Quelle surprise! Rob hasn't FOTTFSOF and is in fact hiding in the bushes at Henwee's school. Discuss the latest unlikely Archers events here.

[PseudoBadger]

What do we want?
Realistic storylines!
When do we want them?
As soon as the writers see this!

jenny sounded a lot like pat after the stabbing...

The Justin /Lillian story line is ridiculous. There was all that nonsense about threatening Eddie to keep it a secret whilst she's behaving like this in public.

UGH. Can't wait for Lillian and Justin to come a cropper.

I always think Henwee sounds very immature. Everything from his voice, language and inability to construct sentences. My (average) DS is a few months older then Henwee and hasn't spoken like him for years. Even my 4 year old DC sounds more mature.

It could be that his family have babied him his entire life though.

I thought the scenes with Tom and Peggy were lovely.

So cute - even though I generally disapprove of SWs on Twitter. KD's sticky notes for earlier this year:

It's not surprising that Henry misses Rob. His 'Daddy' taught him to play cricket and weren't there some riding lessons booked that were abandoned (can't remember why)

They don't seem to do anything with him at Bridge Farm. It's all about Jack. Tom had a kick-about with him in the yard (big deal) but he doesn't do any after school activities. If he's lucky he gets to play with Kiera or Elijah No wonder he behaves in such a babyish way when they're always molly-coddling him. Instead of bleating about his behaviour they should think of ways of taking his mind off things.

Why can't they get him a dog or re-start the riding lessons?

No Beaver pack in Ambridge?

No wonder he can't talk like a normal six year old.

Mind you, didn't "Daddy" insist on Henry using a proper, manly cricket ball? That must have been quite painful at times.

I'm not sure Lillian wants the 'big prize' here does she? During her Great Depression after the panto, when Justin was pretending to be happily married to Miranda, I'm sure we heard her bemoaning the lack of excitement in her life. I think the running away in her fur coat and precious little else is what "makes me feel young daaahling".

As for Henry he sounds younger than my 4yo but I agree it's probably down to what we hear him doing (or not). We never hear them having endless, repetitive proper conversations with him or really anything other than the infamous "awight".

I'm not sure young children ever sound natural in dramas, except in something cleverly done like Outnumbered.

Jennifer doesn't mind what Lillian and Justin do in private, but she's very concerned about social convention. I think she's also looking at it with Miranda's feelings very much in mind - she's suffered the humiliation of Brian's affairs.

You are right, Megatherium, Knob did indeed introduce Henwhine to the manly art of manly cricket with manly balls.

I expect Harrison will discover this cricketting prodigy and he will be the star of Ambridge at the sticky wicket thing.

Did anyone hear the interview with the new editor before the Film just now? I came in on the end of it annoyingly.

Yes, I heard it. They didn't mention his nickname, but he came over quite positively, and clearly has a long listening history. I felt he understands how TA should be balanced.

I did think if they were going to replay dramatic ferret stories, the Meadow Rise would have been the choice, not losing ferrets at Grey Gables. Though I'm glad we didn't relive the Meadow Rise massacre.

Is it me or did Tom sound like Arthur from Arthur Christmas when he was talking to Peggy?

I thought the cackling was ridiculous. What were they supposed to be doing? I had a mental image of them doing some sort of tango while Lillian laughed hysterically. The laugh didn't go with the implication that they were doing something visually indecent.

I thought Hugh Canoe had a lovely voice.

Going back to Henry, it does seem odd that he doesn't do any activities at all. Rob used to play with him quite a lot, I remember Go Fish and snap as well as manly cricket.

If social services thought Rob's influence malign enough to remove him from Henrys life it would seem strange that they wouldn't want to see what other damage might have been done by seeing his mother stab his 'father' and try to help him through what must be a really tough and confusing time.

I was imagining Lillian doing the lambada 😬

Wasn't the music the cha cha cha? Justin shouting "Seven" A la Strictly made me think they were doing a 'proper' dance like the Argentinian Tango ( a very sexy dance) or lambada Gherkins

I am still waiting for it to turn out that Miranda has been staying at Kate's retreat the whole time, and the game will be up.
So , messy divorce and Lil wins her man, or threats and disgrace.

Ambridge Observer will be in attendance at Academic Archers!

Anyone know how many weeks Kirsty is? I can't remember of trial finished in September or October.

About 21.

I don't know why they had to do that, it's so unfair. I'm in bits here....

It was September. That was so sad. I don't have personal experience of it, but a friend lost a baby at about that point. to anybody who found that a bit close to home.