Archers thread #154: Cider with Fat Rosie, Meadow Rise to Candleford or The Darling Horrobins of September? Get your rural saga fix – 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 be euphoric about getting a job in an abattoir, 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 https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/radio_addicts/4888492-the-archers-spoilers-thread-8-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.)

Thanks for the thread title suggestions. @HumanWetWipe came up with Cider with Fat Rosie and @BeardieWeirdie thought up Meadow Rise to Candleford. I wish I could have put in the Line of Duty mashups from the end of the last thread. Another time.

Heading for a ferry shortly, so nothing more from me for now. Over to you!

Seeing Jack, or winning in his eternal battle with Helen?

Jack may be his flesh and blood, but he’s had no relationship with him. I agree with @ArtG ’s point about inserting himself into that narrative, and I can imagine he’s obsessed with the idea of possessing him, but as an object / pawn rather than as an actual human being. I’m certain his primary objective is based on hatred, not love.

The hints we had from Rob were that he went to a big-name public school. I think the fans concluded it was most likely to be Harrow, from the information given. That's not comparable to the majority of modern independent schools.

If you look at Harrow even now you only get to opt out of chapel attendance below the age of 16 if you belong to another major world religion. If you want to identify as agnostic or atheist you have to wait till Year 11. Even then there's a compulsory chapel-replacement group.

Wouldn't he have gone to Winchester? I pictured the family farm as being in the Basingstoke area (Dummer or Farleigh Wallop?)

My experience of a public school is more recent and whilst going to religious services is compulsory that doesn’t mean the boys are taking any of it on board!!

Ha ha ha

I meant Ha Ha Ha to this quote.

His voice would be very well suited to doing spoken lyrics

When Rob first appeared and talked (a bit) about his family it seemed reasonably clear that there was no love lost between him and Miles. I would have thought that growing up with a narcissist wouldn't endear the narcissist to you all that much: you'd know him too well, and would have seen too much of the way he operated, to be inclined to take his side in things without very good reason.

In this storyline I find Miles' gung-ho all-guns-blazing behaviour a great deal less convincing than Rob's sly nastiness, really. But then, I had a brother I didn't trust and to whose defence I certainly would not have sprung without being very sure of my ground indeed, so I am biased.

Is Miles older than Rob?

I'm a few years younger than Rob (probably - I'm Tom Archer's age). It was a noticeable that all the public school lads on my university course - even the Jewish ones - had a better knowledge of the gospel stories than the average baptised Christian.

I wouldn't say there was a higher or lower religious adherence than amongst other students, but they definitely knew their stuff.

Funnily enough, the Rob actor doesn't (or didn't) live too far from there. I used to work with his neighbour who assured me he's nothing like Rob in real life!

He's married to Mrs Philip Glenister in Roger Roger, so I hope not.
That part of Hampshire is very nice.

I think the SW are trying to rewrite history a bit by making Miles and Rob's relationship closer, and less dysfunctional, than it was portrayed before. But it's also possible that Miles has been won round by the death of their mother, and now Rob's illness, and is being kinder to him than he knows he deserves. Or that it's a case of hating Rob privately but not wanting to see the family's reputation further damaged- sort of how a lot of people will complain about their relatives nonstop but jump to defend them if a non-family member says anything, except written large into an abusive family. Either way, something has certainly changed since the period when Rob and Helen were married.

Is the change that the sw don’t have the archivist to consult?

As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
I take a look at my life and realize there's nothin' left
'Cause I've been narcing and lying so long that
Even my vicar thinks that my mind is gone

Very behind with this thread atm. Just about managing to keep up with TA. Listening to last nights episode has made me realise I'm really not up for another Rob storyline, listening to him trying to manipulate Alan was blood boiling. Even though Alan has told him no (for now), I think Rob has done enough by planting the seed of doubt about his relationship with Helen.

The thing that's bugging me though is how is this going to end? Rob has a type of cancer that progresses quite rapidly and mobility, speech and cognitive function will usually steadily decline as it progresses. With no one to care for him at home, he will eventually reach a point where he needs hospice care I would have thought? Or at least become housebound with carers coming in to assist. Realistically, Robs illness would eventually prevent him from being able to continue with his manipulative schemes so rather than a big dramatic ending, it would more likely fizzle out as his health declined. I just wonder how the SW are planning on closing this 🤷‍♀️

The riding school scene was absurd. Why is it that anything equestrian related in TA feels like their research is limited to Thelwell Ponies? 🤦‍♀️

Really hope it works out for Brad and university 🤞 him and Mia are loved up enough to stay together even with just seeing each other in the holidays, it would be quite sweet if they made it work.

Scenes with George are confusing. So have they decided he's not going to be a bad apple after all or this just a hiatus?

Is Rob going to make a complaint to the bishop about Alan? I actually gasped when Alan said he couldn’t be sure Rob was really ill 😂

Oh a BOOP for last night when Rob said something like "What do you think I'm going to do? Kidnap Jack?"

I briefly wondered whether, when Rob started claiming that Helen's family were keeping them apart, it would be a moment of bonding between him and Alan. 😅Alan would have finally relaxed, and said something like 'don't talk to me about the Bridge Farm Archers, Rob, they've been a bloody nightmare over this stained glass window. They even set Lilian and Kate on to me, got the whole clan involved. They're so blooming entitled, act like they're the lords of the manor and I'm the poor clergyman to be ordered around like a minor Jane Austen character!'

And then Harrison would pop up (reasonable: he's the only other adult convert Alan has ever had, as well as being Helen's point of contact with the police) and say 'did you say entitled? Let me tell you who's entitled: the sodding Bridge Farm Archers. They've screwed my Fallon over without a second thought.'

And then the three of them would get beers and a take away in and connect over the utter unreasonableness of the Bridge Farm Archers. I'm sure Rob could make up some more stuff. 😆

Speaking of the church window, did we hear what happened to repair the damage done by Alan's fall? Are we to believe that there's still a hole where the Jack Woolley window once was, with some sort of tarpaulin cover against the elements?! It must have been the best part of year now.

Why isn’t the window being replaced as it was? When was it originally installed and who paid for it?

I missed this sl!

He was pulled into working on the family farm and was going to inherit it, while Rob got nothing and had to go out and make his own way, so I expect he is.

@TheUsualChaos , research? I thought they relied on what they'd read in Black Beauty and Jill has Two Ponies.

Harrow and Winchester are both boarding schools, so where Rob lived would be irrelevant.

Winchester has always been much more academic, it's unlikely he would have ended up in farming if he'd been to school there.

Also agree that there would have been chapel regularly and he would have learned the basics. And would have been christened, if not confirmed.

For the PP who asked regarding whether Rob’s symptoms are in line with real life experiences : no, not my experience at all but I don’t know how universal some of the symptoms are it is. For eg I thought brain cancer didn’t tend to cause pain but it apparently does in Rob. I know vomiting unexpectedly is a sign of a tumour but I had thought a telltale sign was that the vomiting was not accompanied by real nausea. However perhaps it depends on where the tumour is and what size/shape it is. I definitely do not recognise the level of mental and verbal faculties, and mobility, in some one two third of the way through their glioblastoma life expectancy.

I wonder if the plan for George is to lay the groundwork for him being a long term complex character. So no massive denouement planned in the short term, but a general crafting of a flawed person with multiple sides. A little like Helen has been, or any of the longer term characters I suppose. I enjoy that about the Archers - characters having complicated personalities that influence their scenes or storylines without always leading to disaster and being written out.