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

Great thread title and good to have a numbers person at the helm, however difficult it is to replace Psuedo. Looking forward to lots of stats, Dad^3.

Anyway, am I the only one who heard the start of the convo between Lily and Phoebe and thought she was talking to her step-mum? Lily is so badly written. She sounds at least 30.

On the other hand, I think whoever's written Susan has been on stellar form this week (and of course the acting is brilliant). Her vain attempts to find out how much everyone has got in the will are hilarious.

Joining the praise for the title!

I've said before I like the gradual of development of Emma over recent years. It's been one of the most subtle and plausible maturings of a character. She used to be very much one dimensional in terms of whingeing and being all about the love triangle and the kids. We got occasional flashes of sense and practicality e.g. When she helped Ruth mend a fence in a storm I think. We've now got her to I guess an equal earner in the household and finding a voice and confidence in what she's saying but we do still get believable jealousy and moaning.

I realize that I am a bit behind the times, but I am catching up on Tuesdays episode. Both Lily and Susan are being horrible! Lily was loving Phoebe's distress and Susan was nosy, lazy and patronizing all within the space of a few minutes.

I can be a bit more forgiving of Lily because of her age - there were always some girls at school who would rush to someone in crisis and want to organise everything to sort it, whether or not they were any good at it. Most of them grow out of it, though that's no guarantee Lily will.

I don't get why Susan feels any expectation or right to know. Does she feel she's the only one in the village who got nothing, and is gearing up to a Will-style fit, where she (and only she) remembers how she was Caroline's best mate, and all the favours she'd done for her, and how basically, she's entitled to the entire estate, except maybe a token for Oliver?

I think Susan is just a gossipy cow and wants to have all the gen for her spreadsheet so she can start setting one person against the other.

Apologies if I have missed something - have been away but I'm surprised about the small amounts of money Caroline left if you compare them.

Obviously she presumably left bulk of her estate to Oliver but if she left £1k to Will & Ed each I'm surprised Shula who basically was her best friend akin to a sister only got £2k & then Guy gave her the bracelet that Carolines first husband gave her on her birthday.

Not sure what is going to happen to Grange Farm but if Lewis is still alive perhaps he may reappear to befriend Oliver.
& as for Susan - probably they declined as accounts frozen as joint accounts ? big leap though to decide he is broke though.

Has Oliver got no money left?!

That sounds like a load of old nonsense designed to get grey gables sold off to some new megalomaniac

He might be short of ready cash, if he has dished out various ££s as per Caroline's will, but not having liquidated her investments.

Can't believe how crass Susan is being, though she is easily beaten by Will.

Ooo I wonder if panto villain Matt will buy Grey Gables (wild guess)
Justin has bought everything else Lillian has ever touched

Oliver came to the UK very soon after Caroline's death. He was then fed, watered and mothered by Shula for a while. He's not fully compos mentis and has let finances take a back seat (maybe he always did and it was Caroline's 'job').
He's loaded. Just not in control.

Have the bequests actually been paid out yet or just notified? Surely probate hasn't been granted yet.

I imagine probate will take a while . Grey Gables, house in Tuscany and Grange farm would all need to be valued?

Surely Tuscany will have to be administered under Italian law? I know when we were thinking of buying in France we were advised to get good legal advice as the French law is very different.

There is not a hope in hell Probate will be anywhere near completed. Legacies are paid from the estate when money has been engathered by the executors.

I don't understand this plot line at all. I don't believe for one minute Oliver has not got his own bank account and income unless the driver is his own failing faculties.

But the only person who thinks he's broke is Susan.
He is in grief, he picked up the "wrong" wallet (do has one for euros and one for sterling). For some reason the bank has put a block on his cards: probate related or spending too much in the "wrong" country?
Asset wise he is definitely rich : Tuscany, Grey Gables and Grange Farm. And they even bought Tuscany without selling Grange Farm.

Will is not covering himself in glory recently with the will and the cricket team. What a knob he is.

I find myself mildly amused, and the emphasis is firmly on mildly, that Oliver Sterling should forget his Sterling wallet. I do agree with others, Oliver surely cannot be broke.

And why not sell grange farm instead of grey gables...

I imagine with his recent churlishness over Ed getting 'his' money, Will won't want Ed n Em being no 1, which l suppose Tom and Johnny are still occupying anyway.

It does make sense, if he needs cash, for Oliver to sell Grange Farm. But emotionally he might feel GG is more Caroline's and likewise the ltalian house, whereas Grange Farm was his before he and C got together, l think. I could imagine being at GG alone, even in a very naice suite, would be quite painful for him.

I've forgotten already what procedure they are doing, and what beast. .a horse.

?? a horse, that should say.

Not sure exactly what happened between Emma and the speaking Chris. And not sure if l can face another argumentative sibling relationship. But at least l don't mind the new speaking voice.

Hello all - have been away but thanks for the new thread. Emma's was not a welcome voice to my poor ears tonight, though beautifully acted. I've missed loads and though I agree she's got a point about 'affordable housing' I can't help but think she's a massive hypocrite who's very happy to accept the generosity of Oliver but is equally happy to attack Chris for having the good fortune to marry a woman who owns her own property. Her bitterness is really eating her up and she's so unpleasant I can't wish her any kind of good fortune.

Emma is her mother's daughter!
Letting her bitterness eat her up will do no good - she is alienating the very people who might help her. I predict that Justin will shaft her but JD will somehow make things better.
I totally agree with Vango's point that Emma is oblivious to the massive leg-up she already gets with subsidised housing and free childcare.

Wow. If I was Emma, I'd be a bit pissed off to be expected to celebrate Chris paying off his business loan while living in a free house with his zero children and high earning wife

Particularly when he was going on about not wanting the affordable housing and backing Jennifer up.