Archers thread #189: Brian reaps what he sows, in spite of himself. Discuss The Archers here.

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

Thank you, @PseudoBadger, for kicking off this long, long series of Archers threads.

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Over to you!

If I never hear from La Snell again, it'll be too soon. She and Lawrence can bore off permanently.

And I'm so pleased Ambridge lost.

I thought Rex and Tom sounded like the same actor. Must be my aging ears.

Please just make the interminably boring cricket stop. Please.

What I mainly took from that is that Robert had disappeared, presumably bored rigid and sick of the sound of Lynda's voice.

When does the season end? It can’t go on much longer can it?

Presumably not if this was the last chance for Ambridge to avoid relegation.

Ha! I thought for a glorious moment that you meant "season" in the sense of a batch of programmes, until I remembered that TA is interminable.

I like Adam - distinctive voice and we truly know his hinterland. Not actually Brian's son, but treated liked one until Ruari came along. Protected and supported by Jenny, whose loss he must really feel. He of course has no idea about Brian's plans for Home Farm and the conversation Brian had with Alice. He has stepped up to help Brian out of what we know is in fact misplaced loyalty, putting his position at Bridge Farm at risk to support the farm he helped to build. Adam doesn't want Home Farm to suffer because of the years of work he has put in in the past, in the same way Stella didn't want the harvest she had spent all year nurturing go to waste. He had no hesitation in stepping in to help Brian when he could have sat back and gloated (which is what Pat would have liked him to do). Adam (rightly) feels a strong connection to Home Farm - he's spent years there there, putting in the hours, improving the soil, while golden girl Debbie (also not Brian's biological child, but somehow more beloved) stayed away in Hungary. This is the most important story for me at the moment - not silly cricket rivalries, Ambers teeth or the clumsily cobbled together dog attack/arson/prison grass storyline, none of which bear close scrutiny. The future of Home Farm is part of the very scaffolding of The Archers.

The Adam working at Bridge Farm storyline is ridiculous. Bridge Farm is over manned for its size and the idea that Adam would take on a low paid, unskilled role there is silly.

He of course has no idea about Brian's plans for Home Farm and the conversation Brian had with Alice

I thought they all had shares in the farm? So "Brian's plans" aren't a foregone conclusion. I'm finding this storyline marginally less tedious but more incredible than the cricket.

he could have sat back and gloated (which is what Pat would have liked him to do).

no, i don't agree. He could have sat back and gloated (Adam's style i feel) but Pat wants him to do the job he is paid for on her farm.

I also wonder if Pat sees which way the home farm wind is blowing though, and is being a bit protective of Adam because she can see what he can't?

Interesting thoughts on Adam being "son" for Brian until an actual blood-related son turned up. I'd never thought about that before.

It was a bit bonkers Pat going on about how Susan couldn't possibly be left to work on her own in the dairy. It made the whole redundancy storyline a nonsense.

I wonder what happened to Jenny's shares in Home Farm when she died. If they told us, I wasn't paying attention. If she left everything (apart from those small-ish legacies) to Brian (as I suspect she would have done unless some other arrangement had previously been set up) then he must be the majority shareholder. She died in early 2023 and the IHT arrangements on farmland weren't changed until autumn 2024. So they're potentially looking at quite a tax hit when Brian carks it.

i assumed that was because usually Helen is in the dairy with her, but at this time Helen was doing the things that Adam should have been doing?

What, sighing and picking a lettuce every 10 minutes?

@Brefugee- I don’t think a minute of my Archers attention time isn’t spent awaiting the life shattering return of various prodigal sons to claim their inheritance!

Ruairi
Dan
Mungo (Dunno about James)
Meriel
Johnny

But Ruairi is definitely first amongst them. His existence makes horrifying sense of all the blood, sweat and tears Adam expended on Home Farm. Alice is a more current threat - but I have no doubt Brian would throw her over too if his first born (only born) son wished it so.

But Helen regularly buggers off, whether it's to collect the children or schmooze potential cheese buyers or whatever. I think the issue was more that there's an expectation that she will be able to come and go as she pleases because someone will cover for her.

but it's her business, and even if not, that is contained in her terms of employment?

@LillianGish , golden girl Debbie (also not Brian's biological child, but somehow more beloved)
I think Debbie was around more. Adam was away at school, then university, then in Africa.
They got treated almost as his own, but Jennifer was always protective of Adam.
Brian has had an easier relationship with both Alice and Debbie than with Kate and Adam.
Adam might have put in the work, but he was also hard work.

But Ruairi is definitely first amongst them. His existence makes horrifying sense of all the blood, sweat and tears Adam expended on Home Farm. Alice is a more current threat - but I have no doubt Brian would throw her over too if his first born (only born) son wished it so. Exactly this. Adam has expended blood sweat and tears in Home Farm - he is incapable of standing by and watching it flounder (anymore than Stella could leave the BL harvest to rot). He was making the best of the more regular hours he is able to work at Bridge Farm to spend more time with Xander and Ian (entirely off-screen), but his heart and soul are in Home Farm. I don't think Pat has the first clue what Brian's plans are - she's presumably happy to have Adam around while Johnny is permanently AWOL crewing yachts (a skill that is utterly redundant in Ambridge), but if he came back, Adam would be out of a job. He is actually in a very vulnerable position - particularly without Jenny to speak up for him.

Ruari and Johnny would be a big improvement on the ones in Ambridge.

(anymore than Stella could leave the BL harvest to rot)

But happy to leave the Home Farm harvest to rot.

Adam might have put in the work, but he was also hard work. He was hard work because it was hard work to drag traditionalist Brian (and Home Farm) into the 21st century and towards embracing renewable farming. It was Adam who introduced the herbal leys, no-till cropping and mob grazing - with constant criticism from Brian.

She was an employee (much as Adam is at Bridge Farm) which I think made it easier for her to tell Brian where to shove his job. Brian was back by then so she could reasonably expect him to sort something out (which he did). She knew he wouldn't leave the Home Farm harvest to rot.

She was an employee who doesn't understand an employment contract is a contract. She behaved badly at the end.

@LillianGish , it was Brian's farm.