🧱 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.

I agree Gaspode there is a horrific cringe fest on its way. Everything with Shula is just slightly embarrassing to listen too. She’s so faux innocent about everything “little me? How could you think that?”.

I actually don’t think Shula and Neil will have an affair but we will be led to believe that they might along with half of the village - including Susan. Sigh…Ultimately, however, both will be proven to be Snow White and Shula’s halo will remain intact so she can serve the Lord with a clear conscience.

I suppose having a quick affair/fling with Neil is one way to get Shula out of vicaring.

I hope they deal with it behind the scenes; I've still not really recovered from the Jolene and Sid shower scene.

I had no idea that David killed Jethro AND Nigel.

David didn't kill Nigel. Voldemort's Wife did.

Not even I want to hear a Neil and Shula shower scene.

They've already sown some seeds of disagreement between Neil and Susan regarding their attitude to Alice, and caring for Martha is clearly having a stressful effect on both of them.

Why does Shula always sound like she's just climbed five flights of stairs and is trying not to sound out of breath? I find that much more annoying than her giggling!

I can take a positive out of last night. I presume that Neil getting dressed up in Dan's old HP clothes was a nod to Harry Potter Book Night.
The more rehabilitation JKR gets the better.

Jethro Larkin, Clarrie's dad, long-term yokel at Brookfield before Bert Fry. David Archer killed him by carelessly lopping off a branch which fell on Jethro's head. Amazingly, Clarrie bears no malice

Amazingly David wasn't charged with manslaughter. Nor has he ever shown the slightest bit of awareness/remorse/guilt. HSE fail.

I still bear a grudge on Clarrie's behalf.

I think Neil was channelling Andi McDowell in Four Weddings 'oh, is it raining?'.…

@campion

Jethro Larkin, Clarrie's dad, long-term yokel at Brookfield before Bert Fry. David Archer killed him by carelessly lopping off a branch which fell on Jethro's head. Amazingly, Clarrie bears no malice

Amazingly David wasn't charged with manslaughter. Nor has he ever shown the slightest bit of awareness/remorse/guilt. HSE fail.

I still bear a grudge on Clarrie's behalf.

That's because it was thoroughly investigated and shown to be an accident. At the inquest no blame was apportioned to David, though he was sent on a safety-at-work course as a precautionary measure.

David did not "carelessly lop" the branch; he was cutting it with due care and safety precautions (ie roping it so it would not fall on anyone). Jethro pulled too hard on the safety rope and pulled the branch down on himself, fell and hit his head against the ground.

He had refused to wear the safety equipment provided, on the grounds that as an old and experienced worker he didn't need this new-fangled rubbish that a young whipper-snapper was trying to force on him, and much younger David was not sufficiently determined about making him put it on. At that date David was the newest employee at Brookfield, not management, and had no authority to compel Jethro to comply with safety regulations. When David said he didn't want to trim the tree if Jethro wouldn't wear the gear, Jethro said he'd do it on his own.

If Jethro had been wearing the safety helmet he was supposed to wear, it's entirely possible that hitting his head would not have caused the internal haemorrhage which killed him.

@reprehensibleme

I think Neil was channelling Andi McDowell in Four Weddings 'oh, is it raining?'.…

Was the foley artist on holiday for that last episode? I'm struggling to understand how they both got drenched in a silent downpour a couple of metres from the house.

Elizabeth needs to sign Shula up on Tinder.

Yes, yes AskingQuestionsAllTheTime I know all that but I'm allowed to have my grudges, surely!

What with the badger incident and Nigel, David does have a habit of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. At least we haven't heard from him lately- or have we and I zoned out?

Twenty-three episodes in the past twelve months have had David in them, and the most recent was on 28th April.

The badger-shooting was his own deliberate act; Nigel was primarily Elizabeth's fault for insisting the banner had to be taken down asap, with an honourable mention for Kenton who originally had the bright idea of putting the banner on the roof so that passing hang-gliders would see it and come in for tea at the Orangery, instead of over the door where everyone coming in would see it. David tried to back out when he realised that it was dark (something neither he nor Nigel had noticed before that moment) and cold (ditto) and windy (of which I suppose if they were indoors they might not have been aware).

@reprehensibleme

I think Neil was channelling Andi McDowell in Four Weddings 'oh, is it raining?'.…

@ILoveShula

David didn't kill Nigel. Voldemort's Wife did.

Not even I want to hear a Neil and Shula shower scene.

I distinctly remember David saying “what are you, a man or a mouse?” He may not have shoved him off the roof, but he killed him.

I was sure I remembered Shula and Neil going out together, before they became just good friends. But I, just like the scriptwriters, am perfectly capable of Archers' history revisionism.

MereDintofPandiculation
I distinctly remember David saying “what are you, a man or a mouse?” He may not have shoved him off the roof, but he killed him.

That was after Nigel had asked him to go out on the roof in the frost and high wind after dark in the first place, and before they actually got up there. When they did and David saw the conditions outside, he wanted to stop and not go onto the roof, and said so. at that point Nigel insisted on continuing.

Neil very much wanted to go out with Shula; Shula not so much. They went a few times to dances and the pub and such, but they were never an item.

Everything with Shula is just slightly embarrassing to listen too

It is, isn't it?

Why does Shula always sound like she's just climbed five flights of stairs and is trying not to sound out of breath?

Yes - Emma's the same.

I think Alistair has got an attractive voice and would like him to get together with Kirsty. Or is the age difference too icky?

Actually, stratch that suggestion! Kirsty's not even 40 is she? I think she's older because the poor girl has been through so much.

@HaveringWavering

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.

I enjoyed reading that link, HaveringWavering. OK, there were some inaccuracies but it was clear she did listen to the programme and it was interesting in hindsight to read about The Archers in the early days of Sean O'Connor.

I've only heard the Shula/Neil/Alistair episode this week so can't comment on the rest. I think it's quite plausible for Alistair to know about Neil. In my experience, partners do like to make it clear when friendships that predate their relationship are platonic. Shula and Neil used to do bellringing I think. That's another abandoned Ambridge custom, like the hunting and shooting!

If they hadn't already abandoned it I would have though Covid would have meant bellringing was on hold. Hunting is illegal (although that doesn't stop them). Is Brian still involved with the shooting now he is no longer 'Lord of the Manor'?

I think Neil and Shula were churchwardens together after Tom Forrest retired, weren't they?

Alistair was being a prurient git, which considering his sex with Lavinia wossit and his towel-wearing in Kirsty's bedroom is very unpleasant hypocrisy. What's more, nobody other than he could spread any gossip about an occasion on which only he was present, so his comment about gossip being damaging was not concern: it was a threat.

Bell ringing is back! Our local church has bellringing practice on a Thursday night (and they were certainly "going for it" this week). I think they have to follow the rule of 6

Coincidentally it is Ellacombe Chimes Bicentenary today.

Did Philip ever complete the work on the bell tower?

It's only hunting with dogs that's illegal CaptainmyCaptain Don't they do drag hunting now? It was a big part of the Helen Rob storyline (after foxhunting was illegal) that Rob went hunting and Shula witnessed him being violent to a sab but said nothing.

The shooting seems to have fallen off the events in Ambridge list after Will gave up being the gamekeeper. I think Ruari and Ben tried being beaters once but I have no idea of how long ago that was.

The bell tower repairs seem to have been another red herring, Madcats. I thought Alan was going to discover Kenzie, Blake and the other one working in the bell tower. Perhaps it was repaired on a Sunday or Monday when we can't listen Or maybe that dodgy floor is being left there ready for Shula and Neil to fall through after a tryst in the bell chamber. I put that in for you Weevils. I hope you like my suggestion.

I think it is the hunting bit that is illegal; you can get together with friends and dogs and go for a long cross-country ride together without breaking the law.

I do like it, @nettie434, very much; most kind of you During a tryst, you say: so do they plummet separately or, how shall I put this, dog-knotted?