Archers thread #163: Too much aggro, not enough agri! 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, 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 @LikeTalkingToLassie for the thread title idea! She and @LillianGish had fun with this theme on the last thread:

More farmer, less drama
More ploughing, less rowing
There's mileage in silage.
More sheds, fewer beds.

All good points. Fair to say nobody on the last thread was delighted to see the return of Harry. I think we all agree that Alice is a blithering idiot to get involved with him again. Most of us also think that Miranda is up to no good. Other storylines in play at the moment:

Alistair and Denise, with the massive complication of John and Paul
Ed and Emma - another doomed Grundy enterprise? Does Will still have the will to wang them some wonga?
Whither George - YouTube sensation or Borchester Magistrates' Court?
Will Markie cause mayhem at The Bull?
Will Harrison haul him in to Borchester nick?
Will Hannah get off with Chris?
Will we ever get used to the new Robert?
Will there ever be a new Roy?
Why do we hear so little from Brookfield now? (Although if we never heard Pip again, I for one would be delighted)
Will Stella dump Pip?

There are probably others I've missed. Over to you!

I don’t drink, and I don’t mind having an unopened bottle in the house for a good reason (eg a present) but say a friend has been for the weekend and drunk half a bottle of wine, if they don’t take the rest with them it goes straight down the sink, because I don’t need it around me.

Could a bottle at the back of the cupboard be cooking brandy/sherry? At Alice’s length of, and difficulties with, sobriety, that would be inadvisable, but it’s possible I think? Otherwise she really has been very dishonest and foolish.

Half listening is entirely fine with me, as is asking questions 😊

Thank you! I know I will probably end up listening, while I’m doing something else so it doesn’t bother me as much as it could.

I thought perhaps she may have bought the alcohol at some point during that day. After sleeping with Harry and before the scene where she drank it.

When the CA started about Loxfest I was terrified he was going to announce a crossover with Glastonbury or something equally daft

Joy is so annoying. Azra will agree with me on Joy I’m sure!!

I really hope we’re not going to have too many topical Olympics inserts

I guess Alice is going to feel the alcohol benefits her 🙄

bit of a waste of an episode

Of course Joy would know the Bristish Skateboarding champion dosnt everyone?
Yes we will hear a lot of Olympics because the bbc will be televising it along with thier 50 million different presenters. Like Match of the day when there is about 3 or 4 pundits telling us about the game we have all just seen.
The bbc love wasting our money except on good sw for the Archers.

Do we think Alice had had a couple of shots to get her through the inspection? Otherwise why was she so perky? 10 hours sleep after drinking a bottle of vodka doesn’t usually leave you feeling refreshed and renewed. And given she hasn’t been drinking for three years, wouldn’t she have been very sick after only just a few gulps. She would also be full of self-loathing the next morning.

So what’s going on?!?

Poor Joy was portrayed as an annoying gossip again last night in the way she was when she first arrived. I thought we had moved on from that caricature. I’m not entirely sure I’d want to go away with her to a Greek island for a week but actually she would be probably quite a considerate holiday companion.

I think you are right about Alice and I'm guessing she has been doing this for a while now.

Alice certainly had a drink to get through the inspection.

I think the relapse is entirely credible. However, it's annoying that it's caused by getting enmeshed with Harry when Alice so clearly recognised as soon as she knew he was an alcoholic that it would be bad for both of them to be together. All she had to do when he pestered about needing support was to refer him to her AA contacts.

I’m assuming she’s not been talking to her sponsor either

it’s inevitable she gets caught after Chris told Harrison he still loves her

i fear we will have a very prolonged will they won’t they sl which will involve Hannah having her heart broken

She could simply have pointed him to the AA website! But yes, she could have gone with him to a meeting and introduced him to one or two men and then backed away.

I was struck by Lilian telling Alice she seemed more like her old self. She meant it in a positive way as Alice was so fired up and efficient, but the dramatic irony was not lost. Very ominous when we know that Alice’s old self is alcoholic Alice. And she’s very good at covering it up. It felt like the SWs were making it clear she is well and truly off the wagon.

I was listening to a podcast today in which the subject matter of alcoholism came up and they said the stats on successful rehabilitation and abstinence are that only 1 in 12 people manages it. Now, there was no discussion of what the bar for "success" was but I was very surprised it was that low... less than 10%.

I'm also baffled as to how Alice was fresh as a daisy after downing Vodka (or whatever it was) for the first time in several years. Surely she would have felt quite ill. Unless this wasn't her first fall of the wagon.

I've never been addicted to alcohol but can understand why the pull of the bottle is so strong. A few weeks ago she was talking about about the drudgery of her day to day life and how hard it is to stay off the booze. It must be incredibly hard to resist going back to feeling 'alive' and experiencing the buzz of a glass of wine vs trudging through the seemingly relentlessly dull alcohol-free days.

Another episode that seemed a total waste

not sure I have anything further to say

kind of wish Alice had thrown a bottle through the church window

I am a massive scaredy cat when it comes to alcohol. I have experience of a very close family member and of flying too close to the sun myself.

I really recognised Alice's new found get up and go. Even after abstinence there's an adrenaline boosting/ stimulating effect with alcohol. Together with this there's that idea you are so able the next day that you are probably not an addict and can moderate now. It's a very tricky place to be.

Honestly @Bruisername why don't you take an Archers break? Heaven knows I like to carp about it but do you get anything at all from it?

The slurping kissing sounds were more than I could bear. Plus the references to Alistair’s untucked shirt and sweating.

I’m going to check the cast lists ahead of time from now on and if A&D are in the same episode I’ll be giving it a miss.

Barely relevant, but why did Denise need mats for Dancefit?

Something to complain about 😅

I am hoping Azra and Denise make friends and we see another side from them. At the moment Denise hasn’t been developed enough so I don’t really care. Same with Joy. but there are possibilities there

but of the new characters, they are probably the ones I wouldn’t mind sticking around. Miranda and Harry (hopefully he’s served his purpose) can disappear

It used to just be the sheep and cows that were bonking but now we seem to have a sex scene twice a week on average. This week we had Aliss and Harri and now an interrupted attempt by Alistare and Denice. Last week we had to cope with costumes and role-play. It’s all very surprising…

Well otherwise they would have been attempting to bounce on the balls of their feet on stone flags possibly?

Was that an answer to my question about mats for Dancefit? I have done various Dancefit classes, Zumba etc and never used mats.

But have you ever done one in a village church - actual church not church hall?
Do we actually know if any of St Stephens is carpeted - they made the acoustic sound very echoey last night, I noticed, in a way that I don’t ever remember it sounding previously!

Unfortunately they give the cast list for the week as a whole, not by episode. You could therefore be giving a miss to a week where Alistair was moaning about missing Denise on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday and Denise was separately moping about and dithering over what to do on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Although, to be fair, that might all be worth missing too.

I wouldn't say this to someone in Denise's position in real life, but I do find myself yelling at the radio 'Just make a decision and get on with it!' I like it when they're talking about the animals.

Joy and Mick: we're on a well worn storyline trajectory here, aren't we? Mick thinks he is planning a lovely surprise for Joy. Joy thinks he's fed up with her and the fact that he's clearly preoccupied by something but not talking about it is a bad sign. Here again, I am running out of patience with this stuff. Talk to each other!

(Civic duty done. Fascinating but sad. Back to what passes for real life now.)