🌟 ⭐ Archers thread #138: Two new stars on the Ambridge firmament, but will Peggy’s retirement leave a black hole? 🕳️ Join us here for a window on The Archers.

[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 think commissioning a stained glass window for two of your great-grandchildren and nothing for all the others is a sensible thing to do, or other unusual views.

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.)

Thanks to @LillianGish and @MuddlerInLaw for title ideas, which I have played around with a bit. I'm sad to have heard the last of Peggy. An era starts to draw to a close.

What a relief to be out of the Steph Casey phase, which I hope was an unfortunate blip, not to be repeated. [Triumph of hope over experience there ... ]

@BoreofWhabylon has asked the 🔮 about Adil and it predicts that he is actually the Mysterious New Owner of Grey Gables but won't be revealed as such until he has won Kirsty's heart (or some similar Mills & Boon level tosh - apols to the 🔮 but it does seem to have a mushy side). I still cling to the idea that the mysterious silent and invisible Gills who now own Home Farm may have some role at GG, but why not name them?

No mention of the heatwave in Ambridge, but budget constraints probably severely limit their scope for topical inserts these days. IRL I believe this has been a tricky time for farmers. Perhaps the SWs will catch up with this over the winter and start putting in some farming chat about diversification away from oats to olives, or similar. We already have at least one vineyard in the Ambridge area, at LL. (I understand there was another, in the heart of the village, decades ago, but the SWs have now forgotten all about it, sadly.)

Over to you!

Might it be that the father isn't CMR but Someone Else, but Tracey/Jazzer jump to the conclusion and attack him with the news in front of Lily. He will assume it was him because of his amnesia. Meanwhile, Chelsea tells Someone Else that he's the father. And another branch of the Archers clan become related to a Horrobin.
Little Chelshua or should that be Jolsea will be the cousin of the Fat Fairchild

Yes I was relieved to find out Tracey was much older than I thought.

The point is we know that the other young people are having sex, even if we don't know the specific details but there's been no mention at all for Chelsea.

I think it's Ben. Chelsea had left Russ on his own when Ben spilt beer over her. I wonder if he accompanied her somewhere private so she could change her dress and it went from there.

wouldn't the whole “oh no Ben has betrayed Beth” thing be an intensely boring retread of a few months ago?

josh on the other hand - having a pregnant Chelsea potentially housed at shula’s? Juicy. But having said that in this day and age and with Chelsea clearly still such a kid I really wish she would get an abortion as it’s so very sad and tiring when dramas always stop the girl from going through with it.

if it were Josh though I could see him getting quite “it’s my child too”.

Josh for example has a bit of a rep as a player despite never (to my memory) having a girlfriend

I think he had a brief relationship with a girl called Liberty, who Jill found in a state of undress in the kitchen one morning. I can’t actually believe I have remembered that.

Oh dear!

I think the Ben / Josh argument is also quite persuasive!

From the pov of story structure they couldn’t have made the rave episode any more economical. We had:

Sol - to get Lily out of the way

Russ - the red herring?

Ben or Josh - the true guilty party?

Or …?

🙇🏽‍♀️

josh on the other hand - having a pregnant Chelsea potentially housed at shula’s? Juicy.

Lord … For dynastic reasons it’s bound to be Josh. Oldest son of Brookfield. And yes - both he and Chelsea would insist on parenthood.

I dunno …

But there’s a reason why the Horrobins have been brought into prominence - beyond their own delightful existence. Right now they’re set to Shock one of the great Houses of Archer - Brookfield or Lower Loxley - To The Core.

Excellent …

On the other hand it'd be a bit boring to replace once Brookfield Archer living with her baby-daddy (not shagging) with another one living with his baby-mama (not shagging or otherwise. David and Ruth must have been utterly shit at the old sex education.

My hope/wondering if that the House of Horrobin is rising as the House of Aldridge is falling. I would love that storyline. So I'm expecting either an abortion for Chels or keeping the baby and becoming an Angela Rayner type Inspirational Teenage Mum.

I had no idea btw that Chelsea's ...uncle? was the father of Sharon's baby.

Ugh Angela Rayner , please no. Ghastly woman.

I'm hoping that this pregnancy will end in Chelsea being able to get on with her life (not saddled with either Russ or Josh or any of the other potential fathers being suggested) and Russ being run out of town by Jazzer and Elizabeth. I know he's a great character but he's a horrible man and really Lily could do better.

If Russ isn't the father the SWs are really playing with us. Apart from at the rave we've never really heard Chelsea interact with Josh or Ben (although who got her to rescue Stephanie's hair/make-up for the dreadful party? My memory is really bad for these details), so I think either of them would be unlikely at best. It could be a random from outside the enclave, but then the whole point of it seems just to make Chelsea and Tracey miserable, so I'm hoping against that.

but then the whole point of it seems just to make Chelsea and Tracey miserable

It’s The Archers, though. If the Editor and SWs understand the show ‘the whole point’ is to disrupt the smooth lives of the First Family. The Grundys have earned the right to exist in and for themselves, but this branch of the Horrobins won’t have been properly introduced until they’ve had some spectacular interaction with Archers. (But it may only be me who sees it like that!)

When Lily talked Russ into going to her leaving party, he said he’d drop her off then join her later. Where was he in between??? Eh? Eh?

Also, it is a truth universally acknowledged that a loved up person saying how happy they are must be heading for a broken heart!

The story makes no sense other than add more misery unless either Russ or a first family person is the father.

Much as I would enjoy the temporary wailing , moaning , general self pitying from and humiliation of loathsome Lily if it were Russ, the long term story would be better if it were Ben or Josh. I don't like either of them, so either will do.

Russ is horrible but so are Justin and Lighthouse Lil and he's more entertaining than them.

Unless Chelsea confides in Russ for advice as she did with the car-keying. She obviously sees him as some sort of older confidante type role, be it parental or otherwise.

@TheLassWiADelicateAir
Russ is horrible but so are Justin and Lighthouse Lil and he's more entertaining than them.

Not to mention better acted!

But Lily’s an Archer! Her story is just as important as Josh and Ben’s - and something has to happen to drive Russ out of town and restore her to her proper position.

Also I’ve never forgotten the thing SOC said about how Archers - in that case Tom - need to go through fire in order to be worthy of their (practical and metaphysical) inheritance.

I think all three are acted ok. Justin seems to get fairly rubbish lines and Lilian's cackling are annoying but they are consistent. CMR is a more interesting character because we don't know much about him other than he's a creepy shallow cocklodger.

Maybe Brian is the father of Chelsea's baby?

Hating this story line mainly due to the unwillingness of any of the characters to say the words abortion or termination.

Course she should have an abortion. She's 17 for Christ's sake. Her adult life is just beginning. Why would she or anybody want her life choices to be drastically reduced by having a baby. Plus neither she nor her family can afford it.

I'm a strong believer in all humans being sterialised at birth and then they have to make a conscious decision to get it reversed when they want to, and are ready to, have children. And be older than 25.

This should help with population control if nothing else.

Somebody on my Twitter feed posted a clip from the rave (which I missed, so I might describe it badly) and is pointing the finger at Josh. I don't remember him ever having a girlfriend, though?

In the clip Ben knocked a drink over Chelsea and stormed off, leaving Chelsea with Josh. He then offered to help her clean herself up. She said she had a T shirt dress in her rucsac that she could change into.

Chelsea had a teenage crush on Ruari a few years' ago, didn't she?

In any event, if we are to believe that Chelsea has had a string of boyfriends I find it odd that Tracey didn't insist on the pill or an implant.

Chelsea had a teenage crush on Ruari a few years' ago, didn't she?

no it was Mia.

Say what you will about the hackneyed nature of a teenage pregnancy storyline, it's certainly got this thread moving!

Nothing easier for the SWs than engineering a scene where Russ/Lily/Freddie/Elizabeth finds Chelsea being sick in The Orangery and the penny drops. However, I can't stomach the idea that Russ could be the father. Revolting. Of course Chelsea should have a termination, but surely we'll find out who the father is. The people of Ambridge might not. (Adam's father was a secret for decades.)

Horrobin family tree, as far as I can recall:

Bert (lives with Tracy, or rather she and the children and now Jazzer live with him in his council house) - BBC has an actor named in his bio but I don't recall him ever speaking
His wife Ivy died many years ago, having never uttered a word on air to my knowledge

Their children, not in order of age, as I don't know that:
Keith
Gary
Stewart
Susan
Clive
Tracy

Clive was in a relationship with Johnnie's mother Sharon Richards, and had a daughter, Kylie with her. So yes, Clive is Chelsea and Brad's uncle. Not sure they will ever have met him, as he's been in prison a long time now (assuming he's still there).

Could it be George? He hasn't had any mishaps for a week

I think Susan (born 1963) is the oldest Horrobin and Tracey (born 1975) the youngest.

Emma and Chris, and Chelsea and Brad are first cousins.

George and Brad, although close in age, are a whole generation apart.

If Chelsea inexplicably goes ahead with the pregnancy, the baby and Martha will be second cousins.

Lily's proper position is to not inherit LL ; to marry someone wealthy and swan around, probably as a member of a pointless quango or charity. Lily is of less interest or use than Pip, and that's saying something.

Chelsea needs to realise she can have an abortion and get on with her life.