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!

Rochelle was only ever interesting when her very existence was a mystery. I so agree with this @WagnersFourthSymphony. Whatever the SWs come up with (and let’s be honest they’ve got entirely free rein) is unlikely to be as interesting as our own continued speculation has been. It’s also unlikely to match previous hints dropped or to match up with stuff we do know has happened - eg the thwarted trip to the address in Joy’s address book, her brilliance during Ben’s breakdown etc I’m also sorry that they used this story on Christmas Day like an EE special. I loved Kate’s Scandi meal in the yurts and would have preferred to eavesdrop almost anywhere other than Joy’s. It has to be significant that she had already confided her proposal plan to various other characters, but it’s not a story that will keep me tuning in.

I think Rochelle said she had moved out of the house whose address Joy had?

I wondered if Rochelle had been in a relationship with someone who already had children and that the relationship has now ended so that while Joy thinks of the children as her grandchildren, Rochelle doesn’t see much of them any more.

Oh I think they are actually her DGC. I wonder if Rochelle lost access to them - drugs/ crime maybe?

She apologised for something in that episode.
Joy was really shocked and shaken when she first appeared, I think she’s been terribly hurt by her in the past. But wants to do the right thing because she’s her DD.

Agree with pp that Rochelle's power as a character lay in our not knowing whether she was real or a fantasy or dead. But now they have collapsed the field I'm dissatisfied. I preferred being Schrodinger's Listener.

Another journey into a different plane of reality with Brian and the knitted ferrets. I wondered if it was the kind of surreal scene you sometimes get in films which signifies a character actually died several minutes ago. They are going to ded Brian I feel.

Yes BOOP for the yurt scene.

I don't like Mick much.

Well Joy is walking on egg shells with Rochelle. I think Rochelle, (not that I care), had enough of Joy poking her nose in her business and went NC. Alans getting about a lot at the moment and Paul sounded sad but he is an adult not a child so he will have to accept his parents new Life style. Why was Denise and Alistar staying at John's. These " let's all be grown ups" way is a bit weired. Wouldn't you be furious if your other half was staying with their new partner in your home for Christmas or am I old fashioned.

John had apparently moved out of the family home and into a flat by himself. So Denise now had the house to herself - and had Alistair there for Christmas. (It’s not clear if he’s supposed to have moved in permanently.)

I’m sure John is feeling all sorts of things - but as we heard, it hadn’t been a thriving marriage for quite a while, so perhaps heartbroken isn’t one of those things. Don’t know about fury - daresay they’ve reached a financial agreement about the house.

I wish the Archers these days wouldn't leave storylines hanging and not explaining backstories but just moving onto the next. Characters used to be more well rounded, developed relationships with other villagers and involvement in the village over time.

Rochelle eh! Well we have been waiting a while to find out what the back story is.
I think it's interesting that they both seem to be politely treading around each other.
I think the reference to the 'group' was interesting... Surely not AA, unless they're going to weave Rochelle into some kind of Alice/Harry storyline?
And also surely not a domestic violence/abuse support type group as the Helen/Rob storyline did that...
I also think they are going to kill off Brian!

Maybe Rochelle belongs to a cult? Scientology or (far worse) whatever the Children of God are called these days would make a change and might explain why the children live with their dad.

TottersBlanklyBoundInTinsel
as we heard, it hadn’t been a thriving marriage for quite a while

We have heard Denise saying this when justifying herself to Alistair.... But I know how seriously I take "my wife/husband doesn't understand me" when spoken to a new lover, and also how seriously I take "we don't even share a bed any more" when I have heard it only from one of a couple.

I think there have been at least three threads in AIBU this past week in which someone's OP has been, in effect, "I thought my marriage was fine and now he has suddenly walked out/told me he wanted a divorce/turned out to have had a mistress for over a decade" and saying they'd had no idea there was anything wrong.

When we heard him, John's bewildered hurt seemed to me to be in the same category as that of those betrayed spouses.

Ooh i for one am very excited to have Rochelle on the scene. I love Joy and can just about tolerate Mick if he's to make her happy. I think she could do better though.

Love yurty Christmas vibe. Do worry for Brian, possibly more for the ferret joy than the breathlessness.

What story do you feel has been left hanging?

I would rather Rochelle had remained in the imagination, I think her actual story isn’t going to be as interesting or creative as has been suggested on these threads. I’m disappointed overall that the Archer family has been sidelined in favour of some lacklustre new additions.

I hope that Brian isn’t going to be offed. I did wonder when he had his tantrum in St Stephen’s whether we might be going down the dementia road, unexplained mood swings etc. but I’m leaning towards CC finally joining his wife in retirement.

The Archers this Christmas being represented only by Kenton and his wife is a bit disappointing, somehow.

I think Rochelle was a baddie in days gone by - child neglect/peostitute/alcoholism/drug use.
Joy tried her best but walked away when children went to their father after Rochelles imprisonment.
I always felt this story line was similar to the fishing trip in Gavin and Stacey....never to be revealed 😕

And Kate.

Kate is an Aldridge.

She's also more than a bit canny, to use a word of Joy's: what she actually made for the Christmas dinner seems to have been a beetroot and onion tarte tatin for herself, and possibly a rice pudding, while Chris dealt with all the non-vegan dishes, but she was getting all the praise for all of it.

Who was in the yurt?

I really don’t like Joy so any interest I had in Rochelle was purely outlandish speculation!

Bruisername
Who was in the yurt?

Alice and Jakob to start with, and then Brian and Kate came in.

Not if you go by surname: Kate has never been an Archer.

And Chris and Martha?

i never imagined Kate’s yurts to be the luxurious or large type. It’s a nice idea though. Bit different

Bruisername
And Chris and Martha?

Martha was outside on a tricycle or some such, and when Brian stopped playing with her and went into the yurt I expect her father stayed outside with her.

Kate's mother was an Archer. Her father was an Aldridge. Kate is as much entitled to claim to be an Archer as she is an Alridge.

My mother was married twice to my father and my brother's father. As far as my brother and I are concerned we are both [insert our maternal grandfather's name] not either of the men she married.