Archers thread #148: Unseasonably, it's panto time in Ambridge. He's behind you, Pat! BANG. 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, 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. Most of us are posting tongue in cheek a lot of the time, so don't worry about revealing that you think George Grundy isn't a psychopath, 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.)

Will Rob return, or are they playing with us? Will Pat run amok with her shotgun and wipe out half the village? (We can but hope ...) Will Oliver come to his senses and turf the Grundy clan out of Grange Farm? So many questions, so much time.

Over to you!

I enjoyed the whole Rylan/Ben/Lynda/Mick wrangling over where he would stay. It was gentle entertainment. I was a bit gobsmacked by the last five seconds of the episode when Helen answered the phone. Was she just freaked out by a silent caller or did she hear a voice and know who it was? I will have to listen again. This is going to give her a nervous breakdown isn’t it?

After the phone call at the end of the episode, I realised that someone like Rob would be much more likely to slowly turn the screws, psychological torture, rather than turning up straight away. I hope it doesn’t go on for too long, both for Helen’s sake and also mine. I’m not sure I can bear the horror.

I thought Rylan was great. Really natural. I was really impressed with his acting.

Yup, Rylan can stay. He sounded so normal. Lynda generally sounds like a caricature of herself, but he (and the SW) managed to make even Ben sound like a resident of a village lost in the mists of ancient time.

I’m glad Mick found himself remembered and acknowledged. Don’t yet care about the character, but completely understand his worries.

If Rob were about to appear I think we’d have heard his actual voice as the cliffhanger. So I suspect it’s either Rob, silent, at a distance, never to be heard. Or, more likely, some random occurrence that Helen will brush off, or set Harrison after, on Sunday.

Agreed! I've never come across him before except on trailers and I'm a convert. Best celebrity cameo I can ever remember hearing. I especially loved the way everybody called Rylan Rylan except Lynda who ostentatiously called him 'Mr Clark'.

Poor Helen. Stroke of genius from the production team, though. No need to pay for the Rob actor to return to get Helen to fall apart.

I agree! I was coming on to Boop him too. As for Knob, he doesn't actually have to appear to freak Helen out, in fact for all we know he may have left the country again - the point is that all her old insecurities have been stirred up and the mere suggestion that he might be around is enough to unbalance her.

In the time I was catching up with the thread and typing my comment you have already said exactly what I wanted to say @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g !

imo Elizabeth has spent the last decade + gaslighting Freddie just as relentlessly as Rob gaslighted Helen. Not sending him to a suitable school, instead constantly pushing him into situations where he was certain to be bullied, expecting him to perform without giving him the support to do so, not sending him to a college where he would get the training he needs in estate management, not involving him in business decisions from the age of 18 on (obviously with close supervision), constantly belittling and undermining him, often in front of others, never suggesting any job or role that will play to his strengths - indeed never acknowledging that he has starengths.

She's determined to hang on to power, and throwing her potential rival for that under any available bus is her strategy. It's amazing he's as sane as he is.

It is disgraceful that no-one among the trustees has intervened on his behalf - but maybe the arrangement with Lizzie is a cosy one for them too.

Rather than starting to say "no no no" on a rising tide of panic, Helen might have tried dialling 1471 to see whether the silence at the other end of the phone might have been not Rob putting on the frighteners, but one of any of the umpteen other reasons silent calls may happen.

It'll be nice if on Sunday we hear that she did that and discovered it was Jolene trying to order some cheese for a large party at The Bull, or something equally mundane.

This sounds so much like what I feel has been happening that it is almost uncanny....

Unless "trustee" is an unpaid position, the trustees have a perfectly ordinary vested interest in preventing Freddie from inheriting: when he does, they stop being given money for which they seem to have to do the square root of frod all. It doesn't have to be a cosy arrangement with Elizabeth that actuates them: it's in their own interests to keep the lucrative arrangement going.

Rylan was fab, sounded very natural I thought. His accent seemed less pronounced than when he’s doing his radio show.

I know I’m meant to feel sorry for Helen, but she’s just so annoying I can’t bring myself to.

Ben totes deserved getting brushed off like that, what an awful underhand thing to try to do.
As for Lynda - kicking out Adil was a dick move too.
Love that he's going to stay at Joy's place - but a bit sad for her that she has rooms ready for her family to visit, and they never do

I don’t really care if “we” predicted the plot. Plot twists and high drama really isn’t what is listen to TA for. I just want to enjoy it, see how he got on. I enjoyed it

Boop for @BitOutOfPractice
I agree completely, though a bit of farming every now and then would be nice too.

Loved Rylan and thought he sounds exactly as he does on radio/ podcasts. He comes across as quite thoughtful when he's being himself

And I wish someone would suggest counselling for Helen. She can't go on living like this and is ending up restricting her own life so much, losing all power to make decisions outwith Rob

Sorry to jump in out of the conversation but I have an archers question I don't dare start a new thread for! I'm sure it's been discussed but Roberts actor sadly died last year and I wonder if it's been addressed yet? Linda is back in this week and she mentioned him....

No, it hasn’t, @PronounsBaby. What with the departure of Peggy’s voice, Jenny’s death, probably other things I’ve forgotten - they have something of a backlog of things to deal with. So in Ambridge Robert is still alive and well … 🤷🏽‍♀️

I wonder if Elizabeth’s parental failures over Freddie’s development are less a result of careful character drawing and more because the SWs have got into the habit of only ever using the two of them for conflict. They seem to have completely forgotten it was her job to nurture and prepare him.

If it really is all psychological - Elizabeth resisting any progress for Freddie because she can’t fully come to terms with anyone replacing Nigel - well, that would be sad.

Who even IS Rylan???? Am I massively out of touch? I assumed he was a made up celebrity....

No, he's currently one of the innumerable presenters of Eurovision. Wikipedia says he was born in Stepney.

Ross Richard Clark (born 25 October 1988), known professionally as Rylan Clark (and previously Rylan Clark-Neal) or mononymously as Rylan, is an English broadcaster. He finished in fifth place on the ninth series of The X Factor in 2012, and the following year, he won the eleventh series of Celebrity Big Brother. He went on to present various television shows, including Big Brother's Bit on the Side (2013–2018), This Morning (2013–2019, 2022), The Xtra Factor (2016), Up Late with Rylan (2016), Supermarket Sweep (2019–2020), Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two (2019–2022), Ready Steady Cook (2020–2021), and You Are What You Wear (2020).

Totally sensible for Freddie to be sitting in Trustee meetings as an observer.

Maybe Lizzie, having fallen in to the job, doesn’t know what training is needed? And why is she not a Trustee herself?

Love that he's going to stay at Joy's place - but a bit sad for her that she has rooms ready for her family to visit, and they never do

@Brefugee yes that made me a bit sad too.

I really wish Freddie was a bit less whiny, it might make me sympathise with him a bit more.

Is that the first we’ve heard about Adil being a widower?

I dont remember Ardil saying anything about his wife before. I think the SW are just trying to give him a life before Green Gables. We dont know much about him really.
Im also getting a bit fed up with the Helen/ Rob story just wish he would show up. Im not good with slow burn story lines.
Elizabeth isnt a great mum either no wonder Freddie is so winey. And yes a bit more farming stuff would be nice. I think when someone is talking and the cows are mooing and the sheep are baaing in the back ground feels real to me.

Rylan can ACT!! Best cameo performance ever!

Is this family the frequently mentioned but never seen Rochelle and her bairns? Still not convinced they exist or are still alive.

Adil has been quite vague about his personal life and I always assumed there was some kind of tragic back story.

Re Rylan, I was born a mile away from his place of birth and his accent sounds fine to me. There’s a broad range in London/Essex from full on Cockney to a generic South East accent.

I also thought Rylan was great! Loved Ben at the end with Lynda, "lemon drizzle?" 👏
And although he is entitled and whiney, I felt for Freddie and agree Elizabeth and the solicitor were really harsh. I would prefer for Freddie to face up to the challenge and come good than for Lilly to get it instead.
I'm not sure whether Rob will appear or won't, but I'm not loving the prospect of more dark drama, I'd like more light village pursuits please - have they even started talking about the summer fete?!

I'm so glad Joy gets Rylan to stay.

Don't think it is in character for Ben to behave so badly, but it's a means to an end with some joy for Joy so that'll do.

I think I've made my feelings on the letting down of Freddie abundantly clear already so enjoying my catch up tremendously.

I've always been a staunch republican, though I did watch and actually enjoy the coronation. But I was struck by what how lonely it all seemed. What a weird position and rather unique set of problems / circumstances to have.
With Freddie I think it's similar, no he doesn't have the same problems as Brad or Chelsea or any of his staff. He will always have a soft cushioning of many of life's harsh realities, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have his own problems and struggles. Having your life planned out for you from birth must be very strange though, especially given the lack of structure in achieving it.

I also enjoyed Rylan and I’m glad Joy can dine out on this for months to come.

quick question - are we not going to hear the dratted show then since it was on last night?

Also re Rob. The weird thing in the storyline for me is the idea that Rob is panting to start terrifying Helen by phone or turn up in person. Surely he could have done that any time in the past x years? The sheer fact that he’s been in the UK now shows that there was nothing stopping him (other than the terrifying prospect of Harrison attempting some policing).