Is that a ferret in your (Gr)undies or are you just pleased to see me? Discuss The Archers vermin (so many possibilities!) here.

[PseudoBadger]

I'm not sure that ferrets cannot through a thumb sized hole - rats can, and mice can fit through a pen sized hole. But I know the SWs will have researched such a statement carefully

Yeah, surely she's looked him up on LinkedIn or whatever by now. It is a but clunky, yes, but I wonder if lack of subtley matters as at least it's slowed the pace a bit. Which many of us quite like .....

I noticed NewPip was trying out yet another accent this evening.

A sort of ruralish one - expect she thought it was appropriate for the turning out of the cows.

I think soc will want dr Locke to be dans dad. Even if it doesn't make sense with the timeline

Well I was wondering if Shula and Alistair would decide to go away - get jobs outside Ambridge, do VSO or something. Then maybe Dr Locke buys the Surgery and turns it into a Doctors instead of a Vets?

mummytime, and would that upset the Usha/Alan dynamic? Maybe .... but again, is it realistic to have a rural GP practice opening when the NHS in England is on its knees? But that never stopped TA before.

BYOS, they can't do that - and listeners would be contacting Feedback in droves - as Shula can't conceive without IVF or similar. It would be TOO Eastenders-ish, not that ahs stopped them. For some reason I can recall Shula's conceiving SL quite clearly - she lost a tube through an ectopic, I think, and the other is blocked, or both of them are blocked. Or summat. She was desperate to have a baby and couldn't do so without assisted techniques. Thing is Dan has always regarded Alistair as his dad - he's always called him 'Dad' - and he did adopt him, so Dan calling Al Dad at Sandhurst isn't big deal IMO.

Yes, RuthAargh, I noticed that with the Captain too. It was a puzzle as to what it meant. Maybe they are going down the EE route after all. If so, I am disappointed indeed.

I meant they over did the references to Alastair as 'my father'. Like they were trying to make a point that Alastair is dans dad but then - aha - along comes a live biological father

I don't think soc gives a shiny shit about feedback

I hope not all her exes are coming back to haunt her. One of them was Nigel, and we all heard him fall. And didn't she have a thing for Neil when they were both young things?

Ruth's trying to poison HeatherPet with Borsetshire Blue.

I liked Helen saying "thank you for caring" in response to Rob trying to belittle her enthusiasm for working at Bridge Farm.

Yes, I picked up that odd comment about the CO and wondered about it. It sounded as if she was jealous of him, which I suppose is always possible, but sounding as if you disbelieve your son when he tells you how much he respects someone is hardly the best tactic.

I also don't really get her wistful wonderings about what might have been if she had gone off with Locke. So she's have run a stables and been a doctor's wife instead of running a stables and being a vet's wife. Big deal.

He wanted her to move Up North with him. Manchester, I think.

The problem is the character of Shula may THINK "what would've happened if" But of course an audience can't read thoughts so they have to be spoken sounding a bit odd .

They mean nothing, but suddenly we're looking for their significance IYSWIM

Hah! Have just caught up - love the new/old Helen. Assertiveness really suits her. And Rob doesn't give a damn about actual food - "what's the plan for supper" is just the easiest way of keeping her in the box. Stupid man - wonder how they'll do the escalation from here.

I agree that Elizabeth is absolutely primed to snaffle the delicious Doc. Poor Shula.

And at last Roy has someone to snuggle up to.

The trouble with doing an inherently visual spectacle like the Sandhurst passing out parade on radio is that the only way you can do it is by having characters telling each other what they should already know. So in general it's probably better not to try.

Yes Icimoi That was a scene that could easily have been discussed the next day or whatever by Al and Shula. Unlike some others, that have been discussed not 'shown'.

Zero a primed Elizabeth is not something I want to revisit so soon, thank you

The way it was written gave me the impression that she slightly took herself by surprise at Greenfields and afterwards.

This time she might be more consciously seeking to attract someone she sees as an equal.

Is it significant that she revealed her re-awakened readiness to consider the possibility of a new relationship to Shula? And that Shula was so encouraging - at exactly the same time that we started noticing all was not well at the Stables?

So, Dr Locke, what exactly attracted you to the charming and wealthy young widow living in the enormous country pile?

YYY, it did cross my mind we could have just had a convo in the car on road HOME from Sandhurst, such as Wasn't that a spiffing day. Dan seems so happy. Captain Wotsit seems very pleased, bladdy bla. And they would have saved some dosh on the actor and the background noise.

AND Shula could have spelt out to us what she was thinking, not about Dr Locke and missed chances of course, but about Dan and his army career. Though I suspect Alistair would have misunderstood, wilfully or otherwise. I've felt he often picks up Shula's comments wrongly and she must felt kind of disregarded. Like when Dan first went to Sandhurst she would mention she was missing him or whatever - or was scared for his safety - and Al was a tad over-positive. Though I draw a line at actually feeling sorry for Shula, it reminds me of when our ds1 first went away to college and I said to his dad 'I am missing ds1' (oddly his first name is not dissimilar to the young Hebden-Lloyd's ) and DH thought I or he couldn't say we were missing him because that suggested we weren't happy he was fulfilled/happy doing what he'd chosen to do. DH is weirder than Alistair though.

Has Dan got a man crush on his CO? Perhaps Shula thought so.

I wondered that too, fleetingly. But not sure ... Does Dan not have a GF? Not that that will stop a man crush necessarily. I think Shula IS very protective of Dan, partly due to the circumstances of his 'creation' I imagine.

Weren't they (Shula & Alistair) talking about Imogen or someone, and how would the relationship continue when they went to different units?

zero an excellent summary of the Locke situation. Wouldn't be the first time the sisters have gone for the same men - didn't Shula go out with Nigel before Elizabeth? I was wondering which other old flames they could bring back.

Richard and Elizabeth did go out at least on one date. I remember her quizzing him if he were married or engaged.

Then he was after Debbie. Think there was some cousinly rivalry for a bit. There was the dramatic sweeping her up into his arms after she fell off her horse at the re-enactment battle. And when Lizzie was brought up he said something like "There was never really much between me and E, she'd eat me alive."

hijack alert - I'm a reasonably regular listener and it has just occurred to me yhatCathy hhasn't been it for ages (last I remeber was she was being harrassed by a manager at the holf club?) Has she moved away? She was so dreary that I've only just noticed she's gone missing.