The Archers - We Listen So You Don't Have To

[PseudoBadger]

Happy(?!) Sunday everyone

What will this week have in store for us I wonder?

I can't remember if this would fit with timescale, but is it possible Knob could have used the bunting to tie up Stefan? Two plots that have disappeared never to be heard of again (rather like Stefan himself).

Also isn't inconvenient that Berrow Farm has been closed - I'm sure there would have been plenty of people from there queueing up to say what a bully Knob was. That's why no one would talk to Jenny and David about the culvert skulduggery.

David and Ruth are certainly worried about Josh's A-Levels, because he's always doing egg things.

I'm an old listener, newlyish back to the archers in the last year. Can someone please tell me who Stefan was /is.

BB. We had the flood last year. The village got hit worse than it should have done because Rob diverted water away from Berrow Farm. This involved doing something to culverts which I have never quite understood. Stefan witnessed this and told David and JD. They passed the info to Charlie. Charlie started doing investigations. In order not to make it obvious where the leak came from, he methodically interviewed everyone. Except Rob said that Stefan had to 'rush home to his poorly mother in Eastern Europe' before Charlie could speak to him.
Stefan has never been seen since ...

I semi-watched the Newsnight piece last night. SOC came across as pretty odious (& I was previously quite neutral about him). Apparently he "discovered" gaslighting - perhaps he does trawl MN...

Ingrid Bergman discovered Gaslighting!

Ooer. So why didn't Charlie report this diversion to culverts/disappearance to the police?

Sorry, but I have to say it - SOC and LP on Newsnight could easily have been Rob and Helen. I'm not the least bit wishy washy or over-sensitive but their respective demeanours (?) during the interview made me distinctly uncomfortable.

So why didn't Charlie report this diversion to culverts/disappearance to the police?

Report what? It was all hearsay. Apparently HR/payroll had no contact details for Stefan - he just vanished.

So SOC discovered gaslighting he really is deluded

Rob said Stefan just went back home to his alcoholic mother or drug-addicted sister or something, leaving no forwarding details, though Rob apparently had contact details , but failed to pass them on to Charlie when asked.

...is how I remember it. So we only have Rob's version of events.

P'raps SOC meant, "when we were trawling MN for storyline ideas, I was the one who discovered the term gaslighting there, rather than any of the scriptwriters."

Tbf I don't think SOC meant that he actually discovered gaslighting himself! Just that he became aware that it was a thing.

I have a tentative BOOP for Graham Harvey's blog on the Archers site about no till cereal growing. Even the comments seem unusually measured and helpful.

Re: Adam not mentioning Helen - don't forget it's been over a week since it happened - so Adam has probably mentioned her before - just off air.

Yes, I know, but given that he's meant to be closer to Helen than most it would have been good to hear some sort of reaction from him on air.

last week's EE type episodes were produced, directed and edited by SOC. And though they were written by someone else, they came from an idea by SOC.

That tells you everything you need to know.

This week's episodes are so much better.

I see what you mean about SOC and Louisa on Newsnight Gruach! - all that looking over in his direction for approval.
It's here if anybody wants to see. Last report in the programme, at about 33:15.

And the moment when she accidentally spoke over him ...

It's long struck me that some of the things that have been said on this thread about SOC could be said of Rob and vice versa - maybe explains why it took time for him to cotton on to Rob's abusive nature.

In the Archers universe, I think of Rob as the avatar (channelling 'God', ie SOC) - and so SOC can be identified with SOK, the Son of 'God', the deity in human form. (maybe I'm getting carried away).

I'm not entirely convince by no-till. Who is it being promoted by - the people who make this 'special drill' that you need?
What about compaction? And it's all very well talking poetically about 'decaying matter' but not all bugs are good bugs - won't it encourage disease? Does it mean that fields only get vegetative manure, no more (already well-rotted) animal manure.

And to avoid inadvertently offending anyone, I should say I'm a Christian, and don't think the twisted TA 'God' I've just described in jest is anything like the God portrayed by the Bible. Ooh, my chance to use this -->

Checking in

MrsKwazii Dr Teeth! thanks

Looks like I've missed some actual Archers-y Archers episodes over the past couple of days. I shall treat myself and LA

SOC is the master of gas lighting. He put in all those things, like Charlie and the accounts ( and btw why would Charlie not continue with the audit, surely Rob flouncing would have meant even more need to check the records?), Stephan, etc etc.

And now they are not mentioned. We are forced to believe SOC's highly edited history, which seems to have been re-written such that these things never happened.

That's gas-lighting, surely?

DDD How are the stats this week? We've slowed right down again haven't we?