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!

Didn’t realise it was the same bloke 🙄

Will did well. Nice to hear him and Emma discussing it maturely.

shame Helen didn’t accept his apology but not surprising. Will probably make him worse

Nigel chose Frederick Hugo and Elizabeth chose Lily Rosalind

I’m certain it was the other way around! Nigel, gazing at his new daughter, opined that she looked like a lily (the flower) so that’s what they called her. And I recall the exact tone of Elizabeth’s voice as she said that their son looked like a Frederick. (I’ll be very disappointed if I’ve mangled this treasured memory.)

I'm glad Helen hasn't accepted the apology. She is mostly awful but on her side with this.

If you’ve got it wrong you can just go back and edit this post and no one will ever know!!

She'd have been a real sucker to accept it when he made it clear he was apologising so he'd get his job back!

I expect George thinks he just has to say sorry and everything will be OK. Wrong! This will enrage him further.

No, you only have about 5 minutes or something to edit, then it’s locked.

Oh could be. It might be the middle names they chose. I can remember dear darling Nigel saying 'Frederick Hugo' and Lizzie saying 'Lily Rosalind'

I don’t know - I think his parents did get through to him and he took it on board. After being screamed at like that I think it’s hard to go and apologise. Maybe if she had accepted the apology it would have been a revelatory moment for him.

yes what he did was wrong but I don’t think he was doing it maliciously - he ultimately didn’t really understand what he was helping Henry to do

i am not a fan of his and would like to keep an unpleasant nasty Nick though!

I haven’t listened yet, but surely what he needs to apologise for now is the video, not helping Henry to find Rob?

It’s not clear whether Helen knew of the video he edited and posted online because Tom, Natasha, Emma and Will were all “what if Helen found out”.

He did mention it in his apology but I’m not sure she was paying attention to specifics.

I am damned glad she wouldn’t accept his apology. He thinks saying sorry erases the consequences of his (absolutely vile) actions and it doesn’t.

I think he apologised for both. It's not clear but Helen must have been told by Tom off air. I was waiting for Helen to pick up on it when he said about the upload but she didn't. Maybe I need to listen again to be sure.

I think he apologised for both - he definitely took on board what his parents said and reflected

i was also waiting for her to pick up on the upload but was surprised she didn’t

I loved the beekeeping - the details, the sound effects. This is what I really love about The Archers - I don’t need constant conflict and drama, just give me some agriculture that sounds as if it’s actually happening. I loved the interaction between Ruth and Toby (I love the fact that Toby’s going to Burgundy - or Bourgogne as the BIVB Bourgogne Wine Board would insist you call it) - sounds like Ruth’s hoping to rekindle something between Toby and Pip - little does she know…

The bee scenes were fabulous.

George is going to take the non acceptance of his apology as fuel for his misogynistic fire. Helen handled him well.

Exactly, he very quickly mentioned his job. It wasn't subtle what the real motive for the apology was. Good for Helen! And what George doesn't know is that Helen was quite likely to have given him another chance after speaking with Tom about him before the video was posted. He has been mind blowingly stupid and immature.

Suspect now he will revert straight back to anger as unreasonable, mad Helen didn't react how he wanted.

Yes, the apology would have been more sincere if he'd started it with something like "I know I'm not getting my job back and I don't deserve to, but ..."

Yes, this! Hooray for a bit of farming (beekeeping)

I agree entirely, @LillianGish.

I still remember Pip and Adam telling us about the herbal lays. Genuinely fascinating and informative farming content.

"Can we forget about it" made me wince, too. The whole apology was so insincere.

Agree @LillianGish , not enough airtime is given to the country life scenes anymore. After all, that is what attracted most of us to TA initially, even if for some that goes back a generation or two!

I am a first generation Archers listener. Found it in my mid twenties at a very difficult time in life having just lost my Mum and being away from home in a city I didn't really want to be in and longing for my previous life in the countryside. It was an escape from reality. I listened on and off for a while, then a break for a couple of years as I met DH and we went travelling. Then came back to TA while I was pregnant with our first DC nearly 12 years ago. Incidentally, at some point along the way my Dad also became a listener, I think because he started to listen to radio 4 more often and just got into the habit of having it on early evening in the kitchen. Can't really remember when but eventually we both realised we were listeners. It's nice because sometimes if there's not much else to talk about we ask each other they've caught up and chat about the storylines. I like to think Mum would have a little smile to herself about that.

I was thinking this about the video as well. I think Helen made a mistake not accepting George's apology, like she made a mistake meeting up with Rob, all because she just wants to do everything on her terms.

I don't agree that Helen's not accepting the apology was wrong; sometimes saying sorry doesn't cut it. It's part of being grown-up to be able to accept that.
It's more complicated here because I can see his arranging for Henry to meet Rob was in part due to his ignorance of the facts and would merit forgiveness, but his putting up of the video was malicious.

His "can we forget about it" was a colossal error, and down to his youth and general inability to truly take responsibility, and it may have been this that put the tin lid on it for Helen.

Emma and Will were splendid.

He almost got it right until he said "I know you ain't nuts, I was just trying to be funny" almost like saying come on Helen, don't take life so seriously. It sort of turns it back on her and making out she's over reacting. I'm glad she didn't fall for any of it.
He's 18, not a school boy who you might have excused the social media post with simple immaturity. He wanted to get his own back with the video. She doesn't owe him any forgiveness.

I found his apology quite sincere... until it wasn't. Such a pity.

He had definitely seemed to listen to both Emmur and Will, until he was asked to "grovel" of course.

Both parents did very well although seemed suddenly to have widened their ability to express themselves eloquently by quite a bit.