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!

George, at a rough guess though I'm no expert: Taking without consent, driving without insurance, dangerous driving (being distracted by passenger), attempting to pervert the course of justice (his false statement to police). Don't know if his moving Alice into driver's seat (ISTR she was in passenger seat when he came across her and nudged her upright; he only had to move her actual seating position once?) might amount to a second charge of attempting to pervert.

Emma ran off with Ed before George was born, didn't she? (Possibly even before he was conceived!) Because I'm pretty sure there was a question of paternity there.

I can't remember whether it was Alice or Christopher who in 2009 enjoyed making Susan unhappy by some rubbish about a fruit bowl of which she was particularly fond being used for the church flowers (or something of the kind) and then being given away for charity, and them getting it back for her but pretending they hadn't, or some such farrago. I'll admit that I simply assumed Alice was the motive power because it was typical Alice and Christopher had not shown a sadistic streak towards his mother before. Exasperated, yes, sometimes, but not vindictive.

– This was very unfair of me, because Lowfield explains "Christopher is such a lovely thoughtful boy to think of doing something nice for his mum. Neil observes that he didn't actually give her the fruit bowl but it makes sense to Susan: it wasn't quite right. But she doesn't know the truth of it.
Mike does: lovely thoughtful Chris's plan was to buy the bowl, which looked rather similar to the lost one, and get his Uncle Keith to smash it in front of his mum, just to see her go into orbit. Alice persuaded him against, so that is why he sold it."

Ah well. I shall go on thinking that it was Alice's influence that actuated Christopher to something so completely atypical of him.

She screwed with Ed on her hen night, having gone off and found him for the purpose; she then didn't know which brother had sired her foetus and decided that Will, whom she was already going to have a wedding with, would be a better provider so she'd stick to him.

About a year later she decided she'd rather be with Ed, so she told him and Will that he was Little Georgee's father and ran off with Ed, leaving Will thoroughly cuckolded and despairing. Only then, when Will insisted on a paternity test, it transpired he was the father not Ed, and Ed eventually walked out on her.

Tonight's episode was brilliant

I agree, it made me cry.

I wonder how much hand wringing about the past there’ll be. Like Susan kind of knowing about the postbox fire etc

Can we have ‘Bye George!’ possibly in the next thread title? 😆

All excellent tonight apart from the bit where Mia agreed to still go away to Uni after Will and George persuaded her. Yes their words and concern for her were lovely but her changing within seconds from “Of course I can’t go” to “Oh alright OK then” in a singsong voice, seemed a tad unrealistic.

Poor Emma.

Excellent episode.

This was all a bit before my time. How did Emma and Ed end up back together once he’d left her over the revelation that George was Will’s child?

I only vaguely remember, something like: after another year or two, she basically realised Will was boring and Ed was The One.

They agreed to share Georgie

Gosh, don't worry about it. It is so easy to scroll past a quoted post and I have no idea why someone would want to chastise you for that.

It is definitely not a rule.

Is announcing how many cousins you have not actually a requirement, then?

The last two episodes have restored my faith. Damn them.

Was it a radio 4 play? Some of those make no sense at all and I think sometimes that if these plays are written by up and coming writers then god help us.
Glad Mia was talked out of not going to uni, when she said she would stay I was like NOOOOOOOOO! Get ye gone!
I was laughing when someone suggested that Harrison gets run over by a steamroller, reminds me of the scene in Austin Powers, when it take about half an hour for the steamroller to get to the baddie who is going noooo and Austin is shouting get out the way.
I love silly comedy like that.

I could make another rule ...

Re the spoilers, the request to keep advance information about episodes not yet broadcast separate and carefully hidden is a very long-standing one, going back to the old BBC messageboards (Mustardland). I just inherited it. I have a hazy memory that OliviaMN, much missed moderator who was also a TA listener, insisted on it here, but I could be imagining that.

I'm disappointed. Here was me (not on the spoilers' thread) imagining that all the posters on there must be second cousins to the actors and script writers and thus have proper insider intel. 😂I should have had an inkling that this wasn't so when it turned out in recent days that none of you talk to your second cousins.

Has there ever been any on-air depiction before now of closeness between Mia and George? I found that a bit manufactured and it seemed more thrown in because the Mia actor happens to be in shift at the moment.

George lived mostly with his Mum when Mia and Jake were living with Will and Nic, so it wasn’t a full domestic step siblings setup.

Come to think of it, what is Jake up to these days? Nobody ever talks about how he did in his exams or what job/study he went into.

The scenes between Emma, Susan and Neil were outstanding, those three absolutely come across as genuine family.

Ed is a self-centred idiot, instantly making it all about him. I’ve really gone off him. Though it was a little bit interesting to see that there is always a tiny glimmer of the jealousy that Will was the first to woo Emma. Thinking about it, from the moment that George’s paternity was established, it was inevitable that George would have to get into trouble just so we could see how the brothers dealt with it. Long games like this are what make decades of listening so satisfying.

I think Emma will have a breakdown as the only people who will be nice to her are her parents and ex husband - she will be shunned by her friends, employer, brother and her son and husband are angry with her

i thought George and Mia didn’t get on

hmmm, what (or who) are you trying to conceal?

Even if one had missed the many other examples of Alice being a mean drunk and a spiteful egoist over the years, how could anyone have heard her attack on Ruairi and imagined she was not a heartless and manipulative monster?

She'll have Eddie and Clarrie too, though Clarrie will be mostly wobbly blubbering.

Fallon's reaction will be interesting, as I'd anticipate her being understanding, were it not that her first loyalty is to her friend Alice.

Helen is the wildcard. She could go either way.

Sorry again for breaking the rules and please consider me suitably chastised, I promise not to do it again.

Ignore the thread police @Everlore - there are no rules other than no personal attacks.

I wish people would move their non Archers talk to a separate thread as I get thumb fatigue from scrolling past endless chatter about food, cousins, plants but I live and let live.

Ed was an arse last night. No surprise there. Of course he had a right to be pissed off but the bigger issue was his step son has committed a crime and is in Big Trouble.