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!

I agree that Dane's voice has changed. Again.

Surely with unemployment being what it is in acting they can get someone who can do the job on the most basic level.

Erm! why is Mia and Brad so keen for Chelsea and Amber to get on. Why are they taking Amber's word also. I will be glad when George and Amber are run out of town. Amber is a spoilt shit stirrer and I hope she comes unstuck.
Dane used to sound like Mucky Mick, and now he sounds like Adam. What's going on. Has Lynda meet her match?

This is what I can't understand. A bunch of well-grown adults believing the every word Amber says. Says things that George has 'said', says Chelsea bullied her. All believed by everyone around her. I think she's a pathological liar.

Add me to the list of listeners who think Dane's accent changes all the time. When he starts talking it takes me a minute or two to work out who he is.

So, did Mia not go to the same school as George, Brad and Chelsea?

sounds still working
app is not available in app store, so can't update.

I think she did. When she saw Amber she commented that she looked a bit different although Amber appeared not to know who she was.

I think so, but in different years.

(They don't have any other option than Borchester Green, do they?)

It's a bit wearing that we look set to have more character reinvention - Chelsea was a bully at school (never before signalled in any way). Amber has somehow reinvented herself - isn't Chelsea the master of makeovers? It would make more sense if she'd been behind the transformation.

i can well imagine that Chelsea was in a group of "cool girls" and Amber wasn't. That is a normal dynamic at schools IME.

Of course the word "bullying" means different things to different people, and especially so if you are on the giving or receiving end. Chelsea may have just meant it as "bantz" (or cruel nasty comments about appearance that will be excused as banter if anyone challenged her on it) and even if it was very gentle ribbing, if you get it all the time from a group, a younger girl may very well think of it as "bullying".

The trick is to challenge the bully to be nicer/stop it and the bullied to grow a thicker skin - without invalidating their fears. (i mean in a time when misgendering is literal violence, we really need people to toughen up)

And OH BLOODY NORAH! Another village competition. Oh yay.

I remember Chelsea
being unpleasant to some other girl at the Lower Locksley orangery tearoom some years ago. Was it Mia?

Where is Adam? Should we issue a Missing Person's appeal? No Ian though please🙏

Someone once complained about my mother at work, saying she was a bully. My mother was quite incensed about it, "how could anyone think that?" I tried to point out that sometimes her behaviour could be seen that way by others, and that under harassment law, it's how it's perceived by the victim, rather than the intentions of the perpetrator, which counted. (I had sufficient sense of survival not to say, "I'm surprised it's taken so long, of course you bloody are!")

I'm sure a previous bullying manager of mine thought he was just having to be strong-minded because of all his recalcitrant staff - I doubt many bullies actually see themselves as bullies, because if they had that much self-awareness, they would change. However, Chelsea does seem to be quite emotionally aware, so may be able to do some self-reflection.

I think it was. I think she's capable of being a bully without being aware of it.

as her maj said that time "recollections may vary"
(I am wary about it being all in the eye of the beholder tho.)

She will have been at Borchester Green because that is what there is.

Mia was born in January 2006, Chelsea in August 2004, Brad in 2006, George in April 2005, and I think we've assumed Amber was at least a year below George at school?

Mia was at least as nasty to Chelsea when Chelsea was at work in the Orangery as Chelsea was to Mia; at the time, Mia was bearing a grudge against Chelsea because Chelsea wasn't smitten with Jake. (Though she'd disliked Chelsea before that and made it clear that she very much disapproved of Jake going out with her at all. I think they fell out over one of the fund-raising schemes, possibly a fashion show using second-hand clothing?) Chelsea was at work, so as with Emma attacking Nic in The Bull, she wasn't able to get away when Mia kicked off at her.

I suspect quite a lot of people are. On the other side of the coin, given that bullying is in the eye of the recipient there are people who perceive bullying where it doesn't exist/wasn't intended. Best to stick to talking about the weather!

Bear in mind that avoiding having anything to do with a person you suspect has accused you of bullying may itself be seen as bullying....

Why do Dane and Oliver think their guests are going to be delighted to have the fete on in the grounds during their stay? If I'd paid a lot of money to stay in a luxurious country hotel (which I wouldn't do), I wouldn't be too pleased to see the grounds swarming with people dunking the vicar, queuing for burgers and kids riding donkeys whilst a brass band made a load of noise.

Gosh yes! In real life there'd be a queue of people at reception demanding refunds, then going off to write detailed zero-star reviews online.

I was going to say how much I’d missed Toby …

I disagree. I do spend money staying at that type of hotel and I think a village fête would be quite charming. It won't go on late.

There was some truly appalling acting tonight from everyone.

I can't take much more of Amber's screeching.

Village fete should be in the village. Accessible for all.

I have been known to go to a country hotel and I go there for peace and quiet! And I like fetes, especially brass/silver bands and steam organs and the like. Grey Gables is a funny place.