Archers thread #164: AmbridgEnders! An Everyday Story of Soapy Folk. 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'd like to have your fortune told by Bartleby, 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.)

Thread thrown together in great haste in advance of tonight's episode. Who's in the Am? Is it George's fault? Is this the end for Alice? Over to you!

But Sam was so clever, he showed Ruth how to paint a line on her wellies to see how deep the grass was, what woman could resist?

she was intercepted by Pip, armed with spag bol.

over the phone. Over the phone spag bol is always the most powerful.

😂

I remember passionate snogging in the barns...

The 🔮says""

I think we are divided into those (like me) who support George and those who think he is a nasty misogynistic little scrote.
I fear that after initial Alice blaming, the truth will come out and the whole village will turn against George.
I really hope this is not going to be the beginning of a major downward turn in George's life. He is only 18 for Heaven's sake and has not had a good start in life (unlike Alice). Give the boy a break! Plus if he goes to prison it will destroy Clarrie - and she is, understandably, depressed enough about her life already.
As another PP said a while ago - was it really only last night? - George has the potential to become an interesting character if his prospects are not blighted by this incident. Alice, on the other hand, is an entitled bore and I really don't want to see her going on to live the usual charmed Archer-family life, while the Grundys are ground ever further down with their doomed Ultimate Arboriculture business.

@BoreOfWhabylon - have you tried turning the 🔮 off and on again?

I would like it to never come out tbh. Don’t really want all the village infighting it will create

but ultimately unless he was considerably over the limit I think the moving her will get him in more trouble than the accident. He crashed because she was trying to get out a moving vehicle

I also suspect he was enjoying driving her nifty little motor a bit too fast round those country bends. (And there's no way he'd been to a party and remained under the limit).

there's no way he'd been to a party and remained under the limit

Agree, @TheUsualChaos. But that may well be moot, because if he is initially successful in portraying himself as merely a concerned pedestrian, why would he be breathalysed at the scene? And later is too late.
(I don’t hope he gets away with it, but there will be plenty to do him for without the ciders)

I don't know who I dislike more, George or Alice, so I don't care who gets the blame. They are both very well acted.

Just caught up and listened to Thursday-Monday.

gosh.

I really hope it isn’t dragged out. I’d worry about Alice ever being able to recover if she believes she did it. What an absolute mind-fuck to wake and be told you drove a car and caused an accident.

Where did George find her? There will be CCTV footage of him getting in somewhere - doorbell/shop front - even traffic cameras maybe?

Harrison will investigate - perhaps OVER investigate and uncover the truth but in the process get his final warning 😬

And will Fallon discover she is with child on her hospital visit??

George has a lot of potential but he's odious.
Alice to me is JD Jr, and I like her a lot.

Country lanes don't have CCTV. Robert Poirot-Snell has encouraged the use of ring doorbells.

Yes, I doubt he will be caught for drink driving. I more meant I expect his reactions and judgements would have been hampered.

Yes I feel like we need maps/diagrams here 😆 where was Alice's car parked? Where was George walking from? I wonder if she'd pulled into a narrow side lane and George was walking that way as a short cut. It would be weird if she was on the main road into the village.

If Harrison realises that George found Alice drunk in the car and drove her home, will he remember doing the same thing and turn a blind eye? The discovery of those two things would certainly put an end to his police career.

@EBearhug I remember the bit about getting bystanders to do a job, and particularly to keep at least one person with you. What I was referring to was more what to do with someone like Mick, who may be injured themselves but is not the primary casualty, if you haven't got enough spare people to keep them out of the way and look after them.

I know we're always taught not to put ourselves in danger, but in practice you assess the situation like anyone else and decide what you're willing to risk. Medically trained or not.

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g "A & D were on their way to a hotel for a first night together, but (oddly) had gone to a restaurant elsewhere first"

I know! They said they had pre-dinner drinks then three courses (although they did share dessert) then coffees afterwards, and I found myself thinking "Goodness I would not want to dance the horizontal dance for the first time with someone new after stuffing myself to the gills like that".

Thanks @TottersBlanklyOnTheEdge

I thought someone else had mentioned Emma's course & GCSE, but then I couldn't decide whether it was a RL conversation I'd had or someone on here. I'm glad I'm not alone in dreading the chip on Emma's shoulder becoming a veritable forest as yet another Grundy plan is scuppered.

I think there's not a hope in hell that they were insured against not completing the course because of this kind of thing. I don't think Will will pull out of the deal either, but it might expose the Grundy family's precarious finances even more: having owned a house outright, Will now has a mortgage and no very secure income to cover it with. If the tree surgery doesn't pay off, he might be screwed. Particularly if the repercussions of Sunday night lead to Will and some of the others getting less work (reputational damage), Emma losing her job at the tea room (couldn't be bothered to look up the alternative spelling- terum?) from falling out with Fallon ...

I wonder if we can sit this out for a few months of misery and then have Brad and Mia going off to uni as a nice upbeat SL? [Hopeful face]

Why would it stop Emma and Ed going on the training?

Given that his wife was nearly killed (and then rescued) by George's driving, I hope very much that a) he will not be allowed to have anything to do with the investigation and b) if he does find out before it becomes common knowledge, he reports it immediately and then leaves it up to his colleagues to pursue. This being drama, I suppose it will have to be much more complicated and tortuous, sadly.

In the short term, assuming she recovers, Fallon should be feeling very well disposed towards George Grundy as she will be told that he saved her life.

There's nothing to scupper the Grundy plans yet. George is uninjured, and currently in the role of upright citizen who phoned the emergency services, then rescued Fallon.

The two cars didn't collide (unless they clipped each other). George might have bruising from his seat belt when he did an emergency stop, but it's not likely to be a) significant or b) noticed provided no-one sees him undressed.

If it’s like this village, there are few cameras.

But as Alistair commented, they’d had a looong evening consisting of pre-dinner drinks, then dinner with drinks. He was driving so this would mean Denise did all the drinking and he didn’t have any alcohol which is an odd way to spend the evening but their entire ‘relationship’ is odd so🤷🏽‍♀️ (btw I agree he wouldn’t drink and drive).

I think Denise was dismissive and generally uninterested in Alistair until the cricket lady showed an interest. And now she’s seen his heroic side and seems to have fallen for him but it’s quite hard to tell with her…