Alas poor Nic! I sacked her, Kenton. Death comes to Ambridge. Discuss the remaining Archers here. (Title Edited by MNHQ)

[PseudoBadger]

So it’s taken a sad, untimely death to bring me out of retirement. How I have missed you all
Welcome to thread 86!

So I’ve not been listening for that long and I don’t have it in my genetics, but can place many of the characters I’ve never listened to but have heard of - but who was Laura archer?

@peggy_woolley is well worth following at the moment if you’re on Twitter.

‘Peggy’ claims she uses an Enigma machine for her computer passwords and that she has polished the staircase for when Christine gets back from wherever it is she is 😆.

I LA this morning to the deathbed scene, and agree with pp that Nic didn't have time to whisper much to Joe. I also thought that he was so horrified, surely she must be 'confessing' to something more than witnessing a hit and run? Funnily enough, the thought that Poppy might not be Will's popped in to my head - not sure why, but perhaps because of Joe saying she'd been a wonderful mother, a wonderful wife.

But I can't think of any possible candidate for Poppy's father, apart from Will!

Thinking back to the hit n run, didn’t we hear a person walking over to where Matt was lying, walking quite heavily (so a man? Certainly not a light person like Nic), sighing and then going back to their car. Tho DH tells me now he thought the sigh was from Matt. How do l know Nic‘s little? I don’t, l just feel she is very petite. Maybe it‘s the squeaky voice.

Is it therefore Justin we heard and who Nic saw as she approached, and she didn’t see him arrive so assumed he‘d caused the accident. But really it was Shula or Alice or Uncle Tom Cobley.

it was a heart attack according to The Book of The Archers, written by Peggy, Brian and Kathy (well, the actors actually, but you know what I mean) Maybe it was a heart attack when she was out and about, and she was found in a ditch?...

BikingBeatrix ... Shula, on the other hand, I'm sure is quite sturdily built and her footsteps could well sound like those of a man

I think joe was horrified to think that nick thought she was a bad person. He wasn't horrified by what she said, he was horrified by her feeling she was a bad person

I don't think so. Nic said she was bad and he wasn't horrified by that. His response to that was a "stuff and nonsense, don't be silly" almost platitudinous reaction as what she said was so patently silly.

His reaction after she told him whatever it was she told him was quite different. He was genuinely shocked.

Thanks Lass - I misunderstood comments regarding Matt being run over.

Indeed, Meredint.

I seem to recall Aunt Laura was Aussie.

Another who died of old age must have been Marjorie A? What about Susan Grundy? How did she die? I don‘t remember her but she must have been around when l began listening. Will talked of Grandma asif he‘d known her. I was around when Ed was born. Eddie announced it in the Bull. Who was born first Will Grundy or the prince?

Sorry for all the questions, they just keep coming.

His reaction after she told him whatever it was she told him was quite different. He was genuinely shocked.

Yes I just listened to that bit again and my reaction now is the same as on Friday - I thought it was something she had done which shocked Joe.

My immediate thought was that Poppy wasn't Will's but I had no candidates for alternate father. I'm not convinced she hit Matt but timewise I guess its a possibility.

Frances May I suggest a falling category as well?
Falling down the stairs
Falling off the roof etc

Pretty sure Prince William born first and Clarrie expressly named her baby after him.

I don’t remember the Aunt Laura character but I do think I have been told before that she was a Kiwi.

Ah, right, Jessie. I did almost type Antipodean. l could also have checked with DH who was listening before l was.l did wonder if Willyum was called after HRH.

Didn't we hear Will and Nic all loved up and frisky when they were TTC Poppy? Wasn't that when Lynda caught them on the wildlife camera?

Surely there is no doubt that Poppy is Wills?

Thinking back to the hit n run, didn’t we hear a person walking over to where Matt was lying, walking quite heavily (so a man?

No. We didn't.

I don't think joe was shocked by what she said tbh. But by the situation of a young person dying.

Buttered, who fell downstairs? Is it onliy Nigel in the roof Fall category? They haven‘t got a go to roofer in Ambridge. Maybe Phil does roofs?

Something l don’t get is how unobservant the husbands are. Whoever hit Matt must have had damage to their cars. Also, would Alice have left the hunt ball without Chris? But whyhaven‘t Chris/Alistair/Willyum noticed damage to vehicle?

I guess tonight will be 2 characters coming out of church, talking about Nic. And a bit with Alan offering words of comfort. And what will Brine do if his game keeper has to take time off?

Lastly, maybe Jake and Mia will go to Beverley and all 3 will be in Ambridge a lot. TA does need some new characters and maybe the new ed thinks so too. Maybe not.

Boop, didn’t we? I was pretty sure of that. Oh well.

Susan Grundy was 46.found collapsed on the scullery floor. Could this be a new sub-category under falls?

I think the most reliable category of death for Grundy women would be exhaustion...

Hmm I now want to know if Sid was in a chair at the time of his heart attack.

PP has just reminded me about the TA phenomenon of Al Fresco conception. Please don't let Kirsty be the next one.