As the Archers threads age like a fine wine, or a cheese, come and join us - it's nearly time for the Ambridge Flower and Produce show

[PseudoBadger]

Hopefully we can go back to an ordinary tale of country folk?

Spoilers are frowned upon.... There's a thread for that.

I don't know if any of you watch Cold Feet - but I had to laugh last night when David was annoyed, he stormed off, slammed the door - then put on TA

Agree with everyone about Alice (a) sounding weird and like a different actress and (b) being ghastly.

I think Alice was just as furious at Jenny who was trying get her onside with being lovely to 'poor' Adam after Adam has behaved like a shit to Ian.

Jenny wants everyone to go around being all forgiveness and lovely, just as she has always forgiven Brian for trampling all over her. I wonder if it occurred to her for even one moment to think about what it did to her children to have Ruari thrust on them as a younger sibling and everyone knowing about Brian's philandering.

I actually like Adam. He's flawed, but I think he's genuinely sorry he hurt Ian. Doesn't make it OK. I think he's doing the right thing staying at the Bull.

I'm wondering if when Rob starts work he'll just head off to be with Charlie.

Cromwell, ( from post at 9.49) yes it did seem at the end as if Carol was teasing Jill. But she certainly made sure Jill felt as guilty as possible. I felt we were seeing a rather unpleasant side to Carole. On reflection maybe the SWs are showing her true character:- she seems to like playing with people's emotions ( I was just thinking of her and Jenny and Jenny's affair with Carole's husband).

BOOP for all of last night's episode although when did Carol become such a mean old person?

At first I hated Alice when she was being such a hooray about her new job and the BBQ, but by the end of the episode I was cheering for her - so glad she told Adam how it is the selfpitying whiner.

that PP are probably right this presages her own affair; I hadn't thought of that. Humph

Also I loved JennyDarling being mean to Susan in the shop.

Does anyone else think Adam's delivery is a lot like Jaime Lannister's from Game of Thrones? I only noticed it last night and I feel it may make me warm to Adam, now I am picturing Nicolai Coster Waldau (sp?)

I like Alice. She comes across to me as up-beat and no-nonsense. That's probably why she got ticked off with Adam's whining and told him like it is. Really hope Alice doesn't
Have an affair and we hear more of her being a capable engineer.

I don't even remember Carol being in the archers until Anna moved in with her. I assume she was there for some time.

She was in it in the 50s, 60s and 70s Takingthe fifth then left and was reintroduced a couple of years ago. Her character was quite central and is genuinely well-established as an old friend of Jill. Actually come to think of it I believe she pre-dates Jill even as she was at dinner with Phil and Grace the night Grace died in the fire.
I thought she was funny and not mean at all, but I have a higher tolerance for "ha ha got you!" stringing- along type jokes than many, however I suppose if you think about it, by making the joke to highlight that people take village shows too seriously, she was belittling something which is clearly very important to Jill.

I remember Jill and Phil talking at someone's funeral, saying how lovely it was to see the Tregorrans again, though we never heard the Tregorrans speak. This is one way these things work much better on radio than TV, where people leave and are never ever mentioned again, often not even at weddings or funerals, where it would be quite natural to comment that [close family member] couldn't make it, it's like they don't exist at all. The Tregorrans were always mentioned from time to time, though, which is normal because people do still exchange Christmas cards after moving away. (Or FB messages, but Jill and Carol are of a Christmas card generation.)

Adam really wants to wear sackcloth and ashes atm. I want to sit him down and say "look mate, this whining self pity fuckery is doing no good. Go back to your mum and have actual conversations about nothing .you'll feel better, honest"

Hi Tulip. I think I heard it in a different way. It seemed to me that Carole was taking advantage of the rather proper and, dare I say it, slightly poe-faced/humourless side of Jill which allows her to believe that someone really would think her capable of taking advantage of an error at the Flower & Produce Show. I suppose I'm saying Carole has irony, and Jill has none, and Carole was - in my view playfully, rather than maliciously - extending the joke until even Jill caught on. At which point they both laughed. I can't remember the details of the Jenny thing, except that Jenny was nosing around the circumstances of Carole's husband's death and coming to all sorts of strange and homicidal conclusions, and Carole finally ended her sleuthing by pointing out that other people's marriages often were a mystery, and yours, Jenny, is a case in point. I like her. I think the characters that land in Ambridge from exotic lands, like, um, Bristol or Birmingham, often work well.

I liked Alice last night. I could hear her frustration and disappointment with Adam before he forced her to tell him "what she really thinks". I'm another one hoping she manages a successful career and a happy marriage.

I thought Carol was a really horrible 'friend' last night. Making sure that Jill had both phoned the paper and spoken to Jenny about the mix up didn't sound terribly jokey to me.

Alice made some good points to Adam - but why all the 'oh gooooood mum, I'm not hanging round with thooooose people, I'm hanging around with a kewell crowd nooooow'. Can't bear her voice!

I really hope that Alice doesn't have an affair - I've always liked her and Chris as a couple.

Maybe it'll be more that chris feels insecure when alice is chatting with her similarly academically gifted colleagues in a cutting edge industry of some sort. Its a common scenario but more usually played with the sexes the other way round.

Where is Chris?

The hot air from the forge has damaged his vocal chords I think, rendering him mute.

Does anyone remember Alice having an affair when she was at uni but going out with (if not married to) Chris? Or did her flatmate have designs on her and she was tempted but escaped his clutches and did the right thing by Chris? Or did I imagine those episodes of Ambridge Extra?

You're right, something like that happened on AmEx. I think my memory has mostly blanked it, though.

Jill actually really reminded me of me :( unfortunately I take things far too seriously and have been in situations like that before (albeit without Toby types being involved, and not a flower and produce show).

Maybe Alice will have an emotional affair simply because she wants somebody to converse with. It must be hard to have such a taciturn husband.

But (as I have said here recently, sorry to repeat myself) Jenny herself has had at least one affair, granted with an ex-husband of hers, before, which is also why I think she is so forgiving of Adam - she sees herself in him. I think Alice is being so sanctimonious with Adam because of her own experience (if only I could remember what actually happened in AmbEx ) - she certainly wasn't so critical of Kate, I get the impression, though maybe she never knew about Kate's infidelity to Lucas. I agree with Gherkin, Adam is not so much sorry about what happened, but that he has been found out and everyone knows about it. I am seriously pissed off if this means Ian leaves (and Rob stays).
I'm another who is happy and relieved to have the 'old' Archers back and am actually enjoying listening every evening again, after a couple of years in purdah from SO'C.

I've missed a couple of post-trial episodes - have we heard from Shula since then??

Rex sounds even more like josh

And why was Toby covering Rex's shifts when Rex had gone to look after their dad?

This sl is painful

Honestly couldn't give less of a shit about which of those brothers gets dibs on pip. Yuk.