🤐 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 think it will go ahead. She will be 18 or 19 weeks pregnant by then.

BPAS, Brooke, etc use very bland and neutral language to describe what happens in a late surgical termination, emphasising it is done under heavy sedation or general anaesthetic and you won't remember but even they can't hide that it's nothing like an 8 week medical termination.

Chelsea's Google skills will of course lead her to the most horrific "pro- life" site imaginable.

I have no idea what is involved in terminations, other than when I was roughly Chelsea's age, I had no need to know as I wasn't sexually active.

In my 20s, I think if you had unprotected sex, you had a coil fitted within a few days or a surgical termination. We would take a few pills the day after.

It's going to be awful listening isn't it. All the weeping and wailing from Beth, Ben and Chelsea.

When will Ben tell his parents, and will Ruth say 'Oh Nooooo'?
Chelsea is so dim it's unbelieveable, she could and should have sorted things out months ago.

I'm not particularly in favour of terminations, but my thoughts when discussing it decades ago, was 'Would I/you think it was wrong if there was a pill the woman could take that would make her miscarry, would I/you still think it was wrong?', 'If so, until what stage of the pregnancy?', and 'Is termination ok if the baby is not likely to have a decent quality of life (e.g, severely disabled, or very limited life-span)'

My thoughts were then, as now, was that it was the mother's right to choose.

Apologies if I offend anyone, it is certainly not intentional. In Chelsea's circumstances it's a fictional foetus that the mother doesn't want.

Sorry, there was a stray ', would I/you still think it was wrong' in there

On Friday 7th October (my post was written on Thursday 6th) Chelsea was fourteen weeks pregnant – in reality, rather than according to the medical fiction that women are pregnant two weeks or more before they were impregnated. If she is being considered to have been pregnant before her impregnation on 1st July, on Friday 7th October that would make it sixteen weeks. It's seventeen today; eighteen is next Friday.

I was replying to ILoveShula's post · 06/10/2022 12:19

21/10 will be 16 weeks and a Friday. The decision will be made just before the 'doof doof's.

Chelsea's decision is going to be announced on 21st October. She'll be 18 weeks then, not 16.

How stupid is Kenton to think Tracey at almost 50 will be delighted to be pregnant?

And as for Natasha , Helen or Lee, whichever of them gossiped is despicable. I doubt it was Lee but it really is despicable to start gossiping and speculating about a woman being pregnant before she chooses to announce it. I can think of many occasions I've suspected it and never said a thing.

So was I, about the "it will be on a Friday and just before the doof doofs" (which is not The Archers theme music.

In reality Chelsea will be sixteen weeks pregnant next Friday, not eighteen.

No she won't. The baby was conceived on 1st July.

If by "reality" you mean that there is literally 16 weeks from 1st July to 21st October, then she is 16 weeks, but the real reality is that's not how pregnancies are counted.

The midwife has already told her she is 17 weeks pregnant. By 21 October she will be 18 weeks, assuming 1st July was mid cycle of her period.

If she wants an abortion her 23 week and 6 day window of opportunity absolutely does not start on 1 July.

The midwife told her she was sixteen weeks pregnant, possibly seventeen; she did not state that she was seventeen weeks.

If the reality is "you were pregnant even if no sperm had been anywhere near you", then fine. But I would say that is a fiction – not even a very good one, given that the length of a woman' cycle may be between 20 days and 38 days, a difference of over two weeks, so going from the first day of a previous period may be more than a little inaccurate: ovulation happens 14 days before your next period starts, not 14 days after the previous one started. (This mattered rather a lot in the bad old days before reliable contraception, or when it existed but women were not allowed to have it unless they were married and had their husband's consent to them using it.)

We know that the law goes by the fiction and Chelsea has only about a month to get her act together if she wants an abortion, but that doesn't make the fiction reality; it makes it legal fiction.

I don't know what your point is.

This method of calculating pregnancy applies to every woman. That is the reality. The counting starts from the first day of the last period. The midwife said possibly 17. It could even be more. It cannot possibly be less because that would take it to 16 and the midwife was very clear that it cannot possibly be counted from 1 July.

My point was the first sentence.

A point-blank "seventeen" (on 11th of this month) is not what was said.

The midwife's words were initially about Chelsea's last period before she was actually impregnated, and were "so two or three weeks before?" (to which Chelsea replied "I s'pose") and then "which means you must be sixteen or seventeen weeks." And Chelsea, horrified, said "you're saying I could be as much as seventeen weeks?"

I am not sure why you are convinced she must have been pregnant for a longer rather than a shorter time than the average (which is an average because it absolutely is not a universal), but the midwife doesn't seem to have been that certain.

On 11th October Chelsea had been impregnated fourteen weeks and four days previously, and if she has/had a short cycle (when I was her age I sometimes had only eighteen days between one period starting and the next starting, and a right expensive bloody nuisance that was, too) might only have been "pregnant" for sixteen weeks rather than seventeen. The midwife sensibly allowed for this possibility.

I've just got round to looking at this week's spoilers (thank you TheLass)

Is it a bit odd that Martyn Gibson is in the cast list without Brian/Neil/Hannah? Was he lured into Joy's hot tub after noticing copious displays of pampas grass in the front garden?

@TheLassWiADelicateAir , sorry, yes, I went with the number of weeks Chelsea said. I did know about how it was worked out. I think I read something a very long time ago about someone being 1 month pregnant despite only being a few days late.

It will be the day Chelsea makes her decision. I wonder what it will be...

It's not Friday :-(

BBC One-Liners
23 Oct It’s an important day for Alice, and Chelsea is paying a visit.
24 Oct It’s nearly a year since Ambridge lost Bert Fry. Leonard adds some colour at Brookfield.
25 Oct Kate should take a moment before reacting, and Tracy has an awkward conversation.
26 Oct Jazzer has the winning touch, and has Lilian discovered her scary side?
27 Oct Mia has a cunning idea, and Lilian makes a discovery.
28 Oct Beth tries to make her feelings known, and sometimes you just need a hug from a parent.

Credits
Sun 23/10/22, Mon 24/10/22, Tue 25/10/22, Wed 26/10/22, Thu 27/10/22, Fri 28/10/22
Writer, Naylah Ahmed
Director, Gwenda Hughes
Editor, Jeremy Howe
Ben Archer: Ben Norris
Kenton Archer: Richard Attlee
Pip Archer: Daisy Badger
Ruth Archer: Felicity Finch
Lilian Bellamy: Sunny Ormonde
Alice Carter: Hollie Chapman
Beth Casey: Rebecca Fuller
Rex Fairbrother: Nick Barber
Mia Grundy: Molly Pipe
Brad Horrobin: Taylor Uttley
Chelsea Horrobin: Madeleine Leslay
Tracy Horrobin: Susie Riddell
Kate Madikane: Perdita Avery
Jazzer McCreary: Ryan Kelly
Kirsty Miller: Annabelle Dowler
Elizabeth Pargetter: Alison Dowling
Oliver Sterling: Michael Cochrane

Radio Times Ambridge Diary 23rd – 28th October 2022
Alice appears to be settling in at the Stables, and Oliver's plans for a big Hunt Ball mean work for Brad & Mia – she's thrilled, until she learns a bit more about the traditions involved.
Jill & Leonard prepare for the first guest in their new B&B room, while Peggy's stained glass window commission could be causing cracks in her relationship with St Stephen's.
Kate puts her foot in it, accusing Kirsty of sabotage when it comes to her beloved Spiritual Home business.
In return, Kirsty calls in a favour, while Rex worries she's overdoing it.
Chelsea comes to an important decision, but how will this affect Ben & Beth – and what about Jazzer?
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

How many more times will Chelsea come to this important decision of hers?
Why are the B&B rooms apparently only the responsibility of Jill and Leonard?
Does Mia (brought up in Ambridge as a gamekeeper's daughter, and now an eco-warrior/worrier) really not know about Hunt Traditions?
How does a no-longer-voiced character have cracks in anything on air?

I thought we were getting Chelsea's decision tonight?

I thought Gnasher's simple test "do you want a baby?" would make her see sense. She doesn't - she's been hoping for a miscarriage.

I laughed out loud when the new vet nurse was denise's son 😆
So fed up of Chelsea not making a decision.

Many thanks, Asking and Lass!

I can only assume that they have decided to have a Hunt Ball storyline so that they can close the Hunt down for good. I don't think it has been mentioned since Philip mended the kennel roof all those years ago. I wonder whether Shula will remember that she is joint Master of the Hunt?

Why are they still banging on about that church window!

I'd like some rural village Autumnal storylines for November please

I think Chelsea comes to the decision tonight. Sunday will be her going to tell Ben the good news that there is going to be a little HorroBen.
There might be a reason why Paul hasn't been mentioned. Some people don't talk about their private life at work.

They are banging on about the window because it will upset a lot of people, like Chelsea when the little HorroBen turns out to be HorroBen and ArChel.

There will be hallowe'en at The Bull, a bonfire on the green, the harvest festival, and a nativity play. Pip will be annoyed that Fat Rosie isn't Mary, but Poppy is, and Helen will be fuming because Jack isn't Joseph.

Thanks!

So will Tracy’s awkward conversation be with Ben or with her new fellow grandparents? Will be lovely to see the two families coming together …

(Though I’m certain it’ll cause Ben and Beth to emigrate.)

Tracey's awkward conversation might be about lying to her boss.
Ben & Beth won't emigrate. Ben will want to do the right thing.