Archers thread #188: New Order, please! 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 love to spend time with Martyn Gibson, 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.)

In some haste as we are going out for the day. I was asked weeks ago to put I've Killed the Vicar in as the new title but I agree with more recent comments that Peggy's funeral feels like old news now. Great line, though. Sorry not to have used Markie Malarkey, though. I've settled on something that will only make sense to people who were also youngish in the late 1970s or early 1980s. Here's a clue. If a certain person appears in tomorrow's episode the title will be relevant.

Over to you!

Has Amber visited The Bull yet?

I notice even Radio One is talking about haymaking today …

What does Akram do? Apart from pootling about the village?

No just Lynda, who thinks the world revolves around Lynda. It was completely in character.

Plumber by training, IIRC. Maybe he's working for someone else rather than self-employed.

I don't know why Neil and Susan are getting so worked up. The stuff about George hating them came secondhand from Amber, so stands a fair chance of being a figment of her undoubtedly fertile imagination.

I think the one getting worked up is Susan, and the reason is that Neil was attacked in a nasty way. She gets defensive of him quite easily.

Yes, I heard Neil being viciously attacked by Amber, but the reason N&S are getting excited is that they think it's coming from George. Neil is generally such an equable individual I thought he would say to Susan not to go overboard until George says it.

I thought he did say pretty-much exactly that? He didn't seem excited about it; more sort of laid back and resigned.

George probably does hate them BC he's a prick.

Neil's adopted isn't he? I can't remember if Neil is George's biological grandfather but they might be setting up some random surprises if he takes a DNA 🧬 test and it turns out he's the illegitimate son of landed gentry.

Inheritance feud ahoy

Neil was never actually adopted - only fostered - and it turns out his mum was the girl working in the bread shop where he was "found" though I'm not sure she revealed who the dad was. But it was in Southport which is not noted for its landed gentry.
I'm not quite sure why Neil being adopted/fostered would mean George wasn't his biological grandchild (especially since Susan had to leave school/college to get married/have Emma IIRC). You do know being adopted doesn't run in families?

Neil started being a foster-child in February this year; before that he'd always lived with his mother until he got a farming apprenticeship in Ambridge when he was sixteen.

Neil is definitely Emma's biological father, and Emma is certainly George's mother – and a DNA test done when George was a small baby showed that William Grundy rather than Ed Grundy was George's biological father.

For goodness' sake don't go giving the idiots at the helm at the moment ideas about who might have been Neil's father!

Ah ok. I'm not deeply acquainted with Archers genealogy so thought Neil might be a step dad/ grandad

Why would that be related to him being adopted/fostered?

Neil’s due to die soon, I think.

and it turns out his mum was the girl working in the bread shop where he was "found"

No it didn't, although the SWs may well still have that revelation up their sleeve having reinvented his background to make him a foundling.

Noooo.

He wasn't adopted or fostered; he lived with his mother, in Birmingham.

I don't want Neil dedded. I quite like him (apart from his warbling voice) and I couldn't bear listening to a grief stricken Susan.

Would Emma and Ed get to move out of the caravan!

The trouble is that Neil was born in 1957, but Neil's actor, Brian Hewlett, was born in 1939 and, at 86, might have reached the age at which he wants to retire.

I would quite enjoy Susan doing online dating and having a whirlwind romance. Neil is like a pair of old slippers but Susan would find being a widow very tiresome after a year or two. I think she would soon be swiping left and right- she’s still fairly attractive though she will need to improve her wardrobe.

Im always surprised at how young Susan is supposed to be…she behaves much older I think

Born 10/10/1963, so she's sixty-two.

This Chaplin /George interview sounds like that radio 4 2 hander police interview thing where to cops interview a suspect who initially seems innocent and turns out to be guilty

I’m loving it, @onceuponatimeinneverland! I find those plays so engrossing. And the actor has a simply luscious voice.