The Archers - Freddie is getting OUT: will Russ hop it? Helen is falling DOWN: is Lee still in the frame? Tom is heading UP: will Natasha be the boost his sausage needs? (Thread no. 101

[DadDadDad]

We're still here and still discussing TA (The Archers). We welcome newcomers and old hands, so if you have a question or a point of view, please dive in. No spoilers - if you've seen info on future storylines, there's a separate Radio Addicts thread for that.

I loved all the name changes on the last thread. Don't forget to change back! (If you want to).

Who's going to get Russ out of LL? Freddie? Lily? Elizabeth? Or is it Freddie who will head off?

Where we live there is a Dutch vet & a Norwegian vet. Both have lived here for donkeys years, but are perfectly happy to be asked about their original home countries.

I think this is a perfectly acceptable line of conversation to take.

It appears Pip Archer is a MNetter:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/3549229-if-you-aren-t-religious-did-you-still-get-your-baby-christened

And shout out to @TeenTimesTwo for using on that thread!

grumiosmum 'but are perfectly happy to be asked about their original home countries.'

Is there any possibility that they seem perfectly happy to be asked but might tell a different story amongst others who are in similar position.

I grew up 'abroad' so can speak two languages to native ability, indistinguishable from anyone who grew up in the two countries. The biggest difference that I notice between people who do , and those who do not 'straddle' countries and cultures is exactly this. We just would not ever complain about it to anyone who does not have that experience.

It's just a thought with which to leave you, in a message on an anonymous board.

There are lots of other things to talk about and it may we'll crop up in conversation anyway. But to be the thing that defines you to other people can be just a tad wearying.

Gosh, there was quite a lot going on in that most recent episode, I thought. CallMeRuss is very rattled by the gossip and doesn't seem to have any ability to face down the 'Mr Jones' teasing - maybe he was bullied at school as a kid, and hated being a teacher. I realise his situation re teacher/pupil relationship is very bad, but even so, he's coming across as quite sensitive now and the way he is with Elizabeth is good - I found his comments very helpful re depression. I think they could well end up getting it on.

I think there's one of those compare/contrast situations going on with him and Ruairi. Ruairi tutoring Mia sounds lovely, I really hope it carries on like that but I have a feeling of foreboding. She's young and vulnerable and from what we've seen of Ruairi so far I think he's quite a political operator/chip off the old block. It would be interesting if it turns out to be a more exploitative situation than the Lily/Russ one. I think, at best, Mia will end up with a broken heart, and hope it's nothing worse than that.

I find Riari/Mia interesting. Is he 16 yet?
I couldn’t quite work out his motivation in wanting to help Mia, I don’t think he’s ever been heard to say to Ben that he fancies her, but he has definitely said he is keen on hooking up with girls and the general vibe from him is a bit self-interested. However in my mind Mia is not a little bombshell but a slightly mousy and understandably reticent young teen who still comes across as very young. I don’t think he is interested in her in that way but not sure that total altruism fits husband character as drawn so far.

His, not husband.

Ruairi is 16, yes (November birthday). He takes his GCSEs this year and then it seems he's going to move to the Cathedral School from September, so we can expect to hear a lot more of him.

Mia is only just 13 (January birthday). Three and a bit years is a huge gap between two teenagers of those ages. I hope there's nothing more than a crush for now.

I'm not sure if he's 16 yet but thinking back to the bit where he and Ben were driving about, he seemed quite worldly and not an innocent, eager to please type boy. I could be being very unfair. He's had a hard lot of stuff to deal with too, but I think he's learnt a few things from the less palatable sides of Brian. I'd also be surprised if his interest in her is totally altruistic, but maybe we'll get a nice surprise. I expect that angry phone call Will was having will be reported back to Brian.

I'd like to think that Ruairi is responding as one motherless child to another. He must have some good qualities - even though he's Brian's son. (Although I wouldn't be surprised if he invented an ulterior motive if asked by one of his peers.)

What's happened to Brian, anyway? We don't seem to have heard from him for ages.

I don‘t think many 16 year old boys are remotely interested in 13 year olds. And I suspect a boy like Ruairi would have no problem hooking up with a girl of his own age or older.
And I assume Ruairi’s school will have provided lessons on sex and relationships and that he will be acutely aware of issues concerning age of consent etc...
And please let us not have another middle class Ambridge teenager in a young offender‘s institution story line....
Much more likely that Mia has an unrequited crush on him.

Why did Jakob's parents have to move to the UK when he was 5, thus taking away any chance of a Swedish accent!? Now there is yet another man on the Archers whose voice I am going to have to learn to distinguish!

If Mia is failing in school I am certain it's because she has taken on all of the household jobs.

Did anyone else notice that at the end of her maths tutoring session Mia ran off to prepare tea?

Will has failed to step up to the duties himself - or does it not even occur to him to do "women's work"?

I wonder who will notice?

Ruairi wouldn't want to stick his nose in.

Clarrie or Emma should surely have picked up on this by now - but perhaps Stockholm syndrome has blurred their eyesight.

I like and loathe Brian in equal measure. Planning a take-back of the shoot of some kind, possibly? He's a resilient one.

Mia and Ruairi. Maybe he fell instantly in love with her.

I think they could well end up getting it on

I don't think so. Unless Lily dumps him. Rather, I think Lizzie and CMR will forge a genuine friendship which could be a problem if Lily tries to get shot of him or Freddie acts like a tool and an exasperated Lizzie takes Russ's side.

gully - yes, it was heartbreaking, she was all happy and energised and that's how it came out, Nic was like that too I suppose.

If Will found maths difficult himself, he may be struggling with maths being fun.

I think a genuine friendship would be almost worse than a love affair, between my annoying mum and my boyfriend.

I think a genuine platonic friendship between Elizabeth and Russ would be an interesting twist (I know a large swathe of MN believe that men and women can’t be friends, for some unknown reason). It would magnify the age difference between Lily and Russ by showing how much more he has in common with her mother.

Maybe Ruairi will decide he wants to become a teacher as he obviously has a bit of a knack for it, and Brine will be disgusted.

That would be a nice outcome Acis.

Yes! He does have a bit of a knack for it. That was a true thing.

Teens aren’t ghastly all the time... plus Ruairi will have had it drummed into him at school to help out where he can.

“Ruairi will have had it drummed into him at school to help out where he can.”

Why’s that?

Some boarding schools do go in for encouraging the volunteering ethos in a big way.