Cold Comfort at Bridge Farm: Lonely Cow, Dead Cow, Greedy Cows, and Poor Blind Besotted Cows... Follow the growing herd and discuss Ambridge here!

[PseudoBadger]

Will this thread make it to the wedding? Will it outlive Tony?

Welcome TeenAndTween . Yes definitely to your future storylines.

Ah, that explains it.... so I definitely wasn't dreaming! He even asked the presenter if she had to watch John Humphries in the R4 canteen splodging ketchup everywhere!

Tom and Kirsty's long running SL may be marry in haste, repent at leisure...

T+K broke up last time because he cheated on her.
I reckon Brenda is the only girlfriend Tom never cheated on. Bad precedent.

I really don't want them to break up. I want them to have a lucky escape and realise that they love each other and don't need a flash wedding to prove that.

I don't think they do love each other. Poor Kirsty is desperate to "start a family" (dread phrase) and Tom is massively on the rebound from Brenda.

I think they've both settled for each other

Though I sort of think that Kirsty could do better but doesn't think she could. Tom thinks he could do better but doesn't realise how lovely Kirsty is and that he should thank his lucky stars

Heard most of the episodes this week, think I might skip the omnibus and will be asleep anyway hopefully

My DGM listened to every episode of TA from the beginning, so I am led to believe, and indeed I have listened to it in my childhood in the company of both her and DM. DM is also a long-time listener. I have only stopped from time to time, either drifting away because of the plots being annoying - which has always happened from time to time - or swearing never to listen again after The Scream - and yes I too heard the More or Less analysis and found a little comfort in it.

I have an Archers name, too.

On the subject of Fallon and drink (and Kenton come to that), could it be because they are usually restrained because they have to be, they reach the point of loss of judgement only on nights out like these, and then that's it, they just keep on. (PC Burns is right about drinking water against a hangover - but it must be pints of it, literally, before you go to bed).

Or am I projecting too much from a mis-spent youth?

Even the FT is happy with Ambridge... She sums up Helen beautifully.

on.ft.com/1f3QNiG

Jess 'living not far away & still too close to his heart'???

Where does she get that from?

TeenAndTween - yes I think an adoption storyline would be brilliant but not with Tom and Kirsty though, they just don't have that total true love as a couple that would make it work.

Have The Archers ever had an adoption story?

Yes I agree, Tom and Kirsty have settled for each other. Tom has very much had a sense of 'it's about time I got married and settled down' for a long while so when it didn't work out with Brenda he went back to good old Kirsty. If it all ends up happily ever after then I'm not sure they will be a very believable characters really.

Jill is so thoughtful but a bit overbearing, she needs to give Ruth some space now.

Auntie Cardboard Christine Barford and her first husband, Paul Johnson, adopted a son, Peter, in 1965. Paul left about ten years later and died shortly afterwards. As far as I know, Peter has always been a silent character. He is an orchestra manager or similar, I think, so abroad a lot of the time.

Tom and Pru Forrest fostered two boys (long-term). Caroline and Oliver did short-term fostering for a bit.

Yes, I found the thing about Jess a bit odd. But I think the thing about Helen's mix of characteristics wS pretty good.

From the review...

Even better than this dispute was the domestic dance of Helen and Rob, during their first official stir fry. (Disclosure: Louiza Patikas, who plays Helen Archer, is a friend I love.) Archer’s mixture of vulnerability, exasperating neediness, courage, pride, blind hope and lust is as magnificent a piece of acting as you ever get on the radio. The depth and weight of her need for things to go right, to be right, lends a fraught pressure to every syllable she utters.

Stir-fry-gate was a masterclass in casual bullying and misogyny. Marinating chicken, amid a heap of chopped-up veg, Helen was told that steaks would be “more substantial” and off Rob popped to buy some. “I should start Henry’s bath,” he told her as he left. Is there anything more maddening than childcare instructions delivered by the party who is vacating the premises? Yes: someone saying the dinner you are cooking will not do. On his return there was: “What about your hair this evening?” After this, when she reached for the wine: “No, no, I think you might have had enough Little Miss Giggles?.?.?.?”

This comment reminded you that for thousands of years in this country, in this world, people believed men were better than women and it will take a very, very long time for every shred of that belief to die away.

These scenes went to the heart of Helen’s character, signalling all the difficulties she’s known. For a recovering anorexic such as Helen to be told her half-cooked stir-fry must be replaced by steak and mash would be torture beyond endurance. We remember her early outburst to Rob that she was so unhappy in her life before he arrived; we remember that he dumped her before Christmas; we may even recall the suicide of her last serious partner – all these layers and layers of complications straitening her options now, forcing her to see good things that may not be there. We think of Rob’s wife living not far away and still too close to his heart, we suspect.

Thanks for the cut and paste Caroline The link didn't work for me. Very good analysis there.

Wow! Caroline thank you so much for sharing that!

Hmmm ......Just caught up with Friday. Can't understand why they decided the whole pregnancy thing should be played out between Ruth and Jill. (With David merely picking up second hand news...) Odd.

I totally trust Ms Boyt (in the FT) - so the fact that she's only seeing generalised misogyny rather than specific EA has made me ....

And about JD and Brine. Not quite as spot on, but still excellent...., it's Susie Boyt by the way.

"The dialogue is so acute at the moment that twice I have jotted some down. If Noël Coward and David Mamet had put their heads together, I’m not sure they’d have bettered the conversation pertaining to the Aldridges’ new kitchen. People are performing scenes from it in their front rooms, I suspect. Here’s a snippet:

Jennifer: “The initial outlay might seem a lot but ultimately we’ll be saving space and energy and money.”

Brian: “Over the course of a couple of lifetimes perhaps?.?.?.?What’s wrong with buying a kitchen from the high street? Or, better still, one of those flat-pack places.”

Jennifer: “Did you say flat-pack?”

Brian: “Yes?.?.?.?”

Jennifer: “How dare you!”

This is a storm in a teacup but the teacup is already brimming with the history of a marriage: his bigotry, her social climbing; his self-perceived heroism for “taking her on as a single mother”, her endurance of his philandering; his vain, macho posturing wearing thinner as he ages, her raising of his child from an extramarital affair; their empty nest syndrome?.?.?.?

When you are shopping to assuage loss and longing – and to crucify the Joneses – there are no limits.

“You’re talking as if the kitchen were just a place to prepare
your meals!” Jennifer says.
“What else is it for?” her husband answers. Dear, oh dear, oh dear.

“After everything I’ve done for you over the years, one little thing?.?.?.?” she pleads.

“I don’t believe in giving in to terrorists,” he counters sternly. At these lines I stood to applaud, even though I was in the car. I was shocked. I was laughing. What a way to carry on!"

Yes the stag/hen dos seemed woefully contrived. The whole Fallon lamping Rhys and being told he was asking for it set my teeth on edge slightly. I did enjoy Rob's discomfort at being taken to the gay bar.

Just caught up on the film & the thread-it is so enjoyable reading all the comments. I must draw attention to this lovely rejoinder from pasbeaucoupdegendarme (Sunday 23rd) don'tcherknow-it's hip to be a square -I thought it was hip to be an intuitive pentagon?
And another thing, I had never ever realised ooh look there's a Roy & Hayley in TA. I always connected Roy & Hayley in Corrie until Teen&Tween posted about it up thread-it was seeing it in black & white iyswim.

Stag and hen was naff.
I also objected to the withdrawal privileges comments. Right enough women only dtd as a marital duty and to keep the menfolks happy in line.

Although I did like that when lap dancing was suggested several of the men did not cave to pressure and refused to go.

An opportunity to show not all men are like robb the knob.

I'm quite intrigued about what went on with Jess. We saw last week how Rob was really quite twitchy and controlling about Helen having one night out with the girls, yet he was away from Jess for weeks at a time. From which I conclude that by that point they had grown apart sufficiently either for him not to want to control her or for her to have made it clear that she wouldn't accept it. Certainly when they did get together she demonstrated repeatedly that, slightly annoying though she was, she was quite prepared to go against his wishes. So did he move onto Helen precisely because he saw her as someone more malleable? And why did he go back to Jess?