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!

Does it not depend who you are talking to? DH and I both refer to it as my kitchen except to each other

Eh?

Wot?

Continuity announcer just said something about Lynda Snell and Mystery Plays at 3 o’clock this afternoon.

I am confused.

It’s the 2021 plays

Ohhh …

It’s from 2021.

Blimmin’ heck!

I do live alone, but when my mother was alive and active it was her kitchen, and if my father or I cooked in it we were expected to leave it the way she chose to arrange it.

Ready meal Christmas food, I've bought the same this year having recently discovered the frozen 'where everything looks and tastes homemade' food shop, will find out if it's as good as promised on the day.

I've bought mashed carrot and parsnip and put them in the freezer for the day, and 'proper' custard for trifle. I've ordered trifle sponges from the gluten free bakery, some for the day, some to freeze. Frozen curry for 23rd. Other stuff I'm cooking, but will be keeping things simple with plenty of salads in late December.

@Nettleteaser101 , It's Roy's house, and Roy is Brenda's brother. It was Brenda's childhood home.

House-selling and buying usually does drag on and on.

Roy is Phoebe Aldridge's father. Rex is Rosie Archer's uncle, and he lives on a narrowboat.

I think you meant Emma not Fallon.

Just heard R4 announcer announce the Ambridge Mystery Plays are on at 3pm. If you missed them in 2021...you can miss them again.

I’m enjoying having Brenda around again but having her act as “agent” for the Willow Farm sale is all a bit silly when we have been led to believe that Hayley is still joint owner and she lives not that far away. Brenda clearly has a very busy full time job, what would be in it for her? Nobody has clarified why Hayley can’t deal with the sale of her own property. Willing to suspend disbelief though, just for that excellent “three fiancées” scene!

Also, do we know why Roy and Hayley never split it in the divorce? I’m trying to remember how long Roy, Hayley, Abbie and Phoebe lived in their half of the original Willow Farmhouse after it was split in two after Betty’s death. Mike and Vickoi sold their half to unknowns I think, and those unknowns are still Brian’s landlords.

In real life, surely people would call Helen out on her appalling behaviour? I felt genuinely sorry for Tom - who of course is pretty awful himself - he sounded so desperate to appease her. If Kirsty had any sense at all she would have told Helen to make a firm offer via the estate agent. It was wholly in character for Helen to mess Kirsty about and waste her time. Of course she took it for granted that Kirsty would agree to knock the price down and throw in the curtains as well. As for being pissed off at Natasha’s suggestion of April Cottage, either she wants a place in the village or she doesn’t, surely? It is a mystery why anyone gives her the time of day!

I’ve known people like that tbh. And if someone calls them out they make sure to play the victim

Brenda's probably more competent than Hayley, and less likely to be intimidated (by their sense of Archer self-entitlement) into favouring the BFNI. The sale of Kirsty's place has nothing to do with her. She (on behalf of Roy) just wants his place sold PDQ *, without the trouble of getting Kirsty to leave. So the sooner the nonsense over who gets to be Joy & The Muckster's next-door neighbour is settled, the sooner Kirsty will be able to buy it and Brenda can go home.

* presumably so that he and Lexi can buy a house, or set up a business, or whatever ...

I don't care who buys the damned place, I just want everyone to shut up and get on with it because it's very tedious.

HotCrossBunplease
Also, do we know why Roy and Hayley never split it in the divorce? I’m trying to remember how long Roy, Hayley, Abbie and Phoebe lived in their half of the original Willow Farmhouse after it was split in two after Betty’s death. Mike and Vickoi sold their half to unknowns I think, and those unknowns are still Brian’s landlords.

The house was split in 2008 and ready for occupation in early 2009, and Hayley divorced Roy in 2015, so between five and six years.

Hayley did not demand her share when she moved out because her daughter Phoebe (actually Kate's daughter, but only when it suited Kate, and Hayley had brought her up for almost all her life) was still living in the house at that point.

Mike sold his half to Ralph and Alison Kemp, and Alison got a six-month job in Strasbourg starting at the beginning of 2019, so they let the house for six months furnished. They have been in Strasbourg ever since as far as we know, but they are no longer Brian's landlords: he moved to Blossom Hill Cottage in March 2023.

Have we been told exactly what Brenda's exciting and lucrative career actually is?

No.

My money's on "marketing".

Thanks @AskingQuestionsAllTheTime . I had missed Brian moving house. Is Blossom Hill Usha’s place where Helen stabbed Rob?
And we have no idea who is in the other side of Willow Farm right now then?

Blossom Hill Cottage does indeed belong to Usha, and it's also where Brian first met Jennifer all those years ago.

We have no information about who lives in Willow Cottage now. It might be standing empty, who knows.

We don't know who bought The Lodge from Peggy, either. There has been so much scope to introduce new characters.

Whilst we are on the subject of property, shouldn't Freddie have inherited Lower Loxley earlier this month now that he is 25? Was there even a party? I felt certain that some Trustees popped up a few years ago, never to be heard from afterwards, so I was under the impression there was also an 18-25 Trust looking after things.

I think Brendas job is working in Waitrose like the lady in 'Mum'. I dont remember her name but she was a bit like Brenda.

I think the trustees didnt want Freddie to take over LL not until he had grown up a bit and proved himself. Not That Elizabeth wanted to give him the reigns and didnt put up any fight for Freddie.
She is like Helen in some ways.

I was thinking prostitution

i assume Demetri is Russian and has had his assets frozen so maybe she is an illegal front woman and liable to arrest at any time

Or maybe when his assets were frozen she lost all her money

Are the SWs playing a🎄game? We’ve had

Consumption - Gavin

Conspicuous consumption - Brenda

Conspicuous - ???

Conspicuous underconsumption, a choice: either Clarrie and Eddie being left with a huge turkey and one with them to eat it, or Helen doing her ‘no, no, I ate earlier, somewhere else, honest’ schtick. Or both, of course.