Archers thread #152: The Dog Days of Summer in Ambridge! Rabid rants, tearoom dogfight, Bully Dog George gets it all on camera. Is Lone wolf Rob waiting in the woods? 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'd love a son like George, 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.)

Starting this new thread a bit early, as we're near the end of the last thread and I'm out all day today. As last night's episode was a banger, I thought I'd better ensure discussion can continue seamlessly!

The original idea for a dog theme for this thread came from the death of poor Weaver. RIP. The Dog Days of summer are associated with storms and the silly season, so quite appropriate for The Archers at the moment! They may technically be over now, as it's all to do with the heliacal rising of the Dog Star, Sirius (no, me neither), but apparently the Anglo-Saxons considered they lasted into September (thank you, Wikipedia), so that will do for me.

So - what next for Helen, Henry and Jack? Surely even the Bridge Farm Archers will see that she needs professional help? After her outburst the other night they might finally grasp that Henry could do with some too. All very grim.

On the lighter side (perhaps), whither Pip and Stella?

Over to you!

Brad knows an awful lot about George’s shenanigans and the way he manipulates and speaks about people. Now he know the ‘Grundy Code’ is a load of shite, will some more chickens come home to roost?

@fitofthegiggles YES - what nostalgia! I also remember there was a sports programme with a fabulous theme tune that we used to bounce on the bed to. Also a programme which had "Do the shuffle" as its theme - although that might have been on a Saturday not a Sunday...

No - Do the Hustle! Not Shuffle!

Trouble is the Grundys have made fertile ground for a misogynist George. Sure he'll have been influenced by vile online stuff, but he'll already have seen a down trodden Clarrie and heard a woe is me (us) attitude from all the Grundy men. It's never Eddie's fault that the family is down on its luck; it's always the fault of the Archers or the stars in general. Same with Joe when he was alive.

Apparently! This is why we’ve had the frankly unlikely episodes of George making promotional videos for Bridge Farm over the last few months. I found it extremely odd - but finally we get the point! Just imagine, of all the people in the entire world, he’s the one they chose to give admin access to their precious site.

I find it hard to imagine that in the half hour it was up many people had seen it! How much traffic does the bridge farm site get!!

and he’s not thick - surely he would realise that was the end of his job. Why not post it on tiktok or whatnot

He’s not entirely daft - but all the 18 year olds I’ve known (including myself) are basically 12 year olds - just with greater freedom and access to the tools of their own destruction. His priority would have been revenge, I doubt he had any considerations beyond that. (And it may be decades before he sees his actions from anyone else’s point of view.)

The Grundys And Their Oppressors, as Neil Kinnock famously called the Archers, @faffadoodledo

Excellent writing and performances this episode.

Does anyone know if Fallon is still upcycling? I remember when the tea room opened it was intended as a showroom for all her stuff. I've always imagined it as one of those vintage places where you browse round all the tat stock then sit among it drinking tea from vintage tea cups. I pictured it as a destination for people who like a poke round a vintage shop (and then might pop into the farm shop for some organic goodies and a look through the window of the dairy) and vice versa - so the businesses generate customers for each other. The sort of place my mum and her pensioner friends would drive out to in the absence of an Ambridge garden centre. I'm not sure why, post-Covid, you'd drive all the way out to Bridge Farm to pick up a takeaway coffee and if Natasha wants to offer people picnic boxes then why not make them up in the farm shop? It does feel as though Fallon is about to have the rug pulled from under her - no price fix on the rent, Helen causing a scene in front of customers (and possibly all over social media - the worst possible publicity) and now Natasha seems to have her beady eye on the business and the staff.

We have a place like that nearby and whenever I go in I am shocked by how pricey the upcycled tat is!

I've been thinking about George's life:

He was born 7 Apr 2005. Will was 22, Emma was 20. The issue of his parentage came up quite quickly, IIRC, Wiill and Emma split up, Emma claimed that he was Ed's, but a DNA test confirmed Will was his father. Ed was 20 when George was born.

Ed and Emma ended up living in a caravan, but it wasn't safe for George - didn't he have an accident? - I can't remember what happened after that.

Ed and Will were at each other's throats, and Will was point-scoring by buying stuff for George that EdnEmmur couldn't afford.

Will met Nic, but they split up when Nic, struggling with three small children, smacked George.

Will and Nic got back together (when?) and George acquired two step-siblings, Jake and Mia.

Ed and Emma had Kiera in 2011 the day before George's 6th birthday - a half sister for George.

EdnEmmur were struggling financially, and Emma visited a foodbank in 2012. George might have been cushioned to an extent because Will could provide for him, but home life was probably stressful.

Will and Nic had Poppy in 2013 when George was 8 1/2 - a second half-sister.

Nic died in 2018 when George was 12, and Will became depressed. Mia was having to care for Poppy; presumably George (who was living with EdnEmmur) was further down Will's list of priorities.

There was the new house debacle and Ed n Emma split up, before getting back together and getting the mobile home in 2020.

Of course, he's benefitted from having both sets of grandparents nearby, all of whom are caring and involved.

But no-one could describe George as having had a stable upbringing. Plus his recent claims of having been bullied at school over his step-father being his uncle, and over living in a mobile home ring true.

It is strange that George could be machiavellian enough to evilly plot Hannah’s ousting from her home, while making his father think it was all a perfectly reasonable thing to do, and then taunt his victim with the prospect of inspecting her cleaning - and yet have such poor impulse control that he stupidly posts that video on the actual Bridge Farm website.

The first is evidence of a highly cunning and devious mind, the second…..not so much.

Someone will have had time to download that video before it was taken down. I expect it to appear again before Ron finally expires.

Will met Nic, but they split up when Nic, struggling with three small children, smacked George.

I’d forgotten about that! Nic was way ahead of her time, clearly!

But who the hell is going on the bridge farm feed? Surely it is probably only Rob who would have any interest.

I presumed that it was George’s own Instagram or Tik Tok and that Tom was following it because George was working at BF and doing video things.

I agree that the sound of the video was well done.

Oh my goodness I think we are similar vintage that rings a bell loved that little tune!

Anyone who orders a weekly veg box from Bridge Farm@Bruisername.

I get one (not from BF!) and I probably glance at the site most days. Generally I don’t order a standard box, I just pick what I want each week and add it to my list - so the website is always vaguely on my mind, more so than Ocado as Riverford’s emails are sometimes actually interesting.

So if I were a BF customer the period during which the nasty thing was up might easily have coincided with my suddenly feeling I needed to add eggs or honey to my list.

Reason I thought it was on George’s own social media is that Tom could have taken it down himself if it had been on the BF one.

Indeed! It’s a weakness - but I decided to ignore it.

He also protested “but it’s funny!” When Emma told him to delete it. Now, we know that he had fully evil/revenge intentions and comedy was not what motivated him but, all the same “but it’s funny” sounded to me like him saying “my opinion of this post is the only thing that counts”. He’d know that he had no control over the post if it was on the BF feed, and his malicious intent would be much more obvious, versus him maintaining that he just posted it online on his own feed to “entertain” people.

I don't think George posted it on bridge farm's account but on his own. Maybe he tagged someone which made it show up for Tom. Posting it from his employer's social media would have been too stupid even for the SWs.

I've gone down a rabbit hole. I've been remembering sport on 4 which was on a Sat morning early 80s according to the BBC archives. This is a mix of the tune:

Yeah bridge farm or maybe even Helen must have been tagged....