🧱 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.

"3 up 2 down" semi detached/terraced cottage

It's a 2-bed.

ILoveShula but Adam isn't horrible. Not sure why he is lying to Ian.

I don’t think Adam would want to be married to someone running a food truck . He really didn’t like the thought of Ian owning a van and I don’t think it was just the cost putting him off - he seems to have missed the fact that the world has changed quite significantly in the last couple of years and that gastro-food trucks are not uncommon.

I generally have zero sympathy for Ian whatever the SL but on this occasion I actually felt very sorry for him. I would have found Adam’s sneering very upsetting.

Alice seemed to swallow that being drunk in charge of Banjo was unacceptable far quicker than being told that being drunk in charge of Martha was not allowed. I can believe that she will come back from rehab having been fixed and that she and Chris might get back together for a bit but then, she will spectacularly relapse in a few years when she has their second child. A lot hinges on the potential trajectory of the actress’ career. She is very good and may not want to stay in Ambridge for the rest of her life…

@Roysnewshirt

I don’t think Adam would want to be married to someone running a food truck . He really didn’t like the thought of Ian owning a van and I don’t think it was just the cost putting him off - he seems to have missed the fact that the world has changed quite significantly in the last couple of years and that gastro-food trucks are not uncommon.

I generally have zero sympathy for Ian whatever the SL but on this occasion I actually felt very sorry for him. I would have found Adam’s sneering very upsetting.

Alice seemed to swallow that being drunk in charge of Banjo was unacceptable far quicker than being told that being drunk in charge of Martha was not allowed. I can believe that she will come back from rehab having been fixed and that she and Chris might get back together for a bit but then, she will spectacularly relapse in a few years when she has their second child. A lot hinges on the potential trajectory of the actress’ career. She is very good and may not want to stay in Ambridge for the rest of her life…

It’s interesting, Hollie Chapman used to be a below-average actress and she has got much, much better. I read that she was a full-time nanny at one point.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/home/event/article-2480310/amp/The-Archers-Liz-Jones-sets-tongues-wagging-Ambridge.html

This is old but quite interesting in a superficial way, even though I am not much of a Liz Jones fan.

It has a really weird comment about Lilian and incest in it though- not sure what she is referring to?!

I think she’s referring to when Lilian had an affair with Paul, Matt’s brother.

Ha- I had completely forgotten that Paul was Matt’s brother! I thought he was just a builder.

How old is Martha? How long after birth do they advise you can go back to riding? I should have thought that should be at least as much of a consideration as being drunk in charge of a horse.

Is Alice going to be saved by horses and end up inheriting the stables business?

"Event rider Lucy Jackson was back on board just 10 days after giving birth to her little girl Evie in 2017."

But it varies completely between women, and there is no hard-and-fast rule. The advice is likely to be "when you feel like it, but probably not before six weeks."

And thinking of inheriting the stables, who is going to run them while Shula is on the "placement" she is looking forward to?

Edward Kelsey was a Ted not Ed.

A lot of actors have other jobs.

Ruth isn't the Archer matriarch, Jill is.

@ILoveShula

Edward Kelsey was a Ted not Ed.

A lot of actors have other jobs.

Ruth isn't the Archer matriarch, Jill is.

By a journalist, isn't it.

On Sean O'Connor, "given his background on that other British institution, EastEnders, where he reigned from 2001 to 2004" is a bit weird, because he didn't; he was a Series Story Producer at that point. He didn't become Executive Producer until after he had left The Archers in 2016.

If you can call her that. I'm not normally a reader of that tabloid.

This is so ridiculous. Adam and Lee had barely spoken until last week - now suddenly Lee is Adam's closest confidant, and the cause of all his employment, marital and family woes? That's a superpower right there.

@CeciledeVolanges

Dutch courage, supplied by a hip flask, used to be a frequent feature of hunting and meets (this is purely from reading, I've done a couple of drag hunts post-ban but was far too young to be hunting when live foxes were involved). Some of the things that are jumped require you to be insane, drunk or both, and the horse too. We don't have much information on Banjo but Alice hasn't competed him to a high standard, he's almost certainly fat and unfit at the moment and he's recently had veterinary issues. If you could find a buyer, I doubt he would fetch more than £3-4,000 at the absolute most. We have no evidence that he is well bred or anything more than a hack, so even that might be an overestimate. I know I'm overthinking this slightly. Competitions aren't happening, I don't hunt so I have no clue about hunting, but I can imagine the bottom has fallen out of the horse market. They would be ridding themselves of a liability if they sold Banjo but who is buying unsound hacks right now?

Competitions are definitely happening and actually the horse market has gone crazy - the type of horse that was selling for £6-8k last summer is now going for more than £15k, and even if you could afford such insane prices, they are gone before you can even view them (can you tell I’m looking ). But of course if Banjo is unsound that would affect value - and I’ve no idea what type of horse he actually is!

@MayIDestroyYou

This is so ridiculous. Adam and Lee had barely spoken until last week - now suddenly Lee is Adam's closest confidant, and the cause of all his employment, marital and family woes? That's a superpower right there.

They bonded over the decorating, as the Three Dads superheroes.

I just don't find any of it credible, EBear. Grown adults don't become best friends so rapidly - and it only seems to highlight Adam's lack of real, non-Ambridge friends. (I know plot demands that everyone live in each other's pockets, but still.)

(Though I'm dismayed at my failure to find anything positive to say, lately. I try not to forget that listening to, and talking about TA is meant to be fun.)

Grown adults don't become best friends so rapidly
All it took, if memory serves me, was a NYE takeaway and a few whiskies for a virtual stranger to decide to incubate a brat for them. Which is odd, given how charmless they are.

And since they were talking about six weeks minimum, that's £42,000 minimum. Blimey! It's not for the "little people" is it?

Ha- I had completely forgotten that Paul was Matt’s brother! I thought he was just a builder. But that's not incest, is it?

Though I'm dismayed at my failure to find anything positive to say, lately. I try not to forget that listening to, and talking about TA is meant to be fun. It's much more fun pulling it to bits than it would be if we were all saying "BOOP to ...." "Excellent writing this week by ..." Or have I spent too much time reading ThreeofWeevils?

@CeciledeVolanges - I was going to say the horse market is as overheated as the house market but I see sunny has beaten me to it.
So much free money sloshing around leads to inflation.

Looks like we really are going to be rid of Adam. Or bearing in mind the talk with Lee and Adam’s rather uncharacteristic show of enthusiasm, is there going to be a prolonged preparation for departure followed by a dramatic u-turn?

The latter. Ian won't allow Adam to turn them paupers.

@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime

The latter. Ian won't allow Adam to turn them paupers.

Brian was obviously laying out the markers for a backtracking.

@JanFebAnyMonth

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.

I read this in Joy’s voice

Adam charging is before my time - was it on Ian?