Archers thread #173: The Fall of the House of Grundy? 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 wish we were hearing more of Pip, 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.)

I chose the thread title to echo one I used three years ago, which is here if anyone fancies a trip down Memory Lane: www.mumsnet.com/talk/radio_addicts/4320618--Archers-thread-130-The-Fall-of-the-House-of-Aldridge-Discuss-The-Archers-here. That was the thread where I caused all sorts of confusion at the start by not starting it before the old thread filled up, but others stepped in, fortunately.

At that point I see Ruairi was heading off to London to start his degree, which he has now finished, with none of us any the wiser about what he studied or where. Perhaps this will finally be mentioned now he's graduating.

And now, over to you!

Harrison will lose his shit with someone and get in trouble (and probably sacked) and he’ll blame Fallon.

@DeanElderberry I did enjoy your impassioned defence of Samwise the Brave!

Yes that’s what I think

the responsible thing for Harrison to do would be to get signed off sick so he can deal with his issues. Not just run away and shit all over his wife

He tried twice to talk about it; Fallon had to let him know that it wasn't a good time. Yes, if he's serious about it (who knows after last night) then he should talk to her about it, but not when he knows she's got a major thing on her mind for herself. I maintain that it is selfish to wade in wanting to talk about your own job when the first thing on your mind should have been the more urgent (because time sensitive) matter of your wife's job. They didn't, in the end, have the conversation he wanted, but that was because Fallon put a stop to it, not because he thought better of it.

I hope the new cafe's back room has space for a bed...

Fallons impact statement....i was thinkng harison is either:
-going to read fallons statement and go mad (because she doesn't mention 'our bebe' /be grateful to George for rescuing her) and end up in some kind of trouble
-or add his own bit to the statement /re-write it for her making it all abut the loss of the miracle baby

Arguably, his is the more urgent, because hers depends on his. And he is saying, not that he dislikes his job and wants to leave, but that he is afraid he won’t be able to keep a lid on his temper and will injure someone.

But he needs to address that and not just quit and run away

So did I! In the Radio 4 dramatisation of LOTR from 1981 Bill Nighy played Sam, and very well too. He was so little known then that he's credited as William Nighy. I loved that adaptation. I had a boxed set of cassettes, long gone now, sadly. There's an outside possibility I might have replaced it with a boxed set of CDs - must check. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings_(1981_radio_series)

John Rowe did sound very frail last night. He's only 83, though, which by Archers actor standards is a mere teenager.

John Rowe did sound very frail last night. He's only 83, though, which by Archers actor standards is a mere teenager.

I agree. And of all the people in Ambridge, he must surely be at the lower end of pretty much all the risk factors for ill health apart from age: lifelong in a professional job not working with anything hazardous or heavy manual labour, non-smoker, physically and mentally active (even though I haven't heard him bird watching for a while, I assume he still gets out in the countryside), good social network, seems to eat reasonably well and not drink to excess ...

I wonder if the sound he was going for was shocked rather than frail. I hope so.

@Atichen my money's on the former - he's going to be scandalised by Fallon's lack of reference to beybeh and kick off, leave the house, run into George, who will get a suspended sentence against ALL the sentencing guidelines and kick the sh*t out of him...

But he was really keen to talk to Fallon about giving up his job, despite knowing she was fully preoccupied with preparing for her interview for something that is really important to her, and that this would totally derail her.

I also thought Jim sounded frail - and crossed my fingers that neither the actor nor the SWs have unwelcome plans …

I forgot the Archers connection with the R4 LOTR. Jack May, i.e. Nelson Gabriel, my favourite TA character of all time, was Theoden.

(Have just found it on archive.org, listening now. What a cast! Will attempt to shut up about it.)

Perhaps he'll do his own impact statement. Which could be interesting as that might just open the door to George's lawyer pointing out that he has already taken action against George to relieve his feelings, and maybe that's more than enough in terms of the impact on him.

Perhaps he'll do his own impact statement

I thought the idiot had already done one. There wouldn’t be any need to change it just because a different person turns out to have been driving, surely…

Harrison always waits until Fallon is busy or doing something important to her or about to go to see their friends or something that isn't to do with all-important Harrison to try to have a heavy talk with her, though. Happens all the time.

Usually the result is that she doesn't stroke his ego enough, by not agreeing with everything that he says and looking at her troubles only from his point of view, and he ends up rushing away from the talk he has insisted upon, but this time it seems possible that he'll throw another breakdown and then blame her for it.

Oh no! I can't do without Jim. He and Old Robert were balm.

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g am very excited to come across another radio 4 LOTR fan. I have listened to it so often that the theme music instantly whisks me to a teenage happy place. For years I consumed it from cassettes that a kind adult neighbor made for me after having recorded them from his radio when they were originally broadcast, including planning his driving holiday in France to be near a hill at broadcast time, for maximum reception. But I didn’t know about the cast overlaps, except for the rather satisfying Frodo to bilbo handover

I met the bloke responsible for that LoTR once (I forget his name), at a friends house some time in the mid eighties, and asked him for the rationale behind the opening (which completely gave away an important plot point later in the books). He had no cogent answer to offer, and clearly despised me for questioning his Artistic Vision.

To be fair to Harrison though - Fallon spent every penny she earnt when younger, and was amazed to find that Harrison had these things called 'savings' which enabled them to buy the cottage. He has supported her vanity projects amazingly successful business enterprises for their whole marriage.

So Lynda and Jim form the Ambridge Murder(pie) club.

Fan here of the r4 LOTR. Have the cassette tapes of the series, and also the vinyl record of the music. Unfortunately I don't have a record player now! I loved the music, especially Treebeards song. That was the first time I heard Bill Nighy, one of my favourite actors.

pinkfleece
Harrison had these things called 'savings' which enabled them to buy the cottage.

I think it was more that his parents re-mortgaged their house in order to give him the deposit with which he was able to get his own mortgage.

Lowfield, Sunday 30th July, 2017 (direct copy-and-paste)
"Harrision is shocked. His parents have offered to lend them the deposit to help them buy Woodbine. They'd have to extend the mortgage on their own house. Initially Fallon says they can't do that. And they've had their offer accepted on the Borchester house. They don't know what to do. Later on, Harrison calls and says he can't concentrate. He wants to accept his parents offer and Fallon agrees."

BBC Summary, Sunday, 30 July 2017
"Fallon's daunted by the prospect of buying a house in Borchester. Then she and Harrison hear that his parents want to lend them money so they can buy Woodbine. Fallon and Harrison agree to accept the offer."

How urgent they feel it is to repay Harrison's parents we have never heard as far as I know.

I’m sure Harrison had savings. There was talk of ISAs.

My parents ‘lent’ me money (saying they would ‘take it out of my inheritance’) to make my deposit bigger when I bought my first flat. They had paid for my DSis’s wedding. When I later got married, DM admitted part of the reason for boosting my deposit was because they didn’t think they’d ever have to pay towards a wedding for me 😄 thanks mum! I know they keep approximate track of how they have supported us over the years but luckily, unlike in the Archer family, there is no favouritism, nor demands from us for an equal sum when a sibling is given some financial support! Maybe Harrison’s parents are like mine and try to give help where and when it is most useful. I felt it was implied at the time that they thought it was a good move as Harrison was so financially responsible.

Tbf Fallon has rarely been in a job that would make having a lot of savings easy whereas Harrison has been