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

[PseudoBadger]

Enjoy!

What has happened to Pip over the years? When she was with Spencer she was really hard-working, put the welfare of the animals first and was likeable. Or am I seeing the past through the proverbial rose-tinted spectacles? It helped that the actress at that time had a very distinctive voice and could actually act.

Alleycat - someone, several threads ago, can't remember who, cleverly pointed out that Pip turns into a copy of whichever boyfriend she's involved with. Irresponsible and selfish with Jude; dull with Spencer; even duller, farm obsessed with Matthew; lying, cheating toe-rag with Tobes.

(I don't know what a toe-rag is. Heard it on EE a million years ago.)

Yes, Gruach, that is it exactly. The SWs don't seem to know what to do with her. Alice seems to have undergone a personality transplant also.

So when Josh takes a couple of hours away from the farm to work on his business and pays someone to do the work, he's an irresponsible workshy towrag, but when Pip decides to take a regular job in someone else's business - which is in turn dependent on Josh abandoning his own business to do her work on the farm - she's a saint. FFS.

No-one about?

That's ok.

I can have lovely, stricken, decisive Toby all to myself.

Do tell!

Pip should have said, 'You're not cutting all bloody ties with me until you've paid me back my money!'

Honestly, who cares about them?

(Lovely) Toby has decided he can't 'remain friends' with Pip. So has informed her she'll be blocked on all media and devices and that she should leave him alone.

She was gutted.

Although. Yeah ... About the money.

It's so hard for the young people nowadays. You can't just dump or be dumped, you have to makes decisions about blocking social media too. I had to miss the end of tonight as the reception was dreadful, so crackly I pressed the off button. Phew. I got the gist though, I imagine.

Aaaaaaaaand. Another personality transplant. Who are you and wht have you done with Toby Fairbrother?

Except ... there was some other thing, months and months ago, that made him all brusque and determined. I liked him then, too!

I'm hoping it's an aspect of his character he hasn't fully grown into yet. (No fluttering heart emoji? Tsk!)

What about Principled Pat then? Trying to persuade Helen not to go to the Council meeting. I wonder why that was.

I hate it when the SW go all unrealistic. So Justin got the glimmer of an idea about the mega-piggery off Neil on May 23rd (thanks Lowfield). They have researched it, done a feasibility study, costed it, written up the proposal, got the Board to agree it and the Council are discussing it tomorrow! Business doesn't work that fast.

I think Pat has an eye to the money. She doesn't want to rock the boat with Justin because, Kerrrrching!!

Well that was a bore. Why do the SW think any one cares about Pip and Tobe?

What a load of crap

Agree the pig thing is completely implausible

I suppose there will be some sort of showdown at the Parish Council meeting tonight for the Friday cliffhanger.

Which is also silly - Parish Councils don't normally meet on Fridays and they are rarely attended by the public unless there's already a majorly controversial planning application on the agenda. Which the pig unit isn't yet, for a long time ...

David didn't want to do OFS because he was trying to keep his head below the parapet after the IBR shambles. So I don't understand why, when Brine asked him to speak at the Council meeting for the mega-piggery, David agreed so readily - why now court publicity, speaking for an unpopular project. And why agree to do it before Brine had even given him any details of said unpopular project - he had no idea what he was supporting!

I get the feeling that the Council meeting tonight is Hugh Canoe's (rushed) attempt to shoe-horn rural electoral issues into the programme.

Perhaps that's it R4. I'm quite disappointed though - mega pork after mega dairy is so boring. I was hoping 'they' would have come up with something more unexpected and exciting. And it makes the villagers look so nimby - as if they never want any change at all.

I was coming on to post exactly the same thing Gruach mega pig unit after mega dairy and with Justin at the helm seems like a total rehash. I feel as though we have rewound to pre-Knob and are about to sit through all the same storylines again - local opposition, new manager being brought in (or even old manager being recycled - might we see the return of Charlie?) same old same old.

What do we expect ? Fly Amb. to the moon ?It's a small country place why would we expect totally different things???

What I hated under doc was the big dramatic sl that dominated - knobhell, the flood, the great move north etc

The 'big business' bad sl are just feeling a bit tired and a break would be nice. Are they trying to make Justin the devil of the village so we are happy when lil dumps him?

I also find it implausible that he would be doing all this building and piggery in the village he lives in.

Justin doesn't work for me as a character at all so I'm not interested in his sl.

Toby turning into a love struck teen is bizarre but I guess it's supposed to highlight how amazing pip is that she managed to turn the bad boy into her own little puppy dog

Maybe I've just been listening too long, but this feels like exactly the same story played out with the same characters without a long enough break to seem like a new twist. Can someone remind me why the mega dairy closed down in the first place? That all came to rather an unsatisfactory end with irregularities in the accounting never fully investigated and Charlie getting the blame (which come to think of it makes it unlikely he'll be back to oversee the pigs). I like the affordable housing plot (at the same time allowing the Ambridge finance fairy to wave away all the debts run up by Bridge Farm in getting rid of Knob). There ought to a lot of mileage in rural poverty - we've seen a glimpse with Ed and Emma, but only just scratched the surface really. I would have thought Brexit would be more of an issue - hinted at with the strawberry pickers. Once upon a time The Archers would have been a vehicle for explaining the different ways it might affect farmers. Big businessman wants to open another big business where his old big business used to be is just not doing it for me (especially as said big businessman seemed to be having his character toned down to fill the vacancy of aimiable country gent left by the departure of Oliver).

Are they trying to make Justin the devil of the village - this is precisely my problem. That was exactly his role when he was first introduced and all his employees were in fear of him, we have since had months and months of him being somewhat improbably softened up enough to persuade us Lillian might fall for him. Now we have to forget all that and see him return to type. Antiboop I'm with you in not caring about Justin mainly because I don't believe in him.

Absolutely.

I seem to remember a cow-sickness at the mega d. - but essentially it only existed as a reason for Rob; once he was done with it had no purpose in the ongoing story. (And it was a shame they ran out of energy as regards his various accounting irregularities.)

Simply cannot recognise nu-Justin. International wheeler dealer turned pig-worrier? As if.

Did we hear from Matt last week? He's the brightest of bright spots atm.

It's reusing isn't it? Better for the environment than building another effing mega farm building.