🧚‍♀️ Archers thread #120: Magic time. Dialogue! Good Fairy Lilian made Lynda’s wish come true. Will Phil vanish in a puff of smoke? Join the Magic Circle in Alice’s shed, where time is never called!

[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 we should hear more about the Naughty Milkman, 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.)

Thanks to @Roysnewshirt for the excellent title suggestion, which I tweaked a bit.

I wonder how much dialogue we're going to get in the coming weeks. They're back to normal recording, I believe, albeit socially distanced. Also, when will we get our Friday and Sunday episodes back? I know I'm not the only regular to miss TA a lot more on Friday than on Sunday. The Sunday episode is still an incomer, of course, having only been introduced some 20 years ago, of course.

(My parents retired to a village and some features of Ambridge life are very familiar from their experience, the 'incomer' label being one.)

@Putthetulipsthere

And I bet that now that she’s pregnant the alcohol addiction will just quietly disappear as if it never existed

I fear that too.

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g

I feel like hiring a small plane to fly over Ambridge trailing a banner saying 'Alice is a drunk! The Mosses are slavemasters!'

I have a feeling we're going to see both these storylines dragged out for a lot longer yet.

😂😂😂 absolutely!

I think Fallon sounds totally different?

Is it just my lack of listening to the lockdown monologues?

Oh dear. What a soapy storyline.

Funny you should say that, Earrings. I was just thinking tonight that Fallon's voice, including the rhythm of her speech, sounded more similar to Jolene's than it usually does.

Things have moved on tonight, but I did wonder whether Emma’s/ Alice’s phone had really run out or whether she was sparing her mum the really horrendous bit about most of the Carters being criminals etc to spare her feelings?

IUf she was, she is going to be very tempted indeed not to pull that particular punch again.

If... not IUf!

I wonder if they're going to be brave enough to do a full-on Foetal Alcohol Syndrome storyline?

@BoreOfWhabylon

Welcome theAntsareMyFriends

I have a 🔮 which sometimes makes prognostications, either directly or through the intermediary of my alter ego, MysticBore™️

The 🔮 was of the opinion that Alice's alcoholism will be swiftly resolved by the prospect of a baybee. However, it now thinks that she will have a fling with her rescuer, Gavin The Horse Whisperer.

Glad the 🔮 has responded to the latest plot developments so swiftly BoreofWhabylon. That new prognostication would be highly satisfying given Alice's judgemental drunken call to Emma.

Hello new posters! I am comparatively new here but I love these threads. They make me laugh out loud and/or find out something new about The Archers.

Pobblebonk - I fell asleep asking myself the same question. And it would be hard to understand the purpose of the "Alice as secret alcoholic" story if it didn't tie in with her being pregnant.

But Alice is an (Archer) Aldridge, and a major character. With all the advantages in the world, youth, education, qualifications, financial and familial support, they made her stay at home in Ambridge - and I can't see the writers being keen to disappear her to Birmingham as they did with Bethany Tucker and family. So I question whether they'd be keen to lock themselves into a "child with health condition" story that couldn't easily or justifiably be smoothed over and forgotten like Daniel's juvenile arthritis.

The other possibility is that a child with the condition might not actually survive to the point of being born. Although they gave Kirsty a miscarriage there would be much wider family reaction and possibly repercussions if this happened to Alice and Chris after ten years of marriage and all the weight of expectation they're subject to.

I'll be mightily annoyed if Alice's epic drinking turns out to have no consequences for the baby at all. Apart from anything else, that's an abysmal health education message for the BBC to be putting out. I'm no fan of the fingerwagging messages that say that even a sip of champagne at a wedding is putting your baby at risk, but drinking as heavily as Alice has, day in day out, is bound to be high risk. Surely the BBC can't just ignore that.

I suppose I would settle for Alice and possibly Chris (because he ought to be aware too, it's his child as well as Alice's) being worried sick over the next few months, but in the end the baby is OK, or OKish. (I admit to knowing nothing about Foetal Alcohol Syndrome apart from the fact that it exists.)

Oh, and welcome to all our newer posters!

Give the 🔮 a pat from me, Bore. Good work there.

And we have the added complication of her now having an emotional bond with Gavin

Gavin must have clearly encountered the personality fairy along with Alice on the grassy verge! This development of his emotional side is very sudden. It wasn’t that long ago he was languishing on the sofa in his pants playing on his Play Station and bullying Kirsty.

Very disappointed to hear about the chrysalis (so sorry, but can’t remember who coined this very clever term). Least Alice won’t have to worry about her career any more. The SWs will be very happy to see her spend the —rest of her life— next few years at least at home now. May be she will stay dry during the pregnancy, and the need for a drink will only surface again once the chrysalis has hatched.

The SWs will be very happy to see her spend the —rest of her life—

Damn! I tried to do the strike-through but failed miserably! Sorry if this is confusing!

Chrysalis! Love it. Well done, whoever thought of that.

Was it me?

Is Alice pregnant? Did I miss that bit?

I fear a 'Alice gives up drinking for the good of the baby' storyline.
Depending on how far gone she is, the alcohol consumption to date may not have had much effect ?
I think Gavin's metamorphosis has been coming - maybe triggered by his fiancée leaving him?

I’ve not been listening due to the monologues but the sight of the word “dialogue” in the thread title has now got me a bit intrigued. Can anyone point me in the direction of a good plot summary for the past 6 months so I can get up to speed before getting back to the Sunday morning doing the ironing and listening to the omnibus routine 😉

I think the message is that Gavin spending lockdown with the "horses" made him realise they are real people.

@MikeUniformMike

Was it me?

Is Alice pregnant? Did I miss that bit?

She told The Horse Whisperer that she is. She just hasn't got around to telling Chrisuffer.

Last word of the episode, Mike - it was 'baby'.

@VanCleefArpels, if you scroll down from the top of the thread, I made an attempt at a summary a few posts in. I also suggested looking through the spoiler thread as you'd see there what the plot teasers were and the Radio Times summaries of what was to come, week by week.

There are so many inexplicable character changes on TA - Gavin is just one more. But it could potentially leave Philip out on his own as regards the slave-driving.

Or, given the unanticipated lapse in time, could the producers have lost the taste for this storyline? Maybe they're hoping to turn the Mosses around - bit of hand wringing, release of horses into the wild. Hmm ... Can't quite convince myself of that as it seems Philip believes his business is only viable with slave labour. Maybe Gavin forcibly retires his dad and rebuilds a legitimate business?

Ah.I wasn't listening properly, then. Thanks Bore.

I think I came up with Chrysalis.

Question is, when did she find out she was preggers? Did they do a test in hospital? Or did she know when she was boozing away on the bench by the riverbank?

Foetal alcohol syndrome apart, if the pregnancy goes to term this will be annoying for Adam and his newly-hatched job share plan designed to allow him to spend more time with his son...

Maybe he should job share with Ed instead.