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!

No alcohol at all in the blood would be best, obviously, but the being asleep in the car and needing to vomit makes that option unlikely. Being able to limit her intake by pouring most of the bottle contents out might be a good sign but seems unlikely from what I have heard about alcoholics - and from recovering alcoholics with years of sobriety behind them.

Come on, cheer me up, what might Denise have caught from the river water?

No one knows that he was. The line is that he was just passing. This is why the fruit cider is important. It’s a clue that he was in her car.

what might Denise have caught from the river water?

Leptospirosis, cryptosporidiosis, typhoid and dysentery. And, hopefully, the bends.

Bring. It. On.

To be fair, @RegimentalSturgeon, that does seem to be your view about virtually everybody in Ambridge ...

Surely Denise can't be pregnant, full stop? We don't know her age but Paul can't be much under 30. I was assuming she was at least 50, so heading for the menopause, if not through it. HRT, maybe.

Indeed @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g . One wonders what pleasure she gets from listening to it.

Welcome back, @formerlyofthisparish! You might find it useful to skim through the last thread, which filled up in three days . If you are so inclined, the spoilers thread is linked in the OP. (This thread is a spoiler-free zone - once it's broadcast, it's fair game, though.)

Well, a lot of my enjoyment of TA is yelling at the radio! I wouldn't have got sucked in if all the characters were delightful people constantly behaving rationally and kindly. When I first came across the BBC messageboard (Mustardland) not long after the millennium it was a welcome surprise to find that it wasn't full of people leaving comments of the order of 'Well done, SWs! Another wonderful episode, I was splitting my sides at the comic scenes! More please! Keep up the good work!' and 'Who's your favourite character? They're all so great, I'm struggling to pick one, but maybe Shula!' The BBC may have been less pleasantly surprised by the sort of feedback and comments they got, hence the decision eventually to close it down.

This is good stuff. If only we could be confident that the production team has researched this thoroughly and understood what they've been told. So often they get an expert to tell them something about an issue and then they pick and mix bits of what they've been told in a totally implausible or even impossible way. This may be the exception.

@DeanElderberry @RegimentalSturgeon Weil's disease! A chap I knew at uni got that having fallen into the river whilst punting. He's now a GE candidate and it's my first thought every time I see him pop up 😆😆🙈🙈

what might Denise have caught from the river water?

e-coli might also be in the mix from sewage spills...

Signing in. It’s exhausting listening then catching up on the threads.

Leptospirosis is Weil’s disease, or so I fondly believe

A bit confused here: people listen for pleasure? Oh well, le vice Anglais is a thing.

Oh!! Well, there you are - great minds think alike or fools rarely differ?! 😆🙈

Found new thread, thank you 🙂
I haven't listened since Tues episode but enjoying reading everyone's thoughts!

It does always surprise me how strongly ppl can dislike certain characters. Obviously there have been the characters that were designed to be villains that we love to hate but everyone else I just can't sum up that strong a reaction to them. Even Helen 😆
They are normal people with flaws. Yes, Alice is a bit of a spoilt and self centred rich kid but bloody hell, I wouldn't wish her to go to prison for something she didn't do!

The most irritating storyline by far currently is the Alistair/Denise affair. What a bore that is. Plus they could have set him up with anyone but they chose someone who can't even say his name properly!

Aldridgetoxin.

In support of Alice (which I know will not be universally popular) she did do the right / responsible thing for Martha without any prompting. OK they made her do it in a very whiny, tense and overly dramatic way (but it is a drama I suppose). That must have been hard for her, but once she had decided she just wanted to get it over with, without taking the very supportive Chris up on his kindly invitation to join them for food or give her a lift home.

It seems Chris knows her better than herself re the fruit cider. The fact she accepted that she had sunk so low she would neck fruit cider ;) that even George turned his nose up at :) and will readily take responsibility for drunk driving (even though she was sure she never intended to drive) and caused an accident she cannot remember causing (probably primarily because she didn’t - except vicariously) show she is at least trying to admit responsibility for what she perceives must have been her actions.

Except she did cause the accident by trying to get out of a moving car.

Re Denise and the river

Blue-green algae (cyanobacteria)

Been known to kill dogs and Denise IS a veterinary nurse!

In George's version of events he didn't find Alice in the car until he had rescued Fallon. Unlikely that he would have put down the bottles on the river bank, done his hero act and then picked them up again before returning to the car. The cider bottles will be crucial once Joy gets to hear about them - that was clearly the whole point of the scene in the shop where fruit cider was pointedly mentioned on numerous occasions. I'm also wondering if George's wonder phone will turn out to be OK. Or (and I must stress I have no technical knowledge whatsoever) if once it comes back to life it will somehow how send the voice message again (this has sometimes happened to me with DH's phone when he has sent me a message and then a glitch has meant the same message has sent again a few days later). At any rate, hopefully once doubt has been cast it will be enough to make police accident investigators look more closely and find other discrepancies. What I loved about last night, is that feels as though it will be Chris who saves Alice - he believes in her and clearly that's what the pointed mention about him still being in love with her a couple of weeks ago was all about.

And yet they make us do it!

You must have missed the vicariously bit (OK could argue my application of its meaning). She was in no fit state to drive (which is why she didn’t), or actually to be driven

Also she and her car were being taken without consent and she repeatedly told George that she wanted to be sick he could have easily applied the brakes well before the bridge and should certainly have done when she was (understandably in her state) trying to open the car door.

The most irritating storyline by far currently is the Alistair/Denise affair. What a bore that is. - I completely agree. The only point I can see in it in terms of plot purposes is that the car in the river needed to be discovered by competent and confident swimmers with first aid knowledge and A and D ticked these boxes after their somewhat unbelievable discussion about consummating their relationship at a venue with a swimming pool.