👑 Archers thread #139: Who’s the Daddy? No ceremonial required to join us – discuss 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 like the sound of Lilian’s Cinnamon Chicken, 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.)

I'm often struck by the time a thread ends how irrelevant the previous title has become to what's currently going on in The Archers. The Queen's death has only been mentioned very briefly in TA, of course, but I suppose that was to be expected in a time of budget constraints. In a few weeks when this thread fills up I wonder if we will still be thinking that, and about Chelsea and her pregnancy. That depends on what she decides to do, which at the time of writing is still up in the air.

As usual, I asked for title ideas and for various reasons then didn't use them. Sorry. Lillian Gish's was very witty - Will Chelsea stay mum about dad? Muddler made a more controversial one - Horrobins thread #139. As a new Great House of Ambridge emerges, come swear your allegiance here.

That's about all I can face saying about TA at the moment. I am expecting to have to travel north soon as my Dad is in hospital and I have to be with my Mum. (They're the same sort of age as Jill Archer, and up to now have been like her and Peggy, very active, managing very well with no help, but this may all be about to change ). So apologies if I'm more absent than present for a while. Will pop in when I can.

All the talk of the bond between Shula and Kenton and their twinness feels like we are being prepared for a storyline - I think it's more like one of those explanatory scenes for those anyone who has just started listening and maybe hadn't realised they were twins. And a little round up of who the Brookfield Archer siblings are - I can't see any other point of the diary discovery. That seems to be a thing nowadays - in the old days you had to find someone (in my case my mum) to explain. If it wasn't needed back then it certainly isn't needed now when you can google anything that needs clarifying.

I think I might have posted on that thread.

Prodocie (sp?). Right.

Oh he was such a catch wasn't he...

Russ, such a nasty fucker isn't he ? Let him go Lily.

Yes, that was me punching the air!

For various complicated life reasons I have been out of the Archers for about 4 months.

Listened for the first time again tonight (until DS made me switch off as he didn't like the subject matter!)

Please enlighten me:

1. Why have Lily & Russ split up
2. Does it have anything to do with Chelsea being up the duff?

Thank you kindly.

good to hear Elizabeth saying 'he showed his true colours'

Well I don't want Russ to go.

Will Chelsea have an abortion or not?

Maybe we could hear a session with a counsellor, that would be good. She needs to hear that either choice will be painful in some ways and she will end up regretting what might have been. Tracy has been very good though.

I love the way Tracy says Time isn't on our side but they won't actually reveal any better clue as to the date of conception!

It's NOT "all your fault", Lily, really.

She might end up regretting what might have been.

Many women have no regrets about having an abortion, nor should they have.

Tracy accused Russ of being the father of Chelsea's child (Chelsea had run away from home at the time and didn't know about this) in front of Lily. Lily was horrified and seemed to begin to realise that he had groomed her and then done the same to Chelsea, and was a serial scumbag. During the conversation, she accidentally let slip that she had slept with Sol, so Russ promptly dumped her. She then found out that Russ wasn't involved with Chelsea after all and was begging him to come back and forgive her. You heard the results tonight.

I thought when Chelsea was crying that her period might have come on.

Possibly not, but for some women it's a clear cut choice so there's no regrets because it's so definitely what they feel is right in the circumstances. Chelsea, on the other hand, is obviously torn over it and I think it's true to say that, without proper counselling, she will have regrets either way. I thought Tracy did a decent job this evening (better than the last time they spoke, where she seemed to be pushing for her to keep the baby) of being understanding about how conflicted Chelsea is feeling but reminding her that they don't have the luxury of time. She really could do with someone neutral and experienced to talk to though. They obviously don't have the money for a counsellor, I wonder if there's anyone in the village she'd open up to (please not Jim Lloyd!). It doesn't seem like she has a good enough relationship with them to make talking to Elizabeth or Pip likely, but they'd be the obvious choices.

I thought it was a bit rich of Elizabeth to say Russ was showing his true colours when it was her daughter who had cheated AND doubted Russ the Faithful One ok not to his wife

😡Salty is not a happy crisp tonight.

It wasn't entirely clear just what Lily had told Elizabeth. It's clear she had mentioned Sol, but I wasn't clear what spin she might have out on it.

Still, I like the idea of the portrait in the attic (along with the portrait of Lynda.)

She really could do with someone neutral and experienced to talk to though. They obviously don't have the money for a counsellor, I wonder if there's anyone in the village she'd open up to

I’m confusedly wondering why Chelsea hasn’t simply gone to see a GP. Are they not the neutral person and the place where the talking starts - whether or not one eventually decides to proceed with a pregnancy? Either way the doctor sets things in motion and passes you on to the next person.

Does none of this happen now? I’ve been waiting for Tracy to say it - but perhaps I’m just several decades out of date.

Or college will have links to free services. Brook Advisory is still free- though there aren't as many these days.

When I refer someone for a TOP they have a counselling session at the hospital before anything else happens. I've referred women before who are uncertain of what they want to do and told them that they can change their mind at any stage. I'm conflicted about The Archers doing this to Chelsea though because their counsellors and HCPs in any setting have historically been so awful. (Apart from Robert Winston but even that was weird).

I'd be interested to hear Elizabeth's thoughts on Russ when she's not being motherly-sympathetic towards Lily - bring back Vince please so we can hear her talking about how she's been putting a face on for the last few years and now wants to murder him for being such a sleazy shit to her daughter. It was weird that she seemed to think he'd just come back to work and pick up where he'd left off despite no longer being with Lily.

I’m feeling concerned that if T and C don’t even have the money for a good counsellor, which would be the right call at this point, bringing a baby into a family that, until about a week ago, was portrayed as being in desperate financial straits, is going to plunge them right back into dire need, and then some. A few shifts at The Bull aren’t going to cover the extra expense of a newborn 😕

Agreed, but then we don't know who the father is, so perhaps there's hope for some support from him (or indeed a natural ending to the pregnancy, with apologies to those who'll see that insensitive).

They really don’t, or shouldn’t, need private counselling. As Prestissimo outlines, it’s part of the NHS service available for any pregnant woman in England.

I know the residents of No 6, The Green have been struggling financially recently - but I suspect they’d get a lot of help from the village if Chelsea did decide to have the baby. They’re fortunate in their wider family - Susan and Neil would be as supportive as they always are, Chris couldn’t fail to be interested, Emma is very fond of Tracy. Tom and Natasha must be drowning in already outgrown baby clothes and other kit. And unrelated people like Lynda and Pat would fall into their Lady Bountiful roles without a moment’s thought. Money for bills might still be a problem but for everything else there’s … Ambridge.

Thank you Fink

So it looks as if Russ has gone - which surely was the whole point of the Chelsea pregnancy storyline. I think she will end up having a termination (after a bit more agonising) - that way the big question of 'Who's the daddy?" is largely irrelevant. It can be some random individual we've never heard of - we need never know. That would be no more unbelievable in its way than it being Ben, Josh, Ruari or anyone else she's never had a relationship with. This was my initial take on the storyline (except I thought she might turn out not to be pregnant at all which seems not to be the case). It's perfectly reasonable that she's wavering - especially as she's from a family (and a wider community) where women have babies at a young age and where, as PPs have pointed out, there is literally a village to help raise the child. She probably knows more young women who have gone through with unplanned pregnancies than not (not least because those are the ones you know about while people are less likely to discuss a termination). Conversely I think it can be harder to choose to keep the baby for those in a situation where there are no teenage mums in their immediate circle or family and where there is no support from the wider community.