie like he was described up thread, but I heard him tonight. I agree it is out of character - but then, it is different when it is your dad, and different when he is 92. At that age, as Eddie probably well knows, any accident can lead to someone's death bed

As a CAB worker, I've advised a couple of angry people who wanted to claim negligence against those who provided health care to their lost loved ones. Neither went through with it, just beginning the process seemed to help them work through what had happened. I'm hoping it's just anger against the world and fear for Joe's future that Eddie's feeling atm, and that it will pass, possibly with Clarrie's help.

All of which proves, I think, that I too am a deeply sad obsessive type

All wrong again tonight. Why does it feel as if it's being written by SWs who don't know that Clarrie and Eddie have known Caroline well for decades? And that they've had good reason to be very grateful to her in the past. She's not some uppity stranger who needs taking down a peg.

Contrast that with the awkwardness and compassion that Pat and Tony showed Clarrie when they had to let her go...

Even if Eddie does feel justified in seeking compensation the language and attitude employed just do not ring true.

X post - my laptop and I are competing in slowness.

You really should listen to TH/Fr episodes Silvery... I agree that fear can do strange things to people - but I can't understand why they're making all Eddie's outbursts so personal and threatening to Caroline. It would make more sense if he made it about Grey Gables as a business.