Thread 98 - Discuss The Archers here! If you don’t give a ha’porthfor Pip come and add your two penn’orth - we do enjoy a bit of change counting (especially if it’s in old money)

[Bittermints]

Many thanks to @LilianGish for the title (again - she has real gift for this!). Further thanks due to @PseudoBadger for kicking off 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. We don't all agree on all points and most of us are posting tongue in cheek a lot of the time, so don't worry about revealing that you'd like to be Susan's best friend or other odd unusual views.

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!

(Change counting references arose specifically out of a nostalgic discussion on the previous thread, if anyone is intrigued.)

Lilian Ref. the point of Al n' Shula's split; the SW's will definitely see the point , they have 2 more single adults to write' dramas' for .

Pat, the rescuer of the homeless, being classist. Not right.

Also, I think the matriarchs and patriarchs of farming families are always rather overly suspicious/ cautious about their offsprings' suitors as they potentially get to inherit the estate! That doesn't forgive Pat's horrid snobbery though!

There's not much point in buying a scaled down farm if it has to be sold again to pay a fine. At least if Brine pleads guilty they will know where they are financially.

Lee = the wrong shoes
Natasha = the wrong breakfast

There's not much point in buying a scaled down farm if it has to be sold again to pay a fine.
It's the other way round. The court case is coming up in just over a week so, once that's put to bed, they will know how much (if any) they have available to spend on the next house (by 'scaled-down Home Farm' I meant just the house).

But if Brine pleads Not Guilty the case may have to be relisted at a later date for a full trial. I know practically nothing about criminal court procedure, but don't people have to give some indication in advance of their plea so that the courtrooms can be allocated according to whether it's going to be a short hearing or a long one?

I know practically nothing about criminal court procedure
Me neither! Can Brian plead Not Guilty to force the prosecution to reveal their case and then change it to Guilty (on the steps of the court, if we want some drama) if it looks too watertight? And still get the discount?

I suppose it's because of Rob that Helen is trying to keep her and Lee out of the gossip circle. She has gone a bit starry eyed over him, and I thought the scene where Emma sussed it was pretty true to life. Helen has mentionitis but no outlet for this except Helen. I was shouting at Pat yesterday for keeping pushing - Helen clearly didn't want to talk about himto her.

Re Elizabeth and the GP, Lizzie can keep it together enough to hide her real state for long enough to have bamboozled him into diagnosing only insomnia. This is quite common with depression - I have done it myself.

• except Emma

Lee is supposed to be very good looking and extremely fit. I reckon that Pat is also struggling with the idea that her daughter may get to shag a hottie😀.

Anyway Lee is a physio and a karate teacher, he’s not exactly a Horrobin.

She is capable of tidying up and getting dressed etc. when she knew that Kenton was going to call round. She's very stubborn in that she knows she's not right but doesn't seem to want to admit it to her family.

I am a bit torn over Helen. I was about to say that Helen has a habit of hiding her relationships but then remembered she hid Rob as he was married! I am quite private and like Helen might want the relationship to grow before I told my parents. Pay and Helen live together but are they
that close, do they actually talk about feelings together.

Poor Elizabeth, she has seen herself as the person that "must hold everything together" for the twins, for the legacy of Lowe Loxley etc, for so long since Nigel's death that she can't now admit defeat! The same stubbornness and pride that has kept her going is now preventing her from seeking help. The actor who plays her is doing a fine job imho!

Way back around 2001, I think it was, Helen had not long come back to Bridge Farm after finishing her cheesemaking degree and associated placements. She was behaving in rather a secretive way. I had just found the Archers messageboard on the BBC website and I remember a lot of speculation there that Helen had been chosen to be the first lesbian on The Archers*. However, for reasons I can't now remember, she was actually involved in a secret relationship with the Greg the Grim Keeper (not my own!). He was divorced and a good bit older than Helen but other than that I can't think of a single reason why they couldn't have been open about it. Helen is a very secretive, private person. She was a bit like this when she decided to have a baby through a fertility clinic.

*15 years or so later, the BBC finally took the plunge and made Anna Tregorran a lesbian, after the usual coyness over the true identity of her ex, Max.

I reckon that Pat is also struggling with the idea that her daughter may get to shag a hottie

Wasn't Rob meant to be good looking? I can't remember how good-looking Greg was meant to have been; in my head, he was like Sean Bean, but I think that was because of his voice. Also, I am not the biggest Sean Bean fan.

But anyway, I don't think Pat would be surprised by Helen having a good looking boyfriend.

Brian's solicitors will have received copies of all the prosecution's statements and evidence, so the possibility of pleading not guilty to find out the strength of the case probably wouldn't arise. Obviously things can change as evidence is given and witnesses are cross-examined, but I suspect that once Brian has dragged everyone to court he'd get very little credit for changing to a Guilty plea half way through.

What bugs me is the utter stupidity of going against his lawyers' advice purely on a hope that 12 jurors will be suckered in by his charm and hard luck story, and decide that he's been punished enough. He hasn't even contemplated the possibility that there may well be people on the jury with Kirsty's mindset.

Wondered where I'd left me cactus! and the pot was only a little chipped weren't my false teeth though!
Meany gossips about Roy, I live in a small town and they like to think the worst

He hasn't even contemplated the possibility that there may well be people on the jury with Kirsty's mindset.

Oh, please let actual Kirsty be on the jury!

I mean, she almost certainly wouldn't be allowed. But it would be fun!

So many characters are annoying me at the moment!

Adam is always so agressive in tone when he speaks to Brian. I think he rather unpleasant.

And, I forgot to say, judgemental.

Gosh they are really labouring the class differences between Helen & Lee aren't they?

The stuff about his book recommendation a few months back falls into place now.

Da Vinci code.

Gosh they are really labouring the class differences between Helen & Lee aren't they?
I wondered this even more when Lee wore trainers for a country walk and told the fart story. The latter most unlikely in a budding relationship I thought.

Hilarious opening to tonight's episode, with Brine calling out gloves and lubricant :o