The Archers spoilers thread #9: Can't wait for 7.02pm? Join us here!

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

Spoilers thread for The Archers. All Archers listeners are welcome here, whether you post on our main Archers thread or not. There's just one rule: please keep all spoiler-related discussion in this thread and do not spill the beans on the main Archers thread.

We usually add the BBC teasers and cast lists for forthcoming episodes as they
become available, plus the Radio Times and Daily Mail previews when possible.
Feel free to add anything else you come across, e.g. cast news, scriptwriter
tweets!

Thanks @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g . Is Fallon going to leave PC Plod?

2.6 The penny drops for Lynda

OMG! This man is not Robert?

That would be pretty good!

I wouldn't be surprised, Whopping. Of course now it's too late to edit I see I've given the last two spoilers May dates. We all know they're June, I hope!

I suspect it will be Fallon changing her mind and agreeing to having the plodgeny.

Lurking only on the main thread, but The Archers needs more Archers innit.

We only have Henry, Jack, Seren and Nova, and Fat Rosie as Archer children.

Are the police investigating the accident? How long before someone figures out that the driver wasn't Alice?
What's the shock for Joy? Is it Mick's getting himself enmeshed in Ambridge?

I wonder if Tom's main function is to have a man-to-man talk with Harrison about being the father of a miscarried baby, what causes miscarriage, etc.

*The Archers needs*more Archers innit.
We only have Henry, Jack, Seren and Nova, and Fat Rosie as Archer children.

All Jenny’s descendants are Archer children. Zander, Martha. And Lillian’s - so Mungo.

Eventually at least one of the Pargetters might procreate.

And maybe Johnny, too. And Meriel. And Phoebe, Noli and Sipho might have children.

Xander …

@TottersBlankly , they're JD's descendants, but they're not Archers. My BIL's mother had a distinctive surname that's part of a local 'clan' (let's say it's McMIL) but her grandchildren only know they are part of that clan because they have 2nd cousins with that surname. They are also descendants of the McBacksides and the MacWhopmothers, etc. TBH, DNs don't really care about any of it. Neither do the DC about theirs. None of them have McBackside in their names, unlike Daniel Mark Archer Hebden.

Your list of Archer descendants will have an assortment of surnames like Macy-Craig, Bellamy, Hebden, Aldridge, Madikane, Richards, Pargetter.

I don't know what my maternal grandmother's maiden name was. I could find out but I hadn't thought of it before.

--
That's just my experience, obviously, but the programme is The Archers, and it's probably going to be confusing to a newbie if they have to work out the connection between Fat Rosie, Zarnder, a future Madikane and Plodgeny.

As I said the other day, either on this thread or the other, the SWs really missed an obvious chance when Brian's affair with Siobhan was discovered and the family were all furious. A discussion between them about their deeply unsatisfactory fathers (Paddy and Roger weren't great dads either) followed by a joint decision that they were all going to change their surname to Archer in solidarity with their mother would have made it so much simpler.

So I wonder who Jason Burntwood is? He has a surname!

The actor wasn't letting on: https://x.com/IanConningham/status/1785227813533945936

I get what you’re saying, @WhoppingBigBackside - but quite honestly, without the Archers bloodline, front and central, TA becomes just another soap. I’m already having to accept that a fairly large proportion of newer posters honestly don’t know how the various branches of the clan fit together; who’s related to whom; whose backstory means there’s always going to be tension when they’re in the room with another character, etc … I’m not usually a controlling type of person, but if I could set a preparatory course and an exam for new listeners and scriptwriters - I probably would!

Is Ben graduating from his nursing course on June 6th?

I’ve always felt having a District Nurse in the cast would be an excellent vehicle for news / gossip / information - but I gather this job scarcely exists any more and goes by a different name?

It would be good if he could be posted to a hospital at the other end of the country for a while. I like Ben but he doesn’t ever seem to have ventured beyond Felpersham. Even penniless Ed managed a brief spell of European travel in his youth.

We still have district nurses here, part of what's now the Community Nursing Team. They're technically called "Specialist Practitioner District Nurses" (but who has time for that mouthful?) and there's a team of three, often + a trainee, based at our GP's surgery.

Both Ben and Josh seem to have fallen down a hole in the plot. Even their sister has forgotten their existence.

Ugh! Someone on the main thread suggested that Fallon was up for a ONS with Geowurge. FFS. Fallon's just had a miscarriage, her husband is emotionally incontinent and selfish, and George is ghastly.

And she nearly drowned last week.

Yes that was my suggestion. I would have replied on the other thread if you'd asked for an explanation there! That scene in the pub; she sounded woozy, almost intoxicated, despite the mineral water, lots of fawning on him as a hero. We know he used to have a crush on her. We know she's angry with Harrison, I could totally imagine a comforting hug becoming a smooch from either side as an extension of trauma bonding. It's true I was forgetting his uneasy feelings of guilt and her physical and emotional pain of the miscarriage.

District nurses definitely a thing here, based it if GP surgeries but in Dorset they are run by one of the NHS trusts

So when do we expect Alice to attempt to end her life? That’s got to be the expected storyline, right? Then George feels terrible and finally confesses. He’ll have to go away after that. Maybe join the Army?

I was rather anticipating that London would be ‘off stage’ for Alice, for a while at least.

George as a soldier? Hmm … He doesn’t appear to have much in the way of academic qualifications so how would he progress? He’s not someone who likes being kept on the lowest rung of the ladder. Anyway, not sure what sort of prospects he’d have if he does end up with a criminal record - which I vaguely hope won’t happen. He was stupid - but I don’t want his life ruined; he’s too good a character. And even a Pargetter has found it difficult to bounce back from a similarly poor start to adult life.

If George confesses/gets caught out, I imagine he'll be looking at a driving ban at the very least, which would put paid to the army until it expires. But I don't know what the army has done to deserve him.

There’s not much ‘least’ about perverting the course of justice, though …

@WombatCowgirl , Thanks but I didn't want an explanation. I found Bruisername's explanation adequate.
"Bruisername · Yesterday 14:56
I mean let’s give Harrison a break here. Fallon makes cakes and refurbs furniture for a living. She’s clearly desperate to be a homemaker but needs the right man to help her admit it.

and if a woman is nice to a man who saved her and is worried when he doesn’t seem herself then she clearly wants to sleep with him - I mean a woman being nice to a man is a clear signal right?"

Army could be the making of him? Coming back on leave etc. I can’t see SW doing something terrible to him like sending him to jail but he’s absolutely got to be found out. Maybe by Harrison?

Anyway, I suspect that the army may be rather tired of being regarded as a dustbin for unpleasant people for whom civilian life has no particular use.