Archers thread #162: ‘This is like talking to Lassie’ – how right you are, Fallon! 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 think cowhide-covered walls are a great idea for a cafe with vegan and vegetarian customers, 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.)

Title comes from one of the better scripted conversations of recent weeks, when Fallon said ”Harrison, this is like talking to Lassie! Just TELL ME”. So true of so many conversations on TA where you just want to shake them and yell 'Just TELL US, and quickly, so you don't get interrupted before you can say the important bit', but of course they rarely do and days pass before the conversation resumes. @TheBell suggested putting it in the title, so thanks for that.

@OverArmour had a great if more obscure idea, paying tribute to a Peter Greenaway film: The Policeman, The Drunk, The Vet and his Lover. That will do very well as a starting point for the new thread. Will Alistair leave? Will Denise tell John she's leaving him? Will Paul learn to be less noisy? Do any of us care?

I do care a little about Harrison and Fallon. I want Harrison to get a grip and realise he needs a paying job more than the captaincy of the cricket team. I don't care at all about Harry but I think he's been brought in purely as a plot device so with any luck we can all forget about him very soon.

Over to you!

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g , which and witch, and where and wear, are not homophones for me either.
I was also surprised to hear dour said as dower.

Speaking of the Dour Dower House, where's Lillian?

I do laugh when people on here talk about Pirate Jolene - it’s so true!!!

Ooh arrr me hearties

Just caught up and unbelievably yes!! He’s ludicrous. 😂

She was in Doc Martin and she was a pirate there too.

🤣🤣🤣🤣 your Hilarious.

Just listened to Friday’s episode. I feel sorry for Harrison as he so obviously wants a baby. How many men his age would bother attending a birthday tea for a non related child and spend time sourcing a present (I can’t believe Fallon had anything to do with the Dolls House). I also noted his immediate reaction when Fallon threw a sickie was to wonder how Natasha would find childcare.

The Social Services comments here…Lol. My sister was a Child Protection Officer and said the bar to remove a child is very high. The perceived wisdom is that the trauma children undergo when removed from a birth parent is so severe that they are often better off with neglectful parents (including drug and alcohol dependent ones) under supervision rather than in care. A non resident alcoholic ex partner wouldn’t be on a social worker’s radar.

I hope that scene with Denise and Ali-stare is the last we’ll hear from them for a long while.

I eat meat, but I'm with Kate on being expected to sit under a cowhide to eat a vegan cream tea...

But she is prioritising her sobriety. As soon as she knew Harry was a drinker, she dumped him.

Such a very un-Chris-like rant, that was. But maybe it will teach Alice not to nidget and nadge and worrit demanding a reaction; she may not always like the one she gets.

Agree. That’s more if she gets back with Harry

I’m hoping once the hearing is over we are done with him

Would the 70-odd year old Tony really say things like "journey of our food" and "embrace the story"?

Alice and Chris actors were good together, as ever

nameoftheday
Would the 70-odd year old Tony really say things like "journey of our food" and "embrace the story"?

I think Tony was parroting the nonsense-speak of Tom and Natasha.

I think Tony was parroting the nonsense-speak of Tom and Natasha.

Yeah. Painful though!

Is Chris going to confront Harry, leading Harry to realise that Harrison has shared confidential information with yet another person? Is Harry then going to refuse to speak in Harrison's favour/make a complaint, with the result that Harrison does lose his job? Will Harrison then take over the pub or follow Shula and become a vicar? And will Fallon discover she is unexpectedly pregnant just as Harrison loses his job?

Does the 🔮 [puts hands over its ears] read the spoilers thread?

Noted recent child-free conversation between Harrison & Fallon, & recent comments by Fallon about her feeling tired & others mentioning that she looks ‘peaky’.

Just mentioning for a friend…

What does this mean?

I agree it's looking as though there might be an unplanned pregnancy on the way... I will be annoyed if that is the case, though, as this seems to happens a lot in dramas... I'm a bit tired of the "oops/easily fell pregnant" storylines (Pip and Alice's pregnancies weren't planned) and would much rather see a couple planning and trying (perhaps, gasp, even for a little while!)...

Most of the pregnancies in soaps seem to be unplanned. Often following a ONS.
I'd rather not know that a couple was TTC. TMI.

Fallon invented a stomach bug to account for her taking a day off to support Harrison. After initially assuming Fallon threw a sickie to avoid catering for the "corporate event", Emma said "come to think of it, you have been looking a bit peaky" or wtte. Since Fallon has been worried sick about Harrison losing his job and them not being able to keep up their mortgage, I don't think we need to decide quite yet that she is incapable of keeping tabs on her birth control.

@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime , but the SWs are furiously flagging that 'Arrison wants DC and Fallon doesn't.
I've no idea what sort of contraception the Burns couple are using but AFAIK no contraception is guaranteed to be 100% effective.

I’m calling it again - Harrison and Alice.

Don’t, @WitcheryDivine … I’m determined it’s just ill-considered scripts that are making them sound overly friendly.

The NHS site lists several methods of contraception that are 99% (or more) effective if used correctly. I see no reason ot tho think that Fallon, who actively doesn't want children, would not be careful about contraception. That was all I meant. The only person I know whose reliable contraception failed came down with severe three-day D&V shortly after having sex, and simply wasn't thinking about her pills being vomited almost as soon as she swallowed them, which is the sort of oversight I feel might happen to anyone! She had to have an early (medical) abortion, and was very fed up about it.

Actually, I think it's a bit unkind not to believe Harrison when he says that he would rather be childless with Fallon then have children but not be with her. He might actually mean it: some men do.