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!

Last night Brine specifically said that at the time of the dumping he was “very overextended” or something along those lines. It would be fascinating to know if the SW really are taking their cue from actual plot lines in the programme 40 years ago it whether it’s all just being invented now in the hope that nobody really remembers enough specifics from that time to challenge them.

OK - some posting stats for those who care. (I try not to do these too often, as despite appearances, I think the main point here is to actually discuss, you know, The Archers. Incidentally, it's not practical to exclude "title-gate" posts from the count - these threads often go off on tangents, and all I can do is add up the posts).

Here's the graph showing posts per day, so this thread is certainly a spike to rival Helen's trial (Sept 2016), but not of course Rob's stabbing itself.

The busiest 24 hours I can find are from 7:06pm on Friday: 524 posts! That beats the 329 posts following Kirsty being jilted in 2014, and 343 posts when Helen met Jess as things came to a head with Rob. The stabbing itself prompted 1025 posts and the trial verdict 668 posts in 24 hours.

The spreadshit has spoken.

DDD that's brilliant!

Jessie It would be fascinating to know if the SW really are taking their cue from actual plot lines in the programme 40 years ago it whether it’s all just being invented now in the hope that nobody really remembers enough specifics from that time to challenge them.

I would so love this to have been planted 40 years ago as a slow-burner plot.

I hope that at least they have checked the situation 40 years ago to ensure it is compatible. (But I don't suppose they have.)

Perhaps in 40 years time we'll have Freddy's son turning up as an adult having finally been told about his parentage and conception at a festival. Thus leading to an inheritance issue.

Wish we could LA to New Years Eve episode. I remember Nic agreeing reluctantly to store Matt’s suitcase behind the bar. But surely she left before Matt & wouldn’t have been around when the hit and run took place?

Also please can someone remind me of her motive for doing it? I know everyone loathed Matt, but can’t remember what he said to her and/or Will.

As for future partners for Will, I think a new character will arrive on the scene in a couple of years. I really can’t imagine any of current characters putting up with his carping misogynistic traits😬

Thanks D3. Love the stats 😁

If it was Nic or Alice who hit Matt it would have been an accident, no motive required, then fright making them take off.
But wasn't here some speeding? Some kind of 'slow down you idiot' or something from Matt, so I don't think Nic would have been doing that, though Alice would had she been drinking.
So again, Alice would be more likely to panic as she knew she had been drinking, whereas Nic could safely say 'accident'.

Love the stats too.

Wish we could LA to New Years Eve episode. I remember Nic agreeing reluctantly to store Matt’s suitcase behind the bar. But surely she left before Matt & wouldn’t have been around when the hit and run took place?

I may actually still have the omnibus podcast as they download automatically and I've not cleared them up for ages. I'll look tonight.

Not terminally sad, honest guv.

Great graph D3. Thanks for the stats. Perhaps you should get a slot on the Tim Harford programme as resident Archers' statistician?? I'd listen!

I've been thinking about the slow-burn story lines, and I think this is the strength of the Shula-Alistair narrative. They've weathered some major storms, but basically, they've done all they can/want to do as a couple - created a home, supported each other in business, brought up their family - and now they've simply run out of steam and interest. It's a gradual crumbling of the relationship from within - which probably accounts for more late-middle-age dissatisfaction and unhappiness than the big shocks. I'm interested how this one plays out. And Jenny-Brian, of course, although I think they'll stick together.

Is the Aldridge firm a limited company? If so it's quite fortuitous that Brian only has limited shares in it.

Wow, this thread is moving fast!

A million posts ago BoreofWhabylon said:

Anyway, here is a Mystic Bore™️ prediction for you all - Ambridge will soon have its very first transgender character. Unfortunately, the 🔮is unclear about who it will be.

I don't think the new Editor would want this. I looked him up when his appointment was announced and was aghast to discover that his wife was murdered by a stranger in 1992. He was left alone to bring up their two very young children. The murderer is now in a secure psychiatric unit, I think, and the reason this is relevant to Bore's post is that when he was found he was dressed in the victim's clothes.

It occurs to me that this storyline is going to be very close to the bone for Jeremy Howe. I hope he was consulted about it, if the timing worked out that way.

Bit late to the party but wanted to say that once an episode has aired any discussion is NOT a spoiler. Very petty to complain imo.

Also please can someone remind me of her motive for doing it? I know everyone loathed Matt, but can’t remember what he said to her and/or Will

No motive or malice if it had been Nic. She was just in a rush to get home to a sick child and would have been purely accidental. I'm not convinced Nic would have done a hit and run tho'.

Crossdressing/transvestism in the context of an awful murder and personal tragedy isn’t the same as a law-abiding transgender character story thread.

I agree, Lass, hit and run would be completely out of character for Nic. And witnessing a hit and run without saying a word - not even to her husband - is similarly implausible.

BringMeTea - don't relurk, join the discussion on TA, the more the merrier!

By the way, the complaint from some people was not about spoiler-y discussion, it was about have a spoiler in the title, which is why MNHQ changed it (then changed it back; wohh, the hokey-cokey!). Anyway, it's water under the bridge now.

I honestly through the Nic "confession" was going to be her feeling bad about falling out with the various people, nothing more.

But, given people saying that Joe was quite shocked maybe not. Although I thought that maybe he was shocked that she thought she was "bad".

Although having her inaudibly whisper implies it was something more dramatic.

Anyway...

Abra1de, yes, I suppose so. However, even without the possible personal associations, I think this would be a very difficult storyline for TA to cover in any kind of nuanced, sensitive way that doesn't turn into more uncritical BBC cheerleading for transgenderism, and I hope they don't even attempt it.

I've only just caught up on the last two films (been in a place with abysmal WiFi, keeping up via these threads; #prayforJimbo) and have a few trivial remarks:

Brine's lying was SO heavily signalled in retrospect (not that I would've noticed). "I don't know what I did to deserve someone who believes in me like you do," he said to Jenny, while lying. Well, quite. At the board meeting "all this bears no resemblance to who I am as a farmer" .

Someone said a while back they had a feeling that Nic was petite. "[Clarrie] won't see you behind the ironing board; you're only small" - Joe.

BOOP for Joe "It's Italian, so it's romantic." Made me smile, anyway.

Someone said Joe might have advice for Will, what with them both being widowed young. Wonder how old Eddie was when his mum died - could Poppy end up being looked after by her grandad mainly? Would be nice for him to be truly useful, after all his "I've always provided for my family" rubbish to Tobes.

I feel that Toby's vastly-improved boyfriend-material rating is being shown quite heavily. The gliding trip - he gets what SWMNBN is feeling. They'll end up together

Brine's response to all accusations so far has been along the lines of "Why would I deliberately agree to poison my own land, FFS?" So is he seriously saying that 30 years ago he was so utterly stupid that he did just that?

This surely has to presage him handing over total control to Adam. He must know that he can never get his way again in any disagreement, because every time he trots out the argument about his experience and knowledge Adam has the perfect response.

Long time lurker here DELURKING with a hit and run theory. No one I know IRL listens properly to TA so I can’t bounce this off anyone.

Brian’s had lots of car related issues lately hasn’t he?
-Running over Peggy’s cat (Bill?) while speeding
-He had to have his car fixed post the Hunt ball
-He had to have his/Jenny’s car fixed last week(?)
Drunk/driving to Peggy’s house.

Is this all coincidence? It makes me wonder whether he ran over Matt pissed but didn’t realise. Maybe Brian is being set up for an even bigger fall from grace.

I don’t buy Nic as behind a hit and run but maybe she saw Brian and felt unable to shop him given his status as Will’s employer. Or is this all too far-fetched?

I agree it seems possible Gun! Lots of car signposting.

I am NOT surprised that Brine did it. He said he didn't too many time. Protesteth too much!

Gasp0de I knew the new Editor's tragic backstory but didn't know the extra detail.

And more uncritical BBC cheerleading for transgenderism is, I fear, precisely they way they would attempt it.

Okay Brian arrived in 1975. Married Jennifer in May 1976, taking on her two children (Debbie and Adam). Kate was born in 1977.
Brian said he was providing for Jenny's two children when he allowed the TCE to be dumped, so it must have been between May 1976 and September 1977.
Now Brian bought Home Farm without a mortgage from the proceeds of selling his "family" farm in Hertfordshire for development. But he did do up the farmhouse which had been flats before, he also according to "The Archers book of Farming and the Countryside" probably "destroyed more hedges, uprooted more trees and filled in more ponds than any other farmer in Ambridge".
Also when Brian married Jenny he paid for Debbie and Adam to go to private schools, maybe that made him a bit strapped for cash. I have been trying to work out where Low Mead is, maybe' its at the very edge where there are some buildings marked on the plan of Home Farm, because its supposed to be near where the new land is, and it is where Lyttleton Brook flows.

BTW William Smethurst left about the same time as Dan Archer died.