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!

Also, I’m sure I’m not alone in assuming Lee was shipped off so he was absent for some HelRob showdown, but maybe it’s so he can come back and say bloody hell Helen’s got very thin. It’s not always obvious when you see someone every day but after an absence of even a few weeks it’s more noticeable.

@LardoBurrows I take it you've never experienced domestic abuse, been imprisoned whilst pregnant, lost your big brother when quite young........

Brad could ask Ruairi about universities in London, or Alice about STEM subjects.
Phoebe about Oxbridge.
I hope that the 6th-form college is advising Brad.

Yes @TherapistInATabard that's a very good point... my DF has dementia and I see him a few times every week - so I don't notice deteriorations as much as my feckless siblings who visit every few months.

ALSO once Lee gets back there'll be a grown up (of sorts) in the house with her so the food avoidance/giving away/skipping meals will be much more apparent. Easier to fob adults off who don't live with you.

Phoebe is in Scotland now. I doubt Brad ever knew her very well. She is very much an Aldridge rather than a Tucker, I feel.

He probably knows Alice a bit. Pausing to disentangle the relationships - Alice is Christopher Carter's ex-wife. Christopher and Brad are first cousins. Big age difference, though, and Alice is again 100% Aldridge/Archer and 0% Carter/Horrobin.

His best source of advice is college. You'd hope that the Maths department would be jumping up and down with glee at having such a gifted A level student. Somebody there did get Brad onto that Maths course, after all.

I applied to oxbridge and didn’t have to do anything about it (except go to open days if you wanted to) before September/October. We don’t hear much about school usually (except with Lily and Freddie) so haven’t a clue what they’re being encouraged to do there.

are Mia and Brad the same age?

It's probably changed a lot since my day, but school were pretty useless. They did try to steer two or three towards Oxbridge. None got in. One got an offer but didn't get the grades.

Brad and Mia are in the same school year. Both born in 2006.

They were both born in 2006, @WitcheryDivine

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/17hZYpjSh5XcJ2J7gRVhmNn/mia-grundy

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/4pY65xgC8vsjYB6zCLP16Jk/brad-horrobin

I don’t recall which month Brad was born in - it’s likely Mia is the elder as her birthday is in January.

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g I suppose I think of Ambridge as a slightly idealised feudal society - where in exchange for the fruits of their labour the peasants can rely on a degree of protection (aka shared knowledge / patronage) provided by the aristocrats. The SWs have taken to dropping Oliver into situations as resident philanthropist - leaving the Aldridges without what ought to be their role as the pinnacle of village society. Of course if Jenny were still around, and had heard of Brad’s academic talents, she might have been right on it …

New thread. https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/radio_addicts/4887688-archers-thread-153-total-absolute-rubbish-but-we-keep-on-listening-hoping-for-better-things-its-the-hope-that-kills-you-discuss-the-archers-here

Noblesse oblige, Totters? Interesting idea, but hardly any of them went to university at all, let alone Oxbridge. No idea where Phoebe got the idea of applying to Oxford to do PPE, and given that she didn't seem to capitalise on it, maybe her family were just as clueless as the rest of the village about how the system works.

Anyway, new thread, so I'll shut up now.

No, you are right in assuming my life has not been one disaster after another or unmitigated misery, because my life has not (mercifully) been mapped out by a random list of script writers.

I am sorry if my comments about Helen's anorexia have caused distress to some people on here and in retrospect I should have been more careful how I worded my post.

When I posted I was thinking more about the character's history and how she often seems to have made poor choices, like her relationship choices, but also of how her choices and behaviour have affected those closest to her. I am probably projecting a bit, because my DB died unexpectedly at 17, he was coincidentally going to agricultural college, I was two years older. This was all a long time ago btw, but I remember after a few months had gone by and seeing how devastated my parents were and how it blew their world apart that I made a conscious decision then that I would do my best to never cause my parents any unnecessary worry. That meant if I made mistakes or got myself into tricky situations, and I did of course, I would sort it myself without involving my parents because they had been through enough. It also meant I was careful not to bring home any drama that could be avoided. It turns out that my other sibling took the same view although we never discussed it until many decades later. So, it is this that has formed my opinion of Helen over many years and her choices and decisions, even though I know it isn't real life.

Anyway, I am sorry that my last post was dismissive of people who suffer eating disorders in real life, that was not my intention and I apologise.

Thank you @LardoBurrows I appreciate your response. I wasn't offended, just very keen to raise awareness and understanding of eating disorders. It was the (gentle, hopefully) challenge of a woman on a mission 🙂 I also get a bee in my bonnet when resilience is mentioned, for lots of reasons I won't mention now!
I'm sorry you experienced such loss so young. It sounds like you probably had to deal with a lot of life's burdens on your own to try and save your parents from more worry. This makes me sad to hear- I hope you were able to let other people in to support you.

Who made it? Was it Pat? I suspect it was BB in name only.

No comments on last night’s episode? I thought the scenes between Pat and Henry and Helen and Henry were beautifully scripted and acted!

@ElthamLemur @MereDintofPandiculation we're all on the new thread - link above!