Archers thread #164: AmbridgEnders! An Everyday Story of Soapy Folk. Discuss The Archers here.

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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!

I was wondering if the keys were in the glove box because perhaps Alice was trying to kill herself. Perhaps she'd taken some meds along with the vodka.

Omg!

Shades of Succession in tonight's episode.

I feel awful for hoping it's Denise in the other car as I'm not sure I can take much more of that particular storyline.

Perhaps he was planning to be out late enough that someone would be up in the morning?

Who knows but he made the call 🤷

I've just listened again and the creaking sounded just close enough to be either car, but the splash was at a distance - the other car going in. Unless it was just crap sound effects - cost of living and all that.

I hope the other car isn't Joy in her way back from the New Age concert ?

I hope it wasn't but they do tend to be heavy handed on flagging things and we were told several times about Joy going to the concert.

We couldn’t be that lucky. Could we? I suspect the garrulous hag is quite as indestructible as the Snell menace, unfortunately.

Thinking about it, there’s no one I would actually mind being in the Mystery Car. So it will probably be the Gills.

One can but hope.

Thanks for the thread, I'd better listen to lasr nights episode based on the reaction!

I will be very upset if it’s Brian.
Have to agree with @JesusMaryAndJosephAndTheWeeDon theory that George will be persecuted rather than praised for this and it will enhance the chip currently located on his shoulder.

Possible. I really like Joy but wonder if her undisclosed backstory makes her more, or less, disposable.

Just when I'd decided to stop wasting 13 minutes of my day .... actually looking forward to 7pm

If Alice was that drunk would she know to undo the seat belt? She would know to open the door I guess but the seat belt not so sure. I bet it is Joy in the other car. I think both Alice and George have gone into the river.
Well George as they say "No good deed goes unpunished ".
Thanks for the new thread.

I really think it was the other car that went over the side

Is George such a hero? He was laughing at Alice and it felt to me like he took advantage of her condition to drive her spicy car, while mildly under the influence.

I am not sure what I would have done in a real life scenario like this but probably sit with her for a while and encourage her to be sick before working out how to get her home and making sure someone was with her.

I think George had good intentions on this occasion.

On the contrary, her backstory makes the possibility even more interesting. If she were in a coma, for example, the search for a next of kin would be on and we might finally learn who Joy really is.

That's an interesting possibility.

Oh yes, that would be really interesting! Joy fascinates me because outwardly she seems like such a benign character but I’m convinced there is a dark history lurking there.

We might finally get confirmation that Rochelle and the bairns do not exist or died years ago.

I think because she’s coming across as jolly grandma with a heart of gold it will turn out she actually killed her daughter when she was a baby and spent time in prison and has a new identity. All the stuff about Rochelle and the bairns is fantasy.

This is gonna put Talking Bartleby's gas at a peep

Perhaps this is why she’s worried about getting too close to Mick. He’d eventually want to meet the rest of her family!

I also don’t think I’ve ever heard her show anyone a picture of Rochelle and the grandkids. I would personally find it unusual if someone of Joy’s age who frequently talked about their child and grandkids did not have pictures of them dotted around the front room.

Or why someone from NE England would settle so far away in Ambridge? I was chatting to a colleague the other day about the fact that as a Londoner I’ve met people from all around the U.K. who have settled here but very few from certain cities such as Liverpool and Newcastle where it seems people retain a very strong attachment and sense of identity.

Frustratingly hard to work out exactly what was going on last night, though I agree we heard the sound of a car teetering and then a splash. I can’t work out how you could get that effect on a bridge when it didn’t sound as if any high speed was involved - surely someone would have to crash through the parapet first and I didn’t hear any debris hitting the water either. I can’t work out if the fruit cider will have saved George’s bacon in terms of drinking and driving - the scene in the shop certainly made a meal of it. Presumably we will now have Jacob feeling guilty about not reporting back on Alice’s drinking sooner, Brian for telling Chris, Joy for selling her the vodka and Alistair for failing to intervene - any number of recriminations in fact.

I listened three times. Admittedly I fell asleep the first time.

My money is on Joy in the other car.

And thank goodness we didn’t have to listen to Ali Stare and De Kneez making the beast with two backs. (Thanks to whoever referenced Othello at the end of the last thread 😉).

Well, call me a party pooper but I'm miffed there's yet more drama.

Also miffed at Joy selling Alice the vodka - the shop was closed at that point Joy could have said no.
Perhaps Joy called Brian to let him know and it was him in the other car, horribly traumatic - I hope not.

(pp up thread or previous thread - I didn't know cars could have automatic door locking when engine starts, I only know the switch in driver's door panel can do that )