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!)

Im surprised how Ben is acting to be honest he is very dismissive of anyone trying to help him is this depression? When you think what Chelsea had to go through and seems to have sprung back to normal. Tip toeing round him isnt going to help I dont think. I zoned out at the spider story line. Im missing the pirate ☠ My Lovers!

In truth I was thinking more of the (totally ridiculous) domino effect on his family, and breaking up with Beth … Ben’s already depressed - I’ll be thoroughly pissed off if it transpires that the SWs kept him in the cereal cupboard all that time, just so they could build an elaborate funeral pyre for a spare Archer.

The pall of unbearable grief still hangs over Bridge Farm. Every conversation, every event, every plan - it’s impossible not to be aware that (apart from Johnny) they’re all desperately sad, all the time. Surely the SWs don’t want that for Brookfield?

I'm wondering if Chelsea will be the one to point this out to him and whether it will have any effect.

Ben's behaviour is what I'd expect. He is overwhelmed and doesn't know that he is depressed.

I'm shipping Stella and Rex.

If you take out insurance do you have to prove exactly why you can’t travel? I have a bank account that provides travel insurance and it includes cover if you miss your flight or can’t travel. I’ve never had to make a claim though so not sure how it works in practice.

Jill's reaction is what seems to have tipped Ben over the edge and it is that reaction that feels the most theatrical and forced. Listening to Pip talk about how she couldn't bear to see the look of disappointment on Rosie's little face reminded me (and was possibly meant to remind us all) of Ben's relationship with Jill when he was growing up - because although she's his grandmother she was almost like a parent to him and kept a special eye on him as the third child in a busy farming family. Whatever her views, I just don't believe she would have treated Ben so harshly and if the truth is that he is suffering agonies now thinking about his unborn child then he and Jill are really not so far apart. I'd like to think she will realise this and eventually help him to come to terms with it (assuming her now very quavery tones are up to it) and get back on track.

Travel insurance policies, not surprisingly, limit the reasons for which they will pay out, generally covering unavoidable problems like illness and injury, serious illness of a close family member, etc. They won't pay out just because you've changed yhour mind about going, or about taking your daughter's ex-boyfriend.

Is Jazzer going to be the one to resolve Fat Rosie's spider issue? I can see him telling her at great length exactly how cool spiders are. With any luck he'll persuade her to pester for a taratula of her very own. 😷

Eastie for example, DH and I were booked on a holiday to Tokyo in 2011 when the earthquake and tsunami hit. There was a significant worry for us as to whether we should try to go as planned but for a time we wouldn’t get our money back if we cancelled - Tokyo was considered a 'safe' distance away from Fukushima by our insurers, even though the developing situation looked more alarming with every news report.

It was only when the Foreign Office officially advised against all non-essential travel to Japan that the insurance would pay out (and we did cancel, it didn’t feel right to be going at such a terrible time for the country).

Thank you for the explanation and link, @ILoveShula

@Suffrajitsu , yes, almost certainly.

I don't think that it's the mourning of the dedded Horrobairn is what's troubling Ben. It's that 'he fucked up spectacularly'.

It was pretty bad wasn't it, @Dodecaheidyin . Caught poor Ben off guard.
He didn't defend himself well.

I agreed with some of what Jill said**, but not with the way she said it, and it wasn't his decision to make.

**Basically, my thoughts are it's best to avoid having sex without someone if you wouldn't be to some extent be prepared to risk having their child. No contraception is infallible. Strikethrough as I don't wish to derail the thread

Suffrajitsu
I also suspect that that was part of the logic behind the late abortion: Ben had a long time to think about his child developing, and about being a father if Chelsea had had the baby.

Ben was told by Chelsea that she was pregnant on Friday 23rd September, and on Sunday 23rd October that she was going to have an abortion, so unlike Chelsea he really didn't have all that long to think about it.

It is my strong feeling that Ben had already worked himself into his current state of mind well before he insisted that Jill had to talk with him about it all when she absolutely did not want to and made this very plain. I think he was hoping that she (like everyone else) would tell him it wasn't his fault – but whether if she had done so he would have accepted it because it was from her, or whether he would have been as ungracious to her in his insistence that he was the root cause of all ill as he had been to everyone else, who can say?

The parallels between Chelsea's "you're doing my head in" whenever the subject was mentioned and refusal to listen to anything anyone offered as helpful, and Ben's very similar refusal to accept any help or comfort, seem to me to be marked.

Is Jill gonna die?! 😳

Pip is way too over invested in the nativity play. Her description of Rosie’s rival as smug was odd. She’s talking about a 4/5 year old child!

Very true. Ben will be thinking he’s seeing the situation in a cool objective light.

When you think what Chelsea had to go through and seems to have sprung back to normal

But it was her choice. To have an abortion, to have a late termination or to have the child. Ben had no say in whether his baby was aborted or he became a father.

The scene In the pub with the Horribins and Jazzer keeping warm and cheerily discussing Xmas (albeit a skint one) provided an interesting contrast to the situation the Brookfield lot are in.

Ben and Beth have to get together again so they can make a happy home for Bess and all their children, Bev(erly, could be male or female), Bed(elia, girl) Bec(ca, girl) Beg (ley, made that one up but they need another boy) and Ber (nadette, girl). All of them to only speak at mealtimes,during which they talk and eat at the same time.

other monosyllable Be- names very welcome

Even if you can't claim on insurance, Vince should be able to get money back if the holiday isn't until some time next year. There's normally a scale of cancellation fees depending how far away from the holiday you are.

@DeanVolecapeAKAelderberry - have you considered "Bell" as a boy's name? Short for Bellamy, obvious, with no other -end involved.

I don't understand why Chelsea even told Ben about it. That just seemed mad to me, as he had no "rights" in the matter and it only muddied the waters.

Bell(amy) of course, that would really set tongues wagging to no good purpose.

You are clearly not a Reception teacher some of the parents can be awful. I had one mum telling me if I stood her angel daughter next to 'that fat one' at the next performance (she came to both) she was 'going to kick off big time' . I made sure the Deputy Head was sitting in the seat next to her but didn't move the other girl.

DeanVolecapeAKAelderberry
other monosyllable Be- names very welcome

Bett short for Bette?