💰 Archers thread #121: Brookfield digs for treasure, Alice & Philip try to bury the truth. Dish the dirt here if you dig The Archers. PS Send nudes.

[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 long to hear Pip again, 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 @LillianGish and @PersephonePromotesEquanimity for the title suggestions.

Current events: as @Bailey0703 has astutely spotted, it's Anti-Slavery Day tomorrow - could this herald the beginning of the end of the horses storyline? I do hope so. Horrible stuff, but what a blow for Kirsty. They're laying on the dramatic irony with trowel at the moment.

What do we think will happen to Alice and Chris? I can't see this pregnancy going to term and ending well. I don't think the marriage will survive either, giving Brian a chance to revisit his classic line about having to treat this as Alice's starter marriage.

Will Elizabeth end up on a date with Vince Casey? That would put the cat among the pigeons at Lower Loxley.

Over to you ...

Also - agree with PPs - why didn't Chris drive Alice to hospital?
Maybe he was scared of driving with someone so completely unhinged, unwilling and potentially violent. I would imagine being faced with that behaviour would be very frightening, I'm not sure I'd know what to do. If he tried to make her do anything she didn't want she could turn the tables and he'd be accused of coercion.

Well I'm no expert either @MoonJelly so happy to accept that but still, she was very coherent, managing at work, talking to JD etc without any sense of a problem.

It was clear for ages she had some sort of a problem but other that row with Emma & rescue by Gavin, the severity wasn't indicated.

I guess that was deliberate, for shock value...

I thought it was commonly known that stopping suddenly is dangerous for alcoholics?

I don't particularly like Alice but I do have sympathy, it's an illness not a choice. Even if you're a total dick, it's not something you choose to do.

@PoulePouletteEternellement I don't know what the Susie etc dramas which you mention, could you explain?

I'd say one of the worst episodes of the DV storyline was the morning after he'd raped her, hearing the state she was in when he rang her. The point being, we didn't actually witness the rape, just the lead in to it.

"She needs to be sectioned/go through this under medical supervision and care*
She most certainly does not need to be sectioned.
What she does need is for someone to knock into that thick, and now abusive, dullard Carter's head that she is not primarily a vessel for his baby. It would also be useful to have someone tell her that she does not need his permission to terminate the pregnancy.
Then she should divorce him.

Useful PS broadcast, though, in that those of us who like a little drink are now forewarned to stash old bottles of Lancôme or Clinique toner filled with vodka in our travelling toiletries bags in case of emergency. Being locked in the bathroom, even at one's own request, while clearly in physical and mental distress, by a gormless, clueless, oblivious wannabe Daddy counts as an emergency. A slice of Bronnley lemon to go with it might be gilding the lily.

What she does need is for someone to knock into that thick, and now abusive, dullard Carter's head that she is not primarily a vessel for his baby.

Where are you getting this from?!? Ok, I'll concede not the brightest, but why is he abusive? 🤷🏻‍♀️

Controlling, then. And because we are good little listeners, we now all know controlling = abusive, right? Ringing to make her excuses, saying that he wasn't going to leave her alone, saying that a healthy baby was all that matters...

Just listened to tonight’s episode on catch up. Not easy listening. I agree that Chris is clueless, I think the sw’s are trying to show that he really had no idea she had a problem not what to do now. Everything will change once the families get involved. I find it hard because a child’s involved, I can’t bear the thought of a baby being impacted, even though it’s fiction.☹️

Very difficult listening, yes he should've called for an ambulance but I think it is probably quite realistic that he doesn't have a clue and thinks she'll be fine, even his talk of we'll just get to the GP and then it will be sorted (presumably with his magic Dr Unicorn Wand).

Anybody prepared to down a bottle of mouthwash regardless of the impact on their body and that of their unwanted baby absolutely needs some psychiatric help. What was she thinking? Illness or not, I’ll never get over my disgust at Alice for this.

@theThreeofWeevils

Controlling, then. And because we are good little listeners, we now all know controlling = abusive, right? Ringing to make her excuses, saying that he wasn't going to leave her alone, saying that a healthy baby was all that matters...

Ah c'mon. This is nuts.

"What she does need is for someone to knock into that thick, and now abusive, dullard Carter's head that she is not primarily a vessel for his baby. "

And that will make a great deal of difference to her being alcohol dependent? Chris washing his hands of the whole business and telling her to do what she likes, making no attempt to stop her, would be preferable to him trying to stop her destructive behaviour?

At present, whether she likes it or not, she is a vessel for a foetus, which happens to have been created using her ova and Chris's sperm: it is in fact his baby, as well as hers. One which she is systematically harming -- in the sense "she is harming its system". He has as much right as her to have a say in whether or not his-child-as-well-as-hers is to be damaged by her drinking to excess.

After all, if she has a seriously defective child as the result of her alcohol consumption, he will be expected to pay for its upkeep for the rest of his or its life, won't he; she will certainly be happy for it to be his child at that point!

Also, I really thought Alice has stopped drinking, it was a shock she'd carried on more than a little sip...

Why on earth didn’t he go and fetch her mother. Or even just ring her. I think he would have done in real life. Even Kate might have been a help. Couldn’t he see the house had turned into a pressure cooker and reinforcements were needed?

What’s the point of living in a village, next door to your in-laws, if you can’t summon support when a crisis starts unfolding under your nose. He’s such an idiot.

Now capable and dependent Roy, on the other hand, would definitely know what to do...

I guess he was ashamed. Ashamed that he didn’t see what was going on under his nose. Ashamed that they can’t sort it out between themselves.

He’s never seen Alice like this and had no idea what she was likely to do next or what to do for the best. I can imagine Alice going berserk if she heard him on the phone to Jenny. And what would he say to Jenny to prepare her?

Good grief that was hard to listen to. Why on earth didn't Chris call an ambulance? Alcohol withdrawel is dangerous but in pregnancy it must be even more so.

I agree, I wouldn't have known what to do, just thought "if I get her to the GP all will be well" - at least initially. When she's swigging mouthwash and hallucinating I think I'd have thought again though!

Back in the pre-COVID days, DC would be out doing clubs by 7pm, but I've taken to having supper ready by 6:307:15 so I can listen in the evenings.

We had a lot of LOUD TALKING during the Alice and midwife scan. It sounds as if it was a good job DH was cooking tonight and put some music on.

I really would just like a strangely dull story of the seasons and birdsong, with a bit of baking.

@EarringsandLipstick

Well I'm no expert either *@MoonJelly so happy to accept that but still, she was very coherent, managing at work, talking to JD etc without any* sense of a problem.

It was clear for ages she had some sort of a problem but other that row with Emma & rescue by Gavin, the severity wasn't indicated.

I guess that was deliberate, for shock value...

My alcoholic FIL used to be like that. At work, no-one would have had a clue that he had a problem, and he was in a customer facing role so he was dealing with other people all day every day. Most of the time at home you wouldn't know, either. What really made it obvious was the time he came to stay with us and our alcohol supplies disappeared, and we found bottles he had stashed with no regard for the fact that it could have been our three year old who found them.

Well I'm no expert either@MoonJellyso happy to accept that but still, she was very coherent, managing at work, talking to JD etc withoutanysense of a problem.

So was my mother till she ended up vomiting blood everywhere and needing several units transfused..

I found tonight harder to listen to than Helen and Rob, but I think that's partly because it's closer to home.

@MikeUniformMike

Bloody hell! I need a drink.

I am in NZ and listen to this around 10am and I needed a drink too.

The line from Chris of 'I like a drink too, when did this stop becoming fun and a problem for you?' (Can't remember whether last night or night before as I listened to both last night) is so true. A predisposition for Alice even though they started from the same place.

Tough to listen to. Just caught up. I'd have called an ambulance. I think whoever said Chris is ashamed is right, though. What a nightmare.

for all those for whom this is very close to home.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/2bcfjfTfSZJx44QJbFSXg31/alice-and-chris-actors-share-their-experience-of-creating-alices-dangerous-bathroom-detox The actors speak. They think the relationship is solid. There are multiple pictures here for those who don't like seeing actors.

Tim Stimpson wrote last night's episode.