Archers thread #159: Sad news as 2023 draws to a close - RIP Ian Pepperell (Roy Tucker). 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 like more of Gagriculture, or other unusual views.

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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.)

We start this thread with the very sad news that Ian Pepperell, who played Roy Tucker from 1995 without a break, has died at the age of 53. There's a lovely tribute to him in this article from Jeremy Howe, the current Editor. https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/dec/23/the-archers-actor-ian-pepperell-dies-aged-53-roy-archer-eastenders

Graham Blockey, who played Robert Snell, died just over a year ago, also far too young (66). https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/much-loved-surrey-gp-archers-25524449 As yet, Robert survives in Ambridge.

I do hope they don't re-cast Robert, but it might work for Roy, I suppose, after a suitable interval. They've re-cast Tony, Tom, Kate, Pip, Clarrie and Emma, mostly successfully. I still wish Tom and Pip hadn't been re-cast. New Tom is a good actor but so was Old Tom.

Meanwhile, several very elderly members of the cast survive, and long may that continue, although not necessarily on air. I think most of us would say that the time has come for Jill to become a silent character, following the precedent of Peggy and Christine.

So! Christmas next week - will it be the best Christmas ever at either Brookfield or The Stables, or both? Then it's 2024. What does the New Year hold for The Archers? Over to you!

But why would Henry be added?

given Rob had a very short relationship with him I don’t see why it is wrong for him to have left his fortune to his biological child

If Henry had a father he would be getting his inheritance that way - would that be considered fairer? Is it just because he has no father?

do we expect saint lee to leave his fortune (everyone has one apparently!) equally between the boys and his daughters? I’m surprised Helen hasn’t put in a cms claim yet

I want to know what happens to Lee. Invest his all into his relationship and new family, only to be cast adrift with no run-up of rows and an obviously failing relationship. A really cruel blow for life to deal him. So - how is he coping? How log before he dares trust again?

I can't see why Helen was surprised that everything went to MySon rather than split equally with Henry, Rob was exactly the sort of man who'd only care about his blood children. Yes, he wanted to adopt Henry but - as a PP said - it was only a tool of control to get Henry shipped off out of the way to boarding school.

And, much as I don't dislike the character of Helen, WHY tell Henry there and then? A few days or weeks wouldn't make any difference, it would give her chance to come to terms with it herself and give the news calmly. Instead of going off like an emotionally unstable firework

The boys spent the weekend with lee

henry is now Helen’s emotional support - not healthy

Lazy sterotyping of people with bipolar

And surely Alastair's vet practice would have been ordered to sell tat at the same time as Denise's was?

If it is part of the same organisation, yes, you'd expect that.

The bellyaching about the inheritance is odd - in Irish law Jack would be guaranteed a share of his biological father's estate. Miles would not have any role in managing it. Henry as stepson wouldn't have any entitlement, though he probably could petition for support if it was needed. I doubt he'd qualify for anything as things are, but again, it would be nothing to do with Miles. Miles might inherit something, and could do what he wanted with it without involving Jack.

And as others have said, all that seeing Jesus on the bridge stuff might well invalidate Rob's will depending on when it was made, and would certainly suggest that he wasn't mentally competent to make instruction regarding the Grange Farm land sale.

Helen's the frozen limit, isn't she? Pushing an unnecessary piece of info Henry and then making assumptions about the state of his mental health. No wonder he backed off.

I should say it's the SWs, sowing discord for future storylines.

Helen’s only just having therapy now? I would have thought she would have had it in prison at least

titchener land 🙄. I mean they could just see it as reparations. Why deny Jack the inheritance. And all this pressure on Henry from Helen is going to make him a closed book.

Denise seems very naive but bonus marks for the cat noise. But surely the vets make money from the food and dental sticks etc than the seasonal stuff. Most vet users aren’t frequent visitors surely

The idea of a rural vet practice going all out to push the sale of novelty items is bizarre too. Their main business will be livestock farmers wanting large scale treatment and reliable on-call emergency support. Suggestions that they should dress their dairy herd up as Santa's reindeer or Easter bunnies would be more likely to lose customers than to gain sales.

Last time we had this storyline, Alistair was under pressure from Lovell James to sell all the local farmers insurance plans.

Helen’s only just having therapy now? I would have thought she would have had it in prison at least

hahaha. No.

They seem to have gone straight to irritation bypassing romance with Ali-stair and Denise. I assume now we’re going for the old ‘I’m so frustrated with you I have to kiss you’ storyline with a detour first of ‘I can’t work with you any longer.’

I also can’t see how a vet practice that is all about profit would be doubling support staff at the drop of a hat. Isn’t it a 33% increase in staff?

I know it was set in the 30s, but didnt James Herriot and Siegfried have a hard time getting the farmers to pay thier fees? I suppose times have changed a lot but Im sure canny farmers dont want anything more than usual vet service and stuff the flim flam.
They will only make money on small animals and when I go to the vets for my Reggies (cat), yearly booster, its expensive enough and they never try to push any sales on me even though they have selves and walls full of those marvelous trinkets that your pet cant do without. They shouldnt have taken on anybody else if the couldnt afford it.

It wouldn’t surprise me if LJ wanted to increase sales of worm and tick treatments or special pellets for kitties with hyper-sensitive stomachs but reindeer headbands wouldn’t go down very well at my vet’s surgery.

Why are they rushing the Titchener land story? It seems strange- I just don’t think Helbel would be forcing therapy on Henry within 10 minutes of discussing it with Gnasher. Anyway, it’s all so boring. I was hoping to hear G grabbing a brownie from the tea room’s display without paying for
it rather than hearing about how effective child therapy can be.

Oh! Of course! Having told Natasha that she has offered Mr Reed At School to get counselling for Henry, Helen then has to make it so. She's never suggested counselling for him before, in fact she refused it on his behalf after she got out of prison and he was rescued from Rob and Ursula and Pat suggested that he needed it, but now she doesn't want to be caught out in a lie about it.

Glad Henry and Helen are finally getting therapy/counselling. (Only 7 years or so too late...) And that it's separate. Though sadly I predict Helen will say after 1 session that there was something wrong with the therapist.

I think she did have some during the residential cure she was sent on at Peggy's expense after she collapsed for lack of food. Well, I don't think she wouldn't have had, surely? But that was pre-Henry by quite a long time.

I suspect the vet practice storyline is highlighting the larger vet practice chains and their unfortunate habit of trying to rinse their customers for all they're worth. However, IME, it's more usually the case that they're keen to identify pets which are insured so they can wring the policy out for as much as it will cover, rather than upselling tat.

I suspect the sw are London centric and haven’t considered the fact that it’s a rural practice

also surely the answer to the Denise problem is to get Paul more involved in the selling. I would imagine as a customer I would rather be dealing with him anyway.

Why would the editorial team be London centric when the programme is not and never has been anything to do with London, and afaik none of them lives in London nor works there?

She did - she said so herself, but I assume that focussed on eating. And as she said herself, many things have happened in her life since then. Greg, Annette, Henry, Rob, Jack. Good luck to her therapist...

They just seem very out of touch! The vets sounds more like the one I go to!

I suspect since Covid there is more remote working. So the SWs don't necessarily live near Brum. In fact, I doubt this have ever been a criterion for writing for TA, just as SWs don't need to have a rural background or a rural address!