Thread 99 (yes, 99!): Join us for spirited discussions of The Archers and its Top Blokes, whether you're Team Elizabeth (low spirits), Team Kate (Spiritual Home) or Team Toby (spirits =gin)

[Bittermints]

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. Thanks also to all those who contributed to the thread title.

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!

So, to business. What a fantastic two-hander. Massive BOOP points to Alison Dowling, the scriptwriter and director (and the therapist). I had more than a small tear in my eye listening to that.

I'm another one with a vote of thanks to chemenger for all that information on the last thread about distilling. I should know some of that because I went on a tour of the whisky distillery near where my parents live but I've forgotten most of it except how delicious the end product is.

The silver lining to Kate's return is that hopefully we'll hear more of Lillian - and her laugh.

Is gin vegan?

Yes, Jill turning all "me, me, me" over Elizabeth's news is rather surprising.

Staggeringly unfair that Jenny has had to move to Willow Farm while Kate glides into (probably rent-free) luxury at the Dower House.

Is gin vegan?

I'm sure most of it is, but if Toby makes some using Montbelliard whey, that wouldn't be.

But where are the holiday lets? Did they get sold off and I forgot? I remember Kate hosting a sage cleansing party a few years ago and setting off the sprinklers/fire alarms.

Please, someone, help?

Kate is the most irritating character in TA by a long way (for me)

Kate is so dreadful she is funny. We're never expected to sympathise with her. I don't find her irritating at all.

I'm trying really hard to remember indoorvoice - but I can't!

I can picture Jenny diligently changing bed linen - but not sure if that was more recently in the caravans (heaven knows why). Were there more than just the two (I had thought three but pp said not) built for Kate and Alice? I don't recall any being discussed in the Home Farm crisis partnership meetings.

Someone else will know ...

Tonight was weird.
Why did Jill make Lizzie's illness all about her?
Why was Jill at the pub?
Why did Ruairi and Ben think that they were going to be served after that business just a few weeks ago about finding somewhere-that-wasn't-The-Bull to see in the New Year?

The most irritating character at the moment is Lily. She's a silly, spoilt little girl. She and her ageing boyfriend are ridiculous.

It’s all SO ANNOYING!!!!!.

And what are B and R going to do to Kenton’s phone?

Mind you, when my dd was diagnosed with depression, my first thought was “fuck, is it my fault?”

Jill was worried because she had that time away - before my time, first I'd heard of it. Jill does come over all superwoman, so it was interesting to hear that she had had a bit of a breakdown.

Gosh, Russ is unpleasant, isn't he? Really showing his hand, so will he be shunted into a sideline soon?

Hilarious teasing by the boys, and you just know they won't let up on it.

Russ really is showing his true colours. I don't know how they will deal with this storyline. Lily is still idiotically defending him.

The boys were unpleasant too, but Russ deserves it.

I think Jill was in the pub because she wanted to talk to Kenton ... not that she needs a reason, but it's not her usual haunt I suppose.

Ok @Quater let’s wait together for rescue. The AA ( Ambridge Assistance) will along soon, I hope.
In the meanwhile, I’m fond of lily and can understand her pride making her defend Russ, although I’m sure the penny will drop soon for her, and like every sngle teenage woman in Ambridge, she will extricate herself from a doomed first relationship.

I do hope there is more Lillian, I normally enjoy her.

I didn’t hear anything about B&R and Kenton’s phone but I was distracted while listening so might have missed it.

My mum was also worried when I started having therapy. As it happens some of it is about her but that doesn’t mean it’s her fault. If it was her fault then it would also have be her mum’s fault and her mum before that etc etc - the concept of blame doesn’t make any sense. All upbringings have a mixture of impacts, you do your best and that’s all you can do.

I thought Jill’s reaction was realistic. She lives to look after her family so will be horrified she didn’t spot what was going on with Elizabeth and just wasn’t able to filter that out of her reaction.

QuaterMiss
I can picture Jenny diligently changing bed linen - but not sure if that was more recently in the caravans (heaven knows why). Were there more than just the two (I had thought three but pp said not) built for Kate and Alice? I don't recall any being discussed in the Home Farm crisis partnership meetings.
Someone else will know ...

Ooh, me, miss, I do, miss...

There were three holiday cottages, called The Rookeries, and they were designed by Jennifer using what had previously been farm labourers' tied cottages on the farm.

Brian said they belonged to his wife when he wanted to evict Sammy Whipple, years and years ago, to put Greg Turner into Sammy's cottage. He said it in court at an industrial tribunal which Usha took him to for Sammy, who didn't want to leave his home.

Then he forgot about them belonging to Jennifer and gave one to Alice and one to Kate, and Debbie lived in the third one for a bit after she got her divorce.

Alice still lives in the one that was given to her but Kate lived in hers and then moved out so she would get the holiday rentals from it because Spiritual Homes was going bust and she needed money.

But when Brian tore up the contract he'd had with Adam and Debbie since March 2008 that gave them a third of the farm's profits each (and neither objected!) they had a whole-family meeting about the new arrangements and I went and found it in Lowfield:

Episode: Sunday 7th May, 2017

There is some difficulty with reaching Debbie by computer but Brian decides to start the meeting anyway. Kate has a bit of difficulty when she realises she won't own her cottage but it will be part of the farm estate. What if Adam or Debbie turns against her? She would be homeless and lose her business. Kate seems to be the only one who is suspicious of her family members...

www.lowfield.co.uk/archers/daily.phtml?20170507

So the holiday lets belong to Home Farm estate now. Whether that includes Alice's home or not was never made clear, but if it does they are probably letting her live there rent free, the only Aldridge left on the farm because Adam lives at Honeysuckle Cottage.

Holiday cottages. I THINK that Alice and Chris live in hers and Kate’s is rented out in order to fund Spiritual Home? I also remember the sage cleansing, think that was maybe around the time that Noluthando came to stay and Kate had a fantasy of Mummy and daughter living there cosily together - didn’t Nolly slag off Kate’s hippy decor? I think that Jenny would have run it as a holiday let during all the years that Kate was in S. Africa (possibly sending the income to Kate?). And Alice’s would have been rented out while she was at university. So no holiday lets when both daughters at home.

Ah cross post. I was sort of right then to begin with but had completely forgotten about the cottages being part of the big reorganisation that inexplicably put Kate on the “board” of home farm.
So I guess that cottages 2 and 3 are just silently being occupied by a succession of Air BnB ers then, with some local silent under contract to clean and change the bed linen?

QuaterMiss you might be thinking of the caravans. Her and Lexi (?) were cleaning them out. Don't remember if it was before or after the strawberry pickers were there. I've got a vague memory that somebody else was supposed to be cleaning them, but don't remember who it was.

I loved the boys winding Russ up, he deserves it!

Jill was annoying though, making Liz's depression all about her, and wondering if therapy is the right thing to do. She's obviously feeling guilt, and doesn't want it coming out in therapy.

I bet Jolene loved saying "I told you so"! I thought Kenton bought a load of records so he could run the disco, but prog rock? What on earth was he thinking? David's not going to get his money back.

Thank you @asking

Going back a bit ...But back then, before the National Curriculum and mandatory science, it wasn't unusual for girls to severely limit their choices back at the O level stage. Depends whether the school is single sex. An aspirational grammar school for girls would be likely to guide O-level choices in the same way as GCSEs are guided - Eng, maths, a foreign language, a science at least. And absence of boys means girls are more likely to follow their interests in science subjects.

llama - yes I thought the same about Mia, more of a Gloucester accent. But also a good bit of Will twang - is Will more Gloucester? - he's certainly not Vale of Evesham.

There were three holiday cottages, called The Rookeries, and they were designed by Jennifer using what had previously been farm labourers' tied cottages on the farm.
Yes, this I remember reasonably clearly.

Brian said they belonged to his wife when he wanted to evict Sammy Whipple, years and years ago, to put Greg Turner into Sammy's cottage. He said it in court at an industrial tribunal which Usha took him to for Sammy, who didn't want to leave his home.
Completely blank on all this! Was clearly out of the country, pre-Internet.

Then he forgot about them belonging to Jennifer and gave one to Alice and one to Kate, and Debbie lived in the third one for a bit after she got her divorce.
Why do I remember Jenny being the one who decided their daughters should have one each?

Alice still lives in the one that was given to her but Kate lived in hers and then moved out so she would get the holiday rentals from it because Spiritual Homes was going bust and she needed money.
Yup.

But when Brian tore up the contract he'd had with Adam and Debbie since March 2008 that gave them a third of the farm's profits each (and neither objected!) they had a whole-family meeting about the new arrangements and I went and found it in Lowfield:
Some fool must have been making a noise - wiped from memory ...

Great work Asking - thanks for filling in the gaps.