Archers thread #187: Send not to know For whom the bell tolls, It tolls for Peggy. 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 like Harrison to hasten home, 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.)

Thanks to John Donne for the title inspiration. The funeral of the century beckons. How much of it do we think we will hear? Kate confirmed tonight that Shula, Debbie, Noli and Sipho are all coming. If we hear one peep from any of them I'll be amazed. Bets on Hazel turning up?

Over to you!

Oh dear. That episode.

The only saving grace was that George stood up for Brad, so presumably Brad will be the one around with dustpan and brush when Amber gives George the elbow.

So I didn't know and googled "can you get married in prison?"

Turns out you can.
Please no 😩

Why am I still listening to this rubbish? I've lost track of how many short and ridiculous storylines we've endured over the last year. It's July, where is the farming?! We should be out in the fields baling. Instead we're stuck listening to Amber being a pantomime villain and Martyn Gibson drone on about his love life.

George did speak up for Brad, but I detect some trouble, because she's aware Brad probably isn't her greatest fan,and she's not the type to agree to disagree or let someone stand in her way, and she might worry Brad will tell George to do the Freedom Programme or something. (I mean, I don't think Brad knows about it, but he'd try to get George to be more rational at least.)

I’m a little unclear why we have this focus on the love life of previouslyaibly silent characters (martyn and annabel) and this stupid prison love sl

im fed up with all the new or previouslt mainly silent characters taking over with very little point to them

I find it mildly unlikely that Annabelle (who was reckoned to be hot by the BL board back in the day, so no doubt has her choice of men) has suddenly begun to find Martyn Gibson sexy after all these years - but I would far rather listen to developments in the lives of longstanding, familiar characters than have endless blow-ins foisted on us.

But the writers have to make their stories relevant to Ambridge and they should ideally impact Archers in some way. (Or Aldridges / Pargetters / Carters / Grundys / Horrobins.) It’s no good if they just canoodle in isolation.

I assumed Annabelle was taking the piss out of Martyn.

<cries>

Didn’t sound that way to me, @Gonners - maybe I missed something?

Ha! Maybe I just assumed Annabelle must be joking because she couldn't possibly be serious?

I’m clearly a misery guts but I always think they over represent women’s sexual drive

i just can’t see Annabelle thinking she’s so desperate for sex that she’ll have a fling and with martyn of all people

I thought the mystery woman is helen?
after all there was sll the talk with natasha

I wondered if it was imaginary or grossly exagerrated on Martyn's part.

I also got the impression Annabelle was playing him along for some reason, but I may have hallucinated that…

I wouldn't be surprised if the only reason they've decided to do this Annabelle/Martyn thing is to engineer difficulties between Justin and Lilian. This has to be why Jazzer has been made to jump to the wrong conclusion. <yawn>

I'm still not convinced Amber is who she says she is. I hope Brad unmasks her asap and we never hear of her again. She is loathsome. Poor Neil.

Well it’s a romantic proposal to tell your kids about

they'll have a prison wedding - Amber will start asserting her rights as his wife (no doubt Will will let her move in 🙄) and then hopefully George will find out that she’s a total butter and go for an annulment

I'm trying to stay positive here, so bear with me. I can just about see a worthwhile SL where George and Amber genuinely love each other and stay together after his release, despite opposition from both their families. They make good money from their influencing work and become rich and establish themselves as power players in Ambridge. Perhaps they could buy Grange Farm when Oliver dies.

I know it's more likely they will rapidly fall out of love and George will embark on a life of crime to assuage his broken heart, but I would very much like a positive SL involving George.

I'm still waiting for henry's father/siblings/grandparents to turn up sometime soon.

I know it's a completely trivial point but if I heard it correctly Martyn was saying he had never worn a formal shirt except for work? How can this possibly be true of a middle class, prosperous businessman in his 60s? Has he worn a T shirt/ straitjacket/ comedy apron to all his bridge games, rotary club dinners, masonic initiations, anniversary parties, lunch at the captain's table etc etc?

If Amber was Andrew back at school, would the prison point that out to George, or would they assume he knows? Indeed, would it be a gross invasion of priviacy to even mention it?

Even I, about as diehard as it's possible to be, would call time if Amber turns out to be male. It would be an act of insanity for TA to attempt to make a storyline like that work, and the trans rights activists would have the Editor's head on a platter for casting a 'cis' female to play a transwoman. I believe Coronation Street did it, but that was a long time ago.

My hunch is that she's actually not a year younger than George, so she wasn't in Brad's year. I think she worked at the school in some capacity and is actually more like Charlotte Jordan's age, so 30/31. Where this would lead, I have no idea, but if I'm right she probably only works at farm supplies, rather than being the owners' daughter. The Grundy clan have no money for her to scam George out of, so why she's bothering with him I have no idea except that she's clearly a few sandwiches short of a picnic.

Mostly I want this storyline to go away so we can have a peaceful 12.5 minutes of people chatting in the shop saying not very much, the way people do, interspersed with David, Tony and Brian talking over a pint in The Bull about what a poor harvest it is this year because of the very dry spring. I think that's what I heard discussed on Farming Today a few days ago. The cliffhanger could be Kenton apologising for having run out of salt and vinegar crisps.

why she's bothering with him I have no idea except that she's clearly a few sandwiches short of a picnic

I’ve never seen it so I have no clue really but could this be heading into ‘Baby Reindeer’ crazy obsession territory? The wretched Amber’s zeal on behalf of George is frankly nutso given their courtship has been conducted entirely while he’s imprisoned at His Maj’s pleasure. Nothing about this situation is remotely normal.

I heard this as Martin was wearing a floral shirt for the first time. But sometimes I can’t bring myself to give it my full attention so that might be wrong.

I think Amber's sole interest in George is as a character in her online performance as an online influenza - sorry, possible typo there. 😁

I heard it as 'floral'. Probably a cut-down Laura Ashley frock of the STBXW.

I think it is vanishingly unlikely the BBC will feature a SL in which Amber is in fact Andrew. That SL wouldn't work at all if you believe TWAW because there would be "absolutely nothing to see here" about Amber/Andrew having a relationship with George.

As for whether the prison would point Amber/Andrew's background out to George, there are circumstances in which this could be done legitimately. Or at least, there were - my knowledge may be out of date. For example, if a prisoner convicted of serious sexual offences against children applied to marry a woman who had young children, the prison would not have any power to prevent the marriage taking place but could disclose the prisoner's convictions to the woman for reasons of public safety if they believed the prisoner had not disclosed them himself. It would then be up to the woman to decide if she wanted to go ahead with the marriage. As I say, things may have changed in the last few years.