Brian is over a barrel, Alice has drained the barrel and Shula has given it to Alistair with both barrels - The Archers is not exactly a barrel of laughs at the moment.

[PseudoBadger]

Thanks to @LillianGish for the thread title.

I can't even remember Paul having an ex and I clearly remember the Paul SL.

I think quite a lot of it was on Ambridge Extra.

They could re cast Debbie and set Tamsin free though.

Have been away for a while and haven’t caught up on the whole thread but I have just listened to the omnibus and so must say that TA is brilliant at the moment- all those conversations where people have no idea of what is really going on, perfectly executed Jazzer-based comedy (“an ye heal fluffy wee kittens fur a livin!”) Shula reverting to being a whining teen and Jill a bossy Mum, Jenny standing up to Brian and Brian’s petulance, the beginnings of Myson vs Your Son, lovely Ed and paranoid broken Will, Emma struggling to reconcile her sympathy and own grief with the practical burdens and Tom behaving like a monumental twat. I even enjoyed Ian giving advice on cheese class business strategy. (Love Alison Steadman but could do without Olwen though). I have come to the conclusion that rather than Charles Collingwood and Judy Bennet wanting to have a joint sabbatical they have been sitting round their kitchen table planning how to get the SW to ramp up their roles.

EEbearhug Paul’s ex Celia was played by Anita Dobson with much fanfare on the main programme but the part never amounted to much.

Sorry ignore that last post, I hasn’t rtft and seen that Anita already mentioned I think that Paul post-dated Amex though, which was all about Matt, Lilian and the Russian gangsters?

I so want to agree with you Jessie - but I can’t, quite.

There’s too much going on, firstly. And while the SWs generally start off full of enthusiasm for the newest story - in the end we limp to completely implausible dying declarations and the nonsense of Will terrified of the police - when grieving would have been quite enough.

And even where the intention of a story is good - the execution just isn’t always so. I am very sorry but NewTom is still dreadfully performed. And I found it impossible to believe that someone so experienced would be such a poor manager of people.

But the worst thing was what they made Jazzer do last night. Funny lines, maybe. But - how old is he now? Which SW thought it was believable that he’d be encouraging someone in the middle of being dumped by his wife from a longstanding marriage to get out there and meet other women? I like Jazzer as a character - I would really have appreciated hearing him react like an actual adult and perhaps being of some support to poor, friendless Alistair.

And, while I’m on a roll, I felt a good deal of impatience with Ian last night too. How does he not think the future of Home Farm, and Adam’s role in it is important?

However, there was no Pip last night, so it’s not all bad!

Not much to add, and not much time either this morning, but just wanted to leave these: for Cecile and Frances and anyone else for whom Shula's self-centred behaviour is bringing back bad memories.

Pip pip! Or is that perhaps not the best farewell greeting for this thread?

absolute individual self-fulfilment is now much more socially accepted than total commitment and staying in a relationship just because you have made promises the other person has built their life on for you Cecile. Extremely well put - perfectly describes Shula's actions and explains Jill's reaction to anyone who thinks she's being unreasonable (Jill being from another generation entirely). My personal opinion is that Shula and Alistair are as dull as each other, but even if Shula has decided she deserves better she should at the very least have the decency to give Alistair a proper explanation and the opportunity to talk it through.

The stuff about Paul and his ex can't have been on Ambridge Extra, or not much, because I remember it pretty well and I've never listened to AE.

I do agree about Shula giving Alastair a decent explanation rather than saying "It's not that" to everything he comes up with and then refusing to say what it is. It's particularly inexcusable in a supposedly devout person who (I assume) made promises about loving and honouring her husband for better, for worse etc etc.

I know what you mean Gruach and of course it all unravels if you think about it too much but for some reason the flow of the dialogue is just working really well for me at the moment and I found myself laughing at Jazzer despite also thinking that his comments were completely unrealistic. His description of Jim and the piano teacher was very funny too. He did have a more serious side when he was complaining to Tom though. And I loved New Tom blabbering away to Ian and Adam about how great Brine was being, when all the time We Knew The Truth, to me he is acted perfectly well as a slightly dim self-centred twat.

And I thought Ian did show sufficient interest in what was going on at HF, about as much as I show in my husband’s job anyway. But he rightly needed to remind Adam that something else momentous is going on in their lives. It’s Adam’s baby don’t forget, and he’s acting like he popped to the post office a couple of weeks ago to post a parcel and has forgotten to contact the recipient to see if it got there safely.

in the end we limp to completely implausible dying declarations and the nonsense of Will terrified of the police - when grieving would have been quite enough. That's my objection in a nutshell.

I agree that putting loveless Alistair in a house with his newly loved up dad has potential. (That must have been a fun SWs meeting.)

Can I have a harrumph about Jill. When she was doing her impassioned hootings about how hard it is to be alone I wanted to shout at her. How come she is so worried about Shula being alone but not Lizzie, who has been a lonely-widow single-mother for the last seven years? Jill was at Lower Loxley for a very short period before she abandoned them to hotfoot it back to her married, golden son at Brookfield.

I dunno though Lilian, I am enjoying how it is allowing Ed to show his brother that he is a good guy.

Jill was at Lower Loxley for a very short period before she abandoned them to hotfoot it back to her married, golden son at Brookfield.

Yes I was thinking that during when they were talking. Lizzie with two young children and a sizeable business to maintain and run and who didn't choose that situation.

Whereas Shula is making a choice and has no dependents and a much smaller business to run.

I quite like Jazza's idea of Alastair being fancy-free and going out on the town. He might learn that maybe life without Shula and her cream cardigans isn't really that bad after all, and I suspect Shula herself won't be too pleased, which can only be beneficial.

I am just not sure whether shula telling Alistair the real reasons would be less hurtful. She has told him repeatedly she no longer loves him. If she added more descriptions would it help Alistair? Alistair is going to be hurt, her other choice is to stay with him despite not loving him or give him a list of the things she doesn't like about him. What will that achieve? The trouble is in these circumstances someone is going to be hurt, either Shula or Alistair. They both in my view can't escape without hurt. I think the SW are actually doing a good job of showing this.

He might learn that maybe life without Shula and her cream cardigans isn't really that bad after all, and I suspect Shula herself won't be too pleased, which can only be beneficial.

Gnu - snorfle!

Perhaps you’re right Gnu. And Jessie! I’m probably projecting my own likely reaction (hibernate in abject misery for centuries) onto Alistair - when a different approach might be more healing. And definitely more entertaining.

Jazza needs to work to rule and refuse to take any management-type decisions with regard to the pigs. When Tom inevitably kicks up a fuss, he can justifiably point out that he was specifically told to leave everything to him.

Do we have any idea why Jazzer wasn’t offered the chance to take over Neil’s herd? Did Rex have to stump up cash to buy it, money that Jazzer would not have? I thought Rex was also pretty short (subsisting on dhal at one point).

Rex has access to Land, which Jazzer doesn't. Also if looking after Neil's pigs took him away from Bridge Farm, it would seem a bit like poaching.

I'd like Alastair to have a fling with Tracey Horrobin - she'd cheer him up.