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

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

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 think it's great that Shula's ministering to the heathen of the North-East, 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, 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 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.)

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!

I felt the absence of Lee last night - the friendly village physio who could have shown Kenton how to get upstairs. Maybe Ben will be drafted in to help - doesn't he like looking after old people? (just to infuriate Kenton further!) I must say, the reminder that Kenton is in fact 65 came as a bit of a surprise - I know that logically he must be that age, but he always sounds like a much younger man. It has not actually been spelled out what his injuries are - beyond that he has undergone surgery. No doubt the Ambridge health fairy will be along soon and Kenton will be back behind the bar for Valentine's Day.
Edited to say just to be quite clear, I don't actually think 65 constitutes old age these days, but the youthful Ben might.

Hi, I'm a lurker here but aren't Susan and Adam supposed to be friends? I'm sure I remember her popping round for tea at Adam and Ian's, a sort of odd couple friendship.

Hello, @mehefin, well remembered. Yes, they were, but I don't know how long that lasted. May have been a flash in the pan.

Richard Attlee is a few years younger than Kenton, but not far off. Judy Bennett is a lot older than Shula. The disparity is perhaps becoming more evident now they're both older. (We do all know that Richard is Clement Attlee's grandson, I suppose? I saw him in a drama documentary a few years ago playing his grandfather.)

adil, harry remind me of the velvy character in silent witness. very wooden, unbelievable delivery.

is acting school teaching it this way? or do actors no longer stem from acting school?

Harry (Jack Ashton) is actively working at sounding this way, judging by his previous role in Call the Midwife, so it surely has to be a directorial/editorial decision. No idea why Adil had to sound so like Paddington.

Richard Attlee is a few years younger than Kenton, but not far off. Judy Bennett is a lot older than Shula. The disparity is perhaps becoming more evident now they're both older.

Yes, she sounded like his mum when she was visiting him in the hospital.

I can sympathise people who discharge themselves, having been refused painkillers the day after a caesarian. (paracetamol was all that was on offer and they refused me that, first because it was 3mins too early, next because there was only one nurse on the ward and they needed two for meds)

Judy Bennett is 81! Good grief. 20 years between the actors, minutes between the siblings.

Blimey! Shula doesn’t sound 81, though she certainly doesn’t sound as young as Kenton.

Someone I knew once suggested getting together a lot of people and dressing them in red and white robes, then walking with them up and down Oxford Street chanting

Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, Christmas Christmas, Merry Merry
Happy New Year, Happy New Year, New Year New Year, Happy Happy
(and repeat)

This makes at least as much sense as the Harry character, I feel.

You are absolutely right, they are. They were what used to be called "gossips", which back in the distant past (it's in Shakespeare) meant people who were close friends. And they gossiped together.

It's not like Keri Davies to forget that sort of thing, so it must have been an editorial decision to make them opponents.

Did we find out what was wrong with Harry and the highly unlikely GP phone call? Perhaps he had a personality transplant with his bad hip? He is insufferably forced and dull.

I'm also wondering if Harry is a shoehorn to get Chris and Alice back together.

On Kenton and the dogs and some mysterious trouble makers, it all feels a bit silly to me. I could believe a dog attack, but that it dates back to Jolene's mediocr band days seems ludicrous.

Lorrrrdy. That’s horrendous. On the advice of a friend I brought my own spare painkillers just in case. I almost snarled at the nurse who told me there’d be no more morphine after day 2 (was in for 72 hours both times due to pre-existing health conditions).

I have discharged myself before, after 5 days in hospital. I had been very unwell when admitted but was almost entirely recovered, and I was looking at 3 days in over the weekend simply because there were no doctors to discharge me. BUT I was an otherwise fit and healthy 21 year old living with my equally fit and healthy housemate, not a 65 year old living with a busy and similar aged partner. Silly.

Judy Bennett is 81 😱Blimey - no wonder they moved Shula to Sunderland!

Thankful for the small mercy of no Harry last night

Is Harry the new Helin?

Wasn’t it Susan and Ian who formed the unlikely fondness for each other, not Susan and Adam?

Can I emit a small Boop for the entirely plausible scenario of Kenton deciding to make everyone else’s life more difficult by discharging himself from hospital with absolutely no plan whatsoever?

pretty sure it was Susan and Adam, I enjoyed that friendship. Not sure what he’s up to here apart from maybe showing that he’s bored with doing what he’s told and wants to go back to being people’s boss again.

Harry is beyond terrible. Would Alice really want to date someone who sounds exactly like a pantomime villain? Also deeply creepy reaction to “Martha’s grandparents!!!” I’d be freaked out if a friend referred to my in laws like this let alone a guy I’d just started dating.

It was all three of them gossiping away with each other. First example I came across:

Tuesday 1st February, 2022
Ian is surprised that Susan has been invited over to Honeysuckle, so Adam explains how it came about: when she asked in the morning whether the invitation was still open, he couldn't really tell her it wasn't. Ian thinks she is a terrible busybody, and Adam says it takes one to know one; in any case, he's realised there's a lot more to Susan than meets the eye.
....
Susan has brought round some wine, but only wants a small drink herself. She is impressed by the kitchen: functional but welcoming. Admitting that is exactly the effect he had aimed for, Ian starts to thaw; he is even more pleased when she says the cooking smells delicious and asks whether it is something Middle Eastern.
....
Adam and Ian are having a great time with Susan, gossiping away and being rude about Derek and Jean. Ian offers dessert, but the pilaf was filling; Susan is very flattering about the food and says perhaps later. Then they move on to who fancies whom in the village: Ian admits to Lee, and Adam to Alistair and then hastily swears Susan to secrecy; Susan owns up to David Archer in the Mysteries, so masterful, not that she'd do anything about it. She goes off to the loo, staggering rather, and saying that she'll feel like dessert in a little while. Ian admits he was wrong: she's a hoot. He has thought of something for Valentine's Day at The Bull because of her but will only tell Adam about it when she gets back.

the entirely plausible scenario of Kenton deciding to make everyone else’s life more difficult by discharging himself from hospital with absolutely no plan whatsoever?

It is absolutely typical of the idiot. He ought to be concentrating on his physio and counting himself extremely fortunate that Fido didn’t make off with his bollocks. Still, looking on the bright sid, I suppose he needs to be at The Bull and not very mobile for the next gripping instalment, which presumably will be a subtle attempt to burn the place down.

@JayAlfredPrufrock I am 63 and last week had a hip replacement. The next day I was discharged home with crutches on partial weight bearing and got up and down stairs just fine. But I listened to the physio and did what they said, which seems an alien concept to Kenton. I think it’s a plot device so he is sleeping on the ground floor when the Bad Men come, or trapped upstairs when they set fire to the pub.

or trapped upstairs when they set fire to the pub.

Shiiiish …

kebab

just listened again.
“This place is full of grumpy old men, I’ve nothing in common with them” moaned Kenton. 😂😂😂

Burning down the Bull would be absolutely ridiculous unless the Bad Men from the Black Country were 100% sure they'd taken Jolene with it. They've admitted to Jolene that they were responsible for the attack on Kenton, they've threatened her, Kenton, and the pub. They'd be stupid to do such an easily pinned-on-them crime.Arson is taken seriously. If they'd already carried out their threats by torching the pub, Jolene might well tell the police (and if she didn't Vince would) - incidentally, we haven't yet heard her calling off Vince.

I was just thinking burning down The Bull would be another step in the gradual erasure of Ambridge - another building rubbed off the map.

Jolene made the mistake of not shouting ‘get outta ma pub’ at the dodgy guy when she had the chance. If they want to channel eastenders then at least do it properly