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!

I have no problem with that misreading!

Entirely understandable, because Ian.

Ian, putting the 'I' in PTA.

I bet someone on Ambridge village whatsapp has already posted that.

Ian, putting the 'I' in PTA. This should surely be included in a thread title.

I think most apple peelings would come out in the shape of a C. Or an S may be- which would make Stella and Susan suddenly very in demand. Selen is a bit young for this game. Robert and Lynda could qualify as posssible candidates due to their surname- not sure how purist the apple peel judges are…

What's happened about Lily's Grey Gables job? Is she supposed to be doing it still on top of her degree?

Also, Harry Chilcott.

I think her Mother was Australian but they were living in New Zealand last we heard (or vice versa), so any old Antipodean would fit.

I started listening regularly shortly before the Rob stabbing incident, I think. Great Bridge Terror Night (great name) reminded me that there was a flood storyline before that, which I think I only caught bits of. Was there something about a body stuffed in a culvert? Is there an unsolved murder still hanging about? Or have I been listening to too many crime dramas?

1100 fraudsters and drug dealers being released today. Do you think George will get an early release?

Another awful account of life in prison is on the Sky News app this morning …

While i don't think prisons should be rat-infested cokroach-ridden dens of awfulness, what i worry about more is what happens when they are released. There is zero support and zero hope that a lot of them won't land back inside very soon.

I watched a German news report about it this morning. It is a criminal justice system that isn't just broken, it is smashed beyond anything recognisable.

This was genuinely my first thought when I heard that headline on the Today programme and then I reminded myself George is not a real person 😂

I quite agree. There was a quote either on this thread or the last one which said the act of being sent to prison should be the punishment itself, not the experience you have while you're there. Prisons should be for rehabilitation (where possible) and keeping dangerous people away from society (when not possible), not made to suffer in some law-less hell hole of bullying, aggression, drug abuse and suicide. No wonder re-offending rates are so high when opportunities to rehabilitate are missed and people are just chucked back out with no money and no support.

I could see the plotlines reflecting the headlines and George getting released early, maybe on a tag?

Argh. Sorry! Yes, you and it are right: Kenton in 2000 said he was going to be a dad, not that he was one. Sorry. But that means she is less older than Ruairi anyway, so I don't see the age-gap as being such a terrible problem.

No body, no murder. Charlie nearly got caught in a culvert trying to clear it (Rob having filled it with junk to block it and keep the flood out of Berrow) and Adam hauled him out.

Lowfield synopsis, Wednesday 4th March, 2015
"Charlie asks Adam for help in dislodging whatever is clogging the drain. Adam refuses at first but then changes his mind. Ian is at Grey Gables and Adam can't save much by himself. Adam and Charlie climb in the the digger.
....
"Charlie and Adam are having problems with clearing out the blockage and the digger becomes stuck. Charlie gets into the water to dig by hand and Adam panics. Charlie manages to unblock the drain but his foot gets trapped as the water rushes through the unstopped drain. Charlie goes under as Adam shouts at him to grab onto his hand. Ed hears Adam's cries but Eddie convinces him that it is nothing.
"Adam works on Charlie to get him breathing again. After a tense few moments, Charlie sputters and chokes. A greatly relieved Adam declares that Charlie shouldn't worry, Adam is not going to leave him."

It later came out that a Berrow worker called Stefan saw Rob blocking the drain/culvert (he told Jennifer and David about it, and they didn't do anything because they thought he was mistaken) but Rob had sent him him back to Poland before Charlie was able to question him about it.

And he was not killed by Rob rather than being sent to Poland, because he later turned up to blackmail Rob about it for money, and, when Rob didn't pay up, went and told Justin what he had see; Justin paid him off, then sacked Rob.

[makes note]

Emma is going to be seriously unhappy when she discovers that Brad has got the invitation to visit George that she has been living for. And she will find out, because Tracy is not going to keep quiet about her distaste for the idea of Brad going prison-visiting.

She'll find out. all right! But I wonder why George wants to see Brad rather than his mum?
Is it the Freddy thing, that his mum would get too upset? Or something else?

He sees Brad as a friend - pretty much the only one who's been nice to him. Plus he probably feels he doesn't have to protect Brad or show bravado as he might to his mum.

George will want Brad to do or procure something for him.

Emmur is going to be mightily cheesed off, so that’s good.

Are you saying Brad has been kept at home for uni so he can have his life ruined by a Grundy??

That would be pretty unbearable.

Which Grundy would we rather ruined his life, George or Mia?

I don't like Brad but that would be a horrible result.

Why can't he go to a good university which his results merited?

Mia isn't a Grundy. William is her stepfather.