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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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!

On the assumption George wasn’t over the limit then it seemed like an accident

Maybe my feeling comes from how I view Eddie - a chancer but ultimately harmless. Lots of grifting but nothing that awful, and he adores Clarrie. George doesn’t come across as a cheeky chappy chancer like Eddie - he comes across as a nasty piece of work.

But I am a relative newbie (few years) so maybe I’ve missed a lot of context with Eddie.

I agree that George thinks that way about masculinity, but it’s horrific to hold these beliefs - and I don’t believe it’s something to feel sorry for him about. Being born a white male in the UK is a gift, even if a Grundy.

Excellent points re George.

(Also agree this is a disappointing storyline for Fallon and Harrison.)

Eddie does adore Clarrie, but he takes her for granted and so did his old Dad, Joe. It's no wonder she's sounding depressed about life. I think a lot of us are very weary of the Grundy male approach to life, which has always been about short cuts, scams and moaning about problems that are often entirely of their own making. Strong sense of entitlement, not enough hard graft and common sense.

Part of the reason he adores her is because she is ultimately compliant and ends up putting up with his crap.

the fireworks were a prime example of him not giving a shit if he can earn a quick buck

If that's adoration, @Liquidity, I'd hate to think how he'd treat a wife he felt complacent about! He treats her like a unpaid servant. There to do all the drudge and free labour for his crappy schemes. With a bit of sentimental nonsense once in a blue moon.

To be fair Ed bucks the trend

Will isn’t a wide boy and he had a career which was cruelly taken from him by the sw

ed isn’t wide boy but has massive entitlement/chip issues

George seems to be being set up to be the new Eddie

Why did the doc not tell Fallon she was pregnant, in absence of her husband?

It was an appalling breach of patient confidentiality.

Agree with a PP that Kate sounded like the only adult in the room in tonight’s episode. Brian seemed determined to downplay the seriousness of the situation and Adam was almost upbeat about it all (“Mick only broke his wrist..”)

No-one really mentioned that Alistair and Denise were in the rescue party. Maybe they managed to quietly slink away and the affair lives to see another day.

Also the doctor announced it in a way that assumed it would be good news

The doctor said could he have a word in private, so Mick left. I assume Fallon asked Harrison to stay as she had no idea what was coming. I thought the doctor sounded fairly neutral He didn't say 'Congratulations'.

George's female relatives aren't really strong women who graft though, and the men in their lives don't really recognise the work they do.

They are drown trodden, and worn out often in jobs that don't recognise their potential/skills, propping up often ungrateful and feckless men.

Will at least had a decent job but he was awful about Nic working in the Bull, because status for him was having the little woman at home looking after the family not going out to work.

Ed and Eddie constantly prioritise their own pride ahead of their wives well-being. Clarrie and Emma just want a secure roof over their heads and neither Eddie or Ed will lower themselves to steady employment in order to play an equal role in providing for that. Ed couldn't bear to work for someone else while Emma was working three jobs including nights at the chicken factory when they were saving for a house and it was Ed's stupidity that lost them the dream.

Called it 🙌🏽

Listening to Brine's consistent minimising, deflection and blaming of others, i.e. the imagined age of the processing PO, I can see where Alice ( and Kate) get it from. Kate was fab in this episode.

Thinking of Alice and the bottle of vodka, she would still be over the limit the next morning driving home.

Kate was amazing, her best ever!

Like it did Alice 😔

Isn’t the whole point of this plot the dramatic irony? Alice looks set to take the full blame, but she hasn’t actually done anything beyond getting drunk. George has taken it upon himself to take Alice’s keys, drive her car (quite possibly over the limit himself and also uninsured), forced another car off the road and into the river, then moved Alice into the driving seat to falsely claim she was driving. He will happily watch her quite possibly go to prison and lose custody of her child to save his own skin. Brian’s minimising, deflection and blaming of others is as nothing compared with this. I was happy to hear Fallon trying to give Alice the benefit of the doubt. It’s not really about which character you prefer- it’s about where the truth lies.

Agree Kate is really good at the moment and I really like her relationship with Jakob. Not sure what to feel about Alice her drunken actions will have consequences even if she wasn't driving assuming George gets away with it.

I am so unbelievably cross about the pregnancy storyline the last unwanted baby was Martha wasn't it? Maybe it's too close to home but as a child free woman why can't script writers accept some women don't need or want children. Agree that surely doctor wouldn't have broken the news in front of Harrison? I fully expected him to say congratulations.

Brian’s minimising, deflection and blaming of others is as nothing compared with this

I wasn't comparing it to the conduct of other characters, only what he did.

I agree he sounded neutral - and with all the "I'm on the coil!" it would have been clear it was definitely a surprise and unplanned, and so not necessarily welcome.

If she has a termination, Harrison will be sad. If she doesn't, she'll be resentful. Either way, the marriage is in trouble.

FFS, is Ambridge in some sort of black hole where contraception doesn't work? It feels like way more pregnancies happen by accident than are planned.

Pretty much every soap, to be fair.

45% unplanned or ‘ambivalent’ in real life.*

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-matters-reproductive-health-and-pregnancy-planning/health-matters-reproductive-health-and-pregnancy-planning

As I may have commented on the other thread, surprise pregnancies are soapy, but they’re also very much a part of real life, so it would be odd if they were not a common occurrence in Ambridge too. It’s just that in fiction the repercussions are amplified for narrative effect, rather than being a private matter.

*Gov figures from 2018. I’m guessing they’d have gone up during lockdown?