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!)

Fallon and Harrison being a bit tone deaf there. Poor Ed and Emma.

Did anyone else get the feeling that Emma was doing a compare-and-contrast between her life and someone else's again?

(How come she hasn't seen Fallon's new coat at work?)

Arf at the simultaneous postings above. In a word, yes - to both.

(How come she hasn't seen Fallon's new coat at work?)

Because Fallon has bought more than one new coat out of the enormous salary of a policeman, plus her huge profits from the tea-room?

@TeenDivided , yes.
@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime , yes.
If you were running a tearoom, you'd probably not wear your new coat to go to work.
Harrison is a sergeant, so is probably earning a decent salary. Emma probably thinks that people without children have unlimited disposable income.

God I hate the episodes where the actors are eating and talk with their mouth full. They all do it. Bleaurgghhhh.

It's better than sitting at a table with someone doing it.

Yes, definitely comparing the two couples' standard of living, even before Emma clocked it: Ed had to think carefully about getting drinks in, Harrison brought round half the drinks cabinet. Then the various outings as well as the coat. I thought at the time they overegged it a bit, but actually it was picnics over the summer, restaurant 'a few weeks ago' and only cinema and bowling more recently. It does seem a lot to Ed and Emma, having to discuss stealing firewood, but it's not really a 5* lavish lifestyle.

The scoffing/eating sound effects were very overblown tonight. It’s the sort of thing that gives radio drama a very bad name.

Joining in the chat earlier yes today I finally had to switch to pages rather than 1000 posts for the first time in over a decade. Just for this thread 🥹

I didn’t think it was that overblown but the comparison was definitely there. I think they mixed it quite well with other chat that wasn’t money related.

of course Ed and Emma have some things Fallon and Harrison don’t - kids, a nice dad in the case of Emma and a present one in the case of Ed. Roots in the local area. But you could just feel that one of them at least was going to finish that dinner seriously pissed off with their financial situation.

the real difference of course is that Harrison has a proper job, I think Emma is going to want Ed to get one and honestly I can’t see why he won’t.

Ed has no ambition. He was so thrilled to be able to get some minimum wage odd jobbing with Kirsty and I remember him stupidly turning down a proper contact (with Brian? BL? Berrow?) because he wanted to be a free man, beholden to none. Well that worked out well.

I immediately wondered if they were going to play the Doom Music there.

In the middle of the week? No chance!

It was way before I started listening so could someone kindly explain why Emma dumped Will for Ed?

Will was steady and safe and boring.
Ed was unpredictable and exciting.

Exciting Ed? Well, he'd certainly changed by the time I started listening! He's such a dope.

why Emma dumped Will for Ed

They were incandescently in love.

(I know Felicity Jones might not have morphed so seamlessly into a mini-me of Susan as Emerald O’Hanrahan has done since she took over the role - but honestly, if you can get hold of recordings of Ed and Emma’s early relationship …)

I can't remember the details, lost in the mists of time.

iirc All Will wanted was to be a gamekeeper and marry. No va va voom.

Ed offered adventure (was there some talk of escaping to France with Emma or am I completely making that up?). He was a bit of a wild one (stealing cars, or driving recklessly or stuff).

Someone remind me about the car accident and Emma breaking her leg or something?

After it all went pear shaped, Ed got on drugs / went missing. Eventually rescued by Oliver Sterling.

I think Ed wants to do well, but doesn't really know how (hopeless role model from Eddie), hasn't got the education. He's come on a lot in recent years.

And this is why we need to tolerate the youthful exploits of core Ambridge residents. You know that saying “the older you get, the more you need the company of people who knew you when you were young.” I find it overwhelmingly true in listening to TA.

It’s so interesting, @SaltyCrisp, that you hear a rather dull dad - I hear, with immense relief every time, one of the most exciting and emotionally turbulent characters who’s ever lived, peacefully enjoying the (admittedly modest) rewards of perseverance and loveliness. I absolutely adore Ed - for where he’s arrived after all he’s been through.

Brilliantly put Totters. That's absolutely it in a nutshell.
The real difference of course is that Harrison has a proper job, I think Emma is going to want Ed to get one and honestly I can’t see why he won’t unfortunately I don't think this is leading to Ed getting a proper job, it's more likely going to see him being dragged into one of Eddie's dodgy schemes or worse.

Exciting Ed? Well, he'd certainly changed by the time I started listening! He's such a dope

See, as a listener of only seven years, I fall into the @SaltyCrisp camp. I have only known Ed as a bit of a loser, dragging down Emma who could have done so much better. Ed appears to have learnt nothing from his brush with Timotei if the the latest height of his ambition is to go along with his Dad’s plan to nick old firewood from the rewilding project.

I know there’s a lot of love on here for Ed, but give me Harrison any day of the week. Fallon and Harrison can hardly be accused of being flashy for buying a new coat and going bowling and to the cinema. Emma is bound to get all resentful though.

I don't feel as strongly about Ed as Totters but I quite like him.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/bvX3vgWhPVjvd5ZS85Y2N7/a-history-of-emma-and-ed-two-decades-of-ups-and-downs BBC article about Ed, Em and Will. Cast photos included, of course. There's a link on there to a clip from October 2005 which features Felicity Jones.

Harrison gives me the major ick, and him talking with his mouth full in the most slurpy disgusting way did nothing to warm him to me.

Just Ed and Will in that clip, I think.

This one has Emma: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p01hk73h

Sorry, I thought it was the same as the embedded one.

Thanks @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g, Felicity Jones Emma was a bit more Brummy wasn’t she? It’s funny because he’s obviously the wronged party there, but Will just sounds awful!