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.

The emphasis on Poppy is annoying me too. Yes it's an absolute tragedy to lose a mother at 4; it's also an absolute tragedy to lose your mother at 9 and 13 (or whatever ages Mia and Jake are). E.g. Yesterday Shula specifically asking how Poppy was doing.
They really ought to be moving back into their own house, no wonder jake doesn't want to go back to an overcrowded house with someone else's mother getting on at him.

they seem to have forgotten there is a perfectly good house…

Yes I wonder who'll get the light bulb moment? Place your bets!!! Then there'll be a fight over who'll move into it.

At this rate it will be Brian.

Will is like Joe without the ferrets.

Arf. That's an interesting insight. There is a difference, though. When Joe left Grange Farm for Meadow Rise let's not mention ferrets, we all felt for him. I haven't felt much empathy for Will - a few fleeting instances, but not much - because he is such a narcissistic personality. Somebody needs to say to him, "You grieve your way and let the DC grieve their way. There is no right or wrong way to do it." They need to stop enabling him, and suggest that it is time that he put the DC first.

Joe is more endearing than Will and less sinister, but they are both very quick to exploit the kindness of others - think of Joe persuading Oliver to let them stay in Grange Farm by threatening to die and haunt him forever.

Well R4 From what Eddie was saying to Clarrie about the time when Susan died; Joe behaved towards him and his brother in a similar way to Will. Maybe Joe has softened a bit with age.

Where has all this 'Andrew is a nice guy' nonsense come from?! He was consistently painted as Not a Nice Man in the past.

I remember that, too Fink.

Nicer than Will, though?

The bar isn’t set high.

I think Andrew could have grown up, especially if he has a new (and sensible) partner.

Genius

Ha!

Footle, that picture is just how l imagine Willyum. For reasons l can’t really explain Will has always made think of my nephew and that’s how looked about a decade ago. Nephew and Will have almost nothing in common, they are a similar age and, l imagine, have similar hair styles. But nephew is an academic complete with PhD, and he grew up near Glasgow so very different accents. I must be going a bit potty!

Much as l don’t particularly like Olwyn, l’d like to think she is currently squatting in Will’s empty house. AND l hope she’s given all the mugs on the window sill a really good scrub.ŷ

This has been a quite slow moving thread for us lot. Suggests things have got a bit tedious. Must admit there’s no pacey storylines at the moment. In fact it all seems a bit haphazard. What was the point about the Fallon/ Harrison not getting married bit. Over and done with in about 3 episodes

All very tedious. Willyum is a pain. I find myself liking Alastair more.

Perhaps Wilton and Shula could have a ‘thing’.

Willyum that is

Well we never thought we'd feel sorry for Will
And it turns out we didn't for that long.

My money's on a Bridge Farm fermenting-things-school social enterprise.

Still don't understand how Shula is reconciling her faith and her lack of interest in working at her marriage. I don't think she should be forced to stay but I think she should have the decency to embrace a bit of kinky role play, book a dirty weekend or some ruddy pony trekking & a good dose of couples therapy. She didn't even finish the save your marriage book she was reading and couldn't have been that bothered by it as she didn't take it when she left to stay with Kenton anyway. You can't honestly think you've given saving your marriage a good go if you've failed to mention even the need for any attempts to OH. Can you?

Well I definitely want Shula to divorce Alistair now, if the alternative involves kinky role play

I disagree with the contention upthread that Will is narcissistic and Joe is more sympathetic. To me, Joe comes across as generally self-centred, greedy and manipulative. He knows how to get things from people and feels no scruples about doing so. Will is angry, also selfish, abrasive but I think his problem is that he can't read or understand people very well. As soon as he thought of something his children might like he put a lot of effort into it - it's not that he doesn't care about them, I just think it didn't enter into his head he might be doing the wrong thing.

As soon as he thought of something his children might like he put a lot of effort into it - it's not that he doesn't care about them, I just think it didn't enter into his head he might be doing the wrong thing.

It's all on his terms; Will is being controlling. Will decided that Jake would like pizza, new trainers, a games night, visiting the grave. He never actually asked Jake. He never listened to Jake, like the second Mrs Andrew (sorry, can't remember her name) did.

How old is Jake?

Where has all this 'Andrew is a nice guy' nonsense come from?! He was consistently painted as Not a Nice Man in the past

I was going to ask that too. Andrew seems perfectly nice. Will is sounding quite scary. All that talk about being with "the family". If the position now is that Andrew was Mr Nice Guy and had a relationship with his children it is understandable Jake and Mia will want to be with Andrew rather than the Grundys.

Oh and is Pat having a late mid life crisis?

Will is incapable of showing empathy towards anyone and that includes his own children. All we heard this evening was a series of bad tempered rants fired at Andrew and Ed and he barely acknowledged the pain and trauma Jake must be experiencing. He was far too busy throwing a tantrum about his suffering and needs to give his step-son a second thought. Hopefully Mia follows her brother out of the door soon. I actually can't understand why Andrew isn't pushing for her to stay with him and his wife as well. Will sounds obsessive and borderline unhinged (no real change there then) and if it's unhealthy for Jake to live with him surely the same must be true for Mia.

Andrew was painted as Not A Nice Man towards Nic after they split up, but I don't think he was ever painted as Not A Nice Man towards his kids. Plus, if his current partner is fond of Jake and Mia, that would help.