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.

I'm reading this thread so i don't have to listen. All the stories, currently, are making my ears bleed when i attempt to listen.

The Hallowe'en stuff is pissing me right off. And we've got another 3 and a bit weeks to go 😭🙈

Sorry to lower the tone, but did Emma say “gave suck to a toad?

Yes, I think she really did! I was surprised she didn’t have anything to say about the mechanics of this.

In any old literature about witches this phrase is used. They 'gave suck' to their familiars ie breastfed them. It would be the normal phrase to use in that context. I assume the same phrase would be used to describe breastfeeding a child at that time.

I also heard 'demonic hand' though.

🖐

yes - the breastfeeding of animals was a common accusation levelled at witches. I would love it if they addressed the mysogyny of the witch trials in some way. It’s the kind of thing I could see Lynda commenting on. Or maybe Emma will do more research

Thank you for your excellent analysis of the Knob/Alan storyline @DivorcingEU Absolutely spot on - I now see that his attempts to manipulate Alan are straight out of his abuse handbook. It’s frustrating for us as listeners because we’ve seen it all before with Helen - it’s easy to forget that someone like Alan, although supportive and sympathetic at the time after the event, hasn’t really see how Knob operated. Both Knob (and Miles) know exactly which buttons to press with Alan - what does it say in the Bible? We’ve never been allowed to know God. Our father was a terrible man. It’s almost as if Alan is his new victim and I feel it’s not going to end well for him. for you as you continue to extricate yourself from your abuser. Long may the ‘light relief’ stories in The Archers continue to provide a distraction.

I am disappointed about the Felpersham Uni thing. It feels as though Brad had more potential.

Brad has three months to think about university applications, so I'm clinging to the fact that he has time to change his mind.

He definitely does - he was selected for that week away doing maths thing. You'd have thought the foundations for more aspirational applications would have been laid then. But that seems to be another continuity glitch in the script writing

It was more the toad than the breastfeeding which raised an eyebrow

Surely the intro of the Felpersham idea now means he won't end up going there?

Just a minute - he's Y12, did GCSEs in the summer, he's got one year and 3 months to think about it (or just a year and a few weeks if Oxbridge were on the agenda)! Yet he was talking about the Jan 31st deadline for him, have the SWs completely messed up??

Sympathy and hugs to @DivorcingEU. I've been there, message me if you want to chat with or without specific references to Rob and Helen!

If you want to share here - did the original storyline help you in any way?

I think he’s in second year of sixth not first

Yes, year 13 in new money.

I keep thinking "Have I got that wrong?"

But weren't his GCSE results this summer or have I lost a year?? Was it only George's? That must be it then.

(I work in a secondary, I should be able to keep track!)

The two aren’t necessarily independent. Upper middle class parentage, he’d have been at private school and maybe not such a fish out of water. He’d also have more role models amongst his parents’ friends

George is a year older than Brad so not his gcses.

Is my geography off. Could Brad really not commute to Birmingham? Or at least he would be a train journey away and could come back frequently.

George has just turned 18. Brad and Mia are in year 13.

I can understand Brad. I discounted London unis back when I was doing my UCCA form, (showing my age,) because I felt i would struggle to adjust to isuch a big city, having grown up on a farm by a small Borchester-like town. I lived in London about a year or do after graduating, and I think I was right. I was more able to cope with it after 3 years and one years in small cities/large town.

Having said that, without having been there, I would assume that Durham isn't a huge metropolis like London. I agree with those who say Birmingham or Warwick might suit him better, being closer to home and not Felpersham.

He needs to talk to Russ about it!

I could understand it more in Brad was leaning towards Felpersham to save money. With two DC at uni at the moment I can confirm it’s a huge drain on resources if they can’t live at home. DS has friends who are having to pay their own way and it is an enormous extra burden on top if studying. Loans rarely cover the whole cost and it’s easy to see how someone from Brad’s background might think twice about taking on upwards of £50,000 in loans. As he wants to study maths maybe he could look at getting some kind of sponsorship (wasn’t Alice going to do something similar with the RAF?) It would be interesting to explore this - it’s definitely a consideration now in the way it never was in my day. I imagine it would be the same for Mia. That said, depending on geography, Warwick or Brum could be excellent alternatives.

I don’t think that it is Durham, as Tracey mentioned there being a campus/halls and Durham is not a campus university (it does have halls, but they are collegiate in the first instance and then with independent halls now available for later years).

I hope he doesn’t go to Felpersham. Although maybe in the Archers universe Felpersham is a great uni?

It was his AS level results they were talking about in the summer.

Tracey may not be too clued up about what is or is not a campus, though. Someone has pointed out upthread that at Durham the Maths department is on the science site so she might have thought that was the campus.

Felpersham University is like most other geographical features of Archerworld - it morphs into whatever the SWs need it be for any given storyline. Kate did a course there in a fairly niche area many years ago - international development?

Other courses taken there by Ambridge residents:
Ben, general nursing
Pip, agriculture
Brenda, marketing
Roy, Business Studies
Lily, Events Management (is it? can't remember for sure)
Alice, Engineering MSc

Simon Gerrard, Debbie Aldridge's ex-husband, taught in the English department there a long time ago.

If the SWs need Felpersham to have a strong Maths department now, that's what it will have.