Archers thread #166: Choppy waters in Ambridge! Look out for the red flags and 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 love to be married to Harrison, 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.)

Another thread started in great haste, mid-packing! Over to you.

Bruisername
I always assumed abattoir was on outskirts of ambridge but hopefully Asking can confirm!

It has been called "the Borchester abattoir" on air, so I don't think it can be on the outskirts of Ambridge.

What on earth were Freddie and Lizzie on about?

Aaah ok, I never heard that. I guess it kind of makes sense. So borchester has a thriving Filipino community. I wonder if we will meet any of these characters

That's interesting EBear. Probably just the difference between Irish market towns and English ones - ours seem to run to smaller shops rather than 'proper' department stores.

Raff who was running the day-to-day work at Berrow when Rob was nominally in charge was Filipino, I think.

But Borchester is the county town - or it was in the 1990s, anyway, when "The Book of the Archers" was published. What's unusual is that the local cathedral is not in the county town - similar in that way to Staffordshire, where Stafford is the county town but the cathedral is at Lichfield.

I've tried to include snaps of the relevant pages about Borchester and Felpersham, hope they show up.

That’s interesting. So the Filipino community is well established!! I wonder if we will get anything else out of this?

find it a bit unlikely the restaurant would change its meat supplier that quick

Ah, right, thanks! I'm obviously remembering the things that are pointing to Felpersham being the bigger place, like the cathedral and bishop and the university. And isn't the main train station, for trains to London, Felpersham not Borchester?

So a bit like Dorchester, county town but not centre of the universe. And Lewes.

Just caught up with Wed/Thurs. I can't bear this! Surely tomorrow's episode will have Fallon and Harrison finally talking properly!

Tom can't comprehend that a woman doesn't want to procreate 🙄

Restaurant scene had me thoroughly confused. Are they leading in to introducing new characters from the abbatoire?

@Bruisername oh that's a great theory. Rochelle died and Joy is in such denial she's created a fantasy life for her...

AskingQuestionsAllTheTime
"Hope Mirlees' Unheard of Ambridge."

I am clearly going even madder than usual: that author should be Merrily Harpur, not Hope Mirrlees!

I actually can’t bear the tedium of the Harrison/miscarriage SL.

That, teamed with the incomprehensible abbatoir/Philippino dining subplot lost me completely.

I failed to get to the end of the episode and certainly won’t be listening again.

I feel like hearing more from men about miscarriages is really important

. It irked me that both Tom and Harrison seemed of the opinion that the woman who physically went through it dealt with it more easily and quickly

i hope Fallon gives him some home truths. She may have mixed feelings about losing a child she didn’t really want but that doesn’t mean she’s suddenly going to want a child

Tom can't comprehend that a woman doesn't want to procreate 🙄

Just when I thought my opinion of him couldn’t get any lower.

So a bit like Dorchester, county town but not centre of the universe.

Well, that very much depends on your perspective.

Just all too fast paced for me to keep up these days.

I think they're going to dead Harrison 😶

Job loss + breakdown of marriage + grief + (likely) depression, all risk factors for suicide in men. In preventative factors however he does at least have community. Possibly until he offends and alienates them.

Didn't Vince go to the Phillipines to recruit, rather than there being an established Filipino community in Borchester?

Wasn't there a storyline in which Elizabeth went to meet Vince at the airport on his way home from the Phillipines?

I'm racking my brains, but can't remember. There was a storyline in which it was relevant that Vince was out of the country. He was recruiting staff from the Phillipines.

When he got back Elizabeth met him at the airport, and he said his trip had been worthwhile because he had recruited some good workers.

I wonder, in that case, how he got visas for them all. There was an emergency visa scheme for abattoir workers about 3 years back when there was a crisis in the industry, but the visas were only for 6 months and the scheme hasn't been extended. Abattoir workers are not on the shortage occupation list anymore.

And yes, he did go the Philippines to recruit a while back, I'd forgotten that. Apparently he has never heard of agencies that do that sort of thing for you, he had to personally go and select workers.

I'm still struggling to remember. It was a Lizzie storyline, or maybe a Freddie or Lily storyline. It was relevant that Vince wasn't there, and that Lizzie couldn't contact him easily. At the time it seemed like a Plot Device to send him to the Philippines to recruit workers. Or perhaps, as Fink has said there was an emergency visa scheme, it was a Topical Insert. Or a Topical Insert which also served as a useful Plot Device.

When he came back, Lizzie met him at the airport, and took him back to Lower Loxley for a meal. Vince hadn't expected to see her, and had intended to get a taxi back to his own home.

I can't remember what the storyline was, though. Can anyone remember?

Personally, I'm giving the script writers a BOOP for remembering Vince's recruited workers. Although, if the emergency visa scheme has ended, no points for not keeping up with it.

Was that the whole thing around his daughter?

I find the Elizabeth and Vince relationship a bit unbelievable. She is a snob so she wouldnt really go out with an abattoir owner whos a no nonsense selfmade man.
I also was waiting for her to take Vinces side and put Freddie and his ideas down.
She never gives her son any encouragement and I think prefers the awful Lily. Perhaps because Lily is just like her. Elizabeth will never think Freddie will be good enough to run LL and will hang on to it until she drops.
Otoh, I am getting a bit of Harrison overload. Im not really a Fallon fan after she was horrible to Alans daughter when she slept with Chris. It was none of her buisness, and I really dont care what happens to her and Harrison. He puts my teeth on edge when he says cocker.
Hope we are not dissapointed with the outcome of the Joy- Rochelle story line. The Oracle 🔮 has been very quiet of late. Wheres my Lovely Leonard they have brought every one back except him. I hope they give him a good Story line.