💰 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 ...

Molly, that would be splendid.

Hello all! I've started listening after giving up on the monologues.

The last episode I had on my iPod from July was the one where Alice quit her job (at least we got a bit of Debbie) and then I picked up again, coincidentally, with Alice having just found she's pregnant, Gavin rescuing her from some drunken predicament.

So... did I actually miss anything of note in the two or three months between?

I don't think you have missed anything vital, Errol. The modern slavery plot is still ongoing. Kirsty got suspicious but believes the problem is that Gavin has a gambling habit. That stemmed from Susan overhearing a reference to horses (Philip and Gavin's code for referring to their three victims) and Philip decided this was actually a good way to steer Kirsty away from uncovering the truth. Susan now has a show on Radio Borsetshire. Robert and Lynda had a few difficulties but are fine again. The Bull's peacock, the one Kenton ran over, was replaced but I think it has made its way back to Lower Loxley.

I agree with Madcats that some scripts that had to be ditched during lockdown have been revived.

Very excited at MollyButton's suggestion. I do remember that Lily went round to see Lara (Russ's ex) and got very upset but I don't think it was actually made clear that she did actually speak to Lara so could it have been someone else, preferably Bethan. Mind you, I could have missed an episode in which it was all made clear.

Gasp0de, I think this is my 1st post on this thread, so thanks for your sterling efforts.

I thought Pip sounded different tonight too - just her voice. Regrettably, the Pip, Josh interchange was just as tedious as ever. Hope they don't turf out Rex - he is one of the few nice people in Ambridge.

I couldn't help but think how disappointed in the twins Nigel would be

Oh I think you all missed what this episode was really about: Vince Cassy has an estranged daughter called Bethan.

Now, this is what makes this thread so life enhancing. I was listening last night, but only with half an ear, and the half ear wished to escape Pip v Josh so found something to distract itself with.

But you're right Molly - new vistas opening up. Even if the mystery young lady doesn't turn out to have a connection to CMR, there must be some potential in Vince Casey's hinterland. And, as both he and Elizabeth become nicer people when they're together (or, at least, they bring out new possibilities in each other,) I'm hoping the SWs have serious ambitions for the relationship.

Interesting that they're retconning Elizabeth as someone perceptibly well educated and articulate - though I'm willing to accept that decades of interaction with serious business advisers, conference participants, wealthy wedding parents and LL trustees has - what should one say - made her cleverer.

Do you think Vince could have had a fake profile, and was in fact the date who never showed?
Yes.

I find Freddie interesting because that overwhelming entitlement and veneer and background enables him to get away with behaviour...

I don’t like VC but I very much enjoyed him pointing out to Freddie that he was not the one who had done time inside. The twins were insufferable yesterday. Lizzie needs to remind Lily of how she has tolerated her inappropriate choice in partner for more than a year now.

I would LOVE a denouement exposing CMR as the reason for Bethan’s estrangement with her Dad. Watching him slink off stage left with tail between legs would be just too glorious!

Oh yes, this fledgling romance has real potential!

for more than a year now

Goodness! Actually that’s wrong, isn’t it? It must be more than two years now since Lily came back from Manchester!

They're going to have to drag back CMR's voice pdq. It's inconceivable that he wouldn't be hovering anxiously over Elizabeth's dating adventures. Any new man coming into LL threatens his unwarrantedly cushy position ...

Welcome back ErrolTheDragon. It is worth going back a week if you haven't heard Alice phone Emma.

Mince and Lizzie are both lonely souls, putting on a brave face. (I don't think I would reveal a deep secret to David's sister so early in a friendship). I am beginning to like Vince, which is a tad disconcerting. He will be a great help to Lizzie if LL is on its knees. And he will hopefully send CMR packing in future episodes.

Aside from Usha, has Lizzie had a friend (male or female)?

I am puzzled by Josh's chickens. Surely a big farm has a plan about what happens when/goes where. You might need to tweak it, but it would still be quite detailed. Also, if he is hoping to buy another chicken business, why not ask to have a short tenancy of that land until you can assess what your options are?

@MollyButton

Oh I think you all missed what this episode was really about: Vince Cassy has an estranged daughter called Bethan. Estranged because he didn't approve of her relationship with an "unsuitable man". What if that man was CMR? And Lily is at least the third of his little "flings". I don't think CMR and Vince have met yet.

Brilliant! I hope this is it.

@MikeUniformMike

Do you think Vince could have had a fake profile, and was in fact the date who never showed? Yes.

I reckon so. He was interested in Lizzie (and LL?) when he met her at Brookfield. He's someone who plans his moves. Well, he should shake things up a bit. He strikes me as a hard businessman who generally doesn't mind if people like him or not, but not crooked or actually evil - the opposite of Phillip Moss.

Do you think Vince could have had a fake profile, and was in fact the date who never showed?
I don't think so. I think Vince is going to turn out to be OK. I thought he was brilliant with Frilly, putting the pair of little snobs in their place.

He can't get his hands on LL anyway, as it's Freddie's. If that was his plan he'll soon realise and disappear.

I don't think there would necessarily be anything sinister if he had set up the date - he seems like someone who plans, rather than plots iyswim. And he could be interested in LL without actually intending to 'get his hands on it', maybe he'll come up with some ideas to develop its potential more? There must be entrepreneurs IRL who are thinking about next steps for the currently struggling hospitality sector.

Morning all! Some great stuff on this thread.

I'd love it if Beth turned out to be an ex of CMR but that would be a major plot stretch, unless Vince has engineered the whole thing to get close to CMR. The absence of CMR at the moment is ludicrous. I hope we're going to hear him again soon. I loathe the character but he's well acted and it's the kind of loathing I enjoy doing, if you see what I mean.

I'm pleased that Vince has turned out to be more than a 2D villain. He may indeed be Matt Mark 2, but Matt was a great character.

That scene between Ruth and Pip was like a John Finnemore version of The Archers. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p02mlwdp There may yet be someone who hasn't heard this. I never tire of it.

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p01pgzx0 I think this is the first one.

Gaspode those sound as if they were written by the scriptwriters who live in my head... I think I may be getting confused about what is real and what isn't in the area of TA. I need to get out more, if only...

I think I may be getting confused about what is real and what isn't in the area of TA.

Um....

Are you, in fact, John Finnemore, @Chemenger? That would explain a lot about the intern ...

To define "real" there at least two for me:

-actual episodes of TA, written by people I know nothing of and broadcast on the radio,
-things that the intern and the scriptwriters in my head talk about.

Is one more real than the other? (Answers must be in 500 words or fewer, spelling and punctuation will not be taken into account in the marking, may be attempted by non-philosophers at their own risk). Its exam setting time in my real real world.

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g

Are you, in fact, John Finnemore, *@Chemenger*? That would explain a lot about the intern ...

Are you trying to confuse me? You know I'm struggling with the concept of reality.

I know what I think of someone who goes into someone else's house where they know perfectly well they are not welcome and takes it upon themselves to talk about that person having been in prison. It doesn't endear the intruder to me much, put it that way. I certainly don't like them for it! Good grief.

(Maybe we should try it in AIBU and see how many people think it's the right way for Vince to have behaved, though. Perhaps I am simply too old-fashioned about basic manners, and behaviour in other people's houses.)

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Roysnewshirt
"for more than a year now"
Goodness! Actually that’s wrong, isn’t it? It must be more than two years now since Lily came back from Manchester!

She came back to borrow more money and then stayed to make herself indispensable on 16th November, 2018, but it was on 20th September 2019 that Lily, having initially said she would start again from scratch at university having deferred for a year at the end of 2018, packed her car as if to leave and then got round to telling Elizabeth that she did not intend to go back to Manchester after all. That was when I was thinking of as the "more than a year" during which she ought to have been considering a more demanding career than telesales.

As an aside. My DD (who is studying Forestry at a Land Based college) came into the room when I was listening to the Archers. She heard Pip and said "she doesn't sound like any Farmer I know"....

Thanks @AskingQuestionsAllTheTime for calculating Lily’s dates

Maybe we should try it in AIBU and see how many people think it's the right way for Vince to have behaved, though

I did the Brownie’s Hostess badge and we had to entertain the examiner to afternoon tea. You had to demonstrate excellent hostessing skills mainly centred on putting a guest at ease. Frilly would have failed the badge miserably for making VC feel so uncomfortable. Freddie was asking for VC’s put-down I’m afraid.

I know what I think of someone who goes into someone else's house where they know perfectly well they are not welcome

Elizabeth invited him.