Archers thread #165: Bridge over troubled waters! 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 believe Rochelle exists, 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 https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/radio_addicts/5071889-the-archers-spoilers-thread-9-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.)

This thread may well fill up as fast as the last one, so let's just get stuck in!

An everyday tale of bum fun.

My prediction is that Alice will attempt suicide and that will finally drive George to admit it was him. That’s got to be why they had Tracey say better off without you. All getting very Eastenders IMO.

I have no idea what you’re talking about, so congratulations you sound very clever indeed. 10/10. A quick google yields - fight, flight, freeze, fawn.

OK. Tucson is definitely not the name Wayne was born with though!

My archers listening has never been consistent until the last few years. Is Wayne still the chef at the Bull? I know he’s a non speaker but find it weird there is never any reference to him, especially with his daughters near death experience…. (Also assuming Fallon is his daughter, which I think he is…?)

Tracey was vile and I'm surprised Chris didn't react when Ruari told him.

One of the innumerable oddities and loose ends all Archers listeners have to live with! It is extremely strange that Wayne is never mentioned now.

There is no way on earth I would have invited anybody to stay during my finals, let alone an alcoholic sibling having a relapse. Are the SWs on glue?

I heard bum as well 😱

What is George thinking? Given that we are being led to believe he has a conscience, could he really have managed to last 10-days of hero worship without confiding in someone?

The family dinner at the Bull was too much. In terms of dramah that would have been an excellent moment for the denouement…He is going to have to leave town when it does all come out.

That just goes to show you are degenerate. Because so did I

And me!

Anyone else not getting the reasoning behind Alice and Ruiari going to London to become drinking buddies? Is the plan that they just have a glass of Chardonnay each or are they intending to get pissed as newts. But together ... and not in a car?

I was emptying the dishwasher and didn’t hear that bit very clearly, thankfully!

I thought the poster meant the four fs as in Food Food Food and the other F
i think I first read that in Cooking in a Bedsitter, of all places!

IRL I really don’t think Alice is the suicidal type, but this is TA so who knows. Alcohol has a massive disinhibiting effect that might be enough to tip the balance. It’s all a bit grim!

His plan is to give her a controlled environment so she can drink but only with him. As someone said, with sitting his finals this seems a daft idea!! Does he have flatmates? How is that going to work? It’s not like he’s going to have a lot of space

i imagine this is also to get her off air for a bit

I don’t think she will attempt suicide as she sees herself as drinking herself to death

Drinking yourself to death isn’t usually a quick process though. Alice is in generally very good health. She’s not like Harry on the verge of cirrhosis.

Yes but I don’t think she’s going to try and kill herself. She made some comment to Adam about giving up and just getting drunk all the time.

given she’s not working and is fully dependent on her family isn’t it irresponsible to bankroll her?

I got the impression last night that he is starting to get used to the idea of being a hero, or the idea of people treating him like a hero. I couldn't believe that he was considering giving an interview to the journalist, it seemed like a complete turnaround to how he has been trying to play it down and hide from everyone since the accident. I'm guessing he is starting to feel comfortable in his new role and enjoying the attention. I am now wondering if he will crack or whether he will be found out.

Alice not being around will also let him forget the fact he’s planted it all on her

She’s already decided Martha is better off without her. And a long time ago that Chris was better off without her. A few steps further down the line she may feel the whole world is better off without her. She already feels there’s no hope for a future without an alcohol problem.

Hopefully the family continuing to bankroll her will stop her turning to shoplifting and petty crime to fuel her addiction.

I don’t know what kind of rock bottom she needs to hit but if George doesn’t get found out and she ends up in prison it’s going to get her sober surely?

MereDintofPandiculation
She’s already decided Martha is better off without her. And a long time ago that Chris was better off without her.

Having worked out that she mattered more than either of them and had to concentrate on herself – that was what she said, that she needed to think only of herself – she decided that both of them were better off without her for several months, in fact until the precise moment when she had goaded Chris into asking her to divorce him rather than keep him hanging about hoping. He then foolishly allowed her to see that since he was Martha's primary carer and Alice did nothing for her child, he wanted to be able to make decisions about the child he was nurturing. Then Alice turned on him in a fury and decided that the only thing she wanted in the entire world was to have Martha with her all day every day. (This last bit is why Martha is in a nursery and Alice was managing The Stables: so that Alice could be with her all day every day.)

My apologies, I think being incomprehensible is far from clever and I would consider myself fairly average bordering on pretty stupid on occasions.

Had not heard of the 4 Fs before either was just looking at a way to describe why innate and primeval were appropriate given you had commented WTF, and also pointing out that the last letter (F) of your WTF was what it was all about.

That the prime inbuilt driver of mammals is survival and passing on our genes.

Humans are far more advanced? than other mammals (in some ways) and far more complex (in some ways). The complexity of our lives gives us far more choices than the basic survival drivers including whether to reproduce (if able), limit our reproduction or not reproduce at all. All absolutely valid choices and given advances in medicine and population growth it could be easily argued that the latter options are more responsible (unless everyone chooses the last).

So I was trying to point out that innate and primeval were appropriate to describe these strong prime drives that are hardwired into virtually every human being. We can overcome them with our higher level thinking to decide we don’t want children full stop or decide or agree not to have them because other things are more important to us (like in this case the love of a partner and going along with their wishes).

But just like in a disaster when the strong primal flight or fight hard wired programming normally automatically kicks in (sometimes after the freeze response), then for Harrison (and especially because he was only not having children to fit in with Fallons wishes in order to retain her love) the different situation (the existence of a genetically complete pre-baby that just needs to grow and develop) violently overrides his high level thinking agreement not to have children, it seems also this strong primal need, having broken out, is blinding him to everything else, at least partially explaining (but in no way excusing) his self obsessed behaviour.

All in my opinion of course.

Or, to put it more concisely, “Yay, my dick works! Manly, manly me!”

Did you hear the dead ringers on the archers/eastenders!

This is the first time in George’s adult life that he’s been universally liked and praised - I think he will find it hard to give up all the adoration so I doubt he will confess. Perhaps, as a PP mentioned, all will somehow be revealed via this ridiculous storyline with Alistair, Mick and the maps.

Ruair’s housemate sound very accommodating, he said they were fine with Alice coming to stay (unlikely). I imagine alcohol is available in abundance in a house of 20 something students and there is a pub or off licence on every corner in London so I really don’t think it’s the right environment for Alice. How is he going to ensure she only drinks with if he’s out all day at lectures, exams etc. A trip to Hungary to stay with Debbie might have been better.