The Archers: Tally-Ho for the Hunt Ball! Will Justin return from Scotland with the Gay Gordons? Will Adam feel a right Charlie? Discussion #81

[DadDadDad]

Thanks, R4, for the title (again!).

I'm your temporary host while PseudoBadger is on her sabbatical / prison term / secret mission.

Old hands and complete newbies all welcome.

Spoilers (eg Radio Times descriptions of future programmes) not welcome.

When will Matt reappear? Before / during / after the wedding?

The floor is yours...

Jim!!!

Had forgotten his existence.

Ah, there's Emma. At her charming best as always. Poor Robert. And poor anyone else who has to encounter her.

I hope Emma gets the parish council job. In real life they would be desperate for her - PCs tend to be walk-to-wall retired white men so while I'm a big Robert fan I think it would be better for Emma to get on. It would be interesting for her to learn a bit more about how things work (my dh is a parish councillor and finds it fascinating) and she'd bring a good alternative viewpoint to the meetings. I suspect she only wants to join so she can influence the planning committee wrt the bridge farm development but it would be great if she became a stalwart of the PC like her father. Not convinced she has time though...

So here we go again. Yet another elderly resident intervening to give Emma a 'chance'. How would she feel if she found out that Jim had been helping Robert behind the scenes? And if she's so interested in being a Parish Councillor why doesn't she look up the process for applying? And why doesn't she speak to Robert about it!

I think that's a bit harsh- and well done Jim
but...isn't Emma Neil's daughter? how come he didn't fill her in?

Not even a bit harsh. As usual, she decides she wants something and gets peevish when she doesn't automatically get her way.

In true Reithian fashion, the scriptwriters like to Inform and Educate with regard to agricultural matters but Entertain with regard to financial matters

not forgetting 'entertain' with respect to the magical world that is Ambridge health and Ambridge jobs which magically appear to keep people in the village.

I'd get shot of Pip, both the Grundy boys, Justin and Matt, oh so many. Ruth and David too if I thought I could do it without being lynched

Bring back Patrick - yes definitely, he wasn't in it long enough to be an irritant and Kirsty always liked him.

Perhaps Jean Paul could come back and open a fancy new restaurant with Ian to compete with the wotsit sisters.

Emma would be a nightmare on the parish council as she has a propensity to gossip and pettiness etc like her mother

However, a young person and/or a woman would be good

I like ddd’s idea of bringing Ursula and Bruce to Ambridge as long term residents. They’d have to develop the characters and we might really find out what Ursula’s relationship with Bruce has been like, we’d have to meet Miles too, and hopefully Bruce will be exposed as an utter bastard. Of course our nerves would be in tatters in 2 weeks and we’d all stop listening.

I was so happy to hear Jim. He’s a great character.

Jim wasn't helping Emma behind the scenes. He was doing his duty as parish clerk.

Patrick is not happening!

There are rules in Ambridge writing. Newcomers (single newcomers) only get to stay if they form a connection with an Archer. (Newcomer couples - they play the long game with them; witness the Snells, only just embraced into the Archer fold via Mungo.) So, Ian won't stay if he forms a non- Archer relationship unless an Archer egg is used for his prospective surrogate child.

And Kirsty ... Not sure bees are enough to constitute a "connection" ...

Jim wasn't helping Emma behind the scenes. He was doing his duty as parish clerk.

Ah. That'll explain the cloak and dagger 'private word' then. Everyone knows she's applying. Why the secrecy?

Because the village establishment think Robert's a shoo-in and Jim would be seen as letting the side down. Because parish council business should be confidential.

Robert is lovely, but it would be just wrong for him to be a shoo-in on the PC - simply replicating the old guard, and shoring up the NIMBY tendencies of Lynda, Jenny, et al. So I hope that Emma does get elected (although it's frankly unlikely with a PC electorate, unless she does a Momentum-style social media based campaign and gets the younger vote out) and go, Jim! I do like Jim, and his alliances with the younger, ahem, rougher residents of Ambridge.

Who would I get rid of? Oof, I"d settle for seeing the back of Pip.

Also, doesn't Lynda simply see Robert as an extension of her will on the council? I suppose it would be a rich source of comedy in future storylines if Ambridge's resident Eva Peron had her objectives frustrated by a surge of independence from her creature...

Emma has only one selfish reason for wanting to be on the Parish Council. She's never shown the slightest interest before. I think she'd be rubbish.

Well, yes, she wants to try and influence planning policy. Others are there to project an image of themselves as upstanding types, no doubt. Lynda seems to see herself/Robert as the Cicero of Borsetshire. Bless!

I hope Emma gets it, and blossoms. Maybe there will be a solution in the form of someone else dropping out, so both Emma and Robert get on. And then create a formidable alliance, to the astonishment of Lynda & Co.

Kirsty would be good.

Emma is not a nice character at all any more. I don't really get the love for her and ed tbh

And Vango, with the greatest respect, you thinking Emma would be rubbish at something is not news!

I thought I was being very restrained Cromwell.

Oh, indeed. Pavlovian, but restrained.

The cheek! 😁

Emma for Prime Minister.

It was nice to hear Nic again. Another character I'd like to hear more often.

Emma and Nic for Prime Minister job-share.