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!

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. Wouldn’t they have done both, to be on the safe side.

Turns out as well as there being separate “drunk in charge” and “drink driving” offences, there’s two separate drink-drive offences, Section 4 “driving under the influence” and Section 5 “driving with excess alcohol”. For Section 4, you don’t have to prove they were over the limit, just they were under the influence and were driving erratically. So they might be able to add that to George’s perverting the course of justice and dangerous driving charges, based on cider bottle and that he didn’t have control of the car.

I think it’s accepted that it’s OK once it’s broadcast, ie in the evening. And that’s why we can also talk about the continuity announcements.

They can't get George for the drinking offences. They can't guess at how much he might have drunk.

Yes - from Gaspode’s introductory post:

”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!”

They apparently don’t have to for the Section 4 offence. Just that alcohol has been consumed. There’s the empty cider bottle. And who knows what George will have said in his statement.

I have a soft spot for Alice.

I don't. She's a silly spoilt brat with a nasty side to her. How ironic after being so rude and condescending to Joy that it was Joy's recollection which set this in motion.

There's a very, very slight possibility that Alice might be forgiving.

Doh! Thanks. I knew I'd seen it somewhere that we didn't have to wait for the omnibus, but just now wondered how else there could be spoilers - unless people have inside knowledge? Probably there's stuff all over the interwebs if I bothered to look.

@IHaveNeverLivedintheCastle , she was off-hand with Joy because she was desperate for a drink. Cut her some slack.

Alice was horrible to a lot of people. I don't like her at all.

I think Alice will be captain of Team George. Everyone will expect her to be livid. But She knows what it's like to mess up massively. And to be hated. And to be scared.

PS haven't listened to tonight's episode yet!

Alice has been horrible to many people throughout her life, not excluding her mother and mother-in-law whom she actively enjoyed tormenting by pretending she had invited Clive to the party they were giving to celebrate her and Chris having got married in Las Vegas. Thoroughly and unnecessarily nasty behaviour done entirely to make them unhappy.

😁There's a very fine line between criminally insane and merely "criminally" stupid/incompetent - indeed a Venn diagram would probably show an overlap. In another life, I had a client in Broadmoor. He was both, or he'd never have been caught.

Maybe Alice will reflect on fallons forgiveness speech

No I won't. She wasn't just off-hand. She made an effort to sneer at Joy's taste in music. She wasn't even drunk then

It's also quite an easy way to be "nice Alice" without any effort.

Mainly from things like Radio Times listings for the coming weeks, and who is in the cast lists for the coming weeks

I wonder what the insurance situation is. Geeowerge would nor have been insured to drive Alice’s car?

Crikey, is Radio Times still going? I had no idea.
The main fun of TA for me is guessing what's going to happen (and being wrong, almost always wrong). If I knew what was going to happen in advance I'd only listen for the sheer quality of the scriptwriting and acting. Ahem, not very often, in other words.

But it would be good to know who the SWs are for a certain week. The BBC Archers site doesn't seem to give that info.

You obviously must be listening to a different version of The Archers. Alice is always lovely. Team Alice here.

@IHaveNeverLivedintheCastle spot on! That's exactly what I had in mind!

Really? Lovely is not a word I would ever associate with Alice!!

every time this conservation someone ( normally asking) tells another snippet from her history that I didn’t know (like the fake Clive invite) and I’m astonished again at her levels of vindictiveness

George sounded much calmer and more mature now the worst has happened. I liked the way he made it clear that Mia shouldn't think of giving up her university place. It showed he was thinking of others and not just himself. I have always thought this could be the making of George. He does need to stop blaming Emma though.

I thought the scene with Emma, Susan and Neil was excellent. Lots of blame being thrown around when emotions were running high, but then Emma started to think more rationally. I felt for them all. Susan and Neil were in pain because their child is so distressed and Emma is in pain because her child is distressed. They all love their children and have done their best to be good parents.

I suspect Alice will be very forgiving and will come across as a nice person. It won't fool me though - I won't forget all the unpleasant things she has done, sober as well as drunk.

Some policies cover any driver if the insured is incapacitated.

They all love their children and have done their best to be good parents.
Running off wth your father's brother isn't in my definition of being a good parent.

Still Team Alice.

the only reason I can think people might forgive Alice her many sins towards her in laws, friends and own family is that she’s a bit posh and compared to the Grundy carters she’s more polished

cant see it myself!