🧱 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.

ILoveShula me too

That there Cslvin must be thinking he had a lucky escape.

Calvin. Almost as bad as Alice...

I meant about Weevils, obvs

Aww, that was disappointing. I was waiting for lovely-understanding-Dad Will to turn into The Hulk when he discovered who was the object of Mere's affection.

I love Shula. I've never loved Alish, not even when she was Alice.

I've always liked Alice, but I don't like Alish. I feel sad that they made her the alcoholic and I really didn't want her to have Marthyr. I feel that they could have made her into a successful engineer not a 'car crash'.

TSWAMA

I thought that there were many Shula fans on here but it seems they are all Weevil fans.

Poor Mia- what a horrible lot you are. She's a sweet teenage girl whose had an awful time. She's nothing like loathsome spoilt brats Pipsqueak and Alish.

Mere? She not sweet. She's had a hard time but that's no excuse.

It's that awful Mummuurrset arksent that annoys me. Although she doesn't speak like Pip.

More generally I would hope the SWs are thoroughly ashamed of exiling Roy's entire non-Archer-blood family.. Couldn't agree more. Bring back the Tuckers.

Actually I do quite like Shula. I'm only 6 years older than her, and have "known her" all her life IYSWIM. Plus I was a fan of her riding abilities, didn't some famous showjumper come and assess her, but she didn't make the grade?

I did rather savour that moment when Alice “reminded” Brine about his misdemeanours on the marital front....

Ooh me too. Brian had that coming.

Brine's reactions up to now to the Alice situations have been based on his rooted belief that any marital problems will inevitably blow over when the spouse eventually forgives the latest transgression, because that's always been his experience with JD. He has no real concept of the reality of Alice's condition. Witnessing her in full nasty drunk mode must have been quite a wake-up call.

I must say the Alice actress does "Nasty drunk Alish" superbly.

I don’t like Shula. At. All. (In the interest of balance). And neither does the intern (if anyone remembers her).

That'll be a blow for Brian's amour-propre. I wonder if he'll confide in David. He's done that before extremely implausibly at times of crisis.

If Mia stays as a character in the longer term, I hope somebody tells her to slowly but surely tone down that accent and also use a lower register. I find her current delivery so distracting and unattractive I pay little attention to what she's saying.

I expect I'm in a minority of one here, but I was pleased to hear Will again.

How's the intern doing, Chemenger? Is she still fighting a rearguard battle to inject some logic into the Helen/Lee setup and get Pat back into the cast?

I haven’t had much time to chat with the intern recently, but my academic year is coming to an end so there might be more headspace soon.

Such an excellent scene between J, B and A! Poor Calvin will be more careful who he picks up next time.

The brilliant acting in scenes such as that contrasts starkly with scenes like Will’s clunky attempt to be understanding with Mere. I thought he sounded a bit creepy more than anything else actually but I don’t think that was the intention. Just bad delivery tangled up with a dreadful yokel accent.

The Archers really is a lucky dip. One day award-winning worthy. The next, you just want to switch off. Is that why we love it?

ILoveShula, I always felt that the SWs failed to give Alice a credible career as an engineer because they didn't actually understand what an aeronautical engineer would do. Do you remember the time they had her writing essays at university? My XH was an engineer, so I know quite a bit about the profession. I always felt I knew a hell of a lot more than the scripties.

@MsBarbaryBriefly

Poor Mia- what a horrible lot you are. She's a sweet teenage girl whose had an awful time. She's nothing like loathsome spoilt brats Pipsqueak and Alish.

Hear, hear!

they didn't actually understand what an aeronautical engineer would do.
One of my bugbears. They constantly carp on about how accurate the agricultural storylines are but they haven't got a scooby about anything else, including general-knowledge stuff like law, taxation, education, the health service, etc.
They have little excuse for messing up Alice's career because there is an established aeronautical industry based around Malvern which is within commuting distance of Ambridge.

So harsh on poor Mia! She’s a lovely lass. Yes, she’s annoying in her enthusiasm and hectoring about plastics but it’s how lots of teenagers are. God knows I was banging the drum for Greenpeace at her age and organising letter writing campaigns etc.

I am glad Will could be good about it; he’s usually tone-deaf and makes things worse when it comes to emotions.

The intern is female?

I'm strangely fond of Wiwyum too. I remember him as a baby and him being named after someone. Edwud was named after someone too. And Geourrge.

My degree course involved no essay writing. You could choose to do a dissertation. I'm not an aeronautical engineer but I know some, but we're more Debbie or Lizzie's age, so it might have changed since then.

I don't think that the agricultural accuracy is there either. And to think I used to moan on Mustardland about Graham Harvey.

Blah blah blah Farming Today....