🧱 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 was irritated by the way the SLs forced Vince to get on the back of a shire horse for a photo. I just don’t believe he would have done that, but otherwise the episode went swimmingly. I am not crazy about the Lower Loxley branch of the family generally but they do register above the Grundies and the Brookfield Archers on my interest dial. I am very much looking forward to the demise of CMR!

www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jun/29/rev-richard-coles-calls-end-glamourising-alcoholism-tv

Maybe TA is about to have a storyline about polyamory? Lily may confess all to CMR and he says that's absolutely fine, and he's been playing away too, so why don't they agree to have an open relationship? [envy}

Well, that worked well. was what I was trying to do there.

I must say, respect to Richard Coles for speaking out about alcoholism and glamourising alcohol.

Very interesting that the CMR/Lily situation is blowing up while Vince is staycationing at LL. This will presumably mean Elizabeth will not be on CMR's side, that ship has sailed. I look forward to Vince showing CMR the door in no uncertain terms probably after he is very rude to Elizabeth.

I don't understand the love for Lily. She's a manipulative, deceitful, spoilt brat. And quite boring.

She blackmailed Freddy into keeping quiet about CMR. If she really were the golden girl some of you paint her she would have told Elizabeth what Freddie was doing.

She lied to Elizabeth about her non- existent, possibly lesbian friend , and, I think roped Phoebe into that lie without Phoebe's consent.

Her lying came to a head when Saint Lily gave up university to come back and look after her ailing mother- the reality being devious little Lily with the help of CMR had squandered her allowance and were being evicted for rent arrears.

On top of that she managed to cope with 1 term at University before throwing in the towel.

CMR is the only thing that makes her remotely interesting. She's a loathsome waste of space.

Heavens ... Are you listening to the same programme as me, KimikosNightmare?

Surely every stupid thing she did was as a result of being a teenage girl in thrall to Scumbag? It was entirely his fault that she found herself living too far from her fellow students to bond with them, stuck in a too expensive flat with a completely unproductive 'artist'. (Didn't she have to take a part time job in Manchester, to support them both? I may have mis-remembered.)

And how could a Pargetter daughter, destined not to inherit the stately pile, ever be boring? Her interior life must be fascinating ...

Totally agree @MayIDestroyYou CMR will be looking to nail down LL by proposing to Lilly ASAP. She doubtless won’t tell him about the infidelity before then. I just hope she has the guts to say no, I wonder if she’s actually realised she has all the strength in this relationship. It’s her house, her family - he can be turfed out with nothing.

My worry is that as a serial victimiser he’ll then zero in on the next teenager eg Mia but as I’ve said before she’s probably not “classy” (ie rich) enough for snobbish CMR. However he may get all Thomas Hardy about her.

Re Vince and the horse, don’t country poshos have a long tradition of mocking the common folk due to their lack of horsey abilities?

One thing that did make me sad - Lilly’s biggest reaction was to Sol’s announcement that he’s getting a good decent job elsewhere. She was clearly thinking she’s stuck in a dead end there hanging around (for what????) instead of progressing or living her life.

@KimikosNightmare

I don't understand the love for Lily. She's a manipulative, deceitful, spoilt brat. And quite boring.

She blackmailed Freddy into keeping quiet about CMR. If she really were the golden girl some of you paint her she would have told Elizabeth what Freddie was doing.

She lied to Elizabeth about her non- existent, possibly lesbian friend , and, I think roped Phoebe into that lie without Phoebe's consent.

Her lying came to a head when Saint Lily gave up university to come back and look after her ailing mother- the reality being devious little Lily with the help of CMR had squandered her allowance and were being evicted for rent arrears.

On top of that she managed to cope with 1 term at University before throwing in the towel.

CMR is the only thing that makes her remotely interesting. She's a loathsome waste of space.

I don't think it's that posters love Lily so much as they loathe CMR.

Oh yes I don’t love Lilly at all! But that doesn’t mean I want her in a dead end job stuck at home to facilitate her former abuser’s non-career.

And how could a Pargetter daughter, destinednotto inherit the stately pile, ever be boring? Her interior life must be fascinating

It's certainly an interior life- there's nothing remotely "fascinating" about Lily.

One thing that did make me sad - Lilly’s biggest reaction was to Sol’s announcement that he’s getting a good decent job elsewhere. She was clearly thinking she’s stuck in a dead end there hanging around (for what????) instead of progressing or living her life

So - completely lacking in imagination and any get up and go?

Yes, CMR is gloriously awful.

One thing that did make me sad - Lilly’s biggest reaction was to Sol’s announcement that he’s getting a good decent job elsewhere. She was clearly thinking she’s stuck in a dead end there hanging around (for what????) instead of progressing or living her life.

Let's hope it's the catalyst for her to do something sensible with her life. Selling kitchens can't be exactly inspiring work.

I'm hoping that once Scumbag has packed his bags (full of stuff Elizabeth has paid for,) Lily will be making a very rapid application to university. Though it would inevitably be Felpersham - so she can continue to 'help' her mother with the business.

I think L has got a lot of organisational skills and knows how to run the estate inside out. I can’t see why she and Freddie can’t run it together and Lizzy and Vince retire off together to the Costa del Crime.

@MayIDestroyYou

I'm hoping that once Scumbag has packed his bags (full of stuff Elizabeth has paid for,) Lily will be making a very rapid application to university. Though it would inevitably be Felpersham - so she can continue to 'help' her mother with the business.

Don't forget the kettle.

I hadn't!

I'm definitely listening to the same programme as KimikosNightmare.

@theThreeofWeevils

I'm definitely listening to the same programme as KimikosNightmare.

Yes, me too.

Lily has been a nasty bit of work for far longer than Russ has been around; she started being unpleasant to and about Freddie when they started talking shortly after Nigel's death, and was vile and patronising to him throughout their school days and after them; she told pointless but extremely damaging lies about Lexi and Constantin, justifying them to Phoebe by saying wtte "I can't think why you're worried: they're only pickers"; she bigged herself up as some sort of agony auntie and claimed that members of the staff at school came to her for advice.... The truth is not in her, and she is malicious with it. Odious brat.

One thing we can be sure of is that the scriptwriters will drag out the demise of the relationship between Lilly and Russ for far longer than necessary, and it's going to become quite tedious ...

who will get the coffee machine?

or was it Le Creuset casserole?

struggling to remember ...

I think it will get very nasty. Russ has no rights but I think he'll refuse to go without a pay-off.

As far as he's concerned he gave up his career, his home and his wife for the Spoilt Brat and is left with nothing.

How long has he been actually working at LL? Is it more than 2 years? Possible unfair dismissal claim?

If this does happen then either Lizard will pay up for a quiet life or Vince will see him off.

@Tulipomania

who will get the coffee machine?

or was it Le Creuset casserole?

struggling to remember ...

I'm sure Russ will go on insisting on his three-speed kettle, that Elizabeth paid for.

Is Vince going to get dedded?