The Archers: The Crook, the Vet, His Wife & Her Lodger - discussion #80

[DadDadDad]

In full acknowledgement of PseudoBadger's great achievement in providing the previous 79 threads over the past 4 years (and credit to R4 for this thread's title)...

Discuss TA (The Archers). New posters encouraged - it's not (too) cliquey here and plenty of regulars are happy to answer questions.

One rule: no spoilers (ie no mentioning future plot teasers from Radio Times listings etc) - there's a separate thread for that.

So, is Phoebe pregnant? will Anisha dob in (dobbin - geddit?) Alistair?

PS I don't presume to take on PB's role permanently - hopefully the job of starting new threads will rotate among regulars until she returns

I think the point is that Matt's disappearance (rumoured to be because of KD's discomfort about the Editorial direction at the time) gave the SWs no option but to choose the most likely explanation for his departure.

SoC never gave any explanation. Just packed him off with Lillian's cash!

Haven't been on the thread in a while and catching up an episode behind, so apologies if this has already been discussed, but haven't Oliver and the scriptwriters heard of TUPE? He doesn't need the buyer's assurances that the staff won't al be sacked, the law already does this for him!

But why let actual facts get in the way of a good storyline eh?

Also, if there was a part of the hotel with the most beautiful view ever, Caroline was a pretty shit manager if she didn't already have seating in place there for guests, and instead "used to get a couple of chairs from the bar" when the weather was nice.

What a load of nonsense.

haven't Oliver and the scriptwriters heard of TUPE?

I was wondering that, too.

AuldHeathen Will's flat was the attic floor of the Dower House when Caroline lived there. (At least, that's how I remember it.)

I also wondered about TUPE ...

I also think they're taking the staff at GG's loyalty a bit far. Would you really use a legacy from a boss to spend on a memorial bench?

The TUPE thing is patent nonsense, as are most of the business-related storylines on TA. I presume that it's a pre-amble to a management buyout.

Ooooh! Good thinking R4. A management buyout would be the greatest fun.

Kathy would have to speak ...

... And it would be an elegant way to keep Kirsty in the village without having her permanently and exclusively tied to Bridge Farm. (I guess that's what they're doing, not altogether convincingly, with her new attachment to Jill?)

Also, if there was a part of the hotel with the most beautiful view ever, Caroline was a pretty shit manager if she didn't already have seating in place there for guests, and instead "used to get a couple of chairs from the bar" when the weather was nice.

I thought the exact same thing!

Can someone explain to me the Dower houses ownership timeline please?

I think they said Lillian grew up there, but am unsure how this whole trust business started and when Matt got involved?

I suspect that Lexi will end up doing something at GG, it can't be a coincidence that a new person with a hospitality degree arrives weeks before Oliver gets a panic on about GG?

OK, so now can someone explain management buyouts to me please?

I can't imagine they could pull together the funds to buy it but I'm sure the money fairy will help!

As for tupe, nice idea but in reality they would be all redundant within 6 months

Maybe Piggoi will stump up, she seems to have a bit of a money tree in her back garden.

I recapped all the AmEx series which had Matt and Lillian dicking about in Russia I think. Will try to find the thread... I seem to remember even I gave up partway through and then did a mass finale of about the last four episodes.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/radio_addicts/1794212-Spoilers-RnRN-accepts-and-recaps-Amex-so-you-dont-have-to

MrsMcG: some of this goes waaay back so I may be wrong ...
I can't believe that Lillian grew up at the Dower House. She, JD and Tony are the children of a previous landlord of The Bull so I assume they grew up there (before my time). Their mum, Peggy, had a second marriage to a seriously rich bloke - Jack, the owner of Grey Gables.
Caroline owned the DH at one stage but sold it to Matt. I can't remember when - mid noughties? - but presumably at the time that she needed to raise funds to buy GG off Jack (she had been his manager). She then lived at a suite at GG.
Matt gets involved in all sorts of shady goings-on and needed to shelter ownership of the DH (his home) against creditors/liquidators - hence he put it in trust for Lillian.

Bore management buyout is when the existing manager-level staff buy the company from the owner (instead of the owner selling to some other random). The staff usually don't have the money so have to get funding. As long as the numbers stack up, the lender will like the fact that the existing management have a track record of successfully running the operation - it's one less "is this plan viable?" to worry about.

Thank you R4, not sure where I got the idea Lillian grew up there! So much to learn!!!

Vango - I agree with every single one of your posts on the last few pages, especially. There's not much difference between Justin and Matt really - apart from the accent. There was a time when I erroneously thought Justin was being groomed to be the new Oliver, but I realise now that was merely to lull us into a false sense of security. Justin wouldn't hestitate to evict the Grundies - though of course it is unthinkable he would have done them a favour in the first place, nor would he care whether selling a business concern might upset some of his staff (in fact he'd never allow them to be so content in the first place that a change of boss might worry them!) I can't believe Oliver would think for a moment that Justin would be a safe pair of hands for Grey Gables. I'm a bit sad that Matt has now morphed into TA's latest pantomime villain - yes he's always been a rough diamond, but used to be a much more rounded character. In his current guise it's hard to imagine he could be any kind of threat to Justin (whatever you think of him) the whole racecourse in Costa Rica thing is as far fetched as any of the old AmEx plots. Not really gripped by this plot at all - much more fascinated by the kefir - my immediate thought was that Susan using coconut milk rather defeated the whole point of it being a product from the Bridge Farm dairy.

I think Jenny, Lilian and Tony grew up in the Bull, too, which is partly why Lilian has maintained some interest in it, when she's had opportunities to invest there. Their father, Jack Archer, was an alcoholic.

I think the Dower House was part of the Bellamy estate, which is now mostly Borchester Land's land. Lilian married Ralph Bellamy back in the mists of time, and that's where her money initially came from. They lived in Guernsey. James is their child. It's mostly before my time. I think Caroline owned it after Ralph died, then sold it to buy GG after Jack Woolley died, and that's when Matt and Yvette/Yvonne bought it, but I may be misremembering and merging timeliness.

Cameron Fraser and Guy Pemberton (Caroline's late husband) are the missing links re the Dower House.

1990s here.

Ah yes. Gosh, how could I have forgotten Cameron?

Thanks R4 - so Roy, Kathy and ?Lynda could buy GG then. Would they borrow from a bank or would an individual, eg Justin, Brine, Piggoi put up the dosh?

Yes TUPE would apply in theory, but I'm sure Oliver knows enough about business to know what the reality would be.

I doubt brine has the money after his land purchase and not sure why any of the three you named would be interested really

They would have to go to a bank but I really struggle to see how it would work with those three.

As for Oliver being sentimental about keeping the grundies in the house - that's a load of old bollocks done purely to keep them living in the village.