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.

Been away and working backwards through the week on catch up, so have only heard Friday's. Very much enjoyed Jenny's 'revenge' - I'm sure she's had many moments in her marriage when she's longed for the upper hand. I do think it plausible that Nic would have been persuaded that keeping quiet was the best thing for her children, although I don't doubt her sleepless nights. Shuddering at the thought of Shula and her sexual overtures via the medium of soup. I sincerely hope she's not going to be awarded Philip by the story line - his tastes seem to run towards the younger rather than the older woman, so it would seem unlikely.

Looking forward to catching up on some more now. It's a lot of fun doing it out of order!

Ppeat, that was what I meant, really. I found Will confiding in Ed and providing industrial levels of exposition very clunky and unbelievable.

Yes, we didn't hear Ed's reaction properly did we? I liked the way he questioned Will about the use of the word 'protect' in relation to Nic. I know Will is a bit of a dinosaur in his dealings with women (to put it mildly ) but it somehow didn't ring true.

It's not the actual accident that is a problem, it's the fact that nic behaved absolutely normally since the hit and run. Not a hint of angst or worry to be heard. Almost as if the SW have just this moment decided on the answer to their whodunit.

Am I imagining it, or is this not the first time Jenny's voted against what Brian wanted for the farm?

Birdsdestiny - that's how I feel, Nic, for the most part, was pretty normal before getting ill. I don't think they had planned it this way, the story was an afterthought as Nic's death tied it all up neatly.

I disagree birds Nic was odd in the pub about Alice's drinking, as if she was worried about her going out pissed. She didn't seem the same to me. No the SW's write the story six weeks ahead I think.

Yes and there was the falling out with Emma which seemed out of character at the time.

Thinking back it was odd the way Nic told Will she had been asked by Jolene to do some shifts at the Bull, as if something (which ,of course we were not aware of) had changed her attitude to working there. Not for the better. (I thought that maybe Will had been fussing about her 'working' again).

I think she had been acting a little odd, but overtly though, just a bit more invested in how much alive was drinking, seemed to be more eager to please and be nice. But then I am relatively new to the archers, only started listening last summer

But not overtly so**

Alice**

is this not the first time Jenny's voted against what Brian wanted for the farm?

No, it's not - she did it some weeks ago, and she pointed out to Brian then that he shouldn't make assumptions about her support. I suspect at least part of her current anti-Brian stance is because he often takes her for granted and doesn't listen to her, and just assumes she'll support him.

Re the birth of Poppy; wasn't there a touching scene when they told Joe that they were naming her Poppy Josephine?

Boop for Lynda’s rant on Thursday from me as well.
Will Ed tell Will that Nic confessed to Joe, I wonder?

It seems very unlikely to me that Will would tell Ed about Nic. I know Will is short on friends and confidantes but Ed? And very unlikely that Ed would be that good an actor to hide the fact that he already knew.

Shula is going to lunge at Philip, isn't she? It's going to be excruciating. She really is utterly loathsome. I think Alistair is dull as ditchwater but then he always has been.

And all their food always sounds horrible! Pat's vegetable stew. Yuck. Shula's leek and potato soup. Yawn

The confession to Ed was improbable. And does Ed now keep it secret from Joe and indeed from Will?

I don't think it was improbable, Ed encouraged him by sort of hinting that he knew something. Will obviously needed to offload and it's nice that the brothers are actually being nice and natural with one another.

Sorry too many 'nices'

I think that will draw a line under the Matt hit n run SL.I bet it will never be mentioned again ( hopeful).

Now you have got me thinking about DS and his Michael Rosen imitation of 'nice' (I believe it's a meme)!

It might have been slightly more believable if it hadn't been so clumsily written. I think he would have been more likely to confess to Emma though

Noooh Jiggly They mustn't get close again. I can't remember if Ed told Emma about Joe's suspicions.

Ed needs to keep quiet. It won't do Joe any good to have Nick's words confirmed, and if Ed tells Will that Joe knows, it will add to Will's guilt that he wasn't there at the end, and will revive his fury at Joe. But whether Ed will be able to keep quiet is another matter. Although he has kept quiet about what Joe told him, so there's hope.

The confession is problematic because Will doesn't seem to have any friendships and therefore no-one he could convincingly tell.

And the other problem is that it might have been interesting to hear the cover up happening at the time. It feels very clunky for major characters to have such a potentially explosive storyline hidden in the background.

Checking back in after a long break.

Anisha hasn’t been in it for about a year now it seems? What’s that all about?

I always thought it was Shula who ran Matt over.