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!

Has Markie got it?

How many people outside Ambridge are seriously going to be pulled in by a supposedly talking horse rambling on about people they know nothing about? I'm imagining Alice's reconnection with Harry will be the next thing to be revealed or Hannah's crush on Chris - the clumsiest vehicle ever for broadcasting village gossip and generally pissing everyone off (even worse than when Susan Carter literally became Radio Carter during lockdown) and of no interest to the wider public. It makes you wonder if any of the SWs have ever had sight of Instagram/TikTok. The latest Grundy business venture sounds like a chainsaw massacre waiting to happen - do any of us believe that anyone (even a Grundy) would shell out thousands of pounds on equipment before at least getting some work experience and completing a training course to see if they are cut out (no pun intended) for the job? Kate's encounter with Miranda was bizarre as @echt said - totally unconvincing, basically an opportunity for Miranda to list her properties and then for Kate to remark that she liked her aura. I echo previous posters saying we don't need new characters, we need to hear from the those that already exist - why couldn't Brian have got closer to Joy, for example, another lonely villager , then we might have found out a bit more about her mysterious background. Miranda is starting to feel like the female equivalent of Justin (and not just because she's his ex-wife) ready to swing between hero and villain as the plot requires.

Alice beginning to lie to protect Harry. A slippery slope... There may absolutely definitely will be trouble ahead!!

The whole 'setting up a new tree surgery business without even going on a basic training course first' is just beyond belief. But then, so many things are just now.

Where do we think the knife has ended up? That can only be important…

Hopefully it will end up in pips back. Whilst I hate most of the new characters I hate Pip more!!

would love it if they go on the course and turns out Ed has a terrible fear of heights

was disappointed she has a flat in Belsize Park. She seems more st johns wood or Marylebone in that area. But overall more Kensington

Having properties doesn’t mean having money - she could be mortgaged to the hilt

Yes, she was. But didn’t she say something bitchy right at the beginning? Can’t remember what it was.

I'm not keen on either of them but thought the conversation was quite funny and evenly matched.

Why did I have children? A question that occurs to all of us at times. Even when said DC are in their 30s. So don’t expect respite soon.

Most comedy programmes, novels are basically someone rambling on about people you know nothing about. Even TA. It’s the quality of the writing which determines whether there is an audience. Is Eddie capable of producing that quality?

I enjoyed it too. But thought it probably implied a lack of empath on my part. But then both protagonists have the hide of a rhinoceros and neither have a fragile self belief.

Could Chris ever relax if he got back with Alice, I'm sure he is always on edge now because she has Martha a lot and her drinking was a big problem, not just the odd glass or two. Also the same with Alice, she would be always on her best behaviour with Chris. I think they would probably both relax more if they were together. Alice is not drinking - and as far as we know she has never been tempted. She is a wonderful mother to Martha and she and Chris have been great co-parents. The reason she thinks she can help Harry is because she has helped (and been helped) herself. Alice's problem seems to be more that she cannot forgive herself. What I love about Chris and Alice is that we know them both - we are not relying on some made up flimflam that went on offstage. Their's was a love match - though they were not equally matched in other ways at the time ("a starter marriage" as I think Brian put it). She had a big engineering job away from Ambridge while Chris was very much rooted in the village with his forge. He had visions of a family - like his parents before him - she really didn't know what she wanted (her role models were sisters Debbie and Kate neither of whom had taken a particularly traditional route). Their Las Vegas wedding didn't allow them time to weigh up any of these things. But Alice adores Martha, loves being a mum, now has a job working with horses (something has always been passionate about) and has discovered that her roots run deep Ambridge where she has been supported and allowed to move on beyond the horrors of her alcoholism. If they were to eventually get back together it would be more than a starter marriage - their positions have changed. We know the love is still there on Chris's side and I think it could still be there for Alice (it was all they had at the start).

Wasn’t the search for the knife just a device to have Chris bump into Lilian and hear all about his own daughter’s ‘illness’ and Alice’s ‘exhaustion’? Thus precipitating more distrust and disharmony.

Excellent analyses, as always, @LillianGish!

Surely George pinched the knife when videoing Chris?

Checking in with my popcorn but meanwhile please get rid of wet Alice and Harry !

@CountFucula , can your DH cook a mean chilli?

I like Alice. I don't like Harry.

Martha took the knife and it will be used inappropriately. She seems to have inherites the same Horrobin genes as her Great-Uncle Clive.
Poor Champion.

To monetise a YouTube channel you need to be pulling in a hell of a lot of viewers. How many people outside Ambridge are seriously going to be pulled in by a supposedly talking horse rambling on about people they know nothing about?

George would have shot down Eddie’s suggestion of making Bartleby a talking horse (with a weird Shakespearean actor’s voice) in a flash. A hot farrier thread would have had much more mileage and is bang on trend. I follow a hot farrier on Instagram and enjoy his posts far too very much.

Alice just sounded like she had been on a weekend bender.

She is a wonderful mother to Martha

I'm being contrary for the sake of it (and to help pass the time on the long haul south), but how do we know this? Ambridgeites keep saying it, but I wonder if this is because when Alice was at absolute rock bottom nobody thought she could ever pull out of it and make a go of looking after Martha as a single parent (even with Chris covering half the week). Against the odds, she's managed to do that. I suspect, if this were all real, that what we would see if we encountered Alice is an ordinary young woman doing her best with an ordinary child, not a Maria von Trapp clone.

Hope your journey south is better than the one north Gasp.

Isn't it because the initial expectation of Alice's parenting skills were basically nil that she gets praised. Both Martha's parents seem to be doing the parenting and co-parenting well (apart from Harry and Champion).

I don't think we normally hear about mothers being wonderful mothers. I can only recall hearing about it about those who brought up the children alone either because the father had pretty much abandoned the family or was largely absent for career reasons.

Talking of Maria von Trapp, I can think of someone who did an absolutely amazing job as a step-mother. She married a widower with young children, but managed both the step-mother, mother and 2nd wife roles. The whole family are just lovely. It can't have been easy but she did it.

In Ambridge, most of the mothers are considered good mothers but with my 'MN judgy pants' on most of them seem lacking.

Maybe wonderful was a bit of hyperbole, I just meant she clearly enjoys motherhood and likes doing stuff with her little girl. We don’t hear her moaning and trying to fob Martha off onto other people - she and Chris have made a good job of co-parenting considering they got off to such a rough start.

They have. Were you thinking of Helen or Pip perchance?

Pip and her unplanned baby with her ex-boyfriend and the childcare being done by the GGM in her late 80s.
Helen and her AID baby having free childcare from her elderly parents.

In fairness, other than the depression Will has been a good father to Poppy.

Not many parents in Ambridge bring a child up without any help from extended family. We never had that, because my PIL died before we had children and my own parents lived a long way off. It must make a huge difference, though a short stint on AIBU and Relationships here show it's no panacea.

Not many parents in Ambridge bring a child up without any help from extended family. We never had that, because my PIL died before we had children and my own parents lived a long way off. It must make a huge difference, though a short stint on AIBU and Relationships here show it's no panacea.

Harrison's written warning means he will be sacked if he does anything stupid in the next two years. Given his track record the odds against him making another incomprehensible but well meaning blunder don't seem to be in his favour.

He'll be fine, so long as he doesn't accept any gifts or hospitality from anyone with any involvement in the (continuing) shitshow that got him the final warning.