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.

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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!

Yes agree.

Totters, I think godess simply meant that it was unlikely to be true that Alice had never driven drunk.

Godess, I think Alice meant that if she was planning a big binge she'd always been careful about it, at least in recent years.

I think Fallon will see things differently after her near death experience. I think she will go ahead with the pregnancy.

Signing off tonight. Believe it or not, I do have some life to live.

Disappointed they've gone for the cheesy Fallon pregnancy storyline. Now it's been broadcast, I think we can reveal that the BBC's teaser for tonight was There’s life-changing news at the hospital and many of us bloodthirsty types were expecting more serious injuries than a sprained wrist.

Agree Rochelle probably wasn't there at all. Surely the nurses would have clocked that, though?

You mean you really are a human being?

That was absolutely typical of Alice, btw - wanting to go the hospital and talk to Joy, Mick and Fallon. Zero insight that none of them would want to see her. She wanted to say sorry so she would feel better about herself, and it just doesn't occur to her that their feelings count too. Exactly what she did when she ignored Fallon and insisted on running up to Harrison's boss to tell her about Harrison and Harry. She was sober then, so it's not just something that happens when she's tanked to the gills.

Agree Rochelle probably wasn't there at all. Surely the nurses would have clocked that, though? it wouldn't be their place to comment though.

I agree with @Godesstobe I think Fallon will eventually decide to keep the baby. If she terminates it will definitely end the marriage.

Congrats to those who predicted the pregnancy. I think it is just possible that Alice has never driven drunk, though I'm not sure how ingrained cultural inhibitions stand up to drunkenness. She certainly has form for using the car as a place to get drunk, which seems very stupid. I also agree that in vodka veritas - she's a mean drunk because under the social training she is mean.

So Rochelle is definitely imaginary - she would hardly have popped down from the NE for a ten minute visit. And Fallon is predictably pregnant. More interestingly Alice seems to remember some of what happened - how likely is that after a litre of vodka? I’m team Alice in this instance - she hasn’t actually done anything wrong except get very drunk. I think she explained her intentions pretty clearly and we know that what she is saying is true. She can be unpleasant - and that comes out when she’s drunk, but I’d take her over George Grundy any day of the week. He’s a very nasty piece of work and his youth doesn’t excuse him.

I think Fallon will eventually decide to keep the baby. If she terminates it will definitely end the marriage.

So that’s two good reasons to terminate.

The way she spoke to Joy was awful. We don't know how Fallon took the ticket at the last minute. Fallon is way cooler than Alice - would have been nice to set up Fallon being in the shop, over hearing and saying what a great band it was.

So my questions that my tiny brain cannot get past....

at what point did Fallon agree to go to the music gig with Joy

why was Joy driving but Mick was there - I thought he wasn't going to the gig ?

Rochelle - really !!! So your Mum has had a terrifying ordeal and you breeze in fir 5 mins and miss seeing her boyfriend ? Definitely doesn't exist and is made up or she did exist and has died or she does still exist but doesn't talk to Joy for some horrendous reason

Fallon - yep she was always going to get pregnant - as soon as they disagreed about children that's what the scriptwriters had planned - she will keep the baby

They're both nasty pieces of work.

I think if Fallon keeps the baby it will make her miserable

Mick was driving

I remember before Alice was acknowledged to be an alcoholic and was a bit of a party girl she drove and damaged a tractor (or maybe a combine harvester) whilst drunk. She was with some other people and I think it was all a bit of a lark until they damaged it. I think it was on private land and she didn’t drive it very far as it was pranged almost immediately. I like that the ground work for her problematic drinking was laid so far ahead

Is it just me or is Kate gradually becoming the sensible one in the family. She saw through Harry and is being calm but realistic in response to the accident

She sounded very sensible this evening. I wondered who it was for a second.

No, I agree. Kate is making a go of her relationship with Jakob and her business. None of the other Aldridges have managed to have successful careers and relationships at the same time.

I don’t think many teens call their mum a slag, do they? And as unconventional as his set up was, he was loved and supported, wasn’t he? He’s clearly bright, so failing to achieve at school is entirely his fault. Brad also had a crappy upbringing (remember when Tracy was a joke? And his dad was absent and abusive, wasn’t he?) but knuckled down and used the privilege of education to better himself. I just can’t bring myself to like someone who is so nasty.

And the notion of men being in charge hasn’t been conventional for quite a few years now - certainly for as long as George has been alive. It’s not like he’s grown up around men who have provided for stay-at-home women. His family is full of strong women who graft so if he is a misogynist, he’s sought out the likes of Andrew Tate.

I guess I don’t see anything intrinsically good in him - just a nasty bully determined to blame everyone else for his failings.

Alice, on the other hand, is an addict. She has no ‘good reason’ to be one, growing up with extreme privilege, but addiction doesn’t work that way, does it? She’s selfish and rude, but also ill. George has no excuse for being a bully.

Here’s an option - if Falloon does have a coil, there’s every possibility the pregnancy will be ectopic or fail, and what will happen then?

I mean I know coils can get dislodged but what is the failure rate - must be very low, surely?

Oh, Alice. So she does have some memories and can’t work out why they don’t match what everyone is telling her. That’s going to fry her circuits even more but hopefully a decent lawyer digs a bit further into what really happened if Alice is adamant she wasn’t driving.

And boo for the Fallon pregnancy storyline. Why can’t anyone ever just be allowed to be happy without kids?

I don’t think George is conventionally bright or remotely academic so he doesn’t have the way out that Brad has. He might be street smart but that just leads him down the Eddie Grundy route of always trying to cheat his way up.

The traditional set up of “men in charge and dominant over women” hasn’t been widespread for a couple of generations now but I think there’s a cohort of men who wish they could go back to that because that way they command the status and respect they think they deserve but can’t earn in the modern world.

If he was brought up with a decent role model he might turn out differently but all the time he’s got Eddie’s influence on him, he’s never going to see anything better.

I hope Fallon sticks to her guns regarding not wanting children. I suspect it would spell the end of the marriage though, so my prediction of Harrison ending up as landlord of the pub when he unceremoniously waves the Force goodbye is less likely.

It's complex. In a sense the accident was neither Alice's nor George's fault.