Archers thread #155: Cold Comfort Farms! The rural sagas continue. Discuss The Archers here.

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

FILL THE OLD THREAD UP FIRST! https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/radio_addicts/4902507-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?page=10

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 like to hear more scenes in the 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 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.)

Lots of lively discussion about Brad's university aspirations and the Open Day on the last thread. Do you want him to end up at Felpersham or do you want him to spread his wings and go further afield? Where will Mia go?

Will this thread see the end of Rob, or do we have many weeks more before his long overdue demise?

What's going on at Grey Gables? Are they running into financial trouble? Will we hear from Roy, who I had forgotten was working there until he was mentioned the other day? Who are the mysterious 'Owners'? Will the locum GP turn out to be Adil's sister, as we have been surmising since she first spoke? Why's she been conjured up?

Talking of the GP, I'm hoping against hope we're not in for bad news about Jim's mole.

Praying that we're going to get a long and much-needed break from hearing P*p. Not praying that we hear Rob being christened. Who would be his sponsor, as someone commented on the last thread? Harrison? Surely that would be a conflict of interest. Can't see who else would do it locally.

I wonder how Ben is getting on now he's back on his nursing degree? Will we ever hear anything about Lily's course, or how Freddie's getting on at the abattoir?

So many questions! Over to you for some answers and boundless speculation.

The 🔮 doesn't think we will be hearing much of Adil in the future. Oliver will somehow regain control of GG (possibly by selling the farm) and recruit assorted villagers to step up and run the whole thing. Roy will be top managerial dog.

The Grand Opening will, of course, be a great success

Well, I never knew Guinea pigs were such demanding pets!.
i thought Helen would have been climbing the walls at the Rob nonsense, so it's great to hear that she is past his shenanigans. And lovely to hear the grown up conversation with George. Hope for them both.

Actually, I will. People getting terribly burnt in kitchen fires because a modern slave made a piece of toast is also unrealistic and melodramatic (perhaps slightly less so than the roof)

@FizzingAda "And lovely to hear the grown up conversation with George. Hope for them both."
But so incredibly unrealistic. Do you really think George has completely changed in the course of a few weeks?

DH tells me that one of the great scientific societies had the bizarre approach of the Fellows dining together while the speaker dined alone in a room which opened directly on to the stage. After a particularly stressed speaker, they fitted bars to the window.

No I don’t, Curlew Kate, people,rarely change overnight, but he may have just begun to realise that his previous stance is unacceptable, and he is beginning on a journey to grow up. Fingers crossed.

Oh dear poor old Adil. Hope something turns up to rescue the situation for him. Maybe his sister will be able to talk him down.

I hope Adil doesn't disappear. I like him. Or his voice at least.

As for doing a runner, I heard of an HT at a school in London, when OFTSED was due in the next day said he was going to buy some socks and never came back.

I hoped Emma was going to improbably save the day, by knowing the builders or something.

Anyway, Adil leaving:

I really weirdly just posted the reply above and it somehow bizarrely posted on a thread from months ago. Strange!

Oh poor Adil. I really hope he doesn’t just vanish.

Im reminded of Aneesha, the vet from a few years ago. Came in for a few months, was set up to be very involved in the community and its people, like Adil, and then one day just vanished. Her TV career has taken off so that’s presumably why, but it was so frustrating.

And I agree with you @Bruisername

So are we heading back to how things were at GG, with a few tweaks?
Oliver - Owner, or perhaps part-owner with the balance of the shares owned by a community trust and/or a few local wealthy people?
Roy- General Manager
Ian - Head Chef
Tracy - Head Receptionist
Emma - Head of Housekeeping
Freddie - Front of House in the restaurant (although he may prefer the slaughterhouse )

Oliver isn't supposed to be an out and out numpty. Surely he and his professional advisers would have done some due diligence about these mysterious Owners? It strains credulity that even now nobody says who they are. Why not? Any real hotel chain would have been sending out press releases about their new venture as soon as the deal was signed, surely?

Yes quite - and who were the invitations from? Surely it would say eg ‘the Hyatt at Grey Gables invites you to…’?

Yes I would be very surprised if Oliver was taken in by a con. Going into partnership is a big deal that requires a lot of due diligence.

this whole sl has been very badly executed

(I could just about accept the falling from the roof if it hadn’t been for the ridiculously long scream and the fact it was Nigel)

OK @Bruisername that's a step too far! I challenge you to a duel. Name your weapons. Here's your choice

I shall need a second. Any volunteers?
In an ideal world, I would invite @DadDadDad to do the honours.

Usually, duels didn't happen spontaneously. One man poster would issue a challenge to another, who would often respond by directing further matters to his or her second. A second was a friend who came along to help prepare your weapons, make sure the other duelist wasn't going to ambush you and make sure the rules of the duel were being followed. Seconds were also supposed to try to defuse the situation that led to the duel by getting an apology from one party or another. In truth, seconds often ended up fighting each other alongside the main duelists. Sometimes there were thirds and fourths along for the fight as well. In any event, after one man issued a challenge, the seconds would arrange all the details. The process could take days.

I don’t dislike Adil. I’m glad that it sounds as though he’s just doing a runner tbh.

Yes Adil has had it on his toes as they say in London ganster films. I think the bloke from Grand Designs will show up and save GG, he always does in the programme when things are at there worst and then ta da! It all turns out all right in the end.
I wish George would go back to being nasty, every body on here writes about him then. He has had a personality change and that seems a bit far fetched. Perhaps the SW think Rob is nasty enough and we the Faithfull listener's cant take too much drama. Bring it on I say.

I think George joining the Police would be an appropriately ambiguous and fertile long term plot line.

I don’t think George has had a personality change - I think we will see some more nasty behaviour etc. he is being shown as nuanced.

se could prove me wrong and he’s a model citizen from now on but I would expect they’ve decided not to make him a cardboard cut out villain but a misguided youth

George and Helen both unlikely to have been able to have that conversation.

Has Helen's ED suddenly disappeared? Why is she suddenly able to be so objective about Rob and indeed about George?

Obviously the baptism is merely a means to an end for Sideshow BRob. I’d love his legacy to be the endowment of a stained-glass window of St Sebastian with Rob’s features and kitchen knives instead of arrows but I regretfully concede that this is unlikely. However, I do cherish hopes that his gravestone might be the catalyst for further drama. Something along the lines of:

Rob Titchener
^^
True father of Jack (not some random bloke’s sperm)*

“Every night should be like that”

• part in parentheses, while being Rob’s previously expressed view, might be omitted

Thanks so much for that picture@OverArmour - that’s exactly how it sounded to me. The whole Grey Gables saga has been so drawn out and convoluted I’ve slightly lost track of the original premise. Oliver sold up after the explosion, but somehow kept a stake and yet he doesn’t know who he’s in partnership with? If he has to sell Grange Farm to liquidate some assets what will happen to the Grundys? It already sounded to me as George was regretting moving out - I don’t think life on the Green is working out quite as he planned. Emma on the other hand (and this might have been my imagination) sounded rather happy with the arrangement.

Did he say “every night should be like that”? That’s awful 😞

I only started listening at the stab.