Male or female, young or old - Bad Stuff can happen to you in The Archers. Discuss the perils of Ambridge life here.

[PseudoBadger]

Not exactly upbeat at the moment is it

"All that effort over a bull calf"

God, I hate Pip.

Actually, I hate her much less when she's being a farmer than at any other time. You can't expect hr to be all Vicky Tucker with the bull calves.........

I can hate her for her callousness.

Only if you hate all livestock farmers....

It's her delivery though. She's just unlike able.

No pun intended

So is are we supposed to accept that Toby's Brighton story was true and that's all sorted now-forget and move on?

No, I think they hope we will forget it because they still haven't worked out a plot line.

Bert - would you stop dictating about how listeners should feel about fictional characters.

Only if you hate all livestock farmers....

It is still a stupid thing to say. Bull calves still have a value and the cow would have been lost if they hadn't gone to that effort.

And I grew up on a livestock farm. I can't imagine my grandfather being so callous.

I think Pip's comment about the bull calf was meant to scare Toby.

Is it possible that she said it to sort of lighten the mood? Like when Han Solo cuts open the dead tauntaun in Empire Strikes Back to keep warm inside its carcass and he says "and I thought they smelled bad on the outside."

I wasn't paying attention - my mind wanders when Pip talks. There was something about cricket. What had she said?

BOOP for last night 's ep. a bit of real farming Bert's right , I don't mind Pip by the way. She's a good farmer; she didn't listen to louche Toby. Did not wake her mum to deal with the calf RIGHT ON PIP !!!!! Loved " All Vicky Turner"

Though why didn't dopey Lil give back a bit of the bollockin' she was getting from Miranda? I said upthread, she's a silly drunken woman.

I thought the way Pip sent her mother off to bed was very rude, unless Ruth is actually only 7 years old
Am I the only person who thinks Miranda behaves like this is because she has had to put up with Justin's disgraceful behaviour for the last 40 years ?

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there is no suggestion she even wants to move to Ambridge. When Justin was buying Brookfield as part of the Great North Move debacle there was every suggestion Miranda wanted to move to Ambridge. That was his motivation for buying the farm and then making plans to practically demolish and remodel it. He was doing it for Miranda so she could move to the country and stable her horses. Just as the plot swung in a huge u-turn away from the move and the bypass so has the portrayal of Miranda. I'm hoping Sunday's episode signals another death throw of plots set up by SOC and that Lillian's OTT drunken performance in the Bull draws a line under that particular storyline and that Justin can now slink off back to wherever he came from and take his place in the ranks of silent characters.
Re Kirsty, I think Miranda's high-handed tone could drive the most subservient of personalities to blow a fuse whether they had just had a misacarriage or not. I do think the scene also serves to remind us all that sometimes you just need to cut people a bit of slack (however out of order they may appear) because you just don't know what s* they are going through - and that applies mainly to Kirsty, but also just a little bit to Miranda now I come to think about it - even if rude and offensive does appear to be her default setting.

Lilian never had much depth, she can be pleasant at times, and sensitive to her tenants, it's true, but she has always been a man's woman; Matt was a criminal, his half brother Paul turned out to be a psycho, (who she carried a candle for way after he died and she knew his many faults) she doesn't give a shxx who the man is.

Am I the only person who thinks Miranda behaves like this is because she has had to put up with Justin's disgraceful behaviour for the last 40 years ?

No you're not red. I agree with you here. Miranda has obviously known for some time what Justin's been up to and feels a fool. She's masking her frustration/anger/sadness the best way she can and having it out with Lillian can't have been easy for her. She can't be all bad (Justin's made reference to her many friends) and it's not easy to find the courage to up and leave. We know so little about her.

I thought Pip was mentally detaching from Toby, and in focussing on her job, he is seeing her doing things he finds amazing and is falling for her more, while she is becoming less interested in him.

We know so little about her This. She's just there as Justin's wife. I don't think the SWs can decide whether we are meant to feel sorry for her not. I think not initially - because we are meant to like Lillian (and usually do), but as the story as progressed I'm not so sure. I can't help comparing Miranda to Jess . Jess was portrayed by Knob in one way, but when she initially came to Ambridge was very likeable and made friends. This has not been the case for Miranda who has made no friends. Jess subsequently appeared slightly u hinged as a result of the false paternity storyline - a storyline I could never really see the point of. It seems other wives who are not regular characters can change character to suit the plot.

Erm Miranda is an adult, if she has made a conscious decision to stay with a serial cheater for the money, kudos or whatever. She should control her feelings especially when talking to minions, as she would see them, like Kirsty. People who are rude to servants, waiters etc. have no class and that's how they show it.

She should control her feelings especially when talking to minions, as she would see them, like Kirsty.

Miranda wasn't in the least bit rude to Kirsty. It was entirely the other way round. She had come to reception to report that the spin dryer was not working and before she knew it she was being told "people like you don't know you're born". Miranda wasn't the one required to control her feelings!