Archers thread #172: Come on, Clive! Spill the beans and put us all out of our misery. 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 Clive sounds deeply misunderstood, 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.)

Fete over, cricket season over - can the Flower and Produce show be far behind? I don't think I've heard a mention of it this year. Have I not been paying attention?

In any real village, preparations for the Christmas show would already be under way, but not in Ambridge, of course. I am probably in a minority of one in regretting this.

With any luck, though, by Christmas this incredibly protracted tale of Alice, George and the crash will be behind us at last. Do we think Clive's really gone? I don't believe it. We won't be rid of him that easily. Will he go to the police himself? Will he attempt to blackmail his family or extort money from the Aldridges in return for information that would secure Alice's acquittal? Do we care? I find I don't really, unfortunately. I did enjoy hearing Clive for those few brief exchanges but I've had enough now. Unrelieved nastiness is not really what I want from TA.

Over to you!

@Godesstobe Your brother was prosecuted for being the wrong age, I suspect. A 40 year old in a suit would, I suspect, not have been prosecuted. Or even questioned. Unless he was drunk enough to be “drunk and disorderly”.

Yes, I think someone was short of his arrest quota and a nice, polite middle class boy was an easy target.

Yes, apparently before I met him and curbed his nascent criminal tendencies, Mr Gasp, a bespectacled tweed-jacketed geek's geek, was walking home from the College library after the hours of darkness with a bag of books and was stopped by a Met officer and asked to open his bag so they could check the contents. A more unlikely looking burglar I can hardly think of.

I think my brother would have preferred to have a conviction for being drunk and disorderly as there would have been a bit of kudos to that. A conviction for pushing a bicycle while drunk is just plain embarrassing.

I had an uncle and nephew in my class at the same time once.

Sounds like it’s going to be a good episode!!

Surprised they were in a b&b and didn’t sleep in the van

i think Ed is being ridiculous. I actually don’t think she had to share it. But then I’m not into the whole ‘a couple shares everything’.

how did George pay bail and get home? I do feel for Emma. And I think it’s unfair for Ed to pile this emotional pressure on her when he must now how she feels.

amd then Mia’s reaction 🙄. Glad George was sensible about that. But she was nice about it and it was nice to see the family dynamic

You don't pay bail in the UK. You usually have to agree to conditions (e.g. a residence condition):

https://www.gov.uk/charged-crime/bail

Interesting - I was thinking of assange!

also, wouldn’t there be an investigating officer and do we assume they were on duty then? Would they really come immediately for this or arrange an interview?

They haven't charged him, so maybe he has to go back for a further interview before that happens. Time to get him a solicitor, I think, and ideally not Usha, who will advise him to confess to everything he has ever done wrong and thus get him ten years inside.

@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime Brookfield cows home in on ditches to fall into, altogether too often.

This confirms that intelligence comes from environment (in this case their humans) rather than heredity.

There will be Team George in the village, those who argue he was brave anyway despite panicking and trying to frame Alice (who is anyway an alcoholic who deserves all she gets, according to some) and anyway he's only nineteen, whole life in front of him, not such a bad lad. We've already seen Mia being loyal. I reckon Kenton and maybe Tracy will be on Team George. Cue great family arguments and divisions.

ETA: It will test Oliver's sympathy to breaking point, IMO.

Cue it going on for ever! Just send the lot of them to Broadmoor/Rampton. Except possibly George, who seemed remarkably sanguine about the whole business.

I felt it was interesting that Emma and then Susan got the ‘blame’ for this. The mothers who have tried to do the right thing, ‘‘twas ever thus.

But seriously: Who the hell will ever tell George off? Who will say ‘yep, you are a loser and you have behaved appallingly and you must apologise with your heart and soul and btw you are a misogynist and you’ve got some serious thinking to do’. Starting to think I’ll have to do it myself.

Not that I'm trying to defend the little scrote, just guessing that there are people who will, especially those not too fond of the Aldridges.

Just send the lot of them to Broadmoor/Rampton You think they are all insane?

Emma reverted to her usual unpleasant type didn't she? Always somebody else's fault.

I'm probably biased as Neil Carter is the fictional dad I'd most like as my own, but honestly, she's reaching new lows. Can't wait for the screaming matches on the village green when somebody dares to criticise her poor boy.

P.s I have zero first cousins, no idea how common that is.

@Everlore , I also feel bad that it has never occurred to me that someone might be following the thread using screen reading software.

Please point out anything that doesn't work for you. You shouldn't need to, but you are one of us now, and if we don't know, we won't know. Some of us (I mean me) are a bit gormless and need telling, and I have a thick skin anyway.

I was teasing a bit in my earlier post. There aren't really any rules other than no spoilers.

As far as I know, Alice was drunk in charge of a motor vehicle, which unless she was arrested for it, she won't be charged for it. I think she was arrested for drink-driving. I have a soft spot for Alice, so I hope that is what happens.

Honestly I think Emma’s behaviour to her parents was a knee jerk reaction to the emotional pressure she is under and she recognised she was wrong.

i wonder if they discussed how they will tell people. Hard as it is they need to tell Chris and have him there to tell Alice asap

When you say no spoilers, does that mean we shouldn't really talk about plot developments until after the Sunday omnibus? Although I don't know anything in advance of the evening broadcast, I'm certainly guily of discussing it five minutes later, and I see I'm not alone. 😳

I think the omnibus doesn’t count - otherwise what’s the point!!

And I think speculation on what the continuity says is fair game

@AlexCabot , It's becoming more common. I can think of some.

I know one or two people who wish they hadn't.

Is it an offence to get drunk in a stationary car as long as you do not subsequently drive it?

Yes it is.