The Archers #109: Pulp Fiction! Hammer Horror (Tracy), Carry On (Brian & Neil), Call the Midwife (Adam, Ian, Lexi) - but no political thrillers, Ambridge remains Brexit-free. Nitpick here!

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

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

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. grin

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 Bucking Frolics and LillianGish for the title ideas, which I had to edit down a bit to get under the character limit.

I wonder if Lily will have gone back to Manchester by the time we've filled this thread.

I’ve had a number of friends recently try out names between them and not announce until about a week later. I’m just about to post a package of baby clothes to a friend who gave birth a week ago and didn’t have a name to put on the card! Frustrating for me because one of my favourite things about friends having babies is finding out what names people have chosen.

Only, given twelve and a half minutes to define the new parents for us, the SWs chose to show Ian sleepy, not soothing the baby and getting cramp in his arm - while Adam was up first, calm and baby’s favoured parent at that moment.

Or they chose to define a fairly typical new parent interaction. I can certainly remember a similar event when I'd been trying to soothe DS for ages, was tired out and frustrated, only to have DS calm down completely when a well-rested DH came to take over.

I can't tell you how many times I have also seen that with older children, I worked in residential care for a long time and a 'new' member of staff coming into a difficult situation could frequently diffuse the issue.

I can remember occasions when I was stressed trying to settle my baby - handed her over to a friend - instant calm! It's a well known thing, I think, stress breeds more stress in parent and child. And yes, it also works in school - a child with autism, say, having a melt down and another member of staff walks in and the distraction is enough for them to forget about it.

Are we getting near needing to start another new thread? Only 69 posts to go?

Yes, I was thinking that. Anybody else want a turn? I'm happy to do it again but don't want to hog the threadstarter role if others would like to have a go.

Titles?

I was thinking about the surrogacy storyline earlier and I agree with what others have said about it troubling them because of the uneven power relations, putting aside the lack of any sense that the arrangement has been properly checked out agencies as it would be in the case of an adoption.

That led me to recall the TV series written by Deborah Moggach where the arrangement is between sisters. I think it was a daft title like 'to have and to hold', but the story itself, though it shocked me at the time, had, in contrast, a sense of rightness about it that it is so sorely lacking here. Poor Lexie, wandering around like a lost soul.

I feel we've neglected last night's other storyline: Will's volte face. Isn't it a bit "Hollywood movie" for a character have a conversation with a stranger (or in this case, someone at least coming at Will ignorant of his situation), and in that moment have a sudden moment of clarity and make a life-changing decision? Does it ever happen like that in real life? I thought Will was more stubborn than that...

Gasp0de - no objection from me if you carry on as threadstarter.

Oh how juicy!

I love Lilian being embroiled in shenanigans!

Justin is playing with fire, isn't he?

I think David and Brian are going to be spectacularly unhappy when they realise what's really going on!

It took us a fortnight to decide finally on DCs' names, we wanted to get to know them a tiny bit first. They did both end up with the names we favoured the most though.

Neil has had a very similar problem with a boar, years and years before. AFAIR the boar was young and didn't know quite what to do. Can't remember how this was resolved though. Maybe it involved chilli and a demo from Neil and Susan.

I love Lilian being embroiled in shenanigans!

Well, it'll certainly be a nice change of scenery. Justin's being a real dick regarding Crowthers, and not telling David. And as Lil said, she'll be the one who has to take the flak. In her shoes, I'd tell David. All Justin's thinking about is lining his pockets (which aren't exactly short of lining anyway) rather than what would be better for Ambridge, and the people living there, including his not-quite-wife, and her family.

I wish we had philanthropists like the Victorian ones. They understood that you get better results and productivity, when you look after your workers and the people around you.

Not up to date with the thread or tonight's offering but "SHE'LL NEED A FEW DAYS TO RECOVER" gasps, splutters, rages.

I know vaginas aren't Adam and Ian's strong suit but really. Some ladies do recover remarkably quickly but it's not for a man who's nowhere near them to assume.

Title suggestion: The game's up for Will, could it be game on for Lillian and Vince (or even Tracy and Oliver) and will it be game over for Joe? Stay ahead of the game with all things Archers here

Brilliant!

I love Lillian's title, but I can't get the idea of " Lexi's Midnight Runners" out of my head. What a shame Jolene, wasn't an 'Eileen'.

Yes I remember "grasshopper" too!

My title suggestion is “ It’s all a bit crap and boring at the moment ” but I know we are not allowed spoilers!

I also agree the power imbalance - migrant woman worker remote from her own children due to financial circs and unable to commit to a great relationship due to inability to settle here vs Adam and Ian.
‘A few days to recover’ made me feel sick. I’m finding it bleak.
The family bar (I’m at the criminal bar) has a lot to say - debate lots of views - about increase in wealthy men accessing surrogacy with frankly vulnerable women.
Not good. Not enjoying this storyline one little bit. Not being homophobic in the slightest.

Vince is so like Matt Crawford isn't he?

Now I have a dilemma. I've listened up to the rushing Lexi into hospital. I've kept up with this thread and I don't know that I want to listen to the birth with that awful woman snatching the child, or any of the crap you guys have mentioned. Do I power on through or lurk here for a bit until the worst is over? IS the worst over?

I just want to be clear that I wasn’t implying posters were being homophobic, I was just a bit at the suggestion that men can’t look after babies. It’s difficult to draw conclusions in fictional cases - especially where the SW keep adjusting the characters to suit the plot. My reading of this has always been that Lexi and Ian were friends - she is a migrant worker, but she is not some desperate woman they found through an agency who doesn’t know them from Adam (excuse the pun). She knew them as a couple and thought they would be good parents. She already has a nearly grown up family - she doesn’t want another child. She didn’t have a traumatic birth and now she can rest and recover without having to be up all night with a crying baby. Ian and Adam could perhaps make more of a fuss of her, but when they tried to do this before she moved out. I have no idea what has happened to Jenny - considering the twists and turns of maternity in her own family it seems ridiculous she is making such a fuss.

Could not be more bored with the whole Lexi/Adam/Ian baby thing. It can't be a human baby, the pregnancy seems to have gone on for YEARS. And I just don't believe this much wanted baby would not have a name on arrival.

Lilian and Vince, though! Come ON!!!

I think we might be a bit unusual when it comes to names. I distinctly remember shortly after meeting my husband we had a short chat in the pub about our favourite names. I mentioned my favourite girl's name and he said 'Yes, I like that one a lot too'. Years and years later when I was finally pregnant we discussed names. I mentioned that same name again and he agreed it was the number one choice for a girl. My daughter was born by emergency caesarean section. It had been planned that I would be conscious as I'd already had an epidural, but it didn't take properly so I was given a general, but only a light one. Moments after she was born, I was roused by a brisk shake of the shoulder from the anaesthetist (my husband was there and told me later) saying 'I think the mother should see the baby' and I do remember (both vividly and hazily, if that makes sense) seeing this tiny creature held aloft in front of me. I was told I had a daughter and I said the name we'd agreed. Then I went back to sleep. Never a moment's regret over the name, no angst, and fortunately she likes it too.

When it came to a boy's name it wasn't quite so easy. I had two clear favourites but my husband wasn't keen on either of them. I didn't like his favourite at all. So we compared lists, working down from the top, and the first one that appeared on both lists was the one we went for. Agreed months before the birth. Fortunately he seems to like it too.

Great title suggestions. Strongly tempted by MrsGrindah's ...

Will start a new thread later today.

Coffee if you mean Jenny snatching the baby, she didn't. She was being weird when Kirsty was trying to take a group photo with her in it, she didn't want to be in the picture, and Kirsty was trying to get her to smile. I got the impression she thought Lexi was going to keep the baby, so didn't want to form a bond with him.
A bit earlier, she was grilling Kirsty to try to find out Lexi's state of mind, and asked what Lexi had talked about, (to which Kirsty replied that she was giving birth!) and whether her saying she was feeling guilty, could be for a reason other than because she had asked Kirsty to be at the birth, instead of Adam and Ian. Again, with the implication that Lexi was keeping the baby.
She also complained about having a male midwife, and how long it was taking. Adam tried to get her to go home, but she refused.

Is it possible that Jenny’s weird behaviour stems from her being unable to imagine giving up a baby? She is, as has been said, very maternal and if she struggles to believe that a new mother could hand over a newborn that could be the root of her anxiety. She wants to protect her own child, Adam, from being hurt by Lexi not being able to give over the baby but empathises with Lexi’s feelings.

Yes- Jenny’s the only one, including the midwife who has actually given birth. So she’s the only one who is going to wonder whether Lexington can actually go through with it.