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!

I think he did but I'm sure he didn't say Meg. I didn't catch what it was unfortunately.

Without listening again - I’m pretty sure he didn’t use anyone’s name.

That’s the whole point of the cliffhanger, surely?!

(cheating by listening again)
No, he didn't say a name. He said [traffic sounds in background] 'Hi, this is George, George Grundy. Um, I don't know if, er, I don't really know, er, I'm just leavin' a message to ask er, huh, what I wanted to ask is for a favour, and I wouldn't be ringin' like this if I didn't really need to ask you. Well, uh, what I want to know is, if you can help me.'
[Scene ends]
It's here at 10.24 https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00223p8

At the risk of sounding unbearably BOOP-y, I’m not finding it boring. In fact yesterday was the first time in a dog’s age that I’ve tuned in live.

I’ve just finished listening and he didn’t say a name - I assumed Meg after all the speculation, though she is not too far away is she? I’m imagining Alice will remember something during her next hypno session and George will be found to have run off which will pretty much prove her right. It’s all been a bit over-convoluted for me when there were already some great clues. The answer phone message could have turned up around now if it hadn’t already been deleted, the cider bottle some possible cctv footage showing he didn’t walk the stretch he said he walked…I’m hoping Emma will now finally confide in Susan and Neil as I would like to hear their take on it.

I must have taken one of the 'uh's for a mumbled name. I can't imagine why Meg would want to harbour a wanted criminal person of interest to the Police (which he will be by then).

Meg wouldn't know he's a person of interest, though, would she? Or that Alice has pleaded NG. If she knows anything about the accident she'll know he's a hero, and she knows he's Bartleby's devoted former keeper, and if he spins a yarn about having fallen out with Mum & Dad she'll help....

(But I'm still hoping it's Clive or the dog gang)

I assume if it's Meg then he needs to confide in Bartleby ... or possibly harness him up so that they can go on the road together, travelling the remoter areas of Borsetshire repairing saucepans or whatever.

There isn’t a name in the catch-up

I reckon that’s what he’ll do - take Bartleby and go on the run. Isn’t Bartleby ancient though? He won’t get far!

Here they are.

I actually own a tortoise and I can vouch for the fact that he moves considerably faster than this glacial SL.

I don't think Bartleby is the ideal getaway vehicle.

So many times I wish we had more than a Thanks reaction on here, when a LOL is really what's needed.

I have an awful feeling that the only reason I'm continuing to listen is in order to find what you lot have to say about it aftewards.

Or even beforehand.

The message he left gave the impression he was in trouble though and she would probably want to know the nature of his problem.

A friend of mine who is a criminal judge reckons the sentencing guidelines give a starting point of four years custody...

The thing about @WagnersFourthSymphony 's transcription is that the "Well, uh" doesn't really seem to go with the following "What I want..." There's a pause between them. To me it sounds more like "If I didn't really need to ask you, wolla." where the "wolla" sounds like the end of a sentence, with the intonation of saying a name, so I thought it was "weller" or "rolla" or some weird name that I couldn't quite catch.

But I suspect Wagner is right (thanks for typing it out), and my hearing is letting me down.

You could be right. My punctuation there is a bit arbitrary. George is breathless and nervous. It still sounds like a filler; I can't make it sound like a name I recognise.
Waller?

I wish they'd hurry up, but I do think this is a great storyline and it really could SATTC (unlike Nigel's demise) although only one Archer is involved.

Ed is going to be furious with Emma and Will, doesn't bode well for the tree surgery business
Chris is going to be furious with Emma, Will and George
Susan is going to have to eat her words (ha, never going to happen)
George is facing a likely custodial sentence. He's in big trouble, whatever.
Emma and Will could be facing criminal charges (also not good for tree surgery business)
Even if they don't, Emma is going to be revealed as a lying hypocrite ('let me give you a character reference, Alice')
Ed and Emma's relationship will be under strain
Neil is going to be all sad and resigned
Alice is going to feel both vindicated ('see, I wasn't driving!') and guilty ('but I don't want George to go to prison, I'm an alcoholic so it was all my fault anyway')
Clarrie is going to be mooing a lot. Maybe she and Susan can weep together over the yoghurts.

And Ambridge will say (this is sounding like a game of Consequences now) 'Horrobin blood will out! '

The fallout will be much more interesting than this interminable dragging out they are doing with george

NFU rep discussing solar panels on World at One right now. (Well they were earlier.)

I forget which of Ruth or David is currently in possession of that ball at the moment. Long time since they’ve bothered to remember their NFU role(s).

Isn't Clive still inside? Armed robbery is a pretty long sentence.

Uncle Alf or Uncle Keith might be out and willing to help though...

Any of them coming back would be fun though!

Is he still inside? According to wikipedia, he got 12 years for the attack on George Barford in 2004 (sentenced when? out when?) and went back inside again for breaking the terms of his licence by visiting Ambridge in 2012 - so he's probably wild and free again these days. 😀
But TBF I'd have expected him to have been mentioned in passing before now (I don't want to end up like Uncle Clive!) if he were about to appear again.

Isn't Clive still inside? Armed robbery is a pretty long sentence.

Probably. He committed the armed siege of the PO in 1993 (4 years to life,) assault of George Barford in 1997 (max 5 years,) and 2004 arson of the police house (4+ years.) He was sent back to prison in 2012 for breaking the terms of his licence, which would imply he was out on probation. That's 12 years ago. It depends what sentences he got, which I don't think we've ever been told. Perhaps he's found God and got an OU education - though I doubt it; I suspect he's committed other crimes we haven't been told of, because they were in Waterley Cross and Felpersham rather than Ambridge.

I can't imagine Emma, Susan or Tracy would have been encouraging visits to Uncle Clive at any time, so George probably doesn't know him, just know of him.

Sentencing guidelines

I reckoned starting point of 2 years and rage of 1-4. There are some mitigating factors.