🧱 Archers thread #128: Alice lobs a brick, Emma hurls brickbats, Neil is a brick. Cement your relationship with 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 collect superhero figures, or other unusual things.

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/4197199--The-Archers-spoilers-thread-6-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.)

Apologies for not using any of the suggestions offered for this thread's title. I'll paste them in here instead to get us started.

I like the leeway pun here from @ThePawtriarchy: Bacon, Bores and Booze. Elizabeth needs convincing, Helen needs some leeway and Alice is in crisis.

@nettie434 gets to the nub of what's been happening recently: Beechwood, Batman and Booze: Rex's pigs and Helen and Lee have new homes but will Lee's collection of action figures plant the apple of discord in their sylvan idyll? Alice's alcohol problems continue to cause friction between the Aldridges and Carters. Has anyone warned Borsetshire Children's Services what awaits them?

Great one liner from @PseudoBadger - ‘Nobody puts Captain America in the corner’.

And a timely bit of advice from @JanFebAnyMonth: If this evening’s episode has raised any issues for you, please call the BBC Helpline post on this MN thread for details of organisations which might help you.

So, off we go again! We may get back to five episodes a week before the next thread. Here's hoping that it's Friday we get back, not Sunday.

Helen does come across as thinking that any man with a pulse is better than no man but I think we are also meant to imagine Lee as handsome, certainly very fit. Of course there was a time when he met Lynda in hospital and told Tony about his work with Covid patients that he was presented as being good at his job too. This is why I find the action figure devotion rather tedious and not very credible.

By the way, MayIDestroyYou, I meant to thank you as well as Asking for the reminder about the Brian/Adam money discussion. On Twitter, they have been saying that Adam is like Father Ted and the money was just resting in his account .

Re Adam, I think the scriptwriters do sometimes have odd ideas about who is popular with the listeners. Pip is often shown is photos and clips of what the actors are doing, presumably because they see her as the future of Brookfield. Unfortunately, she doesn't seem popular with listeners (swivels to face ILoveShula but also most of the Posters on Twitter) so I would not be surprised if the scriptwriters' perception of Adam is quite different to the listeners'.

However, as I am quite enjoying The Fall of the House of Aldridge I should really stop moaning!

I am absolutely not enjoying the fall of said House. At least not as it concerns the senior members. The whole point of Brian and Jenny was bottomless coffers, six foot deep game pies at the shoot, endless crates of the sort of whisky I can only gawp at, and their photos in the local Society rag (name forgotten - because they haven't been in it!). It's staggeringly dull to have Brian searching down the back of the farm office sofa for child-rescue money.

@ILoveShula

That doesn't answer the question, EBerahug. I'd already pointed out that Annette was not Helen's stepdaughter.

Is Henwee Rob's step-son or former step-son.

Step son isn't a legal relationship so once they are divorced it's up to the parents/step parents to decide how they view the relationship. If you were on good terms you would probably continue to view the relationship as a step parent one. I doubt Helen thinks of rob as Henry's step dad. He's not, in any meaningful way.

Society rag

Borchester Life, I think.

Wasn't there talk of Rob getting PR for Henwee? Can't remember if it happened or not.

True. I've never understood what on earth the attraction of Lee is, given that he appears to be lacking in brains or any sort of character, and Helen seems to find his obsession with Bruce Lee and toys vaguely distasteful and embarrassing. He works in a profession that requires a degree so he can't be entirely brainless. I'm not sure I could cope with the Action Hero figures in anyone over the age of 7, though.

I've never understood what on earth the attraction of Lee is
He is an easy-going doormat that Ms Control Freak can trample all over. OTOH, I've never understood what Lee (or anyone alse, for that matter) sees in Helen.

Lee is a nice guy who works hard and is good with the boys.

Loads of men have collections of stuff, I don't as such see an issue with it, it is relatively harmless. Whether it is action figures or beermats it doesn't make much of a difference, except physical size. I worked with a nice chap who was really into lego. (To be fair I worked in computing/tech so maybe there was more likelihood of collecting tendencies there?)

I'm pretty certain the PR for Henry never happened.

@CaptainMyCaptain

True. I've never understood what on earth the attraction of Lee is, given that he appears to be lacking in brains or any sort of character, and Helen seems to find his obsession with Bruce Lee and toys vaguely distasteful and embarrassing. He works in a profession that requires a degree so he can't be entirely brainless. I'm not sure I could cope with the Action Hero figures in anyone over the age of 7, though.

Is it any worse than hours exchanging messages with strangers about (ahem, fictional) characters in a radio programme?

I have a vague recollection of Rob deciding that applying for PR required him to answer too many questions and it was all beneath him - is that correct?

Like the character in the old Kung Fu TV series, Lee has clearly arrived in Ambridge to right wrongs and dispense advice, armed only with his martal arts skills and stock of wise aphorisms.

He will eventually leave with the grateful thanks of villagers ringing in his ears and Hellinantheboyz smiling mistily and wistfully after him.

He will leave Ambridge a better place than he found it.

I enjoyed the nicely done characterisation of Joy “I don’t know why he’s fussed about a scooter on his front lawn, it’s all weeds anyway. And I don’t think he’s mown it weeks”. No -mow May? And the fanfare text notification sound.

What took me aback re Adam was not so much the fingers in the till but his willingness to pass the blame to Alice, and his failure to admit until it became clear that Brian wouldn’t be deterred from taking it up with her.

I also work in techie circles. I thought it was normal for men to be into Lego

Is it any worse than hours exchanging messages with strangers about (ahem, fictional) characters in a radio programme?

I take your point but at least that doesn't take up any space.

I take your point but at least that doesn't take up any space.

Have you no Archers books?

Thanks for making me feel appreciated and not alone nettie. I don't like Pip. If she was an innovative young farmer, then maybe but she seems a barely competent know-it-all yet the sun shines out of her arse. She is unpleasant to her brothers, to which her parents turn a blind eye or take her side. You knew this anyway.

I was deeply shocked, and not in a Spoilers sort of way yesterday. Someone on another thread, unprompted, said that Susan Carter is horrible. I'm still clutching my pearls.

@EBearhug

I take your point but at least that doesn't take up any space.

Have you no Archers books?

Actually, no.

I 💗 Lee. He’s respectful, kind and supportive, plus maybe physically quite attractive. Am a bit worried he’s forgotten about his own DC though.

Here it is:
"samthebordercollie Sun 13-Jun-21 21:36:23
Im in France and Suzanne is back in fashion now for babies. I'm Susan and hate my name. I was Sue n the UK but Sue sounds like Soule which is drunk in French so I reverted to Susan. But I still listen to the Archers and Susan Carter is horrible.

So I hate Susan."

I'm pretty certain the PR for Henry never happened
I think it did. (Remember the attempt to send the little twerp to board?)

I feel bad for lee and his collection bashing, its quite common... my partners collects old transformers, (not new/kept in the box, i bought hime a limited edition £150 one for his birthday once) and We are both into starwars and lego, so well suited in our nerdy obsessions. But in othere respects we are 40 somethinge both have grown up responsible jobs, a mortgage go to the pub to gigs see friends enjoy camping and are proper functioning adults, Just with lots of toys on the shelves instead of a figurine of a woman and child and a live laugh love and gin oclock plaques (sorry if thats ypur thing) , i think our house is for fun refelects our personalities

When Rob was at his most controlling he announced that he would get a PR order for Henry and send him off to boarding school, to make Helen more unhappy and because Henry wasn't his son. However he then discovered that a lot of personal questions would be asked and checks made to determine his suitability. So he shelved the idea, claiming that he couldn't be bothered with the paperwork.

@Halfhardy

When Rob was at his most controlling he announced that he would get a PR order for Henry and send him off to boarding school, to make Helen more unhappy and because Henry wasn't his son. However he then discovered that a lot of personal questions would be asked and checks made to determine his suitability. So he shelved the idea, claiming that he couldn't be bothered with the paperwork.

Rob did get parental responsibility, in October 2015. Adoption was mooted - Helen was all for it at the time - shortly after they married, but Rob proposed PR as an alternative as it would be quicker and involve less 'paperwork '. Rob visited his old school, with Ursula in mid-March 2016 and Henry spilled the beans to Helen about being sent away on 24th March 2016.

@ILoveShula

That doesn't answer the question, EBerahug. I'd already pointed out that Annette was not Helen's stepdaughter.

Is Henwee Rob's step-son or former step-son.

Former step-son, only because he was married to Henry's mother.

Rob discovered that awkward questions might be asked if he adopted Henry and so he merely demanded parental responsibility for him and got it. Thank goodness for Henry, he was not adopted by someone who was abusive.

Lowfield, 24th September, 2015
"Over the meal, they discuss the complexities of adoption and the length of time it is likely to take. As an alternative, Rob has discovered a step-parent parental responsibility order which covers almost the same legalities as adoption but does not involve seeing a judge in court - or the extensive checks."

Lowfield, 8th October, 2015
"Rob has more news: next week he will complete a step-parental responsibility agreement. Isn't that wonderful?"

Lowfield, 27th April, 2016 (Helen was in prison, Rob had removed Henry from Bridge Farm so they took him to a court)
"It's terrible news; the Archers lost and Henry must stay with the Titcheners. It comes down to the fact that Helen gave Rob parental responsibility which gives him rights. The Archers are allowed one day a week."

@theThreeofWeevils

I'm pretty certain the PR for Henry never happened I think it did. (Remember the attempt to send the little twerp to board?)

I think he went for PR instead of adoption because of the paperwork.

Cross posted.