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 can deflect the attention away from you Vango . I loathe loathe Matt, and want Lillian to marry Justin.

I couldn't really have cared less about the Ed/Will outcome at the time. It was the way that Emma tried to stop Will from seeing George that really affected me. There wasn't even any reason for it.

Thanks birds!

Yes - she was vile about George. The way she was so adamant he was ed's- so she was happy to let will think he was his. And then when will was confirmed as his dad she was a real bitch.

she and Susan have an excessive dose of the green eyed monster but Emma wasn't always like that

Did anythibg ever come of George and all the money?

Also agree that I would rather Lillian didn't get back together with Matt. He's a good character but horrible

I cannot warm to will at all, he's a misogynist pig

Will being an arse doesn't stop Emma also being an arse. He doted on her if I recall. I always felt they made him nasty to try and make the whole Emma ed thing ok

Are we not forgetting the biggest Ambridge sinner - I give you...Jill Archer! over half a century of nursing an envious grudge against a dead woman for having had the temerity to have married Phil first, and then dying at peak magnificent horsewomanly glamour, before mousy little Jill (presumably how Jill sees herself) and her flapjack recipes came along. Not only envy, but jealousy too - double-dyed green.

Checking back in after two weeks away - just listened to two films back to back and have to say I absolutely love the Emma and the affordable houses storyline. Love Emma as a character (note that's not the same as loving her as a person) because she is one of those who is fully rounded. I can dislike her intensely (over the whole Ed/Will business) yet still sympathise with her over her housing difficulties. At the end of the day she is Susan's daughter - which must be quite a difficult position to be in - her little scrapbook of ideas for her dream home is very Susan. As the years have gone by however, I have grown to dislike Will more than I ever disliked Emma - his strop over Caroline's bequest tells you everything you need to know about him. The affordable housing storyline has been a long time coming - Ambridge is inhabited (with few exceptions) by people who inherited their homes or live in some kind of tied property. She should be incensed by the Nimbyism on display - compounded by the fact that some of it comes from her own brother who, but for marrying an Aldridge might well have found himself in the same position. My fear is that the conclusion of this story (if it is true to life) is that the affordable homes will turn out to be far from affordable for the likes of Emma and Ed. Finally I'd just like to add that Lily currently gets my award for the most irritating character and the sooner she goes back to communicating through the medium of mime the better.

I don't want bad things to happen to Emma. I hope they get a house of their own. But I don't like her - either her past behaviour and her current behaviour.

Emma's 'I'll go and check on the kids' is rapidly becoming her version of Pip's 'I can't deal with this'.

(Another one here who can sympathise with the truly crap hand dealt out to Emma and yet be left completely cold by her as a personality)

I absolutely agree with you re liking characters vs liking a person LilianGish. What I like most about the Archers is the flawed characters. I'm hugely fond of Lilian as a character but really she's a selfish narcissist. Same with Jenny.

But they are real because they are so complex and neither good nor bad.

Is it a coincidence that Simon Williams is in EE and TA?

My comment about Tom was that the actor is the RL son of the Tony actor. The real Tom Archer had a distinctive voice and I thought he was great. Don't like the new one.

The new Chris Carter sounds like Roy too me.

Why do Emma and Ed not try for a housing association house, or is that what they are trying to do?

to not too

people still want to see awful things befall her

Steady on. I haven't wished her ill. I don't want bad things to happen to any of them. Stating that I can't bear her character's personality traits isn't implying either "that she should know her place" or that I hope something "awful" happens to her. The constant, whiny stomping around and the fact that nothing is ever good enough are the things that make her tiresome. Yes, of course she's been in dire straits - as were the Grundies when they went to Meadow Rise - but her own special brand of moaning irritates me.

I feel the same about Pip.

I like Emma. She does her best by her kids and is a hard worker. I have every sympathy for her feeling it isn't fair when all around her are inheriting, being given free houses etc. She was also a good friend to Helen as much as she was allowed to be.

I think Cromwell is being a bit too hard on Jill. I don't think she was nursing an envious grudge against Grace. She just always felt her ghost and her presence. Adding to that how Fairbrother Snr treated Elizabeth and then Pip getting caught up with Toby, you can see how it all stays alive to her.

I'll be furious if the screw up Oxford for Phoebe.
(I'm also a bit cross that Lily passed her driving test and not Freddie.)

Who gets to decide who affordable housing is sold to (and the price)?

Of all the characters, I would quite like something bad to happen to pip

Oh crikey maybe I like Emma because I use that tactic as well. I often use "just checking on the kids" to avoid people who irritate me.

I did enjoy the whole Will/Em/Ed love triangle storyline and liked the way Will hated them for years (unlike telly soaps where such things are forgotten in weeks) and Em and End where so horrible in there plan to run away to France taking George away from Will.