Archers thread #156: Fireworks in Ambridge! Helen gave Lee a rocket, but Grey Gables is a damp squib. Is the writing on the (church) wall?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're irresistibly attracted to George Grundy, 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.)

Thanks to @OverArmour for the title suggestion, which I have tweaked a bit. I was strongly tempted by Less GGP (Grey Gables Peril) More GPP (Guinea Pig Plot), which was a plaintive cry from @PuppyPerson some days ago, but if Poppy has found new homes for the baby guinea pigs that may be the last we hear of them for some time, sadly.

Surely in the life of the next thread we must hear more from or of Rob, or Ron as some on this thread prefer to call him? <taps foot> Will Kirsty snap and tell Helen a few home truths? Will Pat's shotgun finally be brought into play? We can only hope ...

Also, will we ever find out who owns the other 60% of Grey Gables? Why is Adil AWOL (to use the other bit of OverArmour's title idea!)? Why aren't we hearing from Roy? Will GG ever re-open and will Emma get her Big Chance at last?

So many questions! Over to you.

let alone someone as fragile as Helen

Helen is about as fragile as a gin-trap. Barking mad, yes; fragile - nah. Like a cockroach, she’ll be the last one standing 🪳

@BrightYellowDaffodil 💐

Like a cockroach, she’ll be the last one standing 🪳

That would be a truly inspired Archers spin-off. A post-apocalyptic future where only Helen has survived. She'd still make cheese, feel put out generally and moan to a little doll of Kirsty made out of woven radiation-scarred grass stalks.

😂

I'm currently finding it hard to believe The Archers is going to survive for another 70 years, but if it does, I can very easily see Helen as the Peggy of her generation!

What a thought!

I doubt the scriptwriters are thinking this far ahead but in just over 3 years if Henry wanted to move out and live with Lee instead he totally could.

And Helen would still have the responsibility for providing for him until he is eighteen!

She’d go to the ruins of GG once a week and berate them for not letting her know what their cheese order was going to be and how could she plan accordingly.

Her Borchester Blue might acquire a glow-in-the-dark hue if the cows survived too.

Thank you. It might seem odd to say it, but it was a blessing in disguise really!

I think it was ambiguous: a large sum of money was needed and Oliver's words were that the partners were asking Oliver for half that amount, so it might have been half the large lump sum needed or it might have been half the amount they were putting in. I assumed the former because one-third of the total makes if possible even less sense: they'd be taking him for what they could get, at this point, if they wanted him to subsidise them at all.

Oliver could reasonably beat the partners down, though, on the basis that the whole débacle was down to the person they employed and foisted on him.

I wondered if the explanation for the wife/fiancée confusion will be that Adil got married secretly without his family knowing? God knows what the reason would be, though.

Just listening to the film and see Helen suggested to Lee that he emigrate. Just wow. She really is deluded.

after that little speech of hers I don’t know why he would want her back

I'm starting to wonder if they want Lee out of the way but not totally out of the way, so he can swoop in heroically and karate chop Rob out of the way when he inevitably shows his face at the house to steal Gideon... thus winning his way back into Helen's heart forever?

I think Lee has now been written out. Helen gave him the push because she had started to find him repulsive (the deodorant, the trainers), and there really isn't any way back from that.

Now Lee is out of the way how long before Rob returns?

Shouting at Lee as he gets manoeuvred into giving Helen had Sundays off.
Run Lee, run. Start googling physio opportunities in Northern California.

Hurrah, Brian's back!

Tony's going to shoot Rob!?

Genuine question: doesn't a sponsor at an adult baptism need to be a member of that church? If so Brian would need to be a baptised member of the CofE. Why would Ron assume he is? (And in any case, why not simply say "sorry, I can't; I'm not a member of the Church of England" and can all the indignation?)

No, the Church of England is quite relaxed about things like that. Even for a child they accept Christians of any denomination. Their theology is also a bit fudged about the role of sponsors in adult baptism since the person can answer for themselves (no offence meant to my Anglican friends).

What is completely implausible is the brevity of the preparation. His illness is no excuse: he should have a proper period of instruction and the priest be ready to do an emergency baptism if he looks to be in imminent danger of death.

Plus, why isn't he being confirmed at the same time?

I still don't believe that he wasn't baptised as an infant, I don't buy that rubbish backstory about his dad.

I’d be surprised if Brian wasn’t a baptised member of the CoE. It was mainstream for people from his background and age.

For all we know Brian was brought up as a Quaker, and his family money came from being related to the Cadburys or the Southalls or the Rowntrees.

You were saying? 😅

Apple bobbing is surely an activity for the kitchen?

and another new voice in Denise. I didn’t realise she was married - I thought she was a potential love interest for alastair. I guess she’s now left her husband and doesn’t want to tell Paul?

nice to hear Brian. Why did Rob ask him? Did Rob work for him? I can’t remember what he did now!!

a murder in a church at a baptism would be quite scandalous

I agree about apple bobbing: it needs a waterproof floor.

Denise has spoken several times before. She has been married all along, too; we were told by her that her husband does a lot of bicycling, which led me to think that someone on the Editorial Team is on Mumsnet.

Rob was initially employed by Brian, to run Berrow Farm for BL.