The Archers: Will Pip grow or Jill blow? Lil make her vow or Justin take his bow? Discussion #83

[DadDadDad]

TA (The Archers) annoys me intensely but I still have to listen
I think there is a possibility that we obsess about TA in a way that most listeners don't

If this is you (genuine quotes from earlier threads), or you're new and want to ask anything about The Archers, then this is the right place.

PseudoBadger started it, but we're going to finish it (er, will TA ever finish?)

The panto is meant to be Sleeping Beauty, but are you expecting farce (Mother Goose Pip) or tragedy (Puss Cat in Wedding Dress Boots )?

This should see us through to Christmas.

At the end of the last thread we were remembering recent successful marriages in Ambridge. How long ago was Ed & Emma?

I just despair listening to Ed'n'Emma. And however much we might be supposed to admire plucky, grafting Emmur, I'm afraid I can't stand that bitter, vituperative tone of voice she slips into all too easily. And yes, I know she doubtless has cause to be bitter when she looks around at others who seem to be wallowing in good fortune, but still.

As for upduffed Pip. Really, SWs? It's the world's most implausible storyline. OK, we're not privy to her deepest convictions and beliefs but it just feels as though they can't think of anything better to do than make her pregnant. It feels totally out of character for her to come over all 'this feels like the right thing for me'. I'd have said it was completely and utterly the wrong thing at this point in her life and situation. But hey ho. We'll have to suffer through it, heaven help us

I find Freddie increasingly irritating - he doesn't seem to have matured past the age of 14. Where Nigel was endearingly dim, Freddie is just dim. Elizabeth really needs to send him off to help in the soup kitchen or something to give him a dose of reality: he's so bloody entitled about assuming he will be funded to go to Magaluf or doss around doing the occasional bit of DJ work.

And I'm seriously depressed about the inevitable "Freddie sells the heirloom to fund his puerile dreams/pay off his supplier" storyline that must be coming our way.

Isn't Freddie the supplier?

Yes, TheAntiBoop Freddie and Nolli are suppliers. I'm told this is not uncommon amongst the yoof, but I could do without this unsavoury storyline.

And I completely agree regarding pip. I so hope she'll have a spontaneous miscarriage just to spare us the storyline (with sincere apologies to those who suffer losses in real life).

There's been two miscarriages in recent times so I don't think so for pip

Whilst I would like the baby to go away I don't think they would be able to sensitively handle a miscarriage with pip

I think that Freddie will get himself into all sorts of trouble. Lily will sort him out and keep it quiet from Lizzie in return for the heirloom ring. Mess of pottage scenario.
Maybe laying down a pattern of behaviour for a lifetime (Freddie is the nominal owner of LL but in reality it's Lily that calls the shots. Freddie will die a dissolute, childless bachelor and Lily finally inherits.)

There's been two miscarriages in recent times so I don't think so for pip

She could be part of a Public Information campaign about miscarriages being more common than people realise. Isn't it something like one in six?

there was a point when the US exported Cheddar to the UK in huge quantities but they shot themselves in the foot by trying to do it on the cheap and using vegetable oil instead of butterfat

O.M.G. How revolting.

Bore I misread flinging herself as fingering herself! Pass the brain bleach please....😱

Apologies for being dense, but is anyone able to explain what happened after the sale of the Dower House?

If Lilian was the main beneficiary of the trust, wouldn’t she have got the money from the sale? Or did Matt take it to Ecuador or wherever he went? It doesn’t seem to have been mentioned, unless I missed it?

R4 Im liking your thinking, Freddie dies and Lily inherits the lot, without having to claim identity as a man

By "supplier", I was thinking of Freddie's mate who supplied the pills. He's stupid enough to go back for more.

" It feels totally out of character for her to come over all 'this feels like the right thing for me."

Totally agree with Halsall about this - the sl is totally lacking in credibility - so it comes across as a random event thrown in without thought or planning.

A pp down-thread mentioned that she was not even sure if we are meant to like Pip; surely that is a result of poor writing too?

And also agree with FrancisCrawford that it would have a thousands time better if a sympathetic character like Kirsty had been allowed to keep her baby.

Apologies for being dense, but is anyone able to explain what happened after the sale of the Dower House?

Oh really, Sara. It's perfectly obvious what happened. You really must Listen Harder. It's quite simple - like the Bridge Farm / Tom Archer Sausages / CheesesRUs / keffir / farm-shop setup.

goodelfallover

Re the LL inheritance - is it not entailed in the male line?

I've read enough Austen and Georgette Heyer to understand that if so, it means that should Freddy meet a sticky end without producing a male heir, then it will all go to some distant cousin or other (see Mr Collins)

BoreofWhabylon

Or they are lining Lily up to self identify as a man [ referencee* ]

Why did poor Kirsty (a character who is hard working, a good friend, and is downright nice) have to lose her baby?

Probably because the audience reaction to the pregnancy was so spectacularly negative? Wasn't everyone railing against the prospect of Kirsty being tied to Tom/Bridge Farm? I don't remember any positive comments.

If they cared about listener opinion why is pip still alive?

And I think it's different because people were feeling negative for her as a character - and it would have been interesting to see her co parent but not get back together with Tom

Whereas the pip sl is just shit

Mark

If they cared about listener opinion why is pip still alive?

I suspect it's easier to write out a character that doesn't yet exist than it is to remove an established one!

Yeah but you don't then think 'ooooh, they all hate pip, great idea, let's write her into every episode!'

Ok. So haven't listened in ages. Did the Brighton mystery get solved?

Also the Freddie storyline is tedious. As is Noli and her bad influence which is how Lizzy will no doubt see it. What were the gifts from Nigel? A ring? Which presumably will get sold for. drugs.

Toby said that Brighton was some lovelorn ex who had a drug problem and kept going off the rails and Toby kept visiting her because he felt guilty and was the only one who could stop her topping herself, or summat along those lines. Can’t even remember how Pip reacted to that but he did seem to stop visiting.

Can you imagine the acting when Pip goes into labour (in some suitably dramatically soapy way, of course)? Kill me now.