Archers thread #171: Harvest's nearly over – but will George ever reap what he has sown? 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 been delighted with a hand-painted squirrel tray for your 40th, as shown below, 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.)

All I have to say about current storylines for now is that I want the George Alice crash stuff to come to a resolution, sooner rather than later, and I also want to hear very little indeed of Alistair, Denise and Paul maundering on. More of Jakob would be very welcome. His brother can come back any time too.

I now declare this thread open for business!

Am I the only one who found Harrison's declaration about their afternoonsex "oooh it were Luvly " a bit bleurgh?

Kate has been wonderful this week, really well written and acted.

I do like the sibling dynamic between her and Alice, very real, similar to the Lillian and Jennifer or David and Kenton relationships.

Is she still even running her camping, woo and massage business? We don't hear much about it!

Yes. When Clive was telling her to breathe, she pointed out she teaches that to others, and he said something about thinking of going to one of her sessions (now he's a changed man and practising yogi and all.)

Kate talks a lot about her business - definitely still a going concern.

George needs to get to the police before Clive blabs. It will be much worse for him if it comes out via a Horrobin explosion.

No.

You might have been unusual in finding it only a 'bit'. I eat early so it only spoiled my digestion, I feel so sorry for anyone actually eating their dinner to that, or putting the final touches to their meal. Yukkety.

It was early evening delight. Fallon came in from work and Harrison was preparing their evening meal. Meanwhile, Clive and Kate both went to the shop just before closing time.

I assume it won't be long now before Harrison finds about Clive. Will they talk? Clive's dire warning to Neil suggests to me that it won't be long now before somebody finally cracks, possibly Clive, possibly George, perhaps even Emma or Will. I hope so, anyway. I want some progress in this storyline!

Was everyone out enjoying the late summer sun (for those of us lucky enough to have had it today - I know it wasn't the same everywhere)? Not a single post in response to the omnibus. I listened to that today, unusually, as I have already heard all this week's episodes. As often when I do listen to the omnibus, I felt the whole thing flowed a lot better that way. Must be a huge challenge for the writers to produce something that works as individual episodes but also as one continuous 1 1/4 hr drama.

<Thinks nostalgically back to the lovely gentle filler bits that used to be included in the weekday episodes but omitted from the omnibus.>

Such profligacy! Compared to now, when everything is cut down to the bone and each episode lasts about six minutes …

Used to be so much fun spotting where a bit of change counting or a moan about the upkeep of the country park had been excised from Sunday morning’s episode.

Does Emma being able to get rid of Clive successfully mean that we were all of us right in our feeling that what she and Will needed to do was call Clive's bluff and tell him to go ahead and tell the police about George, and see how far that got him? Or will we discover next week that he has gone to see Brian and told him about George driving Alice's car that night?

Now that Kate has pissed him off, I doubt he’d do the Aldridges a good turn that directly. I’m hoping for something very public indeed, with Emmur and Will being unable to conceal that they have known for quite a while. Opprobrium all round.

Oh, the info to Brian wouldn't be free! He'd want a few hundred for it at least.

Alice was always portrayed as horsey- I used to ride when I was younger so I did pay attention to the horsey bits. She had a pony called Chandler who I think got laminitis and then there was time when she was doing lots of cross country and stamped her feet like Veruca Salt to be bought an expensive eventer called Spearmint. They sort of glossed over who took care of her horse while she was away at University. Not sure if she had upgraded from Spearmint by then. And she had a horse at the stables for a long time before she took over there, she sold it to pay for rehab, was mentioned recently as the buyer was at Cantering On.

Kate, by contrast, was never portrayed as interested in horses. Debbie had Tolly till he was about 100.

And rushes are round 🤣
Late to the party to quote you, sorry, but excited to see one of my favourite ecologists pneumonics!

@Canofworms99 I knew there was more to it!

I couldn't help thinking there was some foreshadowing in Susan's speech to Emma about Clive - there's something missing with him, but because he was my brother I gave him chance after chance, the fact is he's only out for himself and he genuinely doesn't care who he hurts in the process. Her words could equally have applied to Emma (and Will for that matter) and George. And there was further glorification of George by Harrison and the rest of the village - born aloft into the pub so he literally has further to fall. I think it can't be too long now before the truth comes out.

Yes, @LillianGish, that struck me too. Harrison so thrilled with George - if only he knew!

One minor query: how come Brad called Joy of all people about Penny Hassett (btw, sounds like a character from The Meaning of Liff) - I missed how they have a particular connection. I suppose it's unsurprising that he rings her rather than texting like most teenagers.

Good question, no idea!

It looks very much as if Brad might play the Kirsty role in the Bridge drama. Is this why he wasn’t allowed Durham - so he could be at the centre of the action when George eventually topples over?

Maybe, after it’s all resolved he might have another think and decide he’d like a little distance from Ambridge after all. (That can happen, scriptwriters, if you’re reading …)

Yes to all of this (as usual @LillianGish 😄)

Absolutely!

born aloft into the pub so he literally has further to fall.

‘….And home we brought you shoulder-high’?
That one doesn’t end well (unusually for Housman ).
I was all agog to find out how Ambridge was going to do in the cricket. We’re any of you agog too? Who could have foreseen triumph against long odds, in the final over, and George hitting a six ftw. It was probably a bumping pitch and a blinding light too, and they just forgot to mention it.

Why yes, I am a sour old trout. How can you tell?

They seemed to bowl the last three balls at breakneck speed, too.

I was kind of happy they won their division, though, since as long as I've been listening, the Ambridge team seems to have been consistently crap.

What happened to the Seniors team? And does the regular team include a bunch of the people that played on the Senior team? Cricket generally confuses me...

Well I must say that nothing said above makes me want to tune in for now! May hold off until after the denouement

Top of Division 5, if I heard aright! Wow. They'll be looking for sponsorship deals and putting up floodlighting at this rate.

Perhaps Imran Khan will offer to coach them from his prison cell?