Archers thread #114: Bull banished, Bali beaches beckon, bickering bullshitters burgeon

[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 Gavin to stay around, 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 for all thread title suggestions! I've gone with a B theme which with a bit of luck will seem odd and irrelevant by the end of this thread. Here's hoping, anyway.

Haven't caught up with tonight's episode yet, so off to do that shortly.

Another Hayley fan here. Hate Josh, absolutely hate Kate.

Love Neil and Jazzer. Admire Jim.

Have had a love/hate relationship with most other characters during almost forty years of listening.

I am not sure if I’ve mentioned that I despise the beige blob that is Shula. My favourite is Brian and I’m secretly quite fond of Kate; at least she’s never dull.

Thanks for the @nettie434 - she doesn’t come up much in conversation these days but I’m glad to see there are other fans out there. I also like Ruth, Jim, Robert (not Rob), Lynda, Johnny and Pat. I miss Mike as well.

Ruth and Jim were nasty to Desperate Emma - they’re dead to me. As are Fallon, Peggy and Kate.

At least, in terms of being characters for whom I feel any warmth. I await their comeuppance. (Though Jim has perhaps suffered enough already and has a very slight excuse.)

Wait - MikeUniformMike doesn't like Pip?????

Why has she never said?

Any exchange between Lee (blu-tak boy) and cheesy Helen makes me cringe and miss Rob and his parents.

I like Natasha - she's far too good for nu-Tom.

I love Kate she's so blind to her flaws.

I'm thinking baby with Downs Syndrome perhaps?

But to be honest, I'm just enjoying the fact that TA is not too shit at the moment.

ed was groomed into the illegal work by tim

This is a 30 something adult with all his faculties. Not a teenage girl in a vulnerable situation.

Oh yes, I forgot... Dependable old Ed would pay for it all, wouldn't he?

Emmur was working three jobs, for most of their time together she was bringing in more regular money than Ed who was busy finding himself in casual work and wanted to turn down a regular job when it was offered

I despise every single person who turned her away during that appalling week.

Yes I agree. All those people who can cover up and hide their own short comings due to having resources and connections had no time for their skivvy when she needed help.

Ed and Emmur never did belong together, in many respects Emmur and William could have been a better combination. Both wanted to work hard and succeed and Emmur would never have been the doormat Nic was at times - that would have been good for whining Will.

Instead she falls in lurve with someone who had no interest in improving his own lot and more importantly for her, Ed had no interest in making things better for their children. He was content to live hand to mouth and rely on Emmur to bale him out - like his father always had done.

I like Natasha - she's far too good for nu-Tom

I like Natasha. I don't like the fact that as a woman who has started up and run a successful business her business is trivialised in the storyline. I'd like to see the two businesses shown working together.

Ruth and Jim were nasty to Desperate Emma - they’re dead to me I've never like Emma so I still like Jim. Don't like Ruth - what she does to vowels is unforgivable.

Nu-Natasha is OK, so is Nu-Joy. As is, surprisingly, Nu-Gav. Seems to be a theme developing. Bring in a caricature, wait til we say how unpleasant they are, then reveal them to be OK underneath. Irritating. I wish they'd stop it. If they've ever read MN, you'd have thought they'd realise we're perfectly capable of recognising hostility under a civilised veneer, subtle insults, passive aggressiveness - we don't need a pantomime villain.

I still like Jim

Asking Jim for help was utter desperation.

However Emmur worked for Ruth, Ed and Eddie have both worked for Brookfield over many years as and when it suited Brookfield. The families have a long relationship. It wasn't so much that Ruth said "no" it was the needless cruelty with which she and others whom Emmur might have considered friends all turned her down. All people who were sitting pretty in their own comfortable lives.

Quite.

It would have been more sensible if anyone of them had sat her down and said, "Look, dear, a few thousand quid in hand is not going to get you a mortgage; that isn't how it works. The only way you will get this house now is if you win the lottery and have the money to buy outright."

If someone came to me with a similar proposition I would not give them any money for it, even if they were my own sibling and I had cash and to spare, because anything less than the whole cost of the house would be no use to them whatever.

I love the Aldridges, the Archers apart from Pip (I liked the old Pip) and fake Tom (I loved the real Tom), and the Lloyds and Jazzer.

Mianed couldn't afford the house even if Ed hadn't been sacked. Jim and Ruth were right to refuse.

It would have been more sensible if anyone of them had sat her down and...

Oh I agree entirely, but not one of them did that. Neil tried to help, even Tracey was willing to help with her mite, but the affluent middle classes of Ambridge couldn't even give her the time of day. I think unfortunately that reflects real life far too often for lower income families.

So if your char came and asked you to lend her a couple of thousand quid you'd do it, no questions asked? Gosh.

It’s not the refusal - it was their manner. They were nasty and disdainful and acted as if they hadn’t known her for years.

Oh good, more Hayley fans Jaichangecentfoisdenom JoeGrundyWasMyRoleModel ( excellent name).

I like Lilian and Kate as characters but would be on AIBU 24 hours a day if I knew them in real life. I feel the same way about Susan. It was striking that, apart from Neil trying for a loan, only Tracy tried to help Emma financially when Emma went on her money mission. It’s not that I think anyone should have helped her - she needed too much money for that - it was the lack of sympathy that upset me. Plus, I don’t think that they should have lost the house. Surely a good mortgage broker could have come up with something - eg Neil and Susan being guarantors? Of course, Neil and Susan might not have wanted to do that but it was more feasible than asking Jim or Ruth.

I listened to the omnibus this morning, as well as hearing a few live episodes this week. I liked most of the writing and there was some good acting. Keri Davies scripts are wasted on me. I never recognise any of the background music playing too quietly for me to hear and understand the allusion. Plus, he seems too fond of my betes noirs Tobee and Pip. (I can’t do a circumflex and autocorrect is calling them beets noirs.)

So if your char came and asked you to lend her a couple of thousand quid you'd do it, no questions asked? Gosh.

I suggest you read what I actually wrote.

@BuckingFrolics - agree about Kate, but wonder why you think her Down's Syndrome baby would fare better in the Ambridge Cast Lottery Stakes than Bethany Tucker (gone to Brum because deliberately forgotten by the Scriptwriters)?

Possible new thread title:
Johnny's in the gym, Josh is in a jam, Rex is riled, Kate's with child come and discuss The Archers thread #115
With apologies to Bert Fry.

Emma was Ruth's char, C8H10N4O2, not a friend. That someone has worked for you or rented a house from you at a reduced rent because they couldn't afford to pay you the going rate does not make them your bessie mate.

Add to that, Ruth and David would be well aware that if Ed and Emma would not be able to pay a mortgage, the chances of them being any more able to payh back borrowed money than for instance Kenton is ever prepared to be are likely to be slim.

I despise every single person who turned her away during that appalling week
I'd happily buy each of them a drink for doing so. Ruth's would have ricin in, for unrelated reasons. The sheer brass neck of it was repellent. And Emma's situation is, ultimately, entirely her own fault. Don't screw your fiancé's/husband's brother, and don't breed another kid you and that no-hoper brother can't afford.

To be fair, it was screwing her fiancé that got her George, not screwing her fiancé's brother.

Her real mistake was not making up her mind between the two before she married either of them.

I enjoyed Robert and Lynda tonight - the little vignettes were quite charming.

I really like those two 😍