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!

So did all involved parties end up in the Am? Or is there somebody with a dry phone who can call 999? If the other car just slid off the road they might be able to rescue whoever fell in. Ooh we have to wait ages to find out!

Whatever happens/has happened, Emmur is going to explode in a fountain of piss and vinegar. I’m kind of hankering for George to do a runner in the vain hope that Alice ( dead or living, drunk and NOT dry) cops the blame. Which will end up being so much worse for him. Yippee!

Am I being thick? I don't understand the logistics.

I don't understand why Alice trying to open the passenger door caused such a catastrophic effect on a car coming in the other direction.

Is the bridge single track? Because if it isn't, George could have slowed down on their side of the road or stopped and the other car just carries on past them. (Alice might still fall into the Am, but that's no great loss)

I don't think any of us understand the logistics! I suppose things will be clearer tomorrow. Night all!

I thought George was probably driving erratically while trying to stop Alice from opening the door and caused the other car to swerve to avoid them. He may also have over corrected and gone off the road.

The alternative is that Alice fell out of the car and the other car swerved to avoid hitting her.

I hope George doesn't do a runner, it is too similar to the story of Nic hitting Matt and driving off.

I think he will stay and help but instead of getting a hero's reception he'll be in trouble with everyone including the police and he will feel horribly hard done to and persecuted. Leading to a hardening of his resentment and worse traits.

George is too interesting a character for them to write out.

Part of me hopes Denise's sordid hotel stay will also come out, maybe a suitcase of lingerie burst open in her crashed car and she'll have to tell her husband or construct a lie about where she was going.

But Alice would fall out at the roadside, not into the path of the oncoming car?

Congrats @Poppins2016 ! nice to have a fellow mum to new baby here ☺️ And welcome to the thread little Elizabeth-Mia-Pip-Lynda (can we call her Emp-L for short?)

George was distracted by Alice trying to open the door, I’m guessing the car drifted not least because a) he’s not an experienced driver, b) he’s unfamiliar with Alice’s car, c) he’s not looking at the road and d) he’s been drinking. So he’s ended up in the path of an oncoming vehicle, both of which swerve to avoid the other.

George was also trying to get to the other side of the bridge where they could stop for Alice to be sick, hence not stopping even if he’d seen the other vehicle or thought he was on the correct side of the road.

She was in the driver's seat wasn't she? Would have thought pretty incriminating

I wonder whether the other car was Jakob.

This seems horribly plausible - but, please, no!

But surely he will have already asked Will not to lock up because he was expecting to be late home from the party.

She was in the driver's seat initially yes.

I haven't listened to TA or read TA threads for ages but today I felt like checking in with Ambridge so popped the Omnibus on.

Talk about timing. The announcer afterwards said this week's events will be "earth-shattering".

I'm off to catch up on iplayer with this evening's episode that you're all talking about.

It doesn't matter where in the car she was sleeping. You can't legally sleep it off in a car.

Out of interest, how would that apply to a campervan? If you were sleeping in one and you were over the limit, is that a crime because it’s a vehicle?

Just caught up from down under. OMG!

Just wanted to say Alice's actor (see what I did there? ) was superb in this episode.

He asked him not to lock up.

George won’t be insured will he? And he’s possibly over the limit himself. He has left a message to his dad saying what has happened but what will his dad do with that?

Also, the sound effect of the splash was such a stock sound!

The picture that I linked to is of the bridge over the Am by the church, and the church is on the far side of the river from the village green.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00w47v9/p00w1ssz

There would be no reason for George and Alice to be going out of the village on that bridge, because Alice lives at the other end of the village over a different bridge. If they were coming from Hollerton direction they might have been travelling from left to right in that picture, but not from right to left.

I don't think we can know exactly- it wasn't clear where Alce had been drinking, nor just where George was coming ftom, and in any case, some of the details of Ambridge mapping have been... flexible over the years.

Is that you Nicola?

If it's packed in a campsite no, if parked in a layby or pub carpark - potentially yes.

Is that you Nicola?

Ah’m nae guilty, yer honour…

For what it is worth, the non-BBC unofficial synopsis is up and says

"George is on his way home when he spots Alice in her car, and after making a few jokes about partying by herself decides that he is going to drive her home. He sends a voice-mail to Will saying he's heading back from the party, which was rubbish, and may be a bit longer so don't put the bolt-lock on. Alice is passed out in her car, he adds with a laugh; she can barely open her eyes let alone drive, so he had better get her home, and don't worry, he's only had a cider. He manages to shift the moaning Alice, who feels sick after necking a whole bottle of vodka (which George describes as 'hard-core'), into the passenger seat and gets into the car himself, gets her into a seat-belt, and finds the keys in the glove-box. They set off for Ambridge.

"They are nearly there when Alice suddenly says 'stop', and then that she feels sick; George, alarmed, tells her she can't be sick in the car, and she takes him at his word and starts to open the door. He is frightened and tells her to leave it alone: they're nearly at the bridge and then she can get out, but she can't get out when they're moving. There is then the prolonged sound of a horn and George shouts 'O God!', tyres squeal, there is a thud, George grunts, more tyres squeal and there is a sound of running water as another vehicle brakes to a halt, and George whimpers 'No. No, no no no no no,' followed by a loud splash."

https://ambridgereporter.org.uk/synopses/2024.html#May

@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime Thank you for the pics, I have never come across these before 😊