👩‍🌾 The Archers spoilers thread #5: Can't wait for 7.02pm? Join us here!

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

Spoiler thread for The Archers. Please keep all spoiler-related discussion in this thread and do not spill the beans on the main Archers Thread. Last thread here: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/radio_addicts/3439443-keep-it-to-yourself-the-archers-spoilers-thread-4

I thought the acting by Alice and Chris was brilliant. I imagine it's a growing issue with people locked down.

It had crossed my mind when I posted that both her parents had been unfaithful I don't think we have ever had any proof that Jennifer has been, have we?

We have; we heard it on air, and also her confession to Brian about it.

Jennifer was spending afternoons having it off in a hotel with Roger Travers-Macy when Debbie was twenty-one, and Debbie found out.

Funnily enough Debbie wasn't angry with her mother about that the way she was angry with Brian about his affair with Siobhán; she just blamed Roger entirely and took steps to get him out of their lives. She was utterly furious with him and cut off all communication between them. Adam stayed in touch with Roger, she did not.

That of course is why when Roger got Covid his new wife had Debbie's phone number and not Adam's....

Update about next week from today's paper

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Daily Mail Weekend Magazine Archers Update 23rd - 26th November 2020
Many of the Archers have a nasty habit, when they go courting, to plump for a person most likely to upset the saintly Jill. Elizabeth is no slouch in that department, and this week, she reveals to Jill that she’s getting together with David’s arch-enemy. Let’s see just how well that goes down.
There’s another on-site disaster for Gavin; he tries to cover things up so Philip doesn’t find out, but it could have major consequences for both of them.
There’s real drama for Alice and Chris, worries among the Grundys that Eddie is - literally and metaphorically - digging himself into a hole, and pig-related problems for Rex.
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One of the few people in TA that I ever feel any particular sympathy for is Jill, who has a family so appalling that were I her, I would move to New South Wales or somewhere similarly out of their way. But she seems to like them, so sympathy is muted. Very.

But it's the parents who make the children.

One can still feel sympathy for someone who has so completely messed up that she produced Elizabeth and Kenton, let alone Shula and David.

But is it nature or nurture Mike ? Science seems to be proving that DNA is carrried through all the generations doesn't it? ( sorry I have no links I just heard it on the radio).

I have twin grandsons who are very different as in tidy/untidy, sporty/not sporty, different musical tastes, musucian/non musician, helpful/not so helpful etc etc. These traits showed from early toddler hood and made me think nurture wasn't the be all and end all. They are both (especially one of them) extremely good at maths and nobody knows where they got that from.

The milkman?

Identical twins, Captain, or non-identical? My understanding is that identical twins are genetically identical but even when brought up together may turn out very differently, which is fascinating. Non-identical twins are no more alike than any other siblings.

There's a gripping documentary I saw called Three Identical Strangers about triplets separated at birth, each one adopted by a very different family. By sheer chance they met again as adults. Strongly recommended, extremely thought-provoking in various ways.

Forgot to say thanks to Asking! I wonder what Gavin's going to do.

I have a feeling that even identical twins usually have quite different fingerprints.

This useless information goes along with some people (possibly quite a lot of people) having two quite different sets of DNA: the most usual explanation is that they started out to be twins but one died very early and the survivor absorbed some of the twin's DNA. This is one of the reasons that DNA testing ought not to be the first thing looked for but a last resort, in police work, and why DNA testing may not be reliable as a way to identify a father: his sperm and his saliva may not have the same DNA.

(I thought about this when Rob tested negative as little Ethan's daddy.)

Non identical. The obstetrician said they might not even have been conceived on the same day.

Wow! Twins fascinate me, for some reason. There are none in my family that I know of. I believe the tendency to have non-identical twins is transmitted down the female line as it happens when a woman has two eggs released at ovulation time, one from each ovary, rather than the usual one from the left one month, one from the right the next month. That's another thing that fascinates me - how does the body know to switch them over?

Anyway, ahem, sticking to The Archers - did Pip ever fret that she might end up with twins as a result of possibly nheriting that tendency from Jill, via David? I can't recall any other twins in TA other than Shula and Kenton.

Frilly

Frilly presumably came by their twinhood because Elizabeth inherited that tendency from Jill.

So not an Archer thing exactly; a Patterson one.

I'm fascinated by twins too. I know one set of adult twins and they really are identical. There seem to be more twins born now, but there were quite a few at school - at least one set in each intake of about 200.

One of my school friends had three sets of twins as first cousins on her mother's side, but she and her sister didn't have twins.

I think that often twins who look very alike are non-identical.

In families where the twin gene is inherited you wouldn't necessarily know you'd got it if you only had one or two pregnancies. I know someone who had twins on her third pregnancy. My dd had them in her first but then had two singletons. I only had one child, we'll never know if a second go could have produced twins.

@ppeatfruit

But is it nature or nurture Mike ? Science seems to be proving that DNA is carrried through all the generations doesn't it? ( sorry I have no links I just heard it on the radio).

That made me think of another matriarch with 4 children.

Doh! Frilly, of course. Thanks, all.

Next week:

BBC One-Liners
30 Nov Tony makes an emotional discovery and David finds himself backed into a corner.
01 Dec Gavin has the rug pulled from under him and Tracy has a bone to pick with another resident.
02 Dec Jazzer finds himself under attack and it’s the end of an era for Susan.
03 Dec Eddie learns a valuable lesson and Chris struggles with recent events.

Credits
Mon 30/11/2020, Tue 1/12/2020, Wed 2/12/2020, Thu 3/12/2020
Writers: Caroline Harrington & Julie Beckett
Director: Gwenda Hughes
Editor: Jeremy Howe
David Archer: Timothy Bentinck
Helen Archer: Louiza Patikas
Tony Archer: David Troughton
Harrison Burns: James Cartwright
Chris Carter: Wilf Scolding
Neil Carter: Brian Hewlett
Susan Carter: Charlotte Martin
Eddie Grundy: Trevor Harrison
Will Grundy: Philip Molloy
Shula Hebden Lloyd: Judy Bennett
Tracy Horrobin: Susie Riddell
Joy Horville: Jackie Lye
Jim Lloyd: John Rowe
Jazzer McCreary: Ryan Kelly
Gavin Moss: Gareth Pierce
Philip Moss: Andy Hockley

Radio Times Ambridge Diary 30th November - 4th December 2020
Shocked by Philip’s plans for the future, Gavin tries to talk his dad out of a rash decision. Listeners longing for a shift in the balance of power may be left disappointed as Philip plots to keep Gavin quiet.
Roman continues to make his presence felt at rehearsals for the show, while Tracy’s plans for the festive season appear set to fall flat - until a fairy grandmother comes to the rescue.
Expect further trouble for the Horrobin clan when one of them is taken ill during the annual Christmas lights switch-on. Eddie learns a lesson that’s more valuable than the treasure he’s seeking, and one of David’s siblings leaves him in a state of despair.

Thanks Asking. The 'Horses' thing is so irritating, why doesn't Gavin just start paying them proper wages?

Oh and the Toby\ Rex ,pig farm, Gin Still, SL is also stupid, has Pip\ the SW's forgotten that the rewilding scheme has light industrial buildings?

Thanks Asking.

Fairy godmother or fairy grandmother? Would that be Peggy or Jill?

@ppeatfruit from those spoilers it looks as if any chance Gavin had of making the lives of the "horses" better is going to be scuppered by Philip. I wonder at what point he is going to turn on his Dad?

Looks like an interesting week to come. Thank you!

Presumably Susan will be released from her radio duties? Though that would be a shame just before Christmas. Unless there's something else she might be retiring from?

I think this is if anything even more interesting:

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Daily Mail Weekend Magazine Archers Update 30th November - 3rd December
The December skies are dark over Ambridge, and in the gloom all kinds of furtive activities are going on. Philip has been hatching his escape plan, but Gavin has found out about it and, in the light of his discovery, considers his own position.
Eddie,who has been burrowing away for treasure on Brookfield land under the cover of darkness, finds that the glint of gold has led him into danger.
There are other matters brewing at Bridge Farm, where an era appears to be coming to an end, while Jazzer finds himself caught in the cold beam of the truth.
Christmas plans to light up the grim winter forge ahead, but when the cheery Ambridge lights are turned on a shadow falls on the Horrobin clan.

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I wonder what era is left to come to an end at Bridge Farm.