Archers thread #170: The scriptwriters have cast a Paul on proceedings! 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 to hear more of Drunk Alistair, 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/radioaddicts/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/radioaddicts/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 @OverArmour for the title. I was tempted to try some sort of complex riff on chocolate names, given @PedantScorner's lightbulb moment - Paul's sister is Cara Mack! - and all the nonsense in last night's episode about coffee creams, but I couldn't be bothered, beyond thinking we must all be Cadbury's Fruit and Nutcases for listening at the moment. Let's hope the SWs take a walk along Quality Street or we'll have to put a Bounty on their heads!

And over to you ...

I honestly felt sick listening to all the crap justifying the affair because of the references to food (and biscuits- have they no shame!)

No, they have no shame. Jakob, on the other hand, is a cracker.

Thanks for new thread!!

I’ve felt for a while now that one of the sw is a cheater and so has all the usual crappy ‘justifications’ to hand. I really hope this story ends in a failed romance with Denise dumping Alastair and getting another boyfriend pretty quick(and hopefully moving a long way to be with him)

Statistically, it would surprising if there wasn't at least one cheater, or one who had experienced a marriage/relationship breakdown from the other perspective.

There have been plenty of storylines around affairs and infidelities over the years. I don't remember feeling so meh about them before.

Thanks for the new thread @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g - excellent title as usual.

Your comment on the previous thread - Have we reached the nadir, do we think?

I sincerely hope so! I think the nadir of the episode is Alistair’s drunken, petulant ‘why doesn’t he like me?’ 😬. It’s a shame Jim had gone to bed at that point, as I can’t imagine he’d let that slide!

And all the "Denise is my girlfriend"

It was a terrible episode and the affair sl is definitely bottom of the list of affair sl in the archers.

I can’t decide if the sw wanted to find a love interest for Alastair in a dramatic fashion (fail) or wanted to introduce a new family (making them a little bit likeable might help?)

Thanks, @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g! Excellent title, though I hope we’ll all have decades to fall in love with Paul …

It’s not really new, there have been loads of affairs over the years. Brian, obviously numerous times; Sid and Jolene, St Shula who couldn’t decide between the doctor and the vet … not to mention the famous Grundy-Carter-Grundy business, and Ruth who drew back from the brink just in time. I think it’s just representative of what happens in real life.

Which is why I can’t get that excited about A&D. Do it, don’t do it, just get on with it and stop going on about it.

From a scriptwriting point of view Alistair didn’t really need to have a girlfriend as he has Jim for domestic interactions (which is Denise’s problem), similarly Denise has Paul (even if she splits up with her absent husband) which is apparently what’s stopping her making a commitment to Alistair at the moment. Jakob needs Kate - to give him a domestic aspect outside his professional dealings. This is the problem with trying to incorporate characters who are neither Archers nor Grundies - who always have ready-made networks regardless of their romantic status.

Do it, don’t do it, just get on with it and stop going on about it. My feelings exactly!

The fact there have been compelling affair sl in the past makes this even worse - why bother?

and to make an affair sl compelling you need to care about all people impacted

My preference would be either don't do it (and send Denise and Paul packing) or do it (and give all three of them a course in puffin management and send them to Unst).

MerelyPlaying
It’s not really new, there have been loads of affairs over the years. Brian, obviously numerous times;

That would be with Caroline and with Siobhan, plus implied interest in Mandy Beesborough for a couple of weeks and possibly a fling with someone over from France (Mayruelle?) on a mayoral visit for ten days.

I suppose if we count "1, 2, Many" that counts as numerous.

The one who played away a lot was Paul Johnson, Christine Barford's first husband. It wasn't noticed so much because he chose nobody who appeared in the programme, just enjoyed himself on all his "business trips".

Thanks for the new thread.
More Jim and Jazzer please!

Brian ran after Betty Tucker, too. He probably tried more than we heard about.

Didn't Jenny have a thing with John Tregorran?

She did. She also had a child with someone she had an affair with, and sex in a hotel with Roger Travers-Macy while she was married to Brianafter Alice had been born.

Brian suggested that Betty Tucker might like to go skinny-dipping with him in the Aldridge swimming pool, but given the number of children and wife about the place at the time I don't think he can have been particularly serious. And I don't think that counts as having an affair any more than saying to Matt that Annabelle Schrivener was sexy counts as an affair. Alistair is probably doing better than Brian in the bed-mates stakes, given his two failed marriages, Lavinia Rafferty the woman with the schnauzer, and Denise.

Thank you for the new thread. I like title - it pretty much sums up how I feel about the deadening effect of the Alistair/Denise/Paul SL.

Feedback on Radio 4 is about TA next week.

Thank you for the new thread.

I was about to start in with a critique of the current nonsense and lost the will.

I didn’t mind Paul initially but he’s really grating now…

Thanks Gasp0de

What fresh delights await us, I wonder?

I suspect that the ones where Brian has actually been caught out are not his only infidelities. Surely it still counts if you ask and are rejected - mens rea but no actus reus, but we’re not looking for a criminal standard of proof here.

I always imagined Betty Tucker as quite a matronly lady, sleeves rolled up and apron on, whereas Caroline and Siobhan always sounded rather sultry, so I was quite surprised at his foray in that direction.

"I suspect that the ones where Brian has actually been caught out are not his only infidelities."

Oh, I think the editorial team would have made quite sure we knew about them if they had occurred: they were very very keen on portraying him as a randy adulterer.

If you ask and are rejected that is not an affair! An affair requires more than that. Like, meeting more than once, spending a bit of time together, maybe even having sex together...

I wouldn't say he'd had a dance with someone who said "no thank you" when he asked her to dance, and didn't dance with him.