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?

I don't see a great deal of difference.

Huuuuuge difference ... Although Phoebe is deliciously complicated, part First Family mythical royalty, part Aldridge/Home Farm potential heiress, for now she is essentially a Tucker - and Tuckers work, in ordinary jobs. Her intellectual/academic status outside Ambridge is (portrayed as) irrelevant to her social status in the village. Which does make things slightly nonsensical, because surely, over the course of her degree she ought to have been able to arrange some high-flying PPE volunteering at least, even if it's too soon for the sort of international internships that might match her ambition. I wonder if the SWs are finding this stage of her life (and the desire to keep her 'visible') as awkward to write as I find it to listen to. Perhaps next year she'll be writing a practice-based thesis on Gendered Employment Structures in the Contemporary Rural Economy ...

Lily, OTOH, is a Pargetter - first and last.

I agree with your assessment of Phoebe George but Phoebe is doing her finals this year. She should have completed an internship last summer & have a job lined up. Some students will have negotiated a delayed entry to graduate training schemes.

Lily, OTOH, is a Pargetter - first and last. This. And at the time when the rest of the family are rallying round for Elizabeth it does seem odd that she has chosen this moment to get a random job - when there are any number of jobs she could be doing at LL. The reason she is enjoying it so much is because it gets her away from CMR and among people of her own age - something which should have happened at university - I’m not sure she even realises this herself yet or realises that this is why she is enjoying it so much. CMR is the cuckoo in the nest which is what will be so interesting when Freddie returns.

It is puzzling LizziesTwin. BBC drama covers an infinity of topics so they ought to have a convincing story for Phoebe, regardless of the Oxford PPE experience, or lack of, amongst the SWs. If they were going to make a thing about how, as the first of her family to do it, she has no one to guide her along the best career pathways - well ... But she's supppsed to be really brilliant and could surely have picked up some clues from her peers.

As the second generation immigrant child of clever, ambitious parents I was coaxed, cajoled and bullied into pursuing a 'high status' professional degree and career - but with no clue about the hidden social and financial scaffolding that supported my peers towards actual success. Bewilderment and frustration followed ... But that was pre-Internet. And, even now, the Aldridges could rustle up accommodation and whatever else might be needed in London, or wherever in the world Phoebe might need to be. There's nothing ostensibly holding her back. Except plot demands.

Fascinating analysis Lil'G. I hope we'll eventually hear Lily acknowledging this on air.

Welcome, Usingmyindoorvoice!

Lily hasn't dropped out of university. She has agreed with Manchester that she's going to start her first year again because she had so much time off. I won't be best pleased if what actually happens is that she changes her mind about going back, gets a place at Felpersham and carries on with the call centre job. I'll be even less pleased if she ends up doing Business Studies, as this would then be a retread of Brenda Tucker's story - terrific A levels, secures place on very good course*, family crisis, comes home, leaves very good course, stays at home, does far less interesting and distinctive course at the local university, languishes in humdrum local job instead of spreading her wings and going further afield to find something worthy of her potential.

*In Brenda's case it was Radio Journalism/Production at Bournemouth, building on her years at as a reporter at Radio Borsetshire between A levels and finally deciding to go to university. It always annoyed me that this was handled so badly. It was made clear at the time that getting that trainee reporter job was a very prestigious opportunity, in the face of strong competition, and that Radio Borsetshire is a BBC local radio station. Surely the BBC production team of TA would know that a school leaver in a job like that would either have moved up the hierarchy and ended up leaving Borsetshire for other placements/jobs, or would have been eased out? She wouldn't just have languished at Radio B for years and years with no progression. They do this so often with the TA women, more than the men.

George the internships at prestigious companies pay well enough to cover housing costs, dds friends were paid £800-1000 per week last summer. (Dd was, of course, doing voluntary work in an area in which she has since decided she has no wish to pursue).

There's nothing ostensibly holding her back. Except plot demands. This. The same can equally be said for Lily. Whether or not she returns to Manchester is entirely dependent on whether there is a role for her in TA going forward. This was a possibility forseen on these threads as soon as she started applying for university. I think it unlikely she will be let go - she and Freddie are the only blood Pargetters. Phoebe on the other hand is more expendable - the Tuckers have already been shipped off to Birmingham along with Phoebe’s step-mother, Brenda is long gone only Roy still hangs on though even he feels increasingly like a spare part. Phoebe is of course part Aldridge, but the Aldridges have a tradition of far-flung family members - Debbie in Hungary, the South African contingent - Phoebe could easily join this part of the clan in a high-flying role somewhere far from Ambridge.

I checked out Toby Lawrence - who is Freddie - in Twitter, hoping to find a tweet that might allay our concerns about any change of actor. While there was no sign of the tweet I was looking for -something along the lines of "Im coming home Mum" - there were hopeful signs in that there were periodic tweets about TA.

So I'm marginally comfortable that Toby will remain Freddie. If not, my petition will put the Brexit petition into the shade ...

Does Lizzy know that CMR knew about the drugs and that him and Freddie were effectively blackmailing each other?

Wow, lots of comments to catch up on.

I sometimes forget amid all the fun and games on these threads, that you lot really know your stuff, and produce wonderfully wide-ranging and incisive insights. That's what has helped these threads thrive for so long.

Long may it continue!

Indeed Neils, there are so many loose ends with the Freddie/ CMR/ Lily/ Lizzie situation...... looking forward to it!

How much?

Can I have another go at life?

LizziesTwin way back in a past century I was 'given' iirc £2000 for my first six months' pupillage - and it was made clear that I should consider myself lucky to get it. (The same again for the second six.)

I don't desperately need Phoebe to make her first billion before she's thirty - I'd just like her to forge a fulfilling, and preferably international, career outside Borsetshire. But the SWs are so busy making her a prop for Lily they've put no scaffolding in place to get her there.

I wish I understood this sudden suggestion that Shula is scratching around trying to find something to fill her time. She's still got a busy business to run as well as the hunt, and by all accounts wasn't spending a whole lot of time with Alastair when they were together. So what's changed?

Yes Acis The S.W's seem to assume that Shula has a complete support system in her home and the stables, I don't have a 'void' to fill even though I'm retired. But I have no support!

Apart from a bit from a semi retired spouse.!

Phoebe will be back in Ambridge after her finals. Maybe postgrad at Felpersham University.

I must say I thought it a bit grim Lily's discussing Elizabeth's medication with CMR there. Can't put my finger on why. It's as if he hasn't earned the right to this, no matter how many beds he heaves around.

Couldn't agree more.

And on the whole call centre thing, while I agree that the sneery comments are unpleasant, I think they're probably just what would be said. Far more snobbery around working in a call centre flogging fitted kitchens than fruit picking, I suspect. Not saying it's right, just the way it is, IMHO.

I thought Pip in particular was horrified at the idea of an office job, being stuck inside all day rather than outside enjoying the seasons etc.

Hello again, I was Kate and have decided to change my name again to a more subtle TA ref. (With full credit to our Bert) .

'Does Lizzy know that CMR knew about the drugs and that him and Freddie were effectively blackmailing each other?'

ohhhhhhh I had forgotten that this particular shoe needs to drop

I wonder if that's why CMR is being all 'oh I will graciously withdraw' rather than being a nice tactful human. OBVIOUSLY

After this thread Google offers only a single Swahili pilgrimage in Walsingham, and one individual claiming the name 'Taswama.'

I'd be interested to learn more about it as a word ...

Yes Bellais I agree that in RL nobody loves a cold caller. Even if Lily is not cold calling , the workers in call centres do tend to be lumped together.

Oh Natasha. Tom really doesn't know her at all.

Who predicted CREDIT CARD DEBT ???
Where is Mysticbore and her crystal ball ?