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!

Maybe he’ll be fake dying. Miraculous recovery.

Surely comments like 'changed man' are just indicating that he may sound different due to a change in actor?

Maybe he’s ‘found god’ 😀

Or failing that, ice baths and breathing work.

It'll be that, but for a moment it did cross my mind that maybe Rob was transitioning into Roberta and wanted to "mother" his child.

Snap!

Sheep bleating yay! Harrison once again brings bad news.
Adam and Brian discussing the many thousands of pounds for that seed thingy Stellas ordered and then Justin phones an d Brian has to talk to him and Adam has to pick up Zanda so the money is forgotten in an instant. I think Brian is suffering from depression and no one has picked up on it they are just worried about who gets what when he dies. A bit of light heartedness would be nice but not if it includes George or Eddie Grundy.

Adam is going to forget he said "you're the mamager, manage" so Stella is a goner (resign or fired?)

Adam will want to run Home Farm with Brian but the call with Justin is ending the Home Farm contract with... Forgot their name.

Tony to shoot Rob?

Justin is ending the Home Farm contract with...

Borchester Land? Maybe - I’ve lost track.

Poor Stella, just a moveable piece in the SW’s game. Adam was always destined to return to Home Farm - I wonder what jeopardy they’ll throw in his path.

Must say I don’t like to think of Ruairi alone in London without the embracing protection of Jenny’s love and cards and parcels. Presumably he will have moved into more modest student accommodation by now - we haven’t been told, have we? But there’s still time (possibly forever, depending on Brian’s will) for him to decide he’s a natural farmer, just as Adam looks to take up his birthright again.

Rapist Rob to Repentant Roberta?

Yeah …

Nope.

🤔

Surely not?

(He needs to die. Who has the energy for this melodrama to be constantly popping up for years to come?)

Is his ill-health a long-term consequence of Helen sticking a dirty knife in his guts? I know he had a bag for a while.

But will Brian want Adam back at Home Farm when Stella tells him that it was Adam who authorised the purchase of the £150k drill? She actually deserves to be fired for not following correct procedure and waiting for authorisation from Brian for such a big purchase in spite of the circumstances. Surely in her contract there must be something that says for purchases over X amount she should get agreement from Brian. Not his stepson…

But he can’t fire Stella and not hire Adam. Though may be she will have to go as they won’t be able to afford her any more due to the staggered repayment scheme…

Stella claiming to believe she could get authorisation from someone who didn't work on the farm would look even worse than simply stating faith in her own authority (would she have asked Alice or Kate?). But either way, she was way out of line - 150k+ expense isn't something to do a solo run on, and choosing to do it when her boss was reeling from bereavement makes it much worse.

If she had wanted to act on her own initiative at that stage, setting up a good contract with an agricultural contractor to do the drilling this year would have been much more sensible.

I think since Adam is a partner and Brian was out of action at the time, Stella would probably have a good case for unfair dismissal. Having said that, I doubt she's been there 2 years so could be sacked without any reason.

If Brian realises (and Stella would certainly tell him!) that Adam said to go ahead with it, though, he's hardly going to trust Adam more in the future is he? He just looks even more like someone who is happy to throw around (majority) other people's money.

Haven't we all been saying for years that R will inherit Home Farm. Yet another Ambridge myson. It'll be funny in 20 years if it's R managing Home Farm and Jonny at Bridge Farm with all the more obvious heirs having been banished wailing into outer darkness.

WitcheryDivine
I think since Adam is a partner and Brian was out of action at the time, Stella would probably have a good case for unfair dismissal. Having said that, I doubt she's been there 2 years so could be sacked without any reason.

Stella was employed in September 2021. So if they are going to sack her for her behaviour (which was somewhat dishonest: Brian had repeatedly said no, she couldn't have the drill her heart desired, and that should have been the end of it except that every time he said no she came back and bent his ear about it again until to get rid of her he said he would have to think about it, then when he was very recently bereaved – Jennifer had died four days earlier –took her chance to pretend to Adam that Brian had agreed with her about getting it) they need to do it in the next couple of months.

When Adam, also, was very recently bereaved. I never warmed to Stella.

I think this is a good point. Adam had very suddenly lost his mum days previously, and Stella chatted to him about the drill... Was it outside the house or he bumped into her in the car park for Bridge Farm maybe? If I remember correctly Adam was tired and a bit hassled sounding.
Brian may not like it when Stella tells him that "Adam OK'd it" but either way, Adam wouldn't have had the authority to OK it, and Stella would have known that, so the error is still hers....

Great idea Ian.....
This doesn't really seem in character for him, it's pretty nasty.

I would have said it was precisely like Ian: I have thought him a nasty and manipulative person for a long time, ever since he realised that Adam could be controlled, and punished him for having been hit by Sid. (I think that was when they had been together for less than a year.) Then there was the Madds affair (in both senses of that word) and all his other determinations to keep Adam doing as he was told by whatever means, usually "If you don't do as I tell you I shall leave you".

Whatever you say, say nothing . . .

perfectly reasonable back-covering. But as I said, I've never liked Stella.

Remind me of the Sid episode?

Adam was a good cricketer. Sid objected to someone homosexual (he had that month discovered Adam's sexual preferences and that he now had a male partner, since March 2004) playing cricket at all, as far as we could tell, and was provocative and offensive about Adam's performance at a cricket match which Ambridge lost, even though Adam had scored twice what any other member of the team did. Adam got fed up and went into The Bull determined to buy a pint whatever Sid said to him.

Lowfield, Sunday 30th May, 2004:

• In The Bull, Sid's tirade continues and Adam objects. For his trouble he gets a thump in the face and told to leave - permanently; he is barred. Jolene ushers Sid upstairs and Adam outside but if Sid thinks he has her support, he has another think coming. He will have to apologise.
• The other injured party is also getting a good talking to. Adam should not have made an issue of it; he deliberately wound Sid up. Ian will not be used in Adam's personal battles and he does not wish to be with him just now. Goodnight!

Ian got his way; Adam went and apologised for having been thumped. (1st June: "Adam must also apologise to Sid, and he must make the first move. Indeed Ian does not want to see him again until he does." 4th June: "As Sid and Jolene discuss Jamie's weight problem, Adam interrupts: he's been a bit of a prat and had it coming and he's sorry.")

God, that episode was excruciating, and I mean all the talking through food. Bleurghh.

I remember the ep where the drill was discussed and noted at the time that it wasn't really an OK, though Stella went off all enthusiastic like. And that no good would come of it.

Yes the food and drink noises were bleurrrhhhhhhh. I wish they’d give us credit for believing that people eat when they’re out for dinner but oh no - we always have to fucking hear the chewing and slurping.

Not sure about Brian confiding in a stranger. Possible but unlikely.