💥 Archers thread #117: Welcome to the only C19-free area in the world! Discuss The Archers 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 think Phoebe is a genius, 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/3853783--The-Archers-spoilers-thread-5-Cant-wait-for-7-02pm-Join-us-here, 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.)

I put the BOOM! emoticon in the title as I thought it could transition into a vague likeness of a virus if we're still going by early May, when we expect some wild contortions from the production team to get Ambridge back in synch with the rest of the world. I think I would have preferred them to ignore it altogether but I suppose they couldn't.

MeanWill honeymooned in Mexico. Will hadn't inherited Twice-dead-Aunt Hilda then. Emma had a payout from a car accident and that paid for the honeymoon, which in turn inspired the name of the tied cottage, Casa Nueva.

WillanNic went to Cape Verde for their honeymoon, and the cottage was renamed Greenwood Cottage.

not awake yet. there's a missing from.

As I pointed out, Three, I was talking about current reasons (until very recently) for Freddie moving out.

Emma had a payout from a car accident and that paid for the honeymoon

Was that the accident when Ed was driving, MUM? Assume so. Can't recall whether she let Ed know what the money was used for. Poor boy ... (I know he was a bad'un then.)

Yes, Perdita, it was.

Not only was Ed driving, it was Will's car, which Ed had taken without permission. I like Ed in spite of all this, but it's probably because Will is so repellent.

Had forgotten it was Will's car!

Oh dear. It's a good thing I've never been involved with someone like Ed. I'd be on MN a dozen times a year, helplessly replying to all the shocked responses with

"But I looooooooove him! (In spite of x y z.)"

I like Ed in spite of all this, but it's probably because Will is so repellent.
I think that I like Ed because the actor is so good. Ed is useless but he is portrayed in such a puppy-dog way that you can't kick him. At least, you couldn't but my sympathy for Ed's learned-helplessness (is that the right phrase?) is wearing a bit thin now that he is in his thirties.

Precisely, PPE. You'd be getting messages along the lines of "when he shows you who he is, believe it"

It's a good thing I've never been involved with someone like Ed. I'd be on MN a dozen times a year

I am being a bit too taken in by the Emma narrative at the moment Perdita. I need the posters here to remind me ‘but when you posted last time Emma....’

I seem to have conveniently forgotten the things that have gone well for Emma and only remember her going to the food bank and working nights in the chicken factory.

In real life, it would be quite possible Emma would take on on the main role as the main income earner but as we know TASAMA (doing that from memory so hope it is right).

JudyCoolibar
"Since the concerns kicked remarkably rapidly (over a weekend, I think) when Little Fred was an unconvicted drug dealer,"
No, they didn't, they kicked in on his release from prison.
- or at least the current concerns kicked in at that time.

No particular concerns kicked in on Freddie's release from prison: he was not allowed to go home because the editorial team are strange, any more than he had been allowed to live at home after his arrest but before his trial and conviction, but there was nothing new in the way of concerns at that time. Elizabeth carried on saying "oh oh poor Freddie" while meaning "oh oh poor me" just as she had done all along, while Freddie lived at The Stables with his Aunt Shula. Any breakdowns Freddie may have had were dealt with by eg Johnny rather than his incompetent self-dramatising mother.

Freddie's actual reasons for staying away from Lower Loxley after his sentence was concluded were probably (in this order) his sister's repulsive elderly lover, his mother and his sister.

MUM, I was reasonably certain that Emma blew the lot (twelve thousand pounds) on her "dream wedding" and Will paid for the honeymoon, but you may be right and she paid for the honeymoon as well. If she did buy herself a holiday as well as a large cloth meringue, it was her decision; I bet she regretted that money when she chucked Will over a year or so later, but at least she got a holiday with it as well as a husband she didn't want and had never particularly wanted.

(Poor Will: until Emma treated him so appallingly he was a perfectly nice bloke, bit dim perhaps but honest and generous as well as hard-working. After she had finished with him he was a surly, suspicious wreck.)

You are probably right Asking. They had a big wedding even though she'd had hungarian translations with her future BIL on the stag night.

Dh insists we share a home with his mum dad and grandad. I wouldn't mind but they dont own the house and we are at the whim of our landlord. Aibu to at least try for a home of our own.
I would gloss over the shagging of husbands brother as MN doesnt tend to like that kind of thing.

Something which she initiated: Ed was minding his own business when she sought him out at his home and seduced him.

Ed and Em had had sex together once before, though, whilst she was going out with Will. I was slightly surprised when I remembered that, but when I checked it, Emma told Brenda on 4th May 2003 that she slept with Ed on Friday (a day that is not in Lowfield). Six days after that Emma told Will that he was the One for her and agreed to marry him.

Something which she initiated: Ed was minding his own business when she sought him out at his home and seduced him.
It always seems to be Emma who does the hard lifting. It was her who proposed. Her who wants a better life, the house. She who wanted to move on with her life so suggested divorce. She who sought him out again (then got rebuffed).
Ed only seems interested when it seems that he might lose her eg in marriage to Will. He was devastated by the divorce suggestion and kept sticking his nose in when Emma was dating Gavin but, as soon as she said that Gav was gone, Ed backed off again.
They both seem attracted to The Thing They Can't Have. In her case, financial security but with a bloke who will never achieve that; in his case, a stay-at-home, trophy wife who can somehow survive and thrive despite his not earning enough.

He wants a Clarrie-alike; she wants a Neil-alike.

And both of them seem only to want what they can't have, much of the time.

I loved Jazzer’s randomly censorious cake comments.

It’s really interesting to hear more about Ed and Emma, I’m a relatively recent listener (12 years) so there are lots of things I don’t know! I don’t think my views have changed. Ed is incompetent and unambitious, and that has affected Emma negatively - in many ways she has drawn the short straw in life in general, it seems - but he does seem to be generally kind and well-meaning. Emma on the other hand seems perennially envious, discontented and self-centred. She asked for a divorce a few weeks ago and told everyone she was moving on, and Ed continued to help her around the house and be friendly. Now she’s changed her mind and presented Ed’s response, which was obviously painful for him too, as unreasonable and a reason to bicker with him, which is going to upset their children. Then she said they just “had to learn”! I’m completely biased by my own experiences in this respect but I don’t think children should have to learn that adults are incapable of being cordial in front of them for their sake.

I hope they aren't going to drag the modern slavery storyline out for months, like they did with the coercive control one.

I want Phil'n'Gav to get their comeuppance quickly.

Emmur hasn't really been dealt a tough hand. She and Kristiffur had the same parents, but poor Kristiffur had a cleft palate.

She has loving parents, and has been blessed with good looks.

She got involved with Will, and knew pretty much that Ed was the one for her. Will had a steady job and Ed was a bit wild.
She went ahead with marrying Will when she knew she was making a mistake.

Since the concerns kicked remarkably rapidly (over a weekend, I think) when Little Fred was an unconvicted drug dealer

No, they didn't, they kicked in on his release from prison

The loss of the licence happened within days of Freddy's arrest.

I really hope they don't drag out the modern day slavery story.

Please let Phillip be in Blake's room threatening him when Lynda decides to make a personal visit.

The loss of licence happened within three working hours of Freddy's arrest, not even days! It was totally absurd.

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If Philip is due to see the police on Wednesday as he said, what day is it today?

Sunday.

Monday was Friday's cliffhanger so today is Monday, and Wednesday will happen next Sunday.
I think.