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.

It wasn’t the microwave that caused the conflagration was it? It was Blake making toast, and that’s one of the things still best cooked by other means

Apologies you are right…are you Ian?! 😜

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.

I hadn't noticed there being all that few in the cast, so I went and compared with last year:

In the six months between 1st May and 31st October, 2023, there will have been 83 actors in the cast, of whom 16 (including Jill, Martyn Gibson, Jakob, Denise and Bruce) will have made appearances in one week only.

In the six months between 1st May and 31st October, 2023, there were 89 actors in the cast, of whom 19 (including Dan, Emma, Hannah, Ian, Kathy, Paul, and Rex) made appearances in one week only.

I don't think that is all that different. I could go and have a look at the same period in eg 2012 just for further comparison, but it's a bit of a chore even with automation.

It’s a business relationship so they wouldn’t be taking him for all they could get. There would be an agreement in place as to how things would be split.

the whole thing doesn’t make sense from a financial or business perspective and it’s deeply irritating

Aha: I found one I did a while back out of interest.

In the whole of 2010 there seem to have been 63 actors in the cast lists over the year, plus 24 who appeared in one week only.

Not all that much difference, really.

Has the actress who plays Jill retired?

Not officially, I don't think. She last spoke on 4th May this year, to Sykesy, and I think we'd have had her retirement noted in some way on here even if not by the BBC. The reason she isn't in the "spoke only once this year" list is that she also spoke in March 2023.

Thanks @AskingQuestionsAllTheTime Wondered if I’d missed the announcement.

I'm trying not to get too wound up about the GG stupidity. Doubtless it's all some contrived bollocks to get another plot to a particular point.

BUt that's really funny that Hilary Noakes has actually campaigned against noisy fireworks in the past!!!

I know someone whose long term partner died in an accident. He married someone else six years later and he and his wife both refer to his late partner as his "first wife."

I think it's because it's a straightforward way of presenting the situation. "Late partner" might have been a business partner, "late girlfriend" doesn't necessarily imply that it was someone he regarded at the time as his life partner.

So, maybe, there will be something in the plot later on to clarify......?

The question is why, if Sabha was not his wife, Adil felt he had to lie to Lilian about it. I'd have thought it would have been just as effective if he'd told her it was the anniversary of his fiancée's death; Lilian would have been just as sympathetic and understanding. And she wouldn't have judged him harshly in any way just because the person who was killed was going to be his wife rather than already being it.

There needs to be something in the plot to clarify this, because one or other of these people is either being misled (if it's Azra) or telling porkies (could be either of them). And that would be a fairly important character-tell.

Yes I have friends who refer to their long term partner as ‘husband’ or ‘wife’ because it’s just easier, for the reasons you’ve set out.

It makes no sense for him to use wife instead of fiancée though - he has no other partner and no one in the village knows him. Fiancée would possible elicit more sympathy in a way because of that wedding dream being sniffed out too

its either a cock up by the sw or we are going to have a very dull SL

Even my 90yo mother refers to long-term love interests/cohabitees as partners nowadays, instead of girlfriend/boyfriend. It seems bizarre to me not to use that word instead of muddying the waters by having Adil call her his wife and his sister call her his fiancée. TA episodes are far too short to have people distracted by this sort of careless confusion. It's broken down the fourth wall for me, and that's never a good thing.

Yes that’s exactly it gaspode

Distribution may be different. 10 actors for a month followed by a different 10 for a month then yet another 10 for a month and so on feels vary different from 30 appearing for three months. I have a feeling that they’re doing a very formulaic 2 stories an episode, whereas my memory is that 20 years ago they’d juggle 4 or 5 stories in an episode. And not work so hard to get each story to a climax and then done and dusted in 3 weeks or less. If they’re having shorter stories and no overlap, they’d need fewer actors in each short period, even if they needed the same number over a year.

Who bought Mia her fireworks? Or is she old enough to legally buy them herself?

Two points from that episode:

1. Another never-previously-mentioned farm building has conveniently popped up.
2. Helen is still going to foist her boyz on someone else! She will have all the benefits (to her) of not being with Lee and yet still receive free childcare.

Caught up with tonight. Lee was good with Henry. Does Helen want to manoeuvre him into a situation where he’s still acting as a parent figure doing fun stuff with the boys while she keeps him safely at arm's length? Because if I were Lee, I wouldn’t be feeling too thrilled about that.

And predictably the GG situation just gets more ridiculous. Any chance of 'the partners' being involved in any of this? No? Just Oliver lashing out a cool quarter-mill and Adil vowing to pay it back? How???

(Oh, and as for Will whingeing about the temerity of Oliver selling some of his OWN LAND because 'mum and dad wouldn’t be very happy' about it - the cheek!)

Cross- posted with you, @NoHillsHere!

Added to those:

1. Adil will somehow pay Oliver back the money. The money, not the land. If I'd had to sell land to raise cash, and it was part of the land I actually lived on, I'd realise that that was a permanent deal and no amount of money in compensation (within reason) would buy the actual land back.
2. Adil wasn't employed by Oliver. How can it possibly be up to Oliver whether to keep him on/give him another chance or not?

Oh, so many others. I actually can't be bothered to engage with it anymore, it's gone so far away from anything remotely plausible.

@Ambridge I actually couldn't believe the nerve of the bloody woman!! It makes me wish that Pat and Tony had called her bluff all those years ago when she threatened to withhold access to Henry. Helen and Ron wouldn't have lasted five minutes if she had been forced to look after her own flipping child.

@Fink I agree completely about the lack of continuity. I was pondering yesterday why so few characters have long-term medical conditions, or even degenerative ones, and decided it was because continuity would be so important. I know there was Jack and Alzheimer's, but that was many years ago and there was possibly still even an archivist then.

There was also Peggy's actor having had a husband who had Alzheimers, and being consulted every step of the way, I think we were told at the time.

@FinkI agree completely about the lack of continuity. I was pondering yesterday why so few characters have long-term medical conditions, or even degenerative ones, and decided it was because continuity would be so important. I know there was Jack and Alzheimer's, but that was many years ago and there was possibly still even an archivist then

Brine had a go with angina a little while ago, but I agree. I'm in my very late 60s, and in my acquaintance, so this is anecdotal, I can't think of anyone who doesn't have something. Ages range from mid 40s to mid 80s. The only ones who aren't leading a full life, are the two with dementia so yes, I agree that far more characters should be dealing with one condition or another.

Jill and Kenton both have thyroid problems requiring lifelong medication (she is hypo, he is hyper), but you'd never think it; for instance Kenton was able to go off to the far side of the world and then unexpectedly stay for an extra six weeks or so and never worry about filling his prescription in a country not his own, and neither of them has apparently ever needed to have their dosage reviewed, her since 1976 and him since 1988.