Hard Times come to Ambridge; will Pip or the Ambridge Fairy save the day? Discuss The Archers here.

[PseudoBadger]

Enjoy!

Just to add I don't think Lillian's relationship with Matt was perfect - that's not the right word at all - but it suited them both before the advent of Ambridge Extra. I didn't even listen to much of that nonsense in fact so it's easy for me to pretend it didn't happen.

Absolutely. Just hope Lilian manages to hold on to the Dower House when it all goes belly up. (I know there's no apparent reason why she shouldn't - but SWs do strange things sometimes.) Listening to Justin and Miranda dividing up their assets was chilling. Although ... I do not for one second believe they were Aldeburgh aficionados.

Although ... I do not for one second believe they were Aldeburgh aficionados. So true - an unnecessary embelishment that adds nothing except to make the already preposterous depiction of Miranda seem even less believable.

I did suggest (probably several threads ago now) that when a man marries his mistress he creates a vacancy so I was happy to hear Miranda say it.
I agree Lillian is losing interest in Justin

Oh I don't know. Smart yachting fraternity and the festival is sufficiently middle-brow in the programming not to frighten the horses. (I say that as a confirmed middle-brow myself.) I'd have thought Miranda would enjoy Aldeburgh very much as part of her seasonal circuit. I didn't find the asset division chilling - I thought it a good depiction of people who are at their most intimate when discussing material wealth. I still don't understand why Miranda believes that booking boxes at the opera and Test matches and gliding around cocktail parties should warrant an equal share in a business, but then she doesn't really have to believe it, does she, only assert it in a negotiation.

I still don't understand why Miranda believes that booking boxes at the opera and Test matches and gliding around cocktail parties should warrant an equal share in a business, but then she doesn't really have to believe it, does she, only assert it in a negotiation.

That was an interesting bit of scriptwriting. When Justin arrived in Borsetshire, he wanted an introduction to the 'right sort of people'. Lillian arranged it, just like Miranda did back in the day. Notice how (both times) once the deed was done, Justin was dismissive of the input and claimed that it could have been organised by any of the girls in the office.

I got the impression earlier on when she was introduced that she enabled Justin to make contacts etc which helped grow the business

So the entertaining side and building up relationships probably was very helpful for the business

Cross post r4!

It's the usual story though- the wife's input is often airbrushed out but when you know people who went through the whole thing you can see how it started as team work but once a level of success is achieved it is somehow only the husband who built the business and the things the wife did to enable it become irrelevant

Wrt Justin and Miranda - are we to assume they do not have kids or are they going to be unconvincingly wheeled out at some point in the future after having never been mentioned?

I thought it a good depiction of people who are at their most intimate when discussing material wealth.

I clearly haven't lived!

I had far more sympathy for Miranda than I had with Lillian during their exchange.

Me too. I remain staunchly Team Miranda and always have been.

I thought that maybe the ornaments were from or bought with Matt's brother. Matt seemed to be laying it on a bit thick about how much they meant to her. Just a thought that's all.

I wondered, too, if the ornaments came from Paul instead of Matt and there was some devilish psychology at play, but there was a scene later where Matt mentioned how they had bought them together.
Whatever happened to Paul's picture, though?

R4 I think the picture ended up at the Bull.

Ah, thanks choccy. I wonder if it is still there or if it got sold off in cash-strapped times.
They made such a thing of it at the time that I felt sure that it was going to be a future plotline.

I've just realized- no maypole!:(

Dunno how you have or haven't lived, Gruach! What I meant was that Miranda and Justin (have been written as people who) only really care about status, wealth and winning. So the negotiation about the division of their assets is getting them where they live. This is the most believable depiction of them as a married couple yet. They're both pretty vile. Why does Lillian have such dreadful taste in men?

They're both pretty vile I agree. You'd like to think Justin could be magnanimous - Lilian is seeing his true colours and I don't think she likes what she sees. I'm always suspicious of men who are vile about their ex-wives. A surprising number try to claim their ex-wives are mentally ill - the men who make these claims are invariably very unpleasant themselves. I feel much more comfortable with those who don't want to say too much - silently acknowledging the fact that they were married to them for however many years so they can't have been that bad.

I think we discussed on previous thread/s that the way Jolene is portrayed does not reflect that she was the publican with Sid long before she got with Kenton. Huw needs to remind his team. ] It's lazy writing to have the little man making all the decisions in a joint business. TASWAMA - my first.

You are right get, Lillian. There must have been some reason they got married. You'd also expect everyone in Ambridge to be cautious of anyone badmouthing an estranged wife.

Are Brian and Justin financially connected?. I know B just bought land off J. I'm wondering if when J'srelationship with Lillian ends he will decide to make life very difficult for Brian. Does he have any leverage over him?

Goodness - Alice will have ALL the Home Farm shares before she's done!

What was the point in the Miranda/ Lillian to the references about the vases being bought from an Albert Horrobin?

I take it it was meant to be an in-joke where we are supposed to laugh with Lillian at snobby Miranda having been conned into buying fake Chinese porcelain from a Horrobin. I didn't find it funny.

Miranda didn't offer Lilian any money though did she? I thought she just took them as they were part of her & Justin's redecorating of the Dower House. I thought it was all very weird, especially Miranda ordering Lilian to wrap them carefully.

Well Lass, even those who are on Team Miranda must admit that she was at her most dislikeably condescending to Lillian in that scene, getting her to wrap up the vases. Had I been Lillian, I would have most likely said, "I suggest you wrap your own vases, not my line at all." However, Lillian was probably trying not to rock the boat and so bit her tongue - but you can't blame her in the circs for having a sneaky laugh about Miranda's lack of an eye. Also M had just been seriously unpleasant about Lillian's taste in decorating.