Our modest little The Archers thread has its very own radio celebrity! Join us for the hottest chilli in town, and await the impending doom as all plans go into reverse in Ambridge.

[PseudoBadger]

It's all getting rather delicious. I feel sorry for Kenton the fool

What's worse

Matt being written out a a crook fleeing to Costa Rica with Lillian's dosh

Or

Matt having been kidnapped and the start of a long drawn out eastenders style plot?

More of Lilian's money disappearing is simply unbeliveable. The David and Ruth part of tonight's episode was far more convincing.

All Lillian has is a note and a text. They could be from anyone. He may have been taken by russian mafiya. She is not looking for him because she assumes he will not want to be found having done a bunk with all her cash. But really,anything could have happened. All we know is he has gone and so has the money.

the note wasn't in Matt's writing?

All we know is he has gone and so has the money.

And so has the actor.
I won't be holding my breath.

Lil's been living on gin since Matt left, which presumably she doesn't have to pay for since she part owns The Bull.
She's been fed by Jenny. So I can well believe that she hasn't made a transaction til now.
But it's ridiculous to suggest that she wouldn't have thought to check her bank account by now.

Yes she should have asked MN. Or even Gransnet.

PS Spreadshit is from the MN lexicon.

OMG Mink you have something there!

Oh no...I've just remembered that the actor left in a entirely justified strop back in the summer.
So it's a patched together storyline...well no line at all really...grrr.

Is "sorry pusscat" a long enough sample to tell if it is his writing? And he may have been forced to write.

Soc has no trouble changing actors or character.

The only way it is over is if he turns up dead. Which could yet happen.
Although as we now go for EE style SL, he could turn up dead and then several years later turn up alive again a la Dirty Den and Nick Cotton. Unless everyone sees the body at the funeral you can never be sure.

I would have much preferred Matt having a heart attack and dying if the actor had to go.

This just feels wrong.

It's a clumsy device to force Lillian to sell the Dower House to Justin, I suppose, whilst overlooking the fact that she could sell off part of the Amside portfolio and still have an income from the rest.

Also overlooking that she's a mature woman who has knocked about the world a bit and would not have neglected to stop an absconding partner from maxing out her credit cards after he's already stripped the bank accounts.

She could also plausibly have chosen to sell the Dower House anyway without having to be implausibly brought to the point of utter destitution.

Oh, wait. She's a vapid woman who can't manage without a man and who never opens bank and credit card statements, not a business woman of independent means at all. I would have been far more impressed if Lillian had been allowed by the SWs to dust herself off and run her business, or extract herself from it rather cleverly.

Has Peggy not noticed that one daughter has moved in with another daughter? Even if the actress is taking a break it's odd that no one has mentioned Peggy in weeks, said that they checked on how her ankle is, taken her to visit Tony, given her a lift to the hairdresser. (Not Helen obviously as the last hair-do trip didn't end well and H has so much on her plate anyway.)

Cynicism is setting in again with me.

Cannot see the point of this story. It's as if the people in charge have never once in their lives thought about how fiction works. How it differs from RL and what makes it satisfying.

Firstly Lilian doesn't deserve this. She's one of the nicest characters, generous, loving, not the least bit stand-offish, equally happy having a laugh with Eddie in the Bull as sipping cocktails with the Lord Lieutenant at some exclusive party. And we've seen her grow and develop as a character.

Secondly she has an interesting and distinct rôle in village life. Senior good time gal - unconstrained by budget or convention. Always optimistic and such a good friend to countless generations of relatives.

She doesn't deserve this and they're bringing her down - presumably so her place in the village can be usurped by Carol. It isn't a satisfying story. No part of my brain is thinking "Yes! Finally!" There has been nothing in her background that has led, inevitably, to this clear, particular, justifiable point. No gods or fate have brought her here.

And who on earth wants to listen to Lilian in poverty, dependent on Jenny, (or desperate for a change in her mother's Will), scrabbling in her purse to pay for reduced Tesco gin? How will she ever pay her colourist or or keep up her facials regime? What kind of life will that be for her - and worse for us having to listen to her become drab and dowdy and depressed.

Matt would never have left, we know that already. But what they are proposing now, unless it's all miraculously turned round and every penny restored to her, is unthinkable.

And it's boring to boot.

I can't understand how upset Ben is now they are not moving - if I suggested to my 15 and 13 year olds that we were not now moving 300 miles from friends, school, clubs etc. then they would be ecstatic (especially if it meant that they wouldn't have to pack up themes in their bedrooms).

That's a very affecting picture, Zero, but surely Lilian still owns all the properties in Amside and the Dower House? It would also be hard to swallow if it turns out she put every last penny of the money she inherited from Ralph into Amside - surely some must be invested? Most of Ralph's money would have gone into trust, surely - life interest for Lilian, then capital to James?

Questions, questions!

Was there something ominous yesterday when Lilian appeared to say that the only thing she was sure of was the Dower House. (Will have to LA.) We've wondered before exactly who owned it after Matt said he'd buy it for her. But there'd be no reason for her to immediately think of her home as a source of income if other things were still secure surely?

So the actor who plays Matt leaves and instead of replacing him with someone from the Troughton dynasty they come up with this travesty. It's another case of plot overriding character - Lillian is a businesswoman and never more so than since Matt came out of prison and everything was in her name. It is not the case of a woman with no assets in her own right married to a rich man who runs a business she has no understanding off. If the idea was for Lillian to lose all her money and see how she gets on then she needed to lose it in a more realistic way.

If the idea was for Lillian to lose all her money and see how she gets on then she needed to lose it in a more realistic way.

How about: the Bank says that they are not happy that Matt has gone because it was him they invested in, not the company. There are some loans that are coming up for review this month, Bank has reassessed its risk and will increase interest rates by x%. Amside is too highly geared, cannot sustain that rate of interest and goes bust. And perhaps some other of Lillian's capital goes down the tubes too because she stood surety.
That's more plausible than Lil not looking at bank statements. It really is time they got a Business Adviser as well as an Agricultural Adviser. Shall I apply for the job?

Matt also owned Nightingale Farm - presumably that also went to Lilian after Matt went to prison?

Although am convinced that Matt will be coming back.

We are looking at this wrong an assuming matts actor leaving has created the SL

I actually think this is what they had in mind when Peggy did the will. They've turned everyone's fortunes on their head to show how clever they are - never write a will with the status quo in mind.

Er no soc - I still think you're an idiot who doesn't get either the archers or radio drama

Also irritated by the fact that the vast majority of storylines revolve around money. I can only assume soc defines himself by the money he has and so is doing the same with the characters

I've not read why Matt's actor left, but was the 'strop' because he didn't like the planned SLs?

If all Lillian's accounts have been cleared that must be out and out fraud - no way would she have had joint personal accounts with Matt. They weren't married and apart from anything else it makes doing tax more difficult.

Re Ben being upset - presumably Ruth would have been selling the positives of the move to the boys. The stated reason that Ben was worried about granny heather was at least rather sweet and not implausible (given that ruth will have been laying it on how vital to heatherpet's wellbeing the move was).

Anyone going to start a book on when Heatherpet will have her next fall and/or expire?

I agree BYOS - I don't care whether the actor jumped or was pushed, it's up to the writers to come up with credible and satisfying SLs.

I'm sure they are enjoying showing the extreme wrongheadedness of Peggy's presumptions - but lovely, joyful Lillian, twice widowed and resolutely loyal to Matt, is entirely the wrong person for them to swing their wrecking ball at.

I don't like this storyline because I agree there are lots of departures from character, not least from Matt - but Lilian wasn't resolutely loyal to Matt, was she? There was all that stuff with Paul. Also, she was never a businesswoman before Matt came out of prison and they set up Amside. When she came back from Jersey, she did nothing at all except shop, drink and smoke.

Erm...not so resolutely loyal when Lil was shagging Matt's brother Paul....