🌟 ⭐ 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.

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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!

Even earlier. Cocaine was banned in the UK in 1920. I think some of Agatha Christie's earliest books feature drug taking and smuggling.

@TheHideAndSeekingHill We’d better not follow this conversation too far in case we find we know each other

There have been increasing drugs controls since the 1850s/60s, and 1916 DORA (defence of the realm act) brought in much stricter regulations of opiates like laudanum (and also introduced licensing hours in pubs and others things we still have today.) I just don't remember, or maybe never knew, how any of it related to numbers of arrests.

Yes to Toyah turning up at the village fete - and as a Songs of Praise presenter she will probably get on with Shula.

I wonder what the chances are of shoplifting and vandalism leading to any action from the police now. I know of a case of shoplifting that came to court last year. But I think increasingly they’re relying on the victim producing CCTV footage. Do they still hold identification parades, I wonder?

There are other things which were crimes that aren't now, such as homosexuality, which would have been exclusively men being arrested We shouldn’t get too hung up on what was different when the 1953 cohort reached teenage years. They same pattern, apart from in increase in percentage, held for the 1958, 1963 and I think 1968 cohort. They also analysed a 1973 and a 1978 cohort, but I can’t find those results on the web.

prosecutions for gross indecency involving males trebled Interesting, didn’t realise that. But I think they still made up a tiny proportion of recorded crime

The 🔮 says that the answer to Tracey and Chelsea's troubles lies with Emmur

Also, is it too much to hope that the swimming lesson will result in Pip being inadvertently drowned by her panicking pupil?

It's all so daft. Why would Pip take it upon herself to take Stella swimming, if anyone wouldn't it be Ruth? Why on earth does anyone allow themselves to be railroaded by Lynda? I thought Fallon was taking over as village organiser.

Less said about the woes of Tracey the better.

Ugh why does the wonderfully capable Stella have to suddenly be pathetic? Surely the obvious solution for the saintly Pip would have been to take Stella’s place? I predict Harrison and Stella will swap, given neither want their assigned roles.

Yes why wouldn't capable and assertive Stella ask Lynda what dunk the vicar entails in the first place, rather than pussyfooting around asking her friend Ruth's daughter? I hate that timorous turn they've made her character take!

I thought my pre-morning tea brain was addled when I couldn't work out who the hydrophobic was. Talk about a personality transplant.

I'm bored again.

Unfortunately, yes.

The personality transplant fairy has been working overtime. That was dire.

What would be the point of suing Chelsey? She is going to pay for the damage.

I keep getting the thought "right, that's it this time, I really am going to stop listening" flitting through my head at 7.16 pm.

They aren't suing her. Gemma has instructed solicitors to bring a private criminal prosecution- i.e as the CPS aren't prosecuting, Gemma will bring a criminal case via a private prosecutor.

I have no idea how often this actually happens in real life. It's vanishingly rare in Scotland, where the authority of the court is needed, but seems to be more of a thing in England.

Perhaps someone knowledgeable about English criminal law can comment. Did Chelsea get a conditional caution?

www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/private-prosecutions

there may be factors which would be damaging to the interests of justice if the private prosecution was not discontinued. Examples may include the following:

cases where the defendant has already been given either a simple caution or a conditional caution for the offence (which remains in being), and the simple caution was appropriately given in accordance with the Adult Offender Simple Caution Scheme, or the giving of the conditional caution was in accordance with the Director's Guidance on Conditional Cautioning.

Was it George who was sending no win no fee lawyers letters after the explosion at Grey Gables or was it Brad?

Agree with Bore - Emma knows Gemma is a cowbag but knows where some bodies are buried or something similar and Horrobins stick together so she will come to Chelsea's rescue

I can't see tracy talking to emur about it any time soon though, ... maybe jazz is talking to Ed & Ed let's slip em didn't actually like her,....

Or maybe they did get on (didn't Susan say they went on several nights out together?) But don't anymore, as I assume they haven't spoken in a while, maybe Gemma reviled something on one of the nights out (steeling/cheeting/ the company some how) that em didn't approve of.

Also what in real terms would chelses civil conviction mean? Bigger fine, can they impose a police record (given she's a minor &mum is on the breadline) could they rule she pays it back ridicousley slow ie 10p a month or something?

Sadly, yes.

I assumed that the solicitor's missive was from George.

If only Lynda was being written out alongside Peggy. The weird hold she has over villagers - even newcomers - is just nonsense and untenable now. Busy professionals like Stella and Harrison would ordinarily have no problem telling her they didn’t want to participate in village activities. I might have to stop listening for a few days in the run-up to the fete.

That said, I’m strangely looking forward to Joy’s debrief of her time at the festival - but may be that’s just an indication of how bad things have got…

They aren't suing her. Gemma has instructed solicitors to bring a private criminal prosecution Doesn’t “sue” apply to the process of bringing to court regardless of who is doing it, CPS or private individual?

Lots of questions

Gemma is a step up from shop floor in a chicken factory. Even though they keep saying how well it is paid, I doubt she’s getting more than £12 an hour. And I doubt lawyers will work for free in the hope that a few months down the line, when it comes to trial, she’ll be awarded costs

Private prosecutions have to be approved. They haven’t had time for that to happen.

What sort of thwarted individual does this? Or is this because the SWs don’t have the imagination (or think we don’t) to understand the effect of a constant drip drip of sub-bullying behaviour?

If it's a private criminal prosecution then it's potentially a criminal record.

There's something in the back of my mind about the Attorney General having power to intervene in a private prosecution and offer no evidence. I wonder if something like that could happen here? After all, there's a public policy issue in that, if people can prosecute privately after the police have decided on a caution, it becomes a disincentive to confessing or accepting cautions.

Nice thought, but why ? He’s not actively hostile to his own family

IANAL so frankly have no idea, but from gov.uk: It’s important to note that bringing a private prosecution is a serious and difficult step. Those thinking of bringing a private prosecution are strongly advised to seek independent legal advice from a qualified lawyer first

Presumably Gemma's hoping to enjoy further humiliation/punishment of Tracy by ensuring her daughter is handed a criminal conviction? Even though Chelsea's already admitted being responsible and will pay for the damage caused. What exactly is the reason for this inexplicable blood feud that Gemma, a total stranger, has decided to enact on Tracy?

Honestly, it’s so ridiculous.