Archers thread #169: Denise rocks the boat in more than one way! Will Chris find a message in a cider bottle? 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 have liked to have Harrison's behbe, 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/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.)

Thanks to @LikeTalkingToLassie and @BrightYellowDaffodil for title inspiration. Is this the end for Denise and John? It does seem odd to introduce John now if he's going to disappear. He has a lovely voice.

Over to you!

Very kind GAsp, but you do realise those are all "weeds" - or fruits planted many moons before I moved here last year? I have cultivated nothing except my love of TA!

😆😳

Did I imagine that there is a thread where I can ask all sorts of annoying questions like
"What finally pulled the scales from Lily's eyes over Russ?"
"I thought from the way Denise was tiptoeing around Paul that he was terminally ill and had given her his blessing, or something. Is she just an out-and-out cheater?"
"What happened to Rex and Toby?"

You can do that here!

Lily told Russ she had had a one-night stand with someone from work, and he left her. (Though the belief that he was the father of Chelsea's pregnancy made her think really quite hard.)

She is just an out-and-out cheater.

Rex is running his pigs in the Lower Loxley grounds, driving a taxi, helping Kirsty run the rewilding, and living in a narrow-boat on the Am moored up by the country park. Toby is in Stratford on Avon working in his father's wine business.

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g thanks yes it was Lewis I was thinking of. I did think he was meant to be alive too though surely he’d be a good age now! I also very vaguely remember Julia Nigel’s mum being fabulously awful to Elizabeth! Did she have a few fallings out with Lynda too?

@OMGsamesame I think Lily ended up cheating on Russ with someone from the kitchen selling enterprise and he found out? But she was sick of him before then too.

So far as I can recollect, Toby went to take over his dad’s wine business (Cotswolds?), but made a brief appearance a few months ago so that Pip could definitely prove to herself that she was very definitely a lesbian. A bit of a shame as I thought scruff gin had legs! Rex I think does some rewilding with Kirsty and lives in a canal boat which Pip was cleaning or something just after the crash. Also looks after scary pigs at Lower Loxley. Not sure if he’s still a taxi driver as well. Rural portfolio career!

Lily cheated with Sol - she had a one-night stand with him.

Going back a long time but Julia Pargetter and Nelson Gabriel had been as thick as thieves, but the Nelson actor became ill and was written out, hence my pointing out that NG wasn't around when the Pargetter progeny were born.

hello all, been rather a long time since I’ve posted here.

Have to say I loved hearing Lily coming into bat for Freddie. I don’t know how Vince was planning to explain himself to Elizabeth should this all come out. Yes Freddie needs toughen up a bit as manager, but that also comes
with time and experience. I definitely think Vince has a duty of care to nip this in the bud.

annnnnd an obligatory Pip is awful.

oh and whilst I’m popping in I actually really want good things for Alistair. Always. So if Denise makes him happy then I’m happy. Although annoyed they’ve gone about it all
in such a shambolic and underhand way.

The only thing I want more than happy Al, is Freddie and Chelsea to get married, he inherits LL but devises a split with Lily who works/ runs the estate for her own benefit - with the twins working together, sticking to their strong suits and complementing each other’s talents.

Wasn’t it Lewis at the stately pile helping out Elizabeth after Nigel died?

I think in many ways George has had good family support. Nic and Will seemed lovely with him and even his jealous whiney mother doted on him (perhaps to his detriment?), loving grandparents, Bartleby. Emma’s crim, uncle who inspired him to become obsessed with burglary as a career path from a young age.

How many kids would have 2 sets of parents each building a full sized tableau of Billy Goat Gruff, including Troll, 3 billy goats, Bridge and water feature, just so George could win the scarecrow contest (although crows may have seen it more as a bird bath).

Wasn’t it Lewis at the stately pile helping out Elizabeth after Nigel died?

Yes. He managed the art gallery till Russ took over.

George had the same opportunities as Brad, but I suspect he had parents saying, " oh well, I didn't pass many exams, and I'm doing okay," ignoring the fact they're constantly on the financial edge, whereas Tracey was probably telling Brad to do well in hus exams to get a good job. George was probably hanging with the lads for whom studying isn't cool. He's not stupid, but he's not exactly used formal education to his best advantage, and thus probably is minimally educated in that sense. Did we ever know what exam results he got?

So Natasha is taking over the hen do. She is going to over price everything and Pip will cancel it. We will breath a sigh of relief that Tasha's got her comupence but she will turn it around and tell Fallon that it will be a future feature and Weak as pee Fallon will say ok but moan to everyone about it, but not to Tasha.
Also why when there is a conversation between 3 people does the one of them totally agree with the argressor while the other person meakly takes it.ie when Tasha was telling Fallon about the Hen and Chelseas in the back ground ooing and arring, and the same when Natasha was telling Pip her idea, Pip didnt like it but didnt say anything and Pips friend was also ooing and arring. Why dosnt anyone just say Im sorry Natasha but your sevices are no longer required, or something much more ruder.

Tbf pips friend is the friend of the bride

Actually I’m a bit confused - where is the hen do being held?

Fallon is an idiot. Her catering and cupcake decorating class are not part of her employment. She didn’t even ask if she was getting paid extra for the catering etc. just meekly accepted

Also why …

Because then The Archers would only have been two episodes long?

Ep 1 ”I have an idea.”

Ep 2 “Nah, we’re ok thanks. Bye.”

Actually I’m a bit confused - where is the hen do being held?

I think (bit am not certain) they've booked a holiday cottage for a weekend.

Midweek. The day Fallon and Chelsea will be away from Terum is 1st August, which is a Thursday. Cheaper than a weekend, I suppose.

I do hope we don't have to hear it. A pampering day is my idea of hell. Even the word makes me cringe.

It’s all quite intriguing - what’s it all for? I mean, remembering the whole Ben / Chelsea thing where in the end the result was that Lily and Russ broke up. Is the hen party really about Pip and Stella’s relationship, or Fallon’s exit from feudal oppression at Bridge Farm, or opening up a viable business for Chelsea - or something else they haven’t indicated yet?

Maybe the bride-to-be will turn out to be marrying Toe-B, or a recently released Horrobin. Or she might be Stella's ex-. The idea of a hen party is bad enough, but on radio?

With luck they'll hold it in the Te-Rum and set fire to the place.

I think there's a bit of signposting going on with Stella's lack of enthusiasm about the hen do, especially the very clichéd, hetero bits - the rom com; rude cupcake decorating. Pip is completely insensitive to Stella's discomfort - she's just giving her stick about being a killjoy, rather than realising that a lifelong lesbian is probably really not going to enjoy cooing over hunky men and giggling about putting willies on cakes (I mean, I wouldn't either, but I imagine it would be even more grim if you've no sexual interest in men). I wonder if it's all leading to a big fallout when Stella finally snaps.

Yes - they’re making the instability of that relationship very clear. But that’s a nine day wonder, and very recent. Is it possible this otherwise irrelevant event might cause some fundamental shift in Archer fortunes? I’m liking the thought of bankruptcy and destruction at Bridge Farm through Natasha’s relentless solipsism and greed.

Ooh that would be good.

If Fallon signed a contract that effectively forbade her from doing any outside catering work - something that had always been a significant part of her living - she’s an utter fool. That she didn’t officially book a day off makes her a fool, AND that she gave in to Chelsea's witless wheedlings and whinings in the first place makes her a fool.

But her greatest foolishness is in standing there meekly and letting the dreadful Natasha blatantly steal a business idea that someone else had already got dibs on, coolly take it for the Terum AND expect Fallon and Chelsea to make it happen - with all profit to the Terum. If Fallon had half a brain she'd be seething and plotting her escape. But of course, she won’t.

(Oh, and needless to say, blabbermouth Ruth is also a fool)

I beg to differ. Her greatest foolishness is not having buried Harrison under the patio (or, better, under someone else's patio) long ago.

Noxious Natasha is back. Awful woman!

Ruth wasn’t to know. Pip and her seem to think it was linked to terumfor some unknown reason

fallon really is a doormat

is there a compare and contrast with Freddie about to happen?