Archers thread #167: Welcome to Ambridge, the world capital of loose ends! 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 like The Archers to be wall to wall election conversations for the next month, 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.)

Over to you!

It’s rarely satisfactory to have a scene involving only two new-ish characters (neither of whom is fundamentally dependent on an Archer) but I didn’t mind it otherwise. Azra needs establishing as a character and Paul always feels potentially significant.

The highlight for me was the snapshot of Adam’s incomprehensible current working life. Adam - who was driven to ‘borrowing’ £5k from the Home Farm accounts when he was managing the family farm and presumably being paid an appropriate salary - is now happily doing minimum wage work on someone else’s farm, with apparently no diminution in the Macy Craig household’s standard of living. And an apparent cessation of concern over Home Farm’s wellbeing under Stella’s care and ambition regarding his own role on the land he expects to inherit a share of.

Yes @YellowHairband @MereDintofPandiculation that's my (now rather hazy) recollection of the Equality Act. Alcoholism, whilst it fits the criteria of a disability, does not constitute a disability for the purposes of protected characteristics which would entitle you to work protection from day 1. So Alice could be popped on the basis of her absence and/or drunken mistakes without sanction. Even if they didn't follow the process, Polkey would apply (a case which means even if you got it wrong, if you'd got it right the outcome would have been the same).

Although it's while since I have done this and things may have changed!

It feels to me as if Adam has been put into a holding pattern @TottersDeterminedlyTowardsThePollingStation until the SWs can decide what to do with Stella - will she marry Pip and take over Brookfield or leave Ambridge after a painful break up? Then Adam can slot back in at Home Farm with possible competition from Ruari - though it's hard to see at the moment how Ruari can ever be in a position to challenge for supremacy since he does zero farming and is kept away from Ambridge as much as possible.

Absolutely as you say, @LillianGish - I fully expect to see him return to Home Farm eventually.

Only if they leave it too long there’ll be no one left amongst the writers who actually understands Adam’s rightful heritage. Imagine if he ends up dangling from an unresolved loose end?! (I have no idea why I care that the inheritance of land in Ambridge should meet my long held expectations. )

I feel the same about Johnny @TottersDeterminedlyTowardsThePollingStation. Though why they didn’t send him round the world WWOOFing to hone his organic farming skills instead of yachting (not much call for that in land-locked Ambridge) is anyone’s guess.

To be fair, times have changed in agriculture. I grew up in a tiny very rural village where my mother still lives. Most of the cottages were tied cottages occupied by farm labourers who worked for the lord of the manor (who owned most of the surrounding land and half the village) and there was a lot of agricultural talk.

It feels like another world now. The elderly lord of the manor rode around the village every day on his horse and villagers literally touched their forelocks when he spoke to them. Most of the cottages had no running water until the mid 70s and had to collect all their water from taps at intervals along the village street. One of the taps was in the front wall of our house and, when it froze solid in the winter, they used to come to our house (using the tradesman's entrance) to fill their buckets. My mother's cleaner brought up 5 children in a two bedroom cottage with no running water. All the men in her family worked on the land for the lord of the manor. Her husband had to stop work in his 40s because he had farmer's lung (like Joe Grundy). Her grandson - who reminds me a lot of Ed - still works for the lord of the manor's son but he has qualifications in tractor and combine harvester driving.
Everyone in the village was aware of and talked about the cycle of the agricultural year. Harvest was a big thing - my brother and I used to go and help.
It's quite different now. Only about 5 men are employed on the lord of the manor's land. All the old men who knew how to dry stone wall are dead. Almost all the cottages have been sold off and are now occupied by solicitors and architects and the like. Agriculture seems like something that happens in the margins rather than being central to village life. So I think TA is just reflecting RL changes.

Is George the only one actually doing any work at Bridge Farm?

And even he isn't...

I agree with @Godesstobe - when we moved to the farm I grew up on in the early '70s, where Dad was the farm manager, there were about 30 employees. When he died about 30 years later, there were 3. And now they have no dairy, it's pretty much all contractors coming in. Things have changed a lot.

I've seen it - Player Kings, with Ian McKellen (who apparently fell off the stage last night, but is ok). Anyway, Clare Perkins plays Mistress Quickly and she's very good indeed. She's wasted on Denise.

Oh yes, I thought I saw her in the curtain call photo accompanying the Ian McKellen news yesterday.

‘Wasted’ is probably accurate!

It’s such a shame that all too often when The Archers manages to tempt a big star into the cast they don’t make the part sufficiently exciting to keep them. (Or the star is too busy to be able to appear consistently.) Eleanor Bron as Carol would have filled a gap in the aftermath of both Jenny’s death and the Bridge Business. An intelligent emissary of the Brookfield clan, as it were.

I found Tony’s opposing attitudes toward George and Adam (by extension, Alice) a little tedious.

I suppose George had turned up late, was behind with his jobs and seemed half asleep, but Tony still briefly tried to reassure him about Bartleby. He was obviously fed up with George not being reliable / pulling his weight.

He was quite brusque with Adam even though he was offering to do extra work (that George was supposed to be doing). He was understanding about Adam going with Alice, but Adam asked politely and apologised for the short notice and explained exactly why and for what he was requesting time off and Tony understood it was difficult for him.

Perhaps he would be more sympathetic and understand how difficult it was for George if George came clean and told Tony the reason he cannot sleep i.e he was driving during bridgegate, TWOCing Alice and her car, then dragging her into the drivers seat so she could take the blame, be done for drunk driving and probably go to prison and lose her child, whilst he was feted as a hero.

Oh and of course Alice is only required to go to the police station anyway because of George’s lies. Poor George.

Yet another couple waking up after "last night's shenanigans" 🤮
Why why why?

Pretty standard for a soap, I would say.

Because the editorial team think we are very boring and need to be told that people sometimes have sex.

I'm usually all on the side of the working man, but I really want Mick to get sacked the next time he fails to fulfill his contractual obligations.

I suppose it's too much to hope that he has now been given a formal written warning.

Exactly, @RegimentalSturgeon !

He'll get formal warning re appearance which will make Joy feel obliged to house him properly

Yeah mick is awful. Planning to keep the camper van there when he’s expressly been told not to. Taking advantage of having the keys. Unsubtle in front of other guests. Scruffy. So is he moving in with Joy soon then.

funny Shula doesn’t need to be involved🙄

poor duke

Mick used to be ok didn't he? He seems to have morphed into a complete idiot who would surely never be employed by an expensive, upmarket hotel like GG. Is he meant to be amusing? Please don't let him move in with Joy. I want to get to the bottom of the Rochelle mystery but I'd rather never know than have to listen to more of Mick.

But between them, Joy and Mick have resolved the problem of two guests having "lost" valuable items. I wonder how many people claim against hotel insurance for stuff that has been left elsewhere, or "accidentally" found its way into their own luggage.

Have I missed something with Mick? Does he actually live in a camper van? I had it in my head that he was kind of dapper and smart. I couldn't picture Joy being with a scuff bag 🤷‍♀️

He seems to have bought a camper van so he can live in the car park at Grey Gables where he now works so he can be near Joy. No, it makes no sense.

I thought tonight’s episode was absolutely dire.

Joy herself is, or should be, a minor character, so her love life is of little interest - to me at least. Mick is some sort of cartoon buffoon who has no idea how to behave.

The strangles SL is deeply tedious.

What’s the point?!

That was beyond dire. Oliver appears to have regrown a back bone. Except it's being used to give Mick a ticking off for faults which presumably bleedin' obvious before he hired him.

The staffing situation at Grey Gables is, well, words fail me.

I don't mind if Mick is scruffy and useless but I don't want it to turn out to be a scam against Joy.