In honour of how The Archers threads began: Why are the SWs allowing this to happen?

[PseudoBadger]

The very first thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/radio_addicts/a1740045-Why-is-Lillian-allowing-this-to-happen

40k posts later....

Getting silly now. Wake the f*ck up Tom and Pat!

It's stretching the believability limits for me - not rob (although he's a bit panto now) but all the other characters reactions

Pat is actually quite a neurotic mother and there is no way she would trust her delicate little baby in anyone else's hands.

As for Kirsty m, I don't think there was any passive in the aggressive!! Surprised she recognised Tom tbh

Fallons not so comical wedding sl must have been written by whoever did Jenny's kitchen. The whole great aunt hating moths because her ex had a giant one tattooed on his back - who is coming up with this shit

Not listened yet but it's getting more and more implausible day by day, my dd is pregnant we live a distance and I see her about every 6 was or so but I am on her case ' you're still coughing' nag nag. She drives a lot for her job. So yes Pat get real.

I think the Kirsty/Tom bit is there to further string out the dots being joined about Rob. Kirsty has clearly clocked what is going on but is a lone voice - whenever he comes up in conversation with other people they are all singing his praises. Tom is starting to have his eyes opened but just thinks Rob is an unpleasant twat who thinks too much of his own importance - he hasn't realised what that means for Helen's home life. I'm getting more and more convinced that for this to resolve it's going to need Kirsty and Tom to work it out and intervene.

We're presumably supposed to read the big flashing signs that Knob is trying to keep Pat away from Helen. But he can't sensibly achieve that given that Pat can easily pop over when he's in the shop, and likewise Helen seems to be going out at least occasionally under her own steam or getting lifts from other people. Unless he's just trying to spin out the gaps between visits as long as possible in the hope of convincing Helen that her mother just doesn't care?

I can't believe Helen and pat don't speak everyday on the phone

The whole Helen/pat relationship is implausible. Pat would call for a chat and Helen would be all quiet and distant and pat would know something was up and not just ask rob.

They are so focussed on the Helrob sl that they are losing sight of how people around them would behave

It's ridiculous. If I knew my pregnant daughter was incapable of driving, which is of course weird in itself, I would be visiting regularly and offering to take her out for a few hours. The Archers is supposed to at least resemble real life and it's very far from that at the moment.

Gypsy is right. Tony is appearing at the Bracknell Empire as The Dame. But he is having his eyes opened by the villainous antics of The Baddie.
Tony will return to Ambridge and swoop to Helen's rescue, by means of some lentils magical beans and a lonely pantomime cow. And they will all live happily ever after. Except Helen because she is incapable of happiness.

"If I knew my pregnant daughter was incapable of driving, which is of course weird in itself, and lived only a mile away, was retired and had nothing else to occupy me I would be interfering visiting regularly and offering to take her out for a few hours."

^ This

I would have thought Tony would be avoiding the panto cow...

On no he wouldn't!

I was watching the Dorothy Sayers thing on the Drama channel when Michael Troughton (brother of David) popped up. Perhaps he should be the next Matt?

Oooh- what DLS thing?????

I'm wondering whether they have a different writer for Rob - the way he undermined and unsettled Tom and Pat at that meeting was a masterly bit of writing- the rest of the episode so very clunky. The butterfly cake stand bit- foresooth!!

I'm always very slow to pick up on comedy SLs - if it were not for this thread I would still be waiting in dread for the tragic outcome to Jenny's new kitchen.

So, Fallon's wedding catering thing is meant to be funny?

Yep.

I think the SWs are basing their idea of comedy on Shakespeare..........particularly considering that it's usually the rustics who provide it...........

And isn't Pat supposed to be sharing the school runs? Otherwise who opens the shop and staffs it from 3 to 4?

We heard a lot of Knob's passive aggressive tinkly laugh didn't we "oh Tom there's no need to apologise."

It's that kind of stuff that can leave you thinking "I know I've just been shafted but I'm not quite sure how" isn't it?

The good thing is that Tom is now really pissed off with knob and has seen his manipulation in action

Unfortunately if Tom says anything about Rob his mother will accuse him of being petty, or even perhaps suggest that he resents Rob's superior managerial skills.

This is where he'll need Kirsty's (now almost forgotten) brainpower ...

So, Fallon's wedding catering thing is meant to be funny?

I have visions of the SW trawling the AIBU threads thinking this sort of tale will have the listeners spluttering tea over their keyboards and/or shouting "is she on glue?"

Bertrand, they were showing "Have His Carcase" on Drama at 8 pm - the Edward Petherbridge/Harriet Walters version. With Michael Troughton as bright local cop.

I loved that series. Thanks for the heads up.

I agree, the wedding stuff is utterly unfunny and I don't think most listeners care about this fictional client of theirs - it's hard enought to fit in proper storylines for the characters we know and love without that twaddle taking up airtime. The only small bright spot was that it gave Kirsty he ideal moment to make a sarky comment about weddings to Tom.

And when exactly did Fallon's chintzy Ambridge Tea service tea party catering and tea shop turn into both a full service wedding caterer serving mains and wine AND a cafe doing full English breakfast and savoury mains like lasagne or whatever else it was that Helen wanted to use shop produce to make? Running a tea shop requires completely different skills from running a savoury food cafe. They can't afford a chef but when Emma was at Jaxx in its cafe incarnation she never cooked the food; nor did Fallon when she ran it as a pub.

And what about Fallon's upcycling? Does she even have time to do that?

And I was already settling into the prospect of Emma as the new chef at The Bull. I guess the catering business is more 21st century. But surely the job has to go to an Ambridge resident rather than another newcomer? Does Nic cook?

YY to some rather clunky SW with the wedding story last night. Agree Knob's part was we'll written, but Pat's reaction is so far from RL, she would surely just pop over to her pregnant daughter who lives close by, suffered from pre eclampsia in her previous pregnancy, and has a history of ED.

I think I really will stop listening, and just check these threads although I know I'll still tune in, as am hoping that Kirsty & Tom will come to Hellin's rescue)

Maybe Pat is calling Helen, going to see her, turning up at the shop etc but Helen is avoiding her? That's what I would do if I was embarrassed and hiding an ED and EA relationship. Although it would be far better to hear that happening.