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

Mega also Shula with an ectopic pregnancy then IVF, Susan with a baby with a cleft palate, Hayley's daughter born prematurely (7 months?), Cathy's baby born when she was mid 40's, Phoebe born at Glastonbury, Elizabeth with heart problems, having twins.

Whats the odds for a normal pregnancy and delivery for an Ambridge baby?

Oh and Jack born in chokey!

I assume they've made Miranda so vile so no one minds that she's being cheated on.

But when I look around my circle of friends, lots of us have had miscarriages or pregnancy complications or stillbirths or had a baby with a serious illness or disability.

AuldHeathen Roy is Kirsty's boss at GG, or does she work on her own in the Health club, maybe Kathy is her boss? He is also her housemate.

I quite like Anisha the actress has a nice voice. I liked Shula saying to Miranda that she prefers to groom the horses herself rather than use state of art showers, which would cost her . Hatemy Yes Miranda is a piece of work.

I don't like that they are making Miranda horrible so the affair is more palatable. It makes it no less crass and unpleasant Than if she was lovely.

As for Tom going to GG - I don't get it at all. Her housemate works there in a senior position and she will have told her employer. what will he add other than pissing Kirsty off? I can imagine that's the only reason they are having him do it because i can't imagine he would actually do it

The effect of miscarriage on dads is not really spoken of much so I think it's good they are showing Toms grieving. Also hope we get a realistic reaction from Kirsty (and not the EE baby napping nonsense)

I'm sure my employer when I had miscarriages would not have been at all impressed if my DH had turned up and started laying down the law about whether they understood what had happened and that I'd be off work for a bit, and how to treat me on my return!

I doubt any employer would be impressed with hearing the news from a friend. We don't know that Kirsty has spoken to anyone else at GG. Tom, as the father, is the right person to pass on information, especially as they're keeping in touch.

I don't care how horrible Miranda is either. Justin is a tosser.

Tom going to GG was superfluous. He's just desperate to do something, to try to help. He'll probably end up driving Kirsty away. (Which I suspect is the reason for this turn of events - my guess is Annabel Dowler has other job offers and she'll become another Debbie who returns infrequently)

Given Tom and Kirsty are not in a relationship I can't see how he has any responsibility to deal with her employer for her. He is no different to a friend in this situation.

I would expect she actually called up and did it herself given what we know of Kirsty. Tom doesn't even know what she wants to do or how much time off etc.

am I the only one who found the idea of Justin playing drinking games weird?

I would imagine Tom is also feeling a bit threatened by Roy, or rather has conflicting feelings about him. He keeps saying how bad he feels that he wasn't there, it's not much of a stretch to take that to '...and Roy was'.

Anyone else at Alistair poo-pooing Anisha's comments about the prejudice she's suffered. 'I've learned to take no notice' indeed! What, when people are judging you for being young, female, Asian and an incomer?!?!?!?! Gah!

Tbf on grumpy farmer we don't know why he took a dislike to her - could be because she's an incomer only. Or because she's a woman.

Sounds like Alastair knew the farmer would be unlikely to take kindly to a woman so he maybe should have warned her. I'm sure she's dealt with it before.

Still haven't warmed to anisha. will give it time. I assume she is here for the long haul so I think alastairs money is safe

Yes I should have said 'or' instead of 'and'.

Hello can I join? Been listening on and off since childhood but am firmly back in the Ambridge love once again. I promise I'll not start to demand drinking games as a newcomer!

Oh and Miranda always sounds like she looks like Sylvestra Le Touzel

MrsArthur I would imagine Tom is also feeling a bit threatened by Roy, or rather has conflicting feelings about him.

Or possibly remembering that it wouldn't be the first time an Archer has lost out to Roy in the organic sausage stakes.

Bang on regarding Alastair's complacent comments about TGF.

Miranda is thin. Possibly more a Patricia Hodge with pretensions.

Thanks so much to the Archers for covering the topic of late miscarriage. I suffered a miscarriage at 22 weeks a few months ago and it's something that is not often talked about. I never really thought about it before it happened to me but it is quite different from an early miscarriage, which must be horrible in its own way. Kirsty sounded like she was in shock, which I think is quite authentic. Perhaps we'll hear a bit more about how she feels later, when she processes what's happened.

Welcome, queenie - if you could devise an Archers themed drinking game probably someone would play (tbh its more of a thing for me). Afaik the only rule is no spoilers - theres a separate thread for that sort of thing. yes... see what you mean re Sylvestra. (For some reason I've been seeing Miranda as a tall and thin with short (but very stylish) re hair. )

Anyone else hmm at Alistair poo-pooing Anisha's comments about the prejudice she's suffered. 'I've learned to take no notice' indeed! What, when people are judging you for being young, female, Asian and an incomer?!?!?!?! Gah!

Straight white middle-aged men are well-known for noticing the conscious and unconscious biases that might be affecting other people.

Alistair has no idea - he's minimising it, because other than possible ageism when he was starting out, he won't have experienced it. He fits the image of a large-animal vet in a rural practice. Anisha doesn't. It is possible that grumpy old farmers are just being grumpy old farmers - but it's also likely that the combination of youth, being a woman, Asian appearance is causing a conservative (and probably Conservative) mindset to struggle. Plus we know she runs - if she's got a small build, that will definitely have some farmers questioning her ability to handle animals like an injured bull, even if they aren't bothered by the rest of it.

Just curious- when handling a whopping animal such as a bull or large horse, does the difference in human strength really make much difference? Surely even a big strong bloke can't manhandle them to do something they don't want to?

I'm only hoping that the infection Kirsty had doesn't impact on her future fertility. It'd be very easy for the writers to go down that route and Kirsty deserves some happiness.

-being a woman, Asian appearance is causing a conservative (and probably Conservative) mindset to struggle

EBearhug

FFS. We are a (mainly but not always) Tory family and, guess what, some of the people we are friends with also vote Tory and... are Asian. I think you may be getting confused with UKIP or the BNP.

And we are in the country. Interestingly an Indian magistrate friend recently dropped round a brace of pheasant she had shot. She is a Tory voter.

Is Kathy not the overall manager at GG, and Lynda and Roy joint deput managers?

I still think Tom shouldn't be telling Kirsty's employer. There is no plan for them to be a long term couple, even if that's what Tom would like. I like how they are portraying Tom's devastation over the baby, and can quite see that he's desperate to do something, as many of us would respond thus when shocked and grieving. But in my book it is still meddling. Even when there's a very good reason for it.

TA isn't real, you know. I will try to keep that observation to myself when in Lincoln!.

I thought Roy and Lynda were receptionists? That was the only vacancy available after Roy had to leave LL.