*The Archers No.95* *Welcome to the 'real' world Ben and Ruarhi, the bad boys of on roading and welcome to the cereal cupboard little Rosie *!

[ppeatfruit]

Thanks to witchmountain for the last thread and to dadx3 for Godfathering them! Also to any other posters whose ideas I have borrowed for the title.

Have we had proper alcoholism or drug problems?

Jack? It killed him ultimately. Alastair is a rehab story of a gambler although it was never a particularly convincing one - always seemed a bit half hearted from the LSWs.

Ed and Jazzer both suffered the consequences of drugs (prison and long term ketamine damage).

There was the annoying personality transplant when Alice was drinking a lot but that fizzled out.

Probably a lot of excessive social drinking but they may tread lightly on that in deference to their typical audience

Ah yes - good point about Jack. Before I became an avid listener so had rather forgotten.

Lottie

I'm sure Jill could cater for most of Ambridge, with Ben peeling and chopping, the prodigal Rosie on dessert duty and Bess the wonder-dog manning the Aga.

David and Ruth could turf out Josh to free up a space at the dining table (he could share Bert and the Fairbrother's goose up at the bungalow).

Is prodigal being used as the adjective that goes with a prodigy now? I am genuinely interested, not going back to the grammar prescriptivism upthread, but I'm a linguist by training (partially) and changes in language usage interest me. If prodigal is now being used for a prodigy I'd like to hear about it. It's a new one on me, I've only heard it in the sense of prodigious (and obviously in the biblical parable). Just curious, not criticising.

C8, I thought it was Peggy's first Jack (the publican) who was the alcoholic. Jack Woolley was a workaholic (itself not a good thing) with bad heart problems from quite a young age, which I'm guessing eventually contributed to his decline.....probably vascular dementia rather than Alzheimer's

I hope not, cheminotte.

@howdyho - please ignore my jokey question, and post whatever you wish...

C8, I thought it was Peggy's first Jack (the publican) who was the alcoholic.

Yes that is who I meant, Jack the publican. Sorry I should have been clearer.

Still here and many thanks for the friendly welcome! Was unable respond last night or early morning due to teenage DD stubbornly refusing to go to bed and consequently feeling unable to get up in good time for school (lots of encouragment, support and veiled threats needed).
I was sorry to hear of Caroline Boyd's stroke. Did this happen recently and do we know how well she is now?
An initiation ceremony to join in with the thread? I didn't know this but happy to oblige! Most liked character? Lynda Snell is most firmly at the top followed not too far behind by Ed Grundy who I have a soft spot for and would have liked him to have got together with Fallon all those years ago.
Least liked? I was going to write Emma Grundy who I would not get on with in real life but I'm increasingly finding myself frowning whilst listening to Jill and am going to put her top of my list. I haven't read this thread long enough to know if that choice is a faux pas? I find her personality irritating and was quite annoyed by her bringing Ben's dog into the kitchen last week for a treat.
Apologies for my grammatical errors, my chosen career path is more likely to give me housemaid's knee than writer's cramp.
Having never watched Home Alone, I am now tempted to see it this week with DD when she has done her homework.

Have we had proper alcoholism or drug problems?

Ed had proper drug problems, but a miraculous recovery which didn't need rehab.

There was also Luke(?) who Alan was all vicary about years back, and I have a vague memory that he eventually disappeared in favour of drugs rather than recovery, but I might be misremembering.

I don't think Carole Boyd (the actor who plays Lynda) has had a stroke, as far as I know. That might be a confusion between all the Carolines and Caroles and talk of illnesses. I think she is a carer for her husband, who has a stroke many years ago. Caroline Sterling, the character, died of something sudden (heart attack, I think) after her actor, Sara Coward, had died of cancer.

I wouldn't bother with Home Alone with a teenager, personally, it's very dated. Give it a go if you want though, it's probably still quite funny.

Well, we'll give it a go Fink DD will be on her phone instagramming the whole time anyway.

Fink, my mistake, I meant prodigy and wrote prodigal instead .

Howdy, how very contemporary. You'll find that a lot of the problems on which Home Alone is predicated are nearly unimaginable to today's teenager because they could easily be solved with access to everyday technology.

Panic I'm actually a bit disappointed, I was all geared up for a new linguistic discovery on a Monday morning! Thanks for the clarification anyway.

Nigel was swilling his way through the LL wine cellar much too enthusiastically at one point, and had to rein himself in. Wasn't George Best, or Jeffrey Barnard standards of alcoholism though.

Jill: am going to put her top of my list. I haven't read this thread long enough to know if that choice is a faux pas?
Oh, that "faux pas" has a whiff of Snell about it. v.g.
Jill is on my list of least-liked, too. She favours one child above the others and Golden Child has, in turn, his own Golden Child. She is an interfering MIL who is tolerated simply because David and Ruth are too useless and too lazy to do anything about it. (Ruth is another one on the least-liked list. She cares more for her cows than she does for her DC.)

*Carole Boyd - sorry
Very flattered to have 'a whiff of Snell'

'Whiff of Snell' - that's reminded me of the scene a few weeks ago where Lynda persuaded David to let her use his barn for her play. She said she'd been standing in the Village Hall and it had the "stale whiff of familiarity", and David matter-of-factly replied "is this after the Scouts had been in?"

Does anyone else think that Ben has a rather - ahem - sexy voice and delivery?

Re Russ turning up at the Brookfield Christmas.... many amusing moments could be had by confusing him with Bess.Lily having smuggled him in, feeding him titbits under the table for example, getting him to sit up and beg for a mince pie.

You can tell I am bored.

Oooh, that's interesting about Olivia and you, Bekabeech

Ooops, I'm sorry, I think I forgot to mention I have name-changed again, for reasons which seem self-evident to me. I was BolleauxtoBankers before and a few things before that. I didn't just appear out of nowhere and join in the conversation as if I'd been here for years, IYSWIM.

Howdy, HowdyHo (That is honestly meant as a non-sequitur!)

Oh God, forget that about Ben's voice! I assumed the actor was mid-late 20s - a quick Google says he's 16!

That reminds me Merde. Upthread, @R4 asked where Gruach is. She name-changed a couple of threads back but I can see that she hasn't posted on this thread under her new name, unless she's changed again?

I know that she name-changed but I cba to go back and find it. I am the Pit(s)