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!

at least Brad is talking sense - even if the whole premise is nonsense. Feels like filler.

I really dislike Adil. All the chat on these thread about who are people's least favourite characters. Mine is Adil.

Why would Emma assume she would get an interview? Good to submit an application but it was a punt. I regularly shortlist and unfortunately if you don't meet criteria you wouldn't get invited to interview.

A quick Google and I found she could do a level 3 hospitality supervision and leadership course ft fully funded under new free courses for jobs programme but will she have enough GCSE passes? Be useful if the script writers did their research but wonder how she can earn while studying.

@stilldumdedumming rental is very precarious these days I wonder how realistic the storyline would be. I reckon Hannah would be earning 40k + I see to remember she managed to swing similar to Neil and has fancy management salary but not sure how far that goes if single in the rental market, she wouldn't be able to afford Willow Cottage.

The rental market in ambridge will always have been difficult though surely

as for Emma - at the start I thought she was being a bit weird to expect to have a chance at it but it’s clear she thought and realised why

What ever happened to the intern @Chemenger? We need decent research for the storylines.

TonightMatthewIamgoingtobecher
A quick Google and I found she could do a level 3 hospitality supervision and leadership course ft fully funded under new free courses for jobs programme but will she have enough GCSE passes?

She has a single GCSE: a C in English Language.

Do GCSEs really matter at her age?

I guess she could do functional maths. @Bruisername I think she would still need some passes to be eligible to apply for training although she might argue she has experience.

Adil isnt one of my favourite characters either.

Oh @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g I am
sorry for your loss. Just caught up on the past few days.

Adil seems to somehow lack character. I don't find myself believing in him in the same way that I do with everyone else. I'm not sure whether it's the seemingly flat tone of voice (or is it just me?) lack of emotion (again, just me?) or lack of personal (rather than business driven) storyline... or all of the above?

Adil's OK. He needs someone with experience to run Housekeeping, not chippy Emma who would alienate her staff.

I fear the scriptwriters don't know how to craft Adil and will mess it up as they've done with Justin.

I agree. There’s nothing inherently wrong with him, but a bit like shoehorning lesbianism onto Pip (which rather than organic, just feels as if the scriptwriters didn’t know what to do with her) Adil feels like they didn’t know what do with Grey Gables, so chucked him in - don’t quite see the point of him.

Adil reminds me of Data out of Star Trek, who’s described by Wikipedia thus:

He experienced ongoing difficulties during the early years of his life with understanding various aspects of human behaviour and was unable to feel emotion or understand certain human idiosyncrasies, inspiring him to strive for his own humanity.

I'm joking, slightly, but essentially I agree with @Poppins2016 - he has the air of someone who’s been dropped in from an alien planet and is doing his slightly bewildered best to integrate with these strange earthlings.

@Ambridge, I think your post sums it up nicely! He often sounds rather bemused by people, along with being a little cold... too businesslike!

I rather like Adil, but also would agree with Ambridge and Poppins.

I know realistically Emma wouldn't have made the shortlist. But pre Adil, Oliver would have given her a chance like he did with Tracy and maybe she would blossom given the right support and with someone believing in her. I know it's not real life but we need positive stories sometimes. It is all a bit doom and gloom and too much drama lately.
What difference will it make her going to college really? Plus will Ed step up and support her? How would George react to his mum climbing the ladder? That would be an interesting angle as he clearly sees her as bottom of the pile and doesn't like women being in leadership roles.

Adil just always comes across as looking down his nose on the locals and it's not a class thing either, it's a country folk thing with a judgy attitude to all their quirks and way of life. The constant air of bewilderment when he speaks to anyone in the village is getting quite tedious. You'd think he'd be bored stiff by now and buggered off somewhere else 😆

Thanks for articulating my problem with him - I am also getting fed up with his endlessly bewildered tones! I quite liked him at first.

Sorry to hear about your loss Gasp0de.
I don’t post much but adore these threads. You do a fab job.

The problem is that head of housekeeping is a very important role and you can’t just give someone a go at it and hope it’s the making of them.

adil and Justin are business stereotypes. I just watched the last series of Unforgotten and the cliched characters were so painful to watch I couldn’t bear to watch the last episode. I feel Justin is a cartoon businessman in the same way but then they make him do things that are ludicrous if he is as successful and Machiavellian as they claim (unless I missed something in the years I wasn’t listening and he’s not as successful as he was)

Maybe Hannah will move in with Stella and we'll have a love triangle

A previous poster, some threads back, suggested Adil sounded like the actor who voiced Paddington and ever since it was pointed out I am completely unable to un-hear that. Every time he speaks I picture Paddington Bear.

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g I'm sorry for your loss

I'm not quite sure why Emma went for the HoH job - I mean, surely she'd know that managing to run a house is entirely different to managing to run a high-end hotel with paying guests? And wrangling The Ghastly George is entirely different to managing staff a fleet of staff? Quite aside from the fact that both Oliver and Adil will probably know how spiky she is and could start a fight in an empty room. Good for her for going back to college though, although I suspect that she'll have even more of a chip on her shoulder at the end of it in terms of what work she's entitled to do ("What do you mean I can't run Amside Properties? I've got QUALIFICATIONS, you know! That's the problem with people round 'ere, they just won't give me a chance!")

I quite like Adil, he's betwixt and between. Rootless after his wife died but hasn't really settled into Ambridge life because he knows he's only transitory. I also suspect he's baffled by rural village life, bless him.

Thats a good point did something happen to Justin? At first it’s was all multinationals, posh horses and yachts then it was farming contracts and village shops. Then Lillian was some county fixer but they only ever seem to go to The Bull.

I'm glad this has come up again, it's my constant hobby horse (see threads passim) that Justin's wealth and international importance has massively reduced over the years without it being mentioned on air or by any of the SWs that I've seen. He used not only to be mega-rich but also to spend very little time in Ambridge because he constantly needed to jet off to his various business and leisure concerns across the planet. Now he potters around being a biggish fish in a very small pond. And no one has said what happened to for him to lose his billions!