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!

@Dobest , unfortunately they do.

@OutOfTheHouse , I suspect that there isn't anything that anyone can say that will be right, but some will know how to not get it wrong.

@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime - To be fair to George (words I never expected to write!), the ghastly, smug and self-righteous Mia just begs to be persecuted. I fear for Brad and hope he has the sense to go to a university far, far away. He won't though, will he?

Also Mia is a step sister whereas Poppy and Keira are half sisters and a lot younger

She does, but she is his sister so she has to be taken into account.

Brad had the chance to go to at least one distant university, and decided not even to apply anywhere but Felpersham because the idea of new people and not being at home threw him into a panic.

Yes, they are younger and thus not a threat to his dubious masculinity: I said that!

I’m so sorry to hear that. It’s so hard.
We have just lost a pregnancy at 15 weeks and I delivered just over a fortnight ago - our second IVF pregnancy but first lost at six weeks. I may have to tune out of TA for a while now.

I meant more that being brought up with a sibling the same age is different to one younger

I'm really quite mad at Harrison tonight. The careless idiot shouldn't have disclosed HER (not their) pregnancy without Fallon's express permission, especially not at such an early stage pre-scan, and especially not without a conversation about are you going to change your mind and want to keep it. FFS.

My money is on him mouthing off to Alice calling her a murderer and him losing his job somehow as a consequence. Which, well, good.

Yes, five years is a big gap.

He really lost the plot. I think they will split up over this so won't be running the Bull together unfortunately.

@Gonners , the ghastly, smug and self-righteous Mia just begs to be persecuted.
You don't exactly come across as delightful.

The discussion around the placeholder 'message deleted' message was when there was a possibility that George had left a voice note, e.g. in WhatsApp. What we heard tonight was very definitely a standard voicemail on a normal phone answerphone. Once you hang up the call, the only record of it is the text message you get to say 'message received from this number [George] at XX time on YY date'. If George really covered his tracks, he could delete that without a trace, but even if he didn't and Will eventually noticed, he could claim it was just a message to say he was coming home from the party, don't bolt the door, and not mention the part about Alice.

He's got away with that one (unless the police have some way to retrieve deleted messages that I don't know about, and a reason to look for one), but I still think it will start to unravel before long and he'll be found out eventually.

Yes they are leading us to him getting away with it but it will end up with someone believing alice and it all coming out. Hopefully sooner rather than later

I was really shocked by Harrison tonight. Fallon has (almost certainly) told him she was at least conflicted about the pregnancy - he said 'we talked about this and I know how you feel'. That could, at a push, refer to how she feels about a baby in general, but it seems more likely that it referred to a conversation they'd had about this specific pregnancy.

And yet, despite all this, he gets all emotional over a baby grow, tells Alan about the pregnancy (without telling him that they're not sure what they'll do, hinting it's not an ideal outcome etc), and goes crazy at the doctor (whom I now assume was the on-call obstetrician rather than an A&E doctor). I had thought better of Harrison than that.

Imagine George's joy if this splits up Fallon and Harrison!

I'm so sorry. This must be very difficult listening for you and @OutOfTheHouse, and probably for others on the thread too.

Thanks, you're right, of course. Back to the drawing board!

... I forgot to mention his utter lack of sympathy or interest for the miscarriage Fallon is about to have.

I've gone off the doctor a bit. The usual procedure is 'we'll have to take your coil out and we can talk about what contraceptive choices you want to make for the future. In the short term, you should consider using condoms.' NOT 'We're going to take your coil out and I have nothing else to say about it.'

@Fink I assumed the Dr that spoke to Fallon yesterday was an obstetrician called to talk to a patient about a possible surprise pregnancy and the impact the accident may have had (and who may have been able to see from her records that she had a coil, which has additional risks), rather than an A&E doctor who magically became a sonographer today.

And I get that Harrison really wanted kids, plus he’s still getting over the idea that Fallon nearly died, but he was so utterly tone deaf to what she might have wanted. It was clear she was somewhere between conflicted and ambivalent about the idea. Sadly, personal experience tells me that some men are apt to treat a woman like a womb to rent, even if they pay lip service to the idea that she doesn’t want children. Shame, I thought Harrison was better than that.

If I was George I’d be making sure his drowned phone never saw the light of day again. “I got angry that my new phone was broken and I threw it away”…when in reality it’s buried somewhere very remote having been smashed to pieces.

Why ? Harrison is obnoxious. He had no right to tell Alan and as for that ghastly"we're pregnant" guff.

@UnintentionalArcher I'm very sorry for your loss

I agree. I've lost all sympathy for him. I used to like him as a character.

Shame, I thought Harrison was better than that.

Ah, @Fink , you must have forgotten that he’s a creepy, stalky fucker who abused his position to harass Fallon when she wanted none of him.
It was a moment of pure joy, hearing him balked of his spawn.
It will be another when he finds out he’s not getting anywhere near the inside of Fallon’s knickers until he’s had the snip.

There's no indication on your phone to say message deleted once it's deleted.

Poor Fallon having to now know that Harrison really does want children.

Hugs to all affected by the storyline xx