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!

Exactly what I assumed too. I wonder if that's what we were meant to read into it.

I did cringe at Rhea calling him a "hot headed idiot" - absolutely not what a young person would say in 2024! I know they can't use swear words but even so, surely they could find something more realistic?

Oooh, I used to be randomly stopped in the seventies. I was even asked when I gave up taking drugs.

Maybe it was because they thought I was Jewish.... Can't have been because I was black or Asian, because I'm not, and don't look it even under orange street lights. Perhaps I ought not to have worn my only warm jacket, which happened to be made of leather.

I also assumed the unwritten message was 'because he is black'. And 'pushing a security guard' was Rhea underplaying what actually happened - the consequences of the 'push' must have been a bit more serious than just causing him or her to stagger. But Brad should have known better than to ask.

Have they announced the winner of 'name the kitten' yet or is that story-line being dragged out indefinitely still awaiting conclusion? It all feels a bit anti-climactic now that George's fate has been sealed, although obviously ripples will continue to spread.

I'm hoping for 'Harrison loses the plot, and wreaks his revenge on the Grundys' - with luck, Pip and Helen will be visiting when this occurs and become collateral victims. Maybe he could just stand in the Bull and swing his truncheon recklessly. There aren't many characters I'd want to save at the moment.

Rhea sounded like the generic Ambridge PSA voice for calmly explaining NHS treatments (that you wouldn’t get in real life), legal issues etc etc. Odd choice for a prison visitor.

@MerelyPlaying didn't the kitten go to the GPs son (whose name I have forgotten).

Neil. We always save Neil.

It was the 'accused of stealing sweets' - who talks like that! Nicking or robbing and you just wouldn't say sweets. Is he actually 9? Is this the Christmas Dickensian spin off episode?

Rhea sounded like the generic Ambridge PSA voice for calmly explaining NHS treatments (that you wouldn’t get in real life), legal issues etc etc. Odd choice for a prison visitor.

Yes, I thought she was jarringly well-spoken for the way the character was written: teen mum, rhyming mum and daughter names (wouldn't pass muster on the MN baby naming boards!), boyfriend in prison for assault ... none of it really screams RP in normal soapland typecasting.

And, if she is supposed to be black and adept at code switching, a fellow prison visitor is not an obvious choice to use your posh voice on.

I exaggerate. She wasn't that RP. But enough that there was a noticeable mismatch.

My husband, who back then looked exactly like what you'd have drawn if asked to draw a nerd or a geek or whatever the 1980 equivalent was, was once stopped by the police in Belsize Park walking back to his bedsit (the area has changed somewhat since) and asked to show them what was in his bag. He was carrying a holdall full of obscure textbooks from the university library. I imagine the police were a bit disappointed with the contents. They may have imagined he was a housebreaker carrying his tools and a silver candlestick, like something from a 1950s comedy.

Oh I didn’t assume Rhea was black, just that Elliott was.

I assumed he had adhd. Tells you a lot about my life!!

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g Back in the early 70s, my then boyfriend (long hair, jeans, very middle-class) was coming home from work on Christmas Eve and was stopped and searched by the Notting Hill police. His bag contained a bottle of red wine and a very decent bottle of port - Christmas gifts from his generous wine merchant employer - and (obviously) no receipt. They arrested him and dragged him down to the nick, where he told them the truth (again) but as they couldn't get hold of the owner to confirm this, they shoved him in the cells. Eventually it occurred to someone to call the contact number for break-ins and they got hold of the shop manager, who confirmed that he knew BF, yes he worked there, and yes, this was legit. Neither of them mentioned that the manager was BF's brother-in-law, which was probably wise. The police brought him home around midnight and wished him a Merry Christmas.

Me too.

Can I just say how much I loathe Fagash and Phlemgy?

Oh my God - does Jolene have to call everyone ‘ma darling’

and Lynda is right - the bloody kitten name competition has been going on too long!. And they only decided to draw from the pot 10 minutes ago and suddenly it’s cheating just to go back to the original plan of choosing the best

nice of Pat

I enjoyed Brad and Pat's scene.

I'm warming to Brad.

i can only ever imagine her in a Captain pugwash hat, hook for hand and peg leg. She is an awful character and the actor's accent really really puts me off.

Arrrrr.

Why would Phlemgy know Brad's mobile number?

Arrrrr, Jolene can be annoying but Fagash is in a league of her own for utter awfulness. She and Justin thoroughly deserve each other and I hope one (or both) of them gets done for drunk driving.

Doesn't Bradford have any work to do at Felpersham University? He missed lectures to visit George, he's been all over Ambridge and the surrounding areas saying "Give us a job" with the drone, and now he's meeting Justin in the middle of the day without even knowing why. I'm worried he's going to fail his degree at this rate, even without the stress of thinking he's all George has got.
I'm also increasingly worried he is going to get involved with smuggling something into George. Perhaps not drugs though because I doubt Brad would know where to source them (unless Rhea turns out to be a supplier).
IRL Rhea would smuggle drugs in to her boyfriend in the baby's nappy on a Family Visits Day (as the sniffer dogs won't get too close to children in case they upset them). Another entirely plausible scenario would be for Emma to get a phone call telling her that George will be beaten up/ have boiling water poured on him unless she pays money into an outside bank account.

I wondered that. Have they ever even spoken to each other before?

In my day first years had at least three or four contact hours a day, and had to read and produce coursework.

I had 8 hours a week and could then do the work on my own hours (night owl). Slept through most lectures mind you…

Listening to feedback

Bloody Emma Freud taking everyone for idiots. She wasn’t there to talk about the sentencing at all but to talk about the podcast. And on today she said ‘well that’s not my problem’ if people don’t listen live

and did they pay people to say nice things about the podcast because it sounded like Friday nights sw had written a script for them. And even the bloody continuity announcer is plugging it 🙄

Maybe Brad had printed out leaflets! People in small, incestuous towns/villages love a leaflet!

Also, it made no difference what our cats were called (and they had very fine names) as I generally addressed them as "Catface".

That doesn't seem terribly plausible.

Which bit - the leaflets or addressing our cats as "Catface"?