Archers thread #179: Beavers, livestock, ferrets, but nododo! 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'd be happy sharing a hot tub with 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 title started life with @JanglyBeads, whose autocorrect turned 'Oh no, nor do I!' into 'Oh no, nododo I!' on the last thread. For reasons of cowardice/prudence/lack of inspiration and the character limit, I haven't included @BeaLola's even more mysterious autocorrect - her phone had her asking Abdul if he'd always wanted children instead of Neil. Perhaps one of the mooted beavers can be Abdul.

For the first time ever I've added a poll to the OP. Over to you!

It's not good enough and somebody needs to tell him so. If the SWs make him drop out or switch to Business Studies, I will chain myself to the Mailbox. It looks that way, doesn’t it? “We want more stories for our Younger Listeners. Let’s have someone go through the agony of getting to uni and dropping out because it’s too hard. What subject is too hard? Astrophysics. No, too niche. Maths!”

Not sure I like “working class character goes to uni but can’t crack it”.

Oliver blamed only Brad for the destruction of Caroline's bench, and was told by George that Brad had refused to help repair it, so I think he rather went off Brad at that point.

Which is exactly why Brad should stop fannying about with risking his academic future for bloody George. It doesn't matter how many times Eddie takes a break from ticket touting to implore that the drone business is kept going so "the lad has sommat to come out to", someone needs to tell everyone to back off and leave Brad alone.

Irritating as Gilded Lily can sometimes be, she's just the sort to a) get to the bottom of what's going on and b) insist that something is done about it!

Oliver is one of the many regulars we rarely hear now. About time he was told the truth about that incident with George and Brad. He probably has doubts, given what we now know about George's dishonesty and willingness to let others take the blame for his misdeeds.

Was that really not cleared up - I thought it had been?

In my mind Oliver only cared about Brad during the time we were shipping Trolley. Once he stopped having heart to hearts with Tracy he seemed to forget about Brad. (Or at least, the SWs forgot all about it.) At a distance I guess that’s how real life might work, anyway. Let’s see if Lee forgets Henry once he’s on the San Fran plane …

I was surprised to hear Brad chatting away happily with Lily. I thought he was anxious around her because he is under the impression that she can't wait to rip his clothes off.

Yes, that was my impression also.

I note that her summer work placement at Grey Gables seems to have continued into the following year, because why else would she be keeping tabs on whether Brad did shifts at GG or not?

Maybe Lily is on a placement year; I suppose a weekend shift would help fund student life.

I too thought Brad was usually keen to avoid Lily, though perhaps his (former) relationship with Mia helped to calm him down. Mia might helpfully have pointed out that Lily favoured men a decade or to her senior, not teenagers.

I was also puzzled last week when Hannah was apparently besties with the Carters. Did the animosity calm down when Justin told Neil to focus on outdoor pigs and Hannah the indoor ones or did they simply unite in mutual horror of George's lying about his failure to follow biosecurity protocols?

They are the victims of CRAP, a Character-Related Amnesia Problem. The person who coined this wrote "So if we comment on crap writing, we're making an almost academic Lit Crit point." (carrick-bend)

This has happened to Hannah before. Her character has changed completely more than once or even twice.

I might just have been a little bit sick.

Gaucheness is not ‘social anxiety’
Lily is about as far from a ‘safe person’ as you can get (and she is not Brad’s ‘friend’)

I can't help wondering how desperate someone would have to be to regard Lily as a 'safe-person'.

Kids a bit posh to be talking about pigs and social services

Harrison will want to start fostering children now

Can someone please send Brad this link: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DEe7Y_BKEyT/?igsh=MWc1czBrMWNhYTA5Ng== ?

In all seriousness, I would have thought with Astar in Maths and FM Brad would have been able to coast a little - only a few universities insist on FM for a maths degree.

Fabulous cut glass stage school accent for little Scarlett - as if she lives on a country estate not one of Borsetshire's rough one! I'm thinking Eliza Doolittle trying a spot of cocker-ney after her transformation. 'Lord Lummey sir Please dain't shop me to thy social!'

Ridic.

Good grief we've been blessed with a spate of ridiculous scenarios in the last week!
Kirstie and Rex deciding to just tell Khalil, a teenager they don't really know, about their illegal beaver plan - ridiculous and not realistic!
Both Jolene, Kenton and Fallon's dad all failing to immediately think - ooh I wonder if Fallon could cover? "Oh no how will we cope for 6 weeks?!" Your DAUGHTER is trained in catering, knows the pub backwards and is currently out of work!!!
How do they expect us to put up with such crap?!

That's what I thought but in real life this child wouldn't reach any kind of threshold for social services.

No, he’ll go and be a socialworker. And then get even more screwed up about how he can’t solve everyone’s problems.

Really he needs to retrain, and work with Things not People.

What do we think happened after “Sergeant Harrison, DO NOT walk away from me”. Presumably it wasn’t good, since he’s being so adamant with Fallonthat nithing happened.

Really glad Brad had admitted he doesn’t want to pack it in. Maybe he’ll get some help

So who is Scarlett actress related to in RL? Because she certainly wasn't hired for her ability to play the character she has been given.

I think someone said she is Suzie Riddell's daughter. Her name is Beatrice White.

Haven't heard tonight's yet. If Brad had a Durham offer, as we think, he's capable of getting A star A star A in his A levels. Would he be floundering at Felpersham, really? I also disliked Brad having "made a group of friends and joined some societies" but simultaneously being unable talk to people he doesn't know. I'm growing accustomed to a lack of consistency between episodes, but actually within episodes is still startling and insulting.

Suddenly being expected make a successful job running my bullying jailbird cousin's highly technical business with no training and a lot of family pressure would turn me into a nervous wreck. And make it very hard for me to concentrate on anything else. And I might think it safer for myself and those I care about to claim the 'anything else' is the problem rather than confront the bully who has been expanding his network of criminal friends.

The good thing is that Lily heard a passing reference to the work Brad is doing for George, so we might see some sense. Though that does seem unlikely.

So, Brad and Lily…

No way.

None.

Not Ever …

I agree.

So that's going to happen, then. 🙃

But first we'll get the PSA about student counselling, so that's a good thing.