🤐 The Archers spoilers thread #7: Can't wait for 7.02pm? Join us here!

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

Spoilers thread for The Archers. Please keep all spoiler-related discussion in this thread and do not spill the beans on the main Archers Thread (hence the zipped mouth on the emoji!). Last spoilers thread here: www.mumsnet.com/talk/radio_addicts/4197199--The-Archers-spoilers-thread-6-Cant-wait-for-7-02pm-Join-us-here

Current main Archers thread here: www.mumsnet.com/talk/radio_addicts/4632741-archers-thread-139-whos-the-daddy-no-ceremonial-required-to-join-us-discuss-the-archers-here The main thread tends to last a few weeks. The spoiler thread runs for well over a year, but I strongly suspect it gets read about as much as the main thread.

I'm going to visit LL if Jasper Carrott is a guide. I'll stay at the Snell's, if I can, cos of Robert and the llamas.

Is Chelsea going to become a volunteer guide at LL? I would be surprised she could afford to do it unpaid.

Isn’t Sipho supposed to be coming for the funeral? Looks as if he’ll either be silent or unavoidably unable to travel.

Maybe she volunteered to give them a haircut

BBC One-Liners
26 Feb Freddie needs to find some new volunteers, and Alan starts to feel the nerves.
27 Feb Ben has a baptism of fire, and Kate needs a sounding board.
28 Feb Does Chelsea know what she’s volunteering herself for? It’s time to learn a little more about ‘Sykesy’.
01 Mar Tony and Lilian have something important to discuss, and Helen tries to cheer up Lee.
02 Mar Brian may have the solution, and Chelsea spins a good historical yarn.
03 Mar Friends and family pay tribute to Jennifer, and Brian is in a colourful quandary.

Credits
Sun 26/2/2023, Mon 27/2/2023, Tue 28/2/2023, Wed 1/3/2023, Thu 2/3/2023, Fri 3/3/2023
Writer, Keri Davies
Director, Peter Leslie Wild
Editor, Jeremy Howe
Brian Aldridge: Charles Collingwood
Ben Archer: Ben Norris
Helen Archer: Louiza Patikas
Josh Archer: Angus Imrie
Tony Archer: David Troughton
Lilian Bellamy: Sunny Ormonde
Lee Bryce: Ryan Early
Harrison Burns: James Cartwright
Alice Carter: Hollie Chapman
Neil Carter: Brian Hewlett
Susan Carter: Charlotte Martin
Alan Franks: John Telfer
Brad Horrobin: Taylor Uttley
Chelsea Horrobin: Madeleine Leslay
Kate Madikane: Perdita Avery
Noluthando Madikane: Mogali Masuku
Freddie Pargetter: Toby Laurence
Lily Pargetter: Katie Redford
Sykesy: Jasper Carrott

Radio Times Ambridge Diary 26th February – 3rd March 2023
Freddie's shaking things up at Lower Loxley, as he and Noluthando set about engaging some young recruits. Neil and Chelsea are keen, but there may be a misunderstanding about what's involved.
Over at The Laurels, Ben starts work, but it's not smooth sailing. Alan is feeling the nerves, too, as he considers a fresh challenge, and Kate could also do with some help as she prepares for her big public speaking engagement.
Finally, Brian faces a quandary that reminds him of Jenny. In a moment of private reflection, will he finally let his guard drop?

Daily Mail Weekend Magazine Archers Update 26th February – 3rd March 2023
It’s time to join the mourners as they totter up the path to St Stephens’s for Jenny’s final and unusual farewell.
Brian, having shilly-shallied over sorting out her funeral, seems as reconciled as he can be to his loss, but a sartorial quandary makes him realise just how much he relied on his much-wronged wife.
While Ambridge mourns the dead, Ben soldiers on, up the gravel drive to the home of the living dead that goes by the name of The Laurels; he is paying a high price for his moment of madness with Chelsea.
Meanwhile, Freddie and Noluthando team up, Tony and Lilian have a talk about grave matters, and Sergeant Harrison Burns speaks of a different way of life.

+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

I wonder what is going to be unusual about Jennifer's funeral... Or is it just that having died is not usual for her?

Jennifer, of course, has been re-invented as much-wronged, which on the whole she was not during her lifetime. Not all of us live with someone we love for more than forty-five years, with no need to go out to work every day but still enjoying plenty of money, while getting our own way as a matter of course. A single rough patch in a marriage that long isn't unusual, is it?

Might Sykesy be someone at The Laurels?

For "Sergeant Harrison Burns speaks of a different way of life." please read "Sergeant Harrison Burns dreams of a different way of life."

And it wasn't even predictive text!

Thanks Asking. Maybe Harrison is wishing he had a big family like Jennydarling did.

Hello! 👋 Haven't been here for a while, so glad to see you're all still around!

So, I was getting a little fed up of a couple of the storylines so stopped listening for a while. Turned on again recently to discover...

Wtaf has happened?? Jennifer???? When did it happen, what was the buildup, has Debbie been back, why are the others being so meh about it???? Wtaf???

Welcome back.
JD was diagnosed with a heart condition off air in November. Only Brian, Tony and Pat knew. JD dies when on a spa break with Lillian about 3 weeks ago.

Debbie has not been back.
They are grieving and everybody's grief is different.

died not dies

Brian buried his head in the sand
Kate has decided to take an active interest in Home Farm
Ruairi has been dumped by his 'sugar mummy'
Alice has been trying to hold things together
Lillian is angry with Tony because she didn't know about JD's condition until JD died

Asking & others may correct/add as appropriate.

Jennifer, of course, has been re-invented as much-wronged, which on the whole she was not during her lifetime. Not all of us live with someone we love for more than forty-five years, with no need to go out to work every day but still enjoying plenty of money, while getting our own way as a matter of course. A single rough patch in a marriage that long isn't unusual, is it?

I think it was definitely more than a single rough patch.

Yup. There was Jennifer's widely-discussed affair with Tregorran, which everyone including her son believed had led to sex between them, Brian's affair with Caroline Bone, Jennifer's sexual affair with Travers-Macy, Brian's with Siobhán Hathaway (later Donovan)...

Actually, there's a case to be made for Jennifer's habitual disloyalty to her husband, and marked preference for her children by other men over her children with him, making it fair to refer to Brian as much-wronged. She was responsible for his being done out of two-thirds of his farm and the whole of his house, after all.

Goodness, that's an idiosyncratic view of what happened! Brian had an affair with the silent but very prominent local personality Mandy Beesborough, who ran the Pony Club attended by several Archer offspring. He also made unwanted sexual advances to Betty Tucker, who was working as the Aldridges' cleaner and was married with children. Not many men would have asked a wife in the twilight of her years to take into her home a traumatised orphaned child whose mother had been the wife's live rival. #teamJennifer here, even though Brian is one of my all-time favourite characters.

Was said to have had, by Jennifer, who at the time was looking for something to hang on him. We heard no evidence of the Mandy Beesborough affair on air, though; he was with a group of business associates at the races while Jenny had Alice, not on a date with Mandy Beesborough as has so often been stated on message boards, although he met her whilst he was there. (Alice was conceived to try to get them back together after the Tregorran and Bone businesses: a baby whose purpose was as marriage-glue, poor little creature.) Ms. Beesborough spent a certain amount of time at Home Farm, which Jennifer objected to, but it was never suggested that she and Brian sneaked off to hotel rooms together as far as I recall.

(Oh, and I think the only Aldridge offspring at the pony club before Alice was born and when Debbie was seventeen was Kate.)

Jennifer's marriage was unaffected by his pass at Betty, because as far as I know she didn't know about it, so that wasn't exactly a rough patch in it. Jill found out from Betty, and told him off, and that was the end of it.

I am not pro or anti either of them; I just get rather tired of the poor-martyr-Jennifer retrospective schtick when arguably she did Brian at least as much harm as he did her. After all, she certainly came to love Ruairi – and used him later to get what she wanted. "If you don't give my children by two other men one third each of your farm, I'll have to stop caring about or for Ruairi" was a stinking weapon! And since it left Adam, Debbie and Ruairi with one-third of Home Farm each in his will, with Kate and Alice getting a small holiday cottage each, it was a stinking thing altogether and she ought to have been fighting her other daughters' corners as well as that of Travers-Macy's child.

There was also a little matter o losing her much-loved home.

Which was her own idea, since no other member of the family was in favour, even Kate, and it was not necessary for her to do so.

So, it still gets quite heated here then...

When exactly did she die?

If you trawl through the DTA threads you'll find the answer, @MrsWembley .
If I hadn't bristled at your last but one post, I'd tell you.

Who? Oh, Jennifer. 22nd January, 2023, some time shortly after 8pm.

I'm away this weekend so I'll put up the spoilery stuff when I get home.

Yes, 22 January, during a spa break in Stratford. Was going to post it but thought I'd leave it about 30 mins.
Have a nice weekend Asking.

Hope Asking is having a pleasant break. Looking ahead a bit:

Week ending 10/03/2023
05/03 Ben gets a helping brotherly hand, and Ian and Adam make a discovery.
06/03 Adam, Kate and Alice have a childish squabble over the past, and does Josh have company?
07/03 Lily has something to tell Elizabeth, and Helen has the bit between her teeth.
08/03 Noluthando goes on an intriguing tour, and Kate confides in her Dad.
09/03 Susan is ready to lend a hand, and Freddie takes immediate action.
10/03 Adam has his mind made up, and Lily has to mediate at Lower Loxley.

Writer, Daniel Thurman
Director, Julie Beckett
Editor, Jeremy Howe

Brian Aldridge ….. Charles Collingwood
Ben Archer ….. Ben Norris
Josh Archer ….. Angus Imrie
Helen Archer ….. Louiza Patikas
Tony Archer ….. David Troughton
Alice Carter ….. Hollie Chapman
Susan Carter ….. Charlotte Martin
Ian Craig ….. Stephen Kennedy
Clarrie Grundy ….. Heather Bell
Adam Macy ….. Andrew Wincott
Elizabeth Pargetter ….. Alison Dowling
Freddie Pargetter ….. Toby Laurence
Lily Pargetter ….. Katie Redford
Kate Madikane ….. Perdita Avery
Noluthando Madikane ….. Mogali Masuku

Week ending 17/03/2023
12/03 A Grundy’s work is never done, and Brian makes a big decision.
13/03 Lambing is in full swing at Brookfield, and Clarrie’s concerned about Eddie.
14/03 Will Adam and Brian enjoy a day at the races? Susan and Clarrie are having a day off.
15/03 What are Eddie and Neil plotting? There’s something familiar about Sykesy.
16/03 Alice and Adam wonder what’s for the best, and why is Susan in need of a top hat?
17/03 Paul helps Alistair and Jakob escape from it all, and Usha has a visitor.

Writer, Naylah Ahmed
Director, Marina Caldarone
Editor, Jeremy Howe

Brian Aldridge ….. Charles Collingwood
Ben Archer ….. Ben Norris
Jill Archer ….. Patricia Greene
Josh Archer ….. Angus Imrie
Helen Archer ….. Louiza Patikas
Alice Carter ….. Hollie Chapman
Neil Carter ….. Brian Hewlett
Susan Carter ….. Charlotte Martin
Usha Franks ….. Souad Faress
Clarrie Grundy ….. Heather Bell
Eddie Grundy ….. Trevor Harrison
Jakob Hakansson ….. Paul Venables
Joy Horville ….. Jackie Lye
Alistair Lloyd ….. Michael Lumsden
Paul Mack ….. Joshua Riley
Adam Macy ….. Andrew Wincott
Sykesy ….. Jasper Carrott

Is Brian planning to sell up?

Thanks @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g. Remind me again, who is Paul?

Son of Denise. She is Jakob and Alistair's ex-vet nurse and Paul is the current one. Ruairi is keen on him.