Archers thread #175: Crime, punishment and kittens. 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 your current highlight is the kitten naming, 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.)

As I am posting this on Sunday morning at a point where some omnibus listeners won't have caught up with this week's events, I've kept the title less spoilerish than I might have done. Below this point, everything broadcast to date is of course fair game, so be warned!

Of course the main interest for most us at the moment is indeed the kitten naming competition. Isn't it? No?

Oh well, since you insist ...

How do we think George is going to cope now? Whither the Grundy and Horrobin clan? Will Lilian choke on her G&T (please)? Will Kenton get septicaemia from a kitten scratch? Will Alice die of sanctimoniousness? Will Fallon spend the rest of her life with the appalling Harrison and his unfulfulled longing for a behbeh? Will Adam and Will come to blows in the Bridge Farm packing shed?

Over to you!

Kenton married Mel to get Australian citizenship; then they had a child; then he "borrowed" Mel's life savings; then he went bust and lost the lot; then she threw him out and the Australian government made it clear that he was not welcome in the country any more (they threatened him with imprisonment) so he came back to Ambridge. I think Phil may have paid off his debts yet again at that point, but luckily for Meriel, Mel found a decent bloke to marry and moved to New Zealand with him, so Kenton never paying a penny in maintenance didn't mean his daughter grew up in penury.

For several years "I miss my daughter!" was a regular plaint of Kenton's when people were nasty to him.

Oh my gosh @AskingQuestionsAllTheTime my tiny mind is blown!! I’ve been properly listening since Nigel died and did not know anything about the fruit of Kenton’s loins… thanks for the background!

Meriel was born in April 2001, I think.

Oh I do miss Jenny!

I hope the disco turns into the scene from the film of Carrie.

C for Chris …

💔❤️‍🩹🙏

Never have I given so many mumsnet ‘thanks’ in such swift succession!

loved Brian, loved Clarrie, and laughed out loud at @TottersBlanklyTopplesOver having waited half a lifetime for resolution of the Archers inheritance storyline 😆

Thought Alice was both lovely and kind and also patronising and deluded, it’s possible to be both, and I’m glad Emma has someone to talk to.

Serious question - wtf is Ian doing as CHAIR of the PTA? Did I mishear that?! I’m child free so possibly misinformed, but I was a school governor for years at different schools where the chair of the PTA was an institution for years, they would NEVER let some random wade in and start throwing his chef-ly ways around. I understand he may have wanted to join but his immediate promotion was hilarious (to me). Although I will permit it for the sake of some new light storylines of course.

Did anyone hear that disgruntled, cynical growl Chris let out when him and Alice were talking about Apple day? It sounded a lot like Neil I thought. All in all a very satisfying couple of episodes.

Kenton has a daughter of whom I know nothing but I want her to come to Ambridge and marry Ruairi and insist he change his name to Donovan-Archer (or Archer-Donovan) and buy back Home Farm and enrage all the cousins and siblings.

Because.

Totters I can’t 100% interpret your emojis… are you praying for Chris’ mended heart with Alice or praying for more heartbreak for the two of them?

Oh, sorry! The former!

<Eyes suitable second wedding hats>

Haha, me too! 👒 👒 (hats for us both)

Noooo! I like Chris and want him to get together with someone lovely. He'll have to find her outside Ambridge, obviously.

@DeanElderberry - I think Kenton's daughter (Meriel? Something like that ...) is a bit old for Ruairi, and insufficiently wealthy to make him overlook that. I'm also confused as to whether she's an Aussie or a New Zilnder, though this may be deliberate cunning on the part of the SWs, so that if she does ever turn up, any old Antipodean accent will do.

Didn’t George say “Auntie Alice?” when he came across her in her car on the fateful night?

Meriel's less than 18 months older than Ruairi, and he has demonstrated an ability to cope with an older woman. Maybe he even likes them. I really want it to happen because it would cause so much all-round rage. Maybe Auntie Niamh will die and leave him a fortune.

Gonners
I think Kenton's daughter (Meriel? Something like that ...) is a bit old for Ruairi

She was born in April 2000 and he was born in November 2002; I have no idea whether that is too great an age-gap these days.

Meriel's less than 18 months older than Ruairi ...

Wow, really? I'd assumed he went to the Anti-Podes (and came back) as a much younger man. In my defence, when Meriel was born I was in China.

April 2000 -> November 2002 = 8 + 12 + 11 = 31 months, not 18.

31 months is negligible by my (admittedly relaxed) standards. Since the age of 27, I have gone from 11½ years older to 8 years younger to (currently) 9½ years older.

With the benefit of hindsight, they have all been unwise choices.

Oh, I loved Jenny.

Ugh. No. Please not.
I don’t like (nu)Chris much, but he could do a great deal better for himself in terms of character and temperament. And Alice would be mad to further enmesh herself with the Starkadders Carter-Grundy clan. Emmur marrying two Grundys in succession was daft enough, but to sign up twice for Susan as a mother-in-law?
And it would be an unmitigated disaster. The veneer of forgiveness concealing unresolved anger and hurt combined with the inevitable anxious scrutiny would make a far nicer and less thirsty woman than Alice go out one fine morning to down half a gallon of tequila, and who could blame her? All they really have in common now is Martha, and I doubt the brat is interesting enough to do that much heavy lifting.

I found the PTA scenes ... triggering. DD's primary school had a rather aggressive enthusiastic PTA and Chair. The Christmas Fayre was the stuff of nightmares.

The Archers Encyclopedia says Meriel was born on May 16th 2001. Published by the BBC, so if they've changed that since I'd love to know why.

It and various other books about Ambridge are still beside the bed since the Great Bridge Terror Night, I really should put them back on their shelf in the attic.

Is Ian the chair of the PTA or just organising the disco? D-Day indeed 🙄

I keep reading PTA as PiTA for some reason.