Movin' on up (Ed and Emmur), Movin' on out (Brian and Jenny), Time to break free (Lily from Russ, we hope), Nothing can stop *The Archers* in 2019 - Thread 97 (Joe Grundy’s age!)

[Bittermints]

Many thanks to @LilianGish for the title and to @NotdeadyetBOING for being the last threadstarter. Further thanks due to @PseudoBadger for kicking of this long, long series of Archers threads and to @DadDadDad for being our resident statistician and keeping the ball rolling when Pseudo stepped back a bit.

All views on The Archers welcome here! New blood welcomed.

Spoilers: not on this thread, please. We don't wait for the omnibus to discuss the weeknight episodes, but we do try our best to avoid cross-contamination from www.mumsnet.com/Talk/radio_addicts/3439443-keep-it-to-yourself-the-archers-spoilers-thread-4, where spoilers are positively welcomed!

I wonder where Brian and Jennifer will end up. I was very taken with the idea on the last thread that the mysterious Gills won't last very long and the house will be sold back to the Aldridges at a knockdown price.

Can someone explain to me why it was a foregone conclusion that Helen had to dump Lee? And why a million people hadn’t told him about Rob within 30 seconds of him setting foot in the village?

I hope it wasn’t one of those high-class orgy party organisers in HF.

Yeah, the Helen and Lee split makes no sense. Kirsty is usually full of good advice for Helen. She doesn’t seem to know Lee so how could she, at this stage, know he would be bad for Helen?

And why a million people hadn’t told him about Rob within 30 seconds of him setting foot in the village? - this is another dramatic device (like the Home Farm buyer secrecy) that does not ring true. It's perfectly possible to concoct a reason why this may not have happened, but knowing what we know about Ambridge and all its inhabitants it is too unlikely to be credible. I know it is a drama, but for me The Archers needs to feel real or there is no point in listening (it is the reason I don't watch TV soaps).

I presume the house isn't in a tucked-away position on the land which the Aldridge still own; in fact is slap-bang in the middle of it, and that everyone is pretty much certain to encounter the new people as a matter of course Yes, it had a decent sized garden, but it's a working farm, and presumably all the farm buildings were close by (they sound to be so as far as you can tell from chance references. When you're paying a reasonably sum for a house, it's not just about the house, it's about the environs. You can add farmland to the sale to give more privacy (and have future fun when the buyer tries to incorporate it into the garden without planning permission), but buildings are more difficult ... except in Ambridge where all buildings are flexible and moveable.

The usual model of selling off the farmhouse is when two farms have been joined into one, then all the business stuff is done on the one, and one the other, the farmhouse is sold, modern barns are removed, and older barns are converted into housing, so at least you're sharing space with domestic neighbours not with all the noise and smells of the farm.

But then burying toxic waste on your fields is not the way it's usually done either.

I mean- Lee’s been in the village shop. He spends a lot of time at The Laurels and must have been seen there with Helen. And he presumably chats to people before and after karate. It’s just not credible that he hasn’t heard anything about Rob......

I know it is a drama, but for me The Archers needs to feel real or there is no point in listening (it is the reason I don't watch TV soaps).
Amen. Again.
I caught the end of a dreadful EE episode recently, I think it might have been Christmas Day. There was something about a Bad Man who was chasing a Panic'd Woman. He decided to stand still while PW reversed over him in her car and deaded him. PW then decided to bury him there&then in the woods (happened to have handy spade in car, took her no time at all, didn't get clothes dirty). Just as she finished the deed, BM sat up in his grave like Frankenstein's monster!
I haven't laughed so much in years. It was all so preposterous.

Yes why did Helen think by 'not being friends' she could avoid him, she and Henry do Karate fgs. She said that to Kirsty. Why would she take her advice? Duh.

Now of course Lee will be asking about Helen's history even if he hadn't heard it before.

I don’t get why Helen had to dump Lee either.
The new owners of Bridge farm may find the noise of a working farm intrusive. Someone in our environs complained to the council that cows were mooing.

Last year my oldest child, who is studying a STEM subject & got an A* for Biology A level complained about the sheep mooing. Townie?!

Kirsty listened to Helen she didn't give any advice. During the conversation Helen talked about how she regretted her actions and how scared and out of control she felt. Kirsty basically said I see a lot. The only advice kirsty gave was when Helen asked how she should end it and kirsty suggested by text. I am not sure kirsty has done anything wrong, I would be very wary of advising a friend who has been through a trauma such as Helen has been through, especially as Helen has had no obvious counselling or support.

No!!! East We have posh Parisian neighbours who own a second home here, they rang the town hall to complain about the cockerel crowing next door to them. I told them but you're living in the country, the town hall said exactly the same to them, Iam very pleased to say They are not very popular.

It was the Home Farm house that was sold not Bridge Farm.

R4 I watch EE and your recap of the episode made me laugh, it was a ridiculous episode! You'd be very welcome on the Eastenders thread if you were to watch anymore....
Regarding Helen and Lee, it's very hard to tell a new and rather nice friend about your past trauma, bringing unpleasantness into the friendship so to speak. It takes a lot of trust and Helen isn't ready, plus she dislikes her emotions feeling out of control again, it's frightening.

Sorry mike my bad

Not quite the same, but a few years ago there was an allotment near us, in which many allotment holders had cockerels. I eventually managed to almost tune them out, but quite a few people complained to the council. It was even on the local TV news. A reorter asked an elderly man whether their noise bothered them, and he said no. Turned out he was deaf!

Now allotments round here have a No Cockerel policy...

ahwellsaid - I wouldn't expect Helen to have told Lee herself, but I would have expect him to have heard by other means (during a change counting episode in the shop, an aside in the pub, from someone at the Laurels). Whether overheard tittle-tattle or an explanation from a well-meaning friend I'm frankly astonished that Lee has not yet got wind of Knob.

Maybe he knows. Maybe he is such a perfect man that it doesn't worry him. Maybe that's why he told her the past is past.

Thanks ahwell but I've never been an EE fan. I doubt that I've seen more than 10 minutes of it since the days of Dirty Den.

No worries Mini, Grange Farm and Bridge Farm get mixed up a lot on here.

Re Helen and Lee: she just takes everything too seriously, doesn't she. She could never do "let's have a bit of fun" or "let's see how it goes". And I'm not only referring to relationships, her whole life is like that.

Can I just chip in?

The whole pip maternity leave storyline is so far off the mark for any farmers wives I know I just shake my head in disbelief. We don't quite give birth in a field and are back to work the next day, but not far off, even if it's doing the accounts, ordering feed stuffs, checking red diesel prices and lots of other jobs that aren't too physical. I don't know what pips employment status is ( one of the SW s many lapses) but certainly when I was having babies in the late eighties and nineties and was self employed there wasn't maternity pay, and frankly you just got on with it. Old pram with sleeping baby sitting in the feed passage while your scraping out down the cubicles, perfectly normal. And safe. And was the same for all the farming mums I know. Not ideal. But that's what you did. Needs must. Pip could be doing so much more. But it would be frustrating to listen to as D and R would go on and on and on about it. She ordered some feed the other day didn't she. To a blinking fanfare.

I'll just get back into my cardboard box now and play with my lump of coal

I wonder if the SWs have ever been on a farm for anything other than an open farm sunday.

Blimey. Was Helen listening to me!?

R4!

Lee’s been in the village shop

I can believe in Father Christmas, the Tooth Fairy, Oswald shot Kennedy, anything but I can't for a second believe that Lee's been in the shop, been cross-examined by Susan, probably under sinister lights, and doesn't know about Rob!