Archers thread #161: Kenton seems to be getting better, but the storylines aren’t. Discuss The Archers here.

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Well, here we are. I was strongly tempted to go for the dog's dinner, dog/human bullies etc suggestions for the title, but Mere asked if we could not have anything graphic in the thread title, so I've held back. In a couple of weeks when this thead is nearing its end the attack may all be a distant memory, anyway.

Goodness knows what's in store for us now. Kenton seems likely to have PTSD, not surprisingly. Surely we must soon find out why HARRY talks so. Unconvincingly. Alice! Hello. CHRIS. CHRIS. etc, and also whether he is (as many of us suspect) addicted to opiates and/or up to no good. Too much to hope why nobody in Ambridge horsey circles had ever heard of him until recent weeks.

Over to you!

So even weirder that the people he was with (I assume Pat was there) were happy to see him getting happy pissed

on Harry, I’m assuming this isn’t his first rodeo so his mother must be aware. So why did she so not sign of that when he spoke to her?

on Harry, I’m assuming this isn’t his first rodeo so his mother must be aware. So why did she so not sign of that when he spoke to her?

She did say he must have nothing to do with Alice, once she discovered she was an alcoholic. If he binges like this, she was protecting Alice as much as him. Unfortunately, no one's actually telling Alice why. Now we're going to have a situation where Harry hasn't told her, his mother hasn't told her, and Harrison can't tell her.

@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime I knew I was on dangerous ground with that assertion about Tony not drinking

Tommy??? Oh - Tom the pig boy?

She seemed to focus much more on Alice’s bad drunk behaviour though. Willing to accept I missed a nuance as I’m finding the new actors poor and the writing not much better

@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime you beat me too it! One of my first memories of TA, from the early 80s, is Peggy reading the riot act to Tony because he was drinking too much. She was worried he was going to take after his father. IIRC, Bridge Farm went organic shortly after as a reconciliation project for Tony and Pat.

No I think Harry's mother is only concerned about Harry.

When Harry went to the doctor but didn't want to listen to what he was being told, do you think it was something like liver function test results? Are we going to have a cirrhosis SL?

Oh, I think she is only concerned about Harry, and was worried if Alice relapsed, she'd bring Harry down too, but the risk is as big to Alice, so if she succeeded in getting them to separate, it would inadvertently be good for Alice. Of course, she would probably have succeeded better if she'd said, "Harry has told you about his own drinking problems, hasn't he?" because then Alice would understand why her own alcoholism is a problem to him - and vice versa. Presumably Harry's mum originally thought her a nice sensible girl to keep him on the straight and narrow. Harry is more of a risk to Alice, because he hasn't Bern open about it, and is cleastill drinking st least sometimes.

Although I suspect drink is only part of Harry's issues, and personality may be more problematic...

I cant understand why David was so worried about Tony getting drunk, its not as if Tony is a well known nasty violent trouble maker when his had a few sherbets. Bit over the top me thinks.
Well its not opioid addiction with Harry , which I think would make a better story.
Poor Harrison must be in a quandary now. I wonder if he will tell Fallon then every time Alice says lets make a foursome everyone will go quiet and Alice will think they just dont like him and get protective towards him.

Maybe Harry is both drinking too much and addicted to opioids. I assume alcohol and opioids (having great difficulty typing that!) are a bad combination.

I feared the worst for that episode after reading the thread worst, but it wasn't as bad as some we've had recently. Nice to hear Harrison's inspector moonlighting from her other job as the nice midwife in Doctors!

(My Mum watches Doctors, so I see it every couple of months when I'm up there. It's not great, to put it mildly. I can see why it's being cancelled.)

Can’t imagine there are many coppers of her rank who are home on a Friday night to settle down with a cuppa and Corrie.

I wonder if we will see Harry’s nasty side when he sobers up and is desperate for Harrison not to tell alice

person he knew who dies from alcoholism - someone he met in rehab?

still think the scene between him and his mum was oddly written.

if Alice finds out and stays with him ‘because she loves him’ I may have to throw my radio at the wall

The clunky scene with his Mum was written that way so it would be a surprise for us when we found out that Harry has issues with alcohol. As mentioned before, I hate it when the fourth wall is so obviously down.

Yes - writing has been so poor recently because it is very plot driven. Unfortunately the plot’s aren’t that great either

The sooner Harry gets the boot and Alice falls back into Chris's loving arms the better. There, I said it

Hear! Hear!

However, I fear she's going to feel morally bound to be his AA sponsor.

Agreed. Run Alice, run back to Chris.

Can you imagine the horror of seeing your recovering alcoholic ex end up staying with someone she’s known for a month despite their own alcoholism. Even worse seeing your coparent in that situation. Would Alice really risk losing Martha?

I think this storyline is going to be difficult for Harrison, perhaps Harry putting in a formal complaint because Harrison has arrested him because he holds a personal grudge. The offending question was brought up again when Harrison was trying to get Harry away from the scene.

I wonder why Harrison didn’t tell his boss that he knew him.

no doubt Harry’s mother knows someone senior in the police who takes Harrison to task. Harrison has plenty of witnesses to Harry’s behaviour so a complaint wouldn’t get far otherwise

is it common for police to go out on their own like that?

I wonder why Harrison didn’t tell his boss that he knew him.

"Harrison, you live in Ambridge. Let me know the day you arrest someone you don't know."

I hope Harrison’s boss is appearing because the dog attack storyline is going to go somewhere and there will be more of a role for the police. I hope it’s not because she is a woman of a similar age who expresses a love for a quiet life and a northern soap and at some point will start musing on how much she wants children while she and Harrison grow ever closer in the station.

Alwaysdieting
I cant understand why David was so worried about Tony getting drunk, its not as if Tony is a well known nasty violent trouble maker when his had a few sherbets. Bit over the top me thinks.

Maybe David was for some reason aware that Tony was a nasty (and dangerous) drunk in the late seventies, and doesn't want him to go back to it. David would have been twenty when Tony was binge-drinking and having car crashes and the like, and people that age can be very judgemental about their seniors behaving badly.

My immediate thought when she made the comment about preferring a night in front of the TV was that they are teeing up a work place romance. Although I’m not sure if she is meant to be significantly older than Harrison. I previously thought she was mid 50s (which wouldn’t necessarily rule out an affair).

David and Kenton’s comments about Tony were unnecessary and rude. He was slightly merry, not paralytic. No need for “he’s a liability…in a state…we need to get rid of him” especially after his heartfelt comments about missing JD. Very odd.

Going back to the alcoholism theme. If we assume Harry is then they have presented both alcoholics who show bad behaviour when drunk.

the one alcoholic I knew drank themselves to death with no drama at all. They hid it well from the outside world and were never violent. Just incredibly sad when drunk. It was only close family who saw it and the consequences (job loss, withdrawing from the world and early death). I know that doesn’t make good radio

I don’t think Harry is an alcoholic. I think he drinks to block something out, possibly a terminal illness.