Archers thread #174: God it's lame! But it still limps on. 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 think Ben-meets-Zainab is on a par with Elizabeth-meets-Darcy, 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.)

Thanks to @Bruisername for the title inspiration. She said God it's lame and that seemed to strike a chord with many, for some reason.

I am terrified of wasps and live in fear of encountering a hornet, so that was a tricky episode. I hope that's the last we're going to hear of them, except for confirmation that they've been nuked. [shudder]

So what do we reckon - custodial or suspended sentence for George? Will Clarrie return from Great Yarmouth or will she realise that actually life as a carer for her (presumably disabled) sister is easier than the endless and thankless drudgery at Grange Farm? Will any more tables collapse at the Village Hall?

Over to you!

I loathe Lilian.

Before the accident she was asking Chris to have Martha more often for example. She wasn’t only drinking when it was his turn to have her. She was in a very bad place by the time of the accident

I am well tired of Alice and her troubles.

But, I suppose that is the nature of addiction - always there, always defining everything.

Utterly draining. (I have an addict in the family before anyone gets annoyed with me!).

Yes Alice was an alcholic before àll this and she even nearly dropped Martha at the christening. She only stopped drinking for a little while and was in charge of Martha while still secretly drinking and palming her off to poor stupid Chris.
She is the one that has cause thr trouble for poor Martha not George, Im surprised she didnt say she only started drinking because of the crash and blame George for that.
And if she had caused the crash and confessed to Aunty Lillian do you think Lil would get her to confess all or do a big cover up and not tell anyone. Why does Alice always get forgiven.
I know George was in the wrong but if she wasnt pissed in her car in the first place none of this would ever have happened. People seem to forget this.

Will being thrown out I meant.

You didn't offend me @Yardbird and thank you for your reply.

Alice was cruel to George. She's always been a shit mother. I wish feisty Emma would shake off her hair shirt and go in with guns blazing at Alice. She can also give wet Chris a piece of my mind while she's at it.

I know George was in the wrong but if she wasnt pissed in her car in the first place none of this would ever have happened. People seem to forget this

this feels like a popular attitude but in my mind the victim blaming is simmilar to saying.... well if someone had ra*ed her while she was unconscious that's her fault for being passed out and wearing reveling clothes....i.e. taking something without concent

And prosecuting alice incase her intension was to drive when still drunk feels a bit minority report ... damming people for possible future crimes they haven't yet committed, but might..

by all means try to prove in a court when she drunk drove in the past and get her for that
(although please don't look back at me in my early 20's driving back the next morning from friends parties/festivals... yes I'd sleped it off had a big breakfast, several lites of coke (a cola)etc but I was hungover and had no way of checking if I was under/over the limit)

I think the point was more that her behaviour was the catalyst for the whole thing. it’s not that she should be self flagellating but I don’t like the way she made out all the breakdowns in her relationships was purely down to the accident - she was on that route already

it just feels to me that she hasn’t taken responsibility for her own role in these breakdowns. Perhaps being able to blame it all on george will lead to a relapse? But of course the sw wouldn’t do that to saint alice

Don’t wish to derail the current discussion, but Keri Davies has said on Twitter that Khalil is 14. As you were…

Thanks Therapist! That answers a question!!! So he can be a mate for Henry? Would be nice to hear Henry being normal rather than the way they’ve chosen to write him over the past year.

If he's 14 no wonder he'd do anything for cake, they have the highest calorific requirement of any human at that age. They also tend to go cave troll at home while all their energy goes into doubling in size, communicating only by grunt, but paradoxically sometimes being quite charming with strangers.

I wonder if Zainab is being lined up for Brad rather than Ben. They are the same age.

So Khalil is a few months older than Henry?

Would they be in the same year at school? (Sorry, head a bit slow this morning.) Henry was born in January 2011.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/4F2LnBlmVRXzgmpXK1jgzLf/henry-archer

(Worrying that Johnny isn’t included amongst his immediate family in the BBC character list.)

Yellow legs! one of the Asian Hornets has survived.

I know George was in the wrong but if she wasnt pissed in her car in the first place none of this would ever have happened. People seem to forget this.

I don't understand this argument.

George had been drinking himself, hadn't he?

When you insert a link, you’ll see a dustbin in the bottom RH corner. If you click on it, it’ll just post the url, not the picture or whatever else is scheduled to pop up.

personally I didn’t mind- I know I’m disposed to like Jill because her voice reminds me of a friend of my mother’s who was very kind to me, and the picture reminded me the actress looks just like my mother’s friend too.

I don’t expect she’s getting as many offers of theatre work as she was getting back in the day

So what’s the point of Nextdoor when you can get all that on your Facebook community page?

That was years ago, but what I saw of it made me understand why UKIP/Reform candidates stand here, as I think quite a few of their followers must have been signed up. All the people I meet in our town (and I have been on a number of community groups) are liberal, left leaning. Local Facebook on the other hand is full of right wing vigilante types, some of whose views would have them banned from MN. I find the dichotomy amusing.

The interesting thing is that it was definitely an eighteen-house development, and Azra is renting number 20

If the road ran in front of all the houses, instead of between them, they’d be numbered (if on the right of the road) 2, 4, 6, …. 20, … 32, 34, 36, to allow for a later purchase of the land on the left for houses 1, 3, 5 etc to be built.

14! Tough paper round, then ... (Actor is 17, as I think I posted above.)

BTW, I've been listening to Pat (Patricia Gallimore) in a 1981 adaptation of Cold Comfort Farm on R4 Extra (via Sounds). Good version. Must try to see if I can find the 1995 TV one Rufus Sewell as Seth. Inspired piece of casting.

@MereDintofPandiculation If the road ran in front of all the houses, instead of between them, they’d be numbered (if on the right of the road) 2, 4, 6, …. 20, … 32, 34, 36, to allow for a later purchase of the land on the left for houses 1, 3, 5 etc to be built.

Ooh, well thought out! I really should have thought of that, given that one side of our road mysteriously runs from 23 to 37, then 43 to 80-something and the other goes 2 to 32, then 90 to 130-something! The gaps actually makes sense now, as it's all green space (apart from the missing 37 and 41, which would involve building over one end of another residential street!) so thank you.

Here it is @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000y2f8/cold-comfort-farm

Last night's was very emotional!

Thank you so much!

🤣
So true. I have one grandson just leaving that stage and one just entering it who grows visibly by the week.