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Original poster

Archers thread #145: The glue that held the Aldridges together is gone. Will they fall apart? Discuss The Archers here.

978 replies

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 29/01/2023 22:36

Thank you, @PseudoBadger, for kicking off this long, long series of Archers threads.

Archers All views on The Archers welcome here! New blood welcomed, and of course we are always delighted to welcome back former or occasional listeners/posters. We don't all agree on all points, although we do mostly try to be civil about it.

Archers 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!

Archers 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.)

Lillian and I both made the glue observation, so I thought that would be as good a way as any to kick off this new thread. We raced through the last one, for obvious reasons. This one may last until the funeral. Will Tamsin Greig find time to attend? I do hope so.

The poem Jennifer quoted in her journal is here: www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43775/rabbi-ben-ezra It's doubtful whether the last of Jennifer's life was the best, but she had plenty to contend with all the way through.

Over to you!

OP posts:
GoldenCupidon · 20/02/2023 11:20

That would make a lot of sense @TherapistInATabard or perhaps they knew she was going to retire and plotted a lot of stories with her in to make the most of her, and then it was brought forward?

big BOOPs for Susan, I do love that side of her. Brian being reminded that other people are also mourning while managing other challenges wasn’t an easy thing but v necessary.

Original poster
Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 20/02/2023 11:29

It would make sense, but it's a bit of a risk to rely on a 102yo actor to remain in good health when you're planning a major storyline, isn't it?

OP posts:
TherapistInATabard · 20/02/2023 11:32

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 20/02/2023 11:29

It would make sense, but it's a bit of a risk to rely on a 102yo actor to remain in good health when you're planning a major storyline, isn't it?

Well, quite!

iratepirate · 20/02/2023 13:05

I can’t imagine that silly window storyline would have been planned to have no Peggy input at all, but would they plan that far in advance? Surely enough time to drop it.
I find it irritating when they make a character silent but expect you to believe they’re still playing an important part.

C8H10N4O2 · 20/02/2023 14:41

iratepirate · 20/02/2023 13:05

I can’t imagine that silly window storyline would have been planned to have no Peggy input at all, but would they plan that far in advance? Surely enough time to drop it.
I find it irritating when they make a character silent but expect you to believe they’re still playing an important part.

Perhaps it will become relevant when Peggy dies officially. A window aggrandising the local well heeled in a church is an anachronism but a window commemorating village life which happens to use local faces and places might be her memorial in the church. Its not as if she has always been a supporter of the local church - she avoided it for the years when Janet was vicar.

BerylBillings · 20/02/2023 15:06

Well done, Alice, for having the strength not to block it all out with a bottle of vodka. She's spinning a fair few plates, alongside battling addiction.

Seems doubly unfair she's doing so without a partner to ease the strain. Unlike Kate and Adam.

I think the SWs are handling beautifully her perspective on attempting to pull the family together.

Hope Susan/Chris now prioritise taking Martha on AA meeting nights.

Susan's an odd one: I find her immensely irritating much of the time, yet warm to her when her compassionate approach is allowed to show. All the more moving that it was to Alice this time. Theirs is not an easy relationship, after all.

AWOL Alan must be having a particularly hectic time with his other 6 (I think?) parishes...
(Just calculated that he's been in Ambridge almost 20 years!)

Dillydallydilly · 20/02/2023 15:35

Massive BOOP to Susan. Wonderful.

Can someone remind me what the conclusion of the window storyline was? It’s one of the stupid storylines that stopped me listening for a few months.

NeverApologiseNeverExplain · 20/02/2023 16:22

Susan was magnificent.

The absence of Debbie is really annoying me now though. She is senior enough in Hungary I am sure to be able to absent herself from work there and stay in touch with her staff remotely. Hungary is a short flight away. She has no children to organise. She is significantly older than Alice and fully aware of her alcohol issues. It's highly unlikely that she would not be wanting to come and hug her siblings in person both for their sakes and for her own. She might also, to some extent, step temporarily into the maternal role that Jenny has vacated. She is capable and level headed and a confidante to Brian, yet able to maintain some emotional distance from him because he is not her father.

The absence is completely out of character. I guess the SW don't like too much referring to people off-air, and I guess if she had been said to be around but silent we would not have believed Brian's withdrawal/all the pressure on Alice because Debbie would have been there to intervene.

AskingQuestionsAllTheTime · 20/02/2023 16:42

Dillydallydilly
Can someone remind me what the conclusion of the window storyline was? It’s one of the stupid storylines that stopped me listening for a few months.

There hasn't been one. Last we heard, Kate was threatening to love-bomb Alan into agreeing to anything the Aldridge family wanted of him, but since then Jennifer has died and I think we have to assume Peggy is less interested in the window guff for the time being.

Iloveabaconbutty · 20/02/2023 17:00

@NeverApologiseNeverExplain I agree totally! If Tamsin Greig is not available then for heaven's sake this is one character who needs another actor to assume the mantle. We've got used to various replacements over the years for some quite major characters eg Clarrie, Tony, Tom and I'm sure we'd get used to a "new Debbie" in time. We're now beginning to verge into "totally unrealistic" territory.

As for the funeral.... Sometimes there is a little delay, dependent upon where a family lives but in my experience the whole thing can be arranged and take place within two weeks. Why is it being dragged out for so long with poor old Jenny presumably lying in a mortuary somewhere? Or maybe in a chapel of rest? We just don't know (unless I've missed something?) And if she is in a chapel of rest why has the usual question of perhaps going to see her (far too late now) not been raised? That itself could have created an interesting and realistic storyline of human emotion. I just don't know where the SWs are on this one regarding what happens in "the real world".

And where is Alan? Although Brian wasn't a church attender Jenny certainly was and in real life he'd be taking a pastoral interest for sure.

TottersBlankly · 20/02/2023 19:09

Help me out here - whatever happened to the green burial site on Home Farm land? Did I imagine it? Did I miss the episodes when it was wound down? What happened? Confused

LillianGish · 20/02/2023 19:25

What was Helen actually suggesting there? That Lee goes alone - or does she think they should all up sticks and move to San Francisco? How easy would that even be?

WhoppingBigBackside · 20/02/2023 19:25

Was it Home Farm land or BL land? Didn't they give the land away?

Abra1t · 20/02/2023 19:33

Was Helen actually being unselfish there?

AskingQuestionsAllTheTime · 20/02/2023 19:42

WhoppingBigBackside · 20/02/2023 19:25

Was it Home Farm land or BL land? Didn't they give the land away?

Brian gave some land to the village as a bribe-not-a-bribe for something or other he wanted to build; the gift of land stopped Lynda from mounting a campaign against whatever it was, back in 2009. The Parish Council wanted to use the strip of land for allotments, but Lynda got her way and it became a green burial ground. Her reason for being so determined about the idea may have been that she had just started to look into the possibility of green burial for herself and fancied it being in Ambridge, her village.

It wasn't good enough for Kirsty, who scattered Wren's ashes at the Remembrance Garden near Waterley Cross.

Impostersyndrome · 20/02/2023 19:51

For the next thread title, how about something that picks up on the transport discussion here?

Buses and trains are sorely lacking, canals might be nearby, but all roads lead to Ambridge.**

Original poster
Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 20/02/2023 20:13

<makes notes>

OP posts:
Dillydallydilly · 20/02/2023 20:19

Thank you @AskingQuestionsAllTheTime

Dillydallydilly · 20/02/2023 20:22

Agree with others on Tamsin Greig. Surely recasting is overdue.

On funerals, my family are Irish Catholics. Funerals are arranged and done within 3-4 days.

DeanVolecapeAKAelderberry · 20/02/2023 20:27

Well quite - I was at a funeral last Wednesday of a friend who had died on Sunday, and one on Thursday of a neighbour who had died on Monday. English arrangements seem sadly prolonged at the best of times, and this one . . .

Dillydallydilly · 20/02/2023 20:31

DeanVolecapeAKAelderberry · 20/02/2023 20:27

Well quite - I was at a funeral last Wednesday of a friend who had died on Sunday, and one on Thursday of a neighbour who had died on Monday. English arrangements seem sadly prolonged at the best of times, and this one . . .

Couldn’t agree more. Sometimes, if the coroner is involved for example, a delay is perhaps necessary. But I think the Irish have it right here.

TottersBlankly · 20/02/2023 20:43

but Lynda got her way and it became a green burial ground.

And then they patio-ed the archivist? Shock

Was wrestling with something about Wreathes, wrath, writhing (Jennifer, Lilian, Ruairi) etc, but too distracted …

JanglyBeads · 20/02/2023 22:15

That's what the Dundee sums were meant to leave us wondering - did H mean that Lee should go alone?

JanglyBeads · 20/02/2023 22:15

*dum dee dums!

CaptainMyCaptain · 20/02/2023 22:21

JanglyBeads · 20/02/2023 22:15

That's what the Dundee sums were meant to leave us wondering - did H mean that Lee should go alone?

That's what it sounded like to me.

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