Archers thread #142: Kill Jill? Is Ambridge heading for a Tarantino-style bloodbath on Stir Up Sunday? 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, although we do mostly try to be civil about it. Most of us are posting tongue in cheek a lot of the time, so don't worry about revealing that , 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/4636789-the-archers-spoilers-thread-7-cant-wait-for-702pm-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.)

Well, things have taken a turn for the better in the last few days! The SWs have re-discovered their form and the actors and directors have risen to the challenge. I won't say much more than that for fear of jinxing things. Over to you!

(Thanks to @JanglyBeads for the thread title idea!)

It would depend how they are in public, I think. I might think, "how good of her to mentor her son/nephew/trainee and introduce him to this professional network" - and there's clearly been that sort of thing going on, because she doesn't like him using his initiative to organise an internship with a contact he's made through her. But if there was any indication it wasn't just a familial or business relationship, it would definitely be talked about and questioned.

Yes, I guess she has to introduce him to people though and it would be a bit odd even if she were continually trailing her nephew round especially to places like Portugal. Maybe she never goes to events with the same people though so doesn’t look too weird

I just don’t understand what the SWs are thinking. Julianne could have her pick of hot young men: suave, well travelled types with endless interesting stories to tell, or strong silent types with impeccable horizontal skills … Instead she picks a boy. However unfeasibly beautiful he’s supposed to be, he honestly can’t have anything about him that’s interesting to anyone even five years older. And yes, people would definitely talk. It would be perfectly clear from their body language that he isn’t her ‘intern’.

No doubt the writers are patting themselves on the back for ‘reversing the sugar daddy stereotype’. Given the unbounded love he received from Jenny and Brian I suppose we’re meant to infer that it was Alice’s evil tongue that drove him to this strange revolt?

Clearly his current student life would now be impossible to separate from his borrowed lifestyle - so I’m guessing the only way he can shake off Julianne is to leave London. I’m sure there’s a student flat in Felpersham with his name on one of the doors …

Adult man pays for a holiday for his adult daughter and the daughter's boyfriend. DD & BF split up. DF demands that DP's parents pay for the holiday.

Middle-aged businesswoman takes a teenage man to business functions. Nobody bats an eyelid.

17 year old girl shags a random man in a field. Takes MAP but it fails. Takes months to decide on a termination.

etc

Just like real life in a rural village.

The Vince thing … 🤔 Is he seriously anticipating getting a barrister to stand up in court and say (with a straight face) that Ben was contractually engaged to chaperone Beth to and throughout the NZ trip? That she now can’t go, and that Ben is in breach of his contract of employment? (Many ???)

I know David isn’t supposed to be The Brains of Borsetshire - but there’s no way they could have run a (previously, apparently) successful farming enterprise if he and Ruth are both so dim.

Why can’t Ruth engage her lawyer friend Usha for some legal advice?

Why can’t David tell his NFU buddies (not to mention Elizabeth) what a shark Vince is?

I’m hoping they resolve the storyline by having Ben win 50k on a scratch card or Ruth being contacted by heir-hunters to tell her that her long lost uncle Simon made her beneficiary of his will, it’s as believable as the Chelsea storyline!

I absolutely do not want it resolved with Brookfield miraculously finding money to hand over to Vince! I want him to be firmly told, by lawyers with baseball bats, that he is a crazy delusional bully who needs throwing into clink for harassment.

The whole vince and his money storyline is ridiculous. Presumably a "businessman" such as Vince didnt just write them a cheque and say "there you go" pay it back whenever, but we are being led to believe that is the case and the New Zealand thing is ridiculous. I know they are trying to stop Ben dropping out of uni but really???

It would take Usha the whole appointment hour to stop laughing.

Apparently there is a contract (drawn up presumably by Vince's lawyers who have probably helped him to do all sorts of "deals" in the past?!

Vince is basically blackmailing them about the holiday. I can't believe Lizzy is still in a relationship with someone who goes around spouting her family's business and abusing her nephew in the local pub, and trying to extort her own brother by threatening her nephew's mental health.

Feed Vince to Neil's pigs; all sorted!

Vince is using the holiday to up the ante and stick the boot in.

julianne is as awful as Rob. I worry she will threaten to ‘expose’ him if he ends it - though actually, her worry might be that he tells people?

I think at 19 there is ever chance R looks older and is passing for being in his 20s. Still ridiculous - but how old is JW meant to be?

Is Ruairi actually at University or is he just pretending to be?

The confirmation of the sex made me feel a bit queasy.

<finds smelling salts>

Oh yes I think we mentioned this on an earlier thread too but I find it utterly ridiculous that Julianne is turning up at business networking events with a barely fledged manchild and this is not causing any comment or issues. It's vanishingly unlikely that she is not meeting the same people at a lot of these events. The only possible scenarios I can think of where it works are: 1) she is passing R off as her "intern" (with a nod and a wink) 2) she is incredibly powerful is whatever industry it is so no one dares comment (to her face).

I guess he may look incredibly mature for his age (like say Heath Ledger in 10 Things I Hate About You where he was about 19 but could pass for mid 20s) but that would still give a probably 20 or 30 year gap between R and J.

@Scarydinosaurs , Ruairi had his 20th birthday a fortnight ago. I've no idea how old JW is meant to be but I'm guessing older than mid-40s.

Ruairi confirmed the nature of his relationship with her to Ben a few months back, didn’t he?

And carefree Ben called him a prostitute.

The only possible scenarios I can think of where it works are: 1) she is passing R off as her "intern" (with a nod and a wink) 2) she is incredibly powerful is whatever industry it is so no one dares comment (to her face)

Given that it took the awful guffawing Justin about 2 nano-seconds to twig the exact nature of the 'business relationship' between Ruairi and his sugar mummy when they had their unfortunate unscheduled encounter in the hotel bar a couple of months ago, I don’t suppose anyone else at these swanky dos is remotely fooled either.

Obviously adults can do as they like - and I’d be inclined to zip my lip if they were in a proper relationship. But for someone of her apparent professional and chronological seniority to knowingly employ a teenage escort is really pretty crummy. No mature adult should be encouraging young people into sex work.

How is she deluding herself that he might actually like and respect her going forward? (Or, at least, how are the SWs viewing their relationship?)

I think she's heavily dropped hints that she is at best a pretty ruthless person (like David will be soon if he doesn't watch out, boom boom) and at worst a psychopath. Can't remember exactly what she said but was def along the lines of getting what she wanted and not minding/caring about other people.

I know we knew about the nature of the relationship but hearing her say ‘sex’ made me squirm.

That's a point. How have we not had a scene with a concerned Lillian having a word with Jenny and Brian? Surely Justin would have told her, even if he doesn't disapprove of it (yuck).

I've no idea how old Julianne is supposed to be, but she is acted by Lisa Bowerman, who is 60. Surely Julianne can't be meant to be as old as that! I find the whole thing extremely sleazy. What line of business is she supposed to be in? What degree is R supposedly doing?

Shagriculture?

The SWs have been too coy to reveal the exact subject. Either they think The City is one monolithic Job, or they’ve been burnt too often and don’t want to give us the tools to bury them when they get everything wrong.

I guess the implication is that he will make life difficult for them. If he still owns the only slaughterhouse around, that's a realistic threat.