Archers thread #178: Ambridge or Scambridge? 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 fancy Mucky Mick, 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.)

The scars from Scambridge week will take some healing. Most of us felt we were the ones scammed - where was The Archers we know and (very occasionally) love?

Anyway, onwards and - almost certainly not - upwards. Will it be the best Christmas ever in Ambridge? Do we still care? Over to you!

One of the very first Ambridge 'dramas' I remember, shortly after I started listening in the early 70s, was someone moving into Brookfield after some kind of emergency, and a man, possibly Uncle Tom, opining solemnly - 'two women sharing a kitchen never works'. Sure enough, Doris's calm acceptance was soon overcome by Doris's inner opinionated territorial matriarch.

I'm team Doris on this, not keen on sharing my kitchen.

I agree @DeanElderberry I don't even like people 'helping'.

I warmed to Tom last night. I didn't listen during the John years but I got an insight into what his life has been like as the surviving son.

Helen being completely unreasonable but Tom trying desperately to appease her to the point that instead of him being able to enjoy the home that he's bought, he feels obliged to accommodate his petulant sister and nephews even though they could've moved in with the parents.

Not just women @DeanElderberry . My uncle has been divorced 3 times. All 3 of his wives have cited his territorial behaviour over the kitchen as a reason for the split (amongst other reasons!).

I dream of a man who is territorial over the kitchen!

yes, even back in 1972/3 early teen me thought 'just women?'

I think my cousin might be - certainly when his sons were little they made it clear that they thought cooking/meal production was what dad did, and his wife had to pipe up a little plaintively to point out she could cook too.

grandson (20) is quite territorial and needs his space to cook - he's an excellent cook. He takes after his mother and grandmother on both counts 😆.

Who's going to enjoy their Christmas dinner anyway knowing George is locked up all day.

Er, me? (And Harrison Burns.)

You could grumble on the thread in “Site Stuff”. MN seem to think they were responding to popular demand.

So Helen is 45 and still flies into a tantrum as soon as she realises that Tom isn’t doing her bidding and withdrawing from making an offer on the house. Up until then she was mollified as long as she thought it was business as usual and he was obeying her. And then somehow weirdly she decides it 'could work' for three adults, two teenage (ish) boys and two toddlers to share the same house, the one she doesn’t even want to buy or live in long-term because it needs 20k's worth of work that she can’t afford and is also 'too suburban' for her refined tastes anyway……but that’s OK as long as she doesn’t have to pay any rent?

She gets more barmy by the second.

Not entirely. I used to get a warm glow from the daily “you’ve been thanked” email. But I don’t want to get into a public competition for “thanks”. I’ve already seen someone using “I got 40 likes” in an argument.

Have I understood this correctly - Eddie has bought all the tickets for the Christmas concert in the church and is going to raise the money to fix George's drone by flogging them at an inflated price like a ticket tout? For a church concert?
If Tom really wants to help Helen surely the better solution would be to give her a short extension on the tenancy so she has more time to find a suitable house for herself. Her rent would presumably more than cover the rent on April Cottage. I feel like history is being slightly rewritten in that Helen is now saying she couldn't afford Beechwood whereas in fact she thought it was too suburban and not really her! Moving them all in together feels more like "let's explore the dramatic possibilities" than a real-life solution (though I agree with @BeatriceBatchelor it perfectly demonstrates Tom's willingness to bend over backwards to accommodate his sister). It's that Ambridge thing where everyone has to be shuffled round in order for any cast member to move house as no-one can move off the map or they'll disappear off the radar.

I agree on thanks being secret and wish they had left it at that

i I can’t see why ‘agree’ should be secret. Saves time compared to quoting a post to say ‘agree’

No doubt Tom will end up in the farmhouse leaving Helen in beechwood for free. Then when he and Natasha start to make it home Helen will be out in full force

Because if it was one button, its use would increase hugely and it would turn into a popularity fest.

👁

I was just checking to see was I right that if you wanted to post just an emoticon without anything else you could do that anyway, admittedly without attaching it to a specific post. It's horrible, I find text with blobs almost impossible to read. Fortunately most people don't seem to want to use them.

Please don't 'react' to this!

Me too! I couldnt give a flying fig that George is inside for Christmas.
Helen gets worse and when Tom said for her to live with him and Natasha I thought wait til Tasha finds out, but he said that she was ok with that which I find very hard to believe. I used to live with my MIL and to say it was a nightmare is too light a word. Helen isnt even looking for anywhere else is she? And if she loved the house so much( the way she has been going on lately), why didnt she just buy it instead of trying to beat Kirsty's price down. She is a horrible sneaky nasty person. I hope Natasha ( if they do buy the house ) makes her life a misery.
Oh and I think Mikey is visiting george in prison.

Ditto. Never been a team player, tbh. I'm so glad I went through school and university before group projects became a feature of education. I'd have absolutely hated those.

Have I understood this correctly - Eddie has bought all the tickets for the Christmas concert in the church and is going to raise the money to fix George's drone by flogging them at an inflated price like a ticket tout? For a church concert?

Aha! I couldn't make head nor tail of what he was doing. Only in Ambridge.

The writing and acting for Tom and Helen this week has been superb. Back on form.

(As an aside, I really enjoyed watching The Box of Delights on iplayer this week. Patrick Troughton has a major role. Father of David, who plays Tom, and grandfather of Will, who plays Tom. Also grandfather of Harry Melling, who played Dudley Dursley in Harry Potter and is one of the very few child actors from those films who's proving to be a really good actor in adult life. He was Wriothesley in the recent Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light. Quite a dynasty.)

I've just thanked you.

I’m not sure the kitchen will be a flashpoint in the new menage à sept. I can’t picture Natasha spending a lot of time cooking. I think she’s more of a ready meal fan and/or grateful recipient of Pat’s frozen batch meals.

I can see an issue arising when Helen drags her feet about moving because nowhere is good enough for the her and the boys or it’s all to expensive because, just in case we’d forgotten, she’s a single mother. The affordability thing is baffling to me. Her wealthy parents would happily lend her money for a deposit (to buy or rent). She is gaslighting Tom really. She guilt tripped him by saying she was envious he had the money to buy Beechwood but had already told Tony she didn’t want to buy it. Perhaps she is actually envious of his settled family unit.

@DeanElderberry Please don't 'react' to this!

I had to sit on my hands for a moment there.

Her wealthy parents would happily lend her money for a deposit (to buy or rent). She's 45, and has worked most of her life. She is a partner in the family business. Are her parents wealthy? They might be asset rich, cash poor.