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 ...

OMG!

The doormat?

Here we go...

That doormat wasn't mentioned for nothing ...

It's all coming out now.

I imagine Alice being statuesque rather than little

and the bloody baby!!

and making it about herself 🙄

that’s all I have from that episode

nice to know George has been reading the legal advice on this thread

OK, that doormat was mentioned for nothing. Phew.

I did think George might throttle Emma or break her wrist to grab her phone, so thank goodness it wasn't that.

When I was at school I had some long over-the-knee socks. They were from M&S or by Elbeo, I think. Can you still get them?
I remember pop socks. I wore them under trousers and with my clicky heels. I though they were unsexy.
Not listened to TA yet.

On the sock theme when I started grammar school we had to wear grey ribbed Wolsey sticking and suspenders. They left a chilly gap so some of us got long johns in psychedelic patterned nylon (1966)but we'd get a detention if we were caught as we were only allowed to wear white underwear.

I cried

congratulations !
do you do lottery numbers too?

Wow. Emma is actually going to let her niece’s mother languish in jail for a crime she didn’t commit. As the cool kids at my workplace would say: I just can’t.

Very, very definitely not with short skirts! Tights or bare legs only. Shorts: bare legs only. Or are you talking about now, rather than back in the 60s?

Well!

I thought that was surprisingly good. Both George and Emma reacted in ways that seemed true for their characters. I thought George was particularly well acted. He sounded like the frightened teenager he is. And I thought the range of emotions Emma went through (including her immediate concern about how this would reflect on her, and her mix of anger and love for George) felt very realistic for Emma.

I was genuinely moved - and it is very long time since I have said that in relation to TA.

My only doubt is whether Emma would really have prioritised Alice (who she obviously doesn't like) over George. If Alice doesn't go to prison there must be a chance that George will. I'm not sure how Emma thinks she can manage that.

Will they have to sell the tree surgery equipment to pay for legal support for George?

On the subject of socks, when I was checking with my DC whether Gen Z consider 👍 to be passive aggressive, they separately and spontaneously informed me that Gen Z consider trainer socks to be the Devil's work. (That's also my view so maybe I have more in common with Gen Z than I realised.)

Back in the 1960s, we had to wear thick flesh coloured stockings in the summer and thick black stockings in the winter at my strict girls school - and, yes, I am old enough to have worn stockings and a suspender belt in the days before tights. We were all desperate to wear knee length white nylon socks instead as they they were the height of fashion. We successfully petitioned the school to let us do so, though they insisted we wore elastic bands (which they called garters) with them to ensure they stayed rigidly upright and didn't sag round our ankles. This felt like a huge triumph against the patriarchy at the time and was probably my one and only experience of the Swinging Sixties.

I knew trainer socks were out and people finally cottoned on to 👍 being passive aggressive but today I learnt the cry laughing emojis are considered cringe by the youth which is fine as I have no pretensions to be either cool or the youth. I’ve had my time.

French polish manicures are also back in apparently. I thought they were the height of classic sophistication once upon time but no again.

Thoroughly enjoyed George and Emma - very in character. Hope Emma doesn’t get distracted at work. Really would like George to turn everything around.

Well, I was wrong! I think they did that quite well.

@TumbledTussocks I don't think there is anything inherently aggressive about 👍. It is simply how a section of society have decided to view it. IME people like plumbers and electricians use it all the time when arranging appointments and could easily get quite the wrong impression if I used ❤️ to signify my agreement in response (as is apparently considered normal by the 👍 haters).

It's for episodes like this that I keep listening.

That was excellent.

Ugh! But what will Emma’s plan be? Refuse to testify?

Emma referring to Ed as George’s dad and then calling Will by his first name as if he is George’s step father was bizarre🤔. George has never viewed Ed as a father figure.

Please will someone tell me about the doormat! 😬 We listened but obviously not closely enough......

And I thought was genuinely sad that George feels Ed doesn't feel the same way about him as he does about Keira. I know not everyone here agrees, but I do feel George's highly unusual blended family has been difficult for him (and he said a while ago that he had been mocked at school over it).

And did we ever find out about the voicemail msg George left on Will's phone the night of the accident? Has Will just been keeping schtum all this time?