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

Josh and Justin could go into business together. J and J Sneaky Twerps.

Was it Matt on the other end? Wow, that could be an interesting twist.

Missed it. Will LA. But I'm always on Josh's side!

Oh dear. Lillian has already been ripped off by one bloke, wouldn't she be at least on high alert against another scammer? Or discuss it with Brian? or even (gasp!) have her own accountant and lawyer to advise? I have these things and I'm not managing the balance sheet and turnover of Amside! Cherrrrrr-ist! story writers - how much BS are you willing to hurl at us?

Sounded to me as if Justin might have paid the troublesome tenant (? - couldn't hear clearly) to be troublesome - in order to finesse a Damara takeover of Amside.

Heaven knows why.

Isn't demara supposed to be a private equity fund?

And who will he bring back from Scotland...

Sounded to me as if Justin might have paid the troublesome tenant (? - couldn't hear clearly) to be troublesome - in order to finesse a Damara takeover of Amside

Something to do with a right of way which was declared to be capable of a quick and easy resolution without going to court without apparently examining any titles or searches.
The Ambridge spare room / curer of ailments fairy is now providing legal services.

Amside was Lilian's business that she started with Matt, so of course Justin wants to obliterate all trace. I hope Lilian was listening to herself saying she valued her independence.

Oh silly me! I forgot that some posters on here have a feminist agenda that takes priority. Are we going to start calling mothers Mpersons and fathers Fpersons now?

Of course a male can give comfort and care to a child the same as a female it's just that the female is biologically programmed to do it. Not all mothers do it naturally of course. I will shut up now. Apologies.

Josh and Ed working together !

Josh and Ed working together !

The seed for this idea seems to have come from SuperPip!
I despaired at how Josh didn't seem to know about the equipment sale at the auctioneers - I thought he was supposed to be 'in the know'.
And that business about Rex spending hours e-mailing everyone - isn't that a simple mail-merge task?

I meant Josh and Eddie Ed is the son isn't he? I do get confused. I predict tears for one or other or both of that team!

Yes R4 one would hope that Rex is young enough to be computer literate too.

I meant Josh and Eddie

If it's any consolation, I read "Eddie" despite you writing "Ed".
We know what we mean, even if nobody else does.

Yes we do

Hello all, back from holidays, had a lovely long TA catch up yesterday. I listen every day usually and always forget how much I enjoy the omnibus.

Way, way up the thread somebody asked about fostering in Ambridge. Tom and Prue Forrest did it. Tom was Doris Archer's brother and therefore uncle to Phil, Jack and Christine (and great-uncle to Kenton, Shula, David, Elizabeth, Lilian, Tony, Jennifer and Peter). They fostered two boys, I believe. This was long before I was alive, let alone listening, but was occasionally mentioned thereafter.

Christine's first husband was a bad lot, I think, and was got rid of in a car crash at a time when they were heading for divorce. Their adopted son Peter hasn't spoken in living memory but as Gruach said he is an orchestra manager constantly touring the world and based in Germany.

It was good to hear Oliver reminiscing about Carly.

This surrogacy storyline is a letdown. Adopting a troubled child might have been a very interesting SL. As it is, I can see it all getting a bit lurid. I know very little about it, but this website seems likely to have been the SWs' Ian's first port of call. It says In the UK it is not legal to make a profit from a surrogacy arrangement; expenses can only cover the cost that a pregnancy brings for a surrogate and her family. Anybody know what that means?

Gasp0de - isn't that surrogacy quote fairly clear: the surrogate can claim for things like maternity wear, travel to appointments, childcare for other children while at appointments perhaps? But they can't just send an invoice for thousands of pounds purely for providing the service of being a surrogate.

Actually, apart from the odd maternity dress and bus fare to your scans, pregnancy costs nothing financially, right? (tongue a little in cheek here)

DDD, taking your life in your hands there! I don't know. It seems extraordinary to me that anyone would put themselves through all the discomfort of an average, problem-free pregnancy, never mind the risks of serious health problems, and then give the baby up without even the incentive of getting a large sum of money at the end of it. Although I can easily see why the UK govt has banned that - abusive men pushing women into doing it, women lying about health problems so as not to lose the money...

I guess it comes from the same place ethically as the ban on selling your organs - including the scope for exploiting the bodies of those who are desperate for money, plus the kind of concerns you mention.

Surrogacy is dodgy in terms of payments as I think surrogate mothers can include quite a bit with creative accounting but probably not more than a few £1000s, not enough to make most women consider it worth while.
I watched a documentary about a surrogate who was just addicted to being pregnant. I think she had some major psychological issues around attachment and self esteem and I felt very strongly that she needed therapy, not to be used as a baby farm.
I can understand surrogacy for a loved one - I would consider it for a sibling for example, because I would be in that child's life forever and I love my siblings and would want them to be parents. But a random? No fucking way. It's an insane thing to do IMO.

I had simple pregnancies and childbirth it's the next 20something years that I found the tricky bit! so I would have considered surrogacy for a loved one but only on the basis of being an incubator, I wouldn't donate eggs.

Helen! NO!

Bingo.

Doggedly independent/fucking moronic Helen strikes again. I want to see Adam walk out on Iain if he lets his unstable, eclampsia-prone cousin go through with this.

back to the baster then Helen?

honestly, has she not thought about how she will explain things to her other children as they get older.

"Tell me about my daddy mummy"

"Well I never actually met your daddy Henry, but he sounded lovely on the data base description."

"And what about my daddy mummy"

"Jack, your daddy was very mean to mummy and to Henry and Henry's bunny, so we don't really talk about him, but listen boys, although your daddies have sadly both turned out to be non starters in the daddy stakes, mummy has some wonderful news! My new baby is going to have two daddies, the best daddies in the whole world who will love the new baby like proper daddies should, what a lucky baby this new baby is going to be, loved and cared for by two real life proper daddies. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that wonderful news? Dont you wish you were the new ....... Henry? Jack? Where are you going, stop crying, come and give mummy and baby bump a big big hug."

Didn't someone predict this earlier? FFS I have no words

Given how well they know Helen they would be mad! She's totally unsuitable

I think the only way surrogacy has a chance to work is if the baby is not genetically the mothers iyswim. Even then I don't think Helen could mentally cope with it.