Discuss The Archers #108: Has Ed & Emma’s ship sailed? Will Alice stick her oar into Kate's love life? Can Shula walk on water? Come and discuss whatever floats your boat in The Archers.

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

Thank you, @PseudoBadger, for kicking off this long, long series of Archers threads and @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 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!

For newer listeners, lurkers or those who just have no idea what we're talking about, DadDadDad has created this useful thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/radio_addicts/3557323-For-Archers-fans-a-guide-to-acronyms-on-the-long-running-discussion-threads-and-any-other-meta-thread-questions-you-may-have BOOP point for him! (See thread for explanation.)

Thanks to @QuaterMiss for the title of this thread. For reasons of space had to cut out the bit speculating about Oliver and Tracy pairing off. Surely not!

Off now to give blood, something nobody in Ambridge ever does. See you all later.

Yep, that was definitely a reference to Emma.

I'm surprised no-one's mentioned Susan at the end, telling Neil she's been thinking about what he said, and how she's being more careful to think about what she's saying, and then immediately doing an about turn, saying she's got to get front row seats at the presentation, because customers in the shop the next day, will be wanting all the goss.

Well that was an absurd and out of character and pointless episode.

I have a feeling the behbeh was due in October. Baby Boris will be overdue and will be a November baby.

Cant fly after 32 weeks, is she back?
I think that surrogacy is illegal in Bulgaria and so the baby may be blocked from leaving the country if born there.

Brian discussing his sex life with Neil, or indeed anyone? I do not think so

That episode was clearly the work of the summer intern.

Gordon Bennett! I put up with listening to the gawd awful Peggy, Jill, Ruth, Susan, Will and sometimes Emma just so I can enjoy Brian and Jenny's airtime but last night's episode had me cringeing under the bedclothes.
It was only saved just, by Jenny's delightful reply to Brian when he explained that he was trying to seduce her and by her wanting the candles relit.
I wish there were more farming conversations on the TA, even if it was just about the weather.

Gah, I just knew that was going to turn out to be a so-called 'hilarious' misunderstanding as soon as Brian mentioned the letter. At least it was resolved mercifully early. I suspect the influence of whoever it is on the editorial team who thinks willy and bottom themes are the cream of wit.

clearly the work of the summer intern.

The awful episode was slightly redeemed at the end Motoko by Susan reverting to her true self after that all too brief moment of self-reflection.

*by Jenny's delightful reply I meant her incredulous 'what for?' and I forgot to add Shula to my gawd awful list.
Phew, rant of the day over with, and so early on too

I reckon that after a few glasses of wine and brandies after dinner, it's quite possible that Brine would be confiding in Neil about anything (when you're getting on a bit the effect of alcohol is doubled).

Though that scene was badly written.

Oh it crossed my mind that the SW's are getting worse, they have forgotten that the Glorious 12th has past and wailing Will has not mentioned it. He'll be out on his ear in no time.

To be fair our reverend MOH has not been preparing for the first Hunt of the Season either.

ppeatfruit pheasant season starts 1 October. Will should be out putting water in all the feeders (I say this confidently as we were walking on a shooting estate last week and there were loads of feeders and young birds on the edge of the woodland). I do hope this is simply oversight from the agricultural advisor and the SW's aren't planning to sack Will too.

If things couldn't get any worse I overheard that they plan to have another "Edinburgh Comedy" slot this evening at 6:30pm; let's hope it is significantly better than last week's.

If Susan is worried about her reputation in Ambridge, I can't wait for her reaction when she hears the full story about Emma's week-long cadge-athon around the village.

She'll have a conniption fit

Interesting, I heard the first shooting of the season in the forest across the way from us this morning ! We're in MW France, obviously they all start at different times. isn't it the grouse hunt that starts on the 12th Aug. ?

Yes, open and closed seasons vary according to the bird/animal. There’s no closed season for rabbits, for example, as they are considered a pest more than game. For deer, the season varies for stags and hinds. The main aim of closed seasons is to protect breeding and the new births.

I suppose it's possible that Susan may never find out about Emma asking for money. It's unlikely Emma will tell her. I can't imagine Peggy, Ruth etc bringing it up, I suppose Kate is the loose cannon in all this.

Sometimes round here they have 5 year closed seasons to allow for the species to become more successful I suppose. Not for rabbits though !

Or one of Peggy or Ruth or Jim (probably not Jim currently) might quietly ask how Emma is doing now, as they haven't seen her around much and know she hasn't moved, and if she's okay - it could be quietly mentioned without details that they were sorry they couldn't help with money when asked, without mentioning Emma asked for the lot or anything. Though they all know what Susan is like.

Or one of Peggy or Ruth or Jim (probably not Jim currently) might quietly ask how Emma is

Oddly I was thinking that of those three Jim would be the most likely to ask. Jim's reaction to Emma was shocked more than anything.

Ruth and Peggy were both unnecessarily nasty to someone they have known since childhood and had skivvying for them for many years (until Peggy dumped her to advantage Kate).

Peggy and Ruth were both pretty shitty to Emma, I'd like to think they were too embarrassed at their own behaviour whilst counting their assets.

Thinking about Peggy's lady bountiful routine. I would like to see the "independent panel" award it outside the family entirely. Unless of course they are not really independent and take Peggy's steer to keep it in the family (subject to challenge?).

The only family bid which is more interested in the environment than grasping the squillions is Phoebe's (which if successful will no doubt be claimed by Pip with the help of the sycophantic Rex).

I wonder if Emma's very public yard sale was her attempt to short-circuit the gossip about her cadge-athon?

Such a complete display of defeat and misery would surely engender sympathy and compassion for 'poor Emma' and her shattered dreams.

I'm routing for a complete outsider to get the £1/2M. (I can dream).

I know the the Aldridges have invited Neil and Susan round before, but wouldn't they have all felt a even more uncomfortable than usual?

The Carter's son in law has just been sacked by Home Farm and their daughter is homeless and getting divorced as a result. All as a result of Adam.

It's an English country village, for goodness sake! Nothing is secret for long in a village.

I'm amazed Susan hasn't heard about Emma's fundraising attempts by now! It's just not realistic at all.

And this is Real Life in Ambridge, isn't it?

Or is it fiction, and I'm totally deluded

I also want a total outsider to win. One we haven't even heard of.

This whole competition thing is really starting to grind my gears. For something like that it would take weeks to put a proper bid together, it would have several partners working on it and would have to be fully costed with milestones, and deliverable, auditable outcomes with proper evaluation in place. The bidders only had a couple of weeks to chuck something together and no-one seems to have done any research or costings. The Brookfield bid only benefits Brookfield, £500k is nowhere near enough to fund the Home Farm bid (and arguably only really benefits Hone Farm not the rest of Ambridge) and Phoebe and Rex's project is going to require considerable buy in from the community and neither Rex nor Phoebe have any track record of managing a project like this. What if the people of Ambridge don't want to be re-Wilded? Presumably Tomntash's fruit idea didn't get through or we'd have heard.

I think Phoebe and Rex's idea will win as I've heard/seen two pieces on the BBC in the merits of rewilding in the past week

The Carter's son in law has just been sacked by Home Farm and their daughter is homeless and getting divorced as a result. All as a result of Adam

Its not Adam's fault that Ed was carting illegal chemicals around for a gang of dubious repute. Adam's job is to protect home farm. Tired Man bores me to tears but its really not his fault that Ed's a feckless idiot.