Archers thread #190: Carry on, Cleo! Best new character for ages. 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 delighted to have your wedding reception across the lawn from the local Flower & Produce Show, 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.)

Charlotte Smith must have been delighted to get back to Countryfile and Farming Today. What a pile of piffle tonight. Ah well.

When is George expected back? It can't be long now, surely. It occurs to me that I can't recall whether he's ever spoken on air to Ruairi. As their actors are currently the best (IMO) amongst the younger members of the cast, I hope they will cross swords in some way.

And finally, I can't mention Carry on Cleo without squeezing in one of the best lines ever written (Denis Norden and Frank Muir have the credit): Infamy, infamy! They've all got it in for me! Currently, Lily probably feels this way.

https://youtube.com/shorts/eRnd48yTC5A?si=N05njp3uLfpSjAmI

Over to you!

Instead of ashes in an urn, maybe a pot of glue for George to remember Bartleby by?

Why am I finding this so annoying, as I don't even have any particular feelings for Adam one way or the other, but the way Ruairi has just marched in and is set to take over is rubbing me up all the wrong way. The Paul thing hasn't helped!

@RegimentalSturgeon , that's horrible (If very slightly funny.)! I didn't mind tonight's episode; even Amber was a bit less horrid than usual. It could be an opportunity to make some sort of PSA about the realities of country life vs. her weird Influencer thing, but I don't know if the SW will go there...they do often seem...cautious? ignorant? when writing about such things. Most horsewomen I know would have been far more blunt. They would have spoken more like, "he's on his last legs, and better a week too soon than a minute too late. I expect George knows, and would agree."

I lost my 20yo cat last weekend...I keep looking for him, wanting to open the door for him...his last hour wasn't great: he was really scared, because his hind legs stopped working (embolism), and he was in a crate (least favourite place) going to a vet (least favourite destination). But my conscience is clear, because he had had a lovely day until his sudden collapse, and there was no choice but to take him to the emergency vet. I have one elderly horse who's a ticking time bomb (currently happy as the proverbial Larry, whoever he is), and another "veteran" who is still doing well as a ridden horse, but there's not just one hand writing on the wall, but several. Animals aren't easy. I would expect George to know. But the SW? Fuck knows.

So sorry about your cat.

I have a 15-year-old terrier who is reaching that stage.

Pretty sure Amb-I-Can't+Bare-Her is going to make sure that poor pony is going to be made to suffer on. Didn't the current owner/caretaker mention something about "not without expensive treatment"? - so I predict Amber will blackmail the family into spending money they don't havebecause they owe it to George after all they have done to him and,upon realising that they really don't have the money she'll do a Go-Fraud-Me with her Followers, and that'll conveniently come up short by the exact amount that the precious ring will fetch at a cut-price pawnbroker.
Then the donkey will drop dead from stress in front of George at his homecoming party and everybody will shout Hooray!

My condolences, @Trivium4all.

I agree, I’m sure George would be appalled at any poor creature being kept alive in distress for no good reason.

I'm hoping George will be daft enough to try to break out to see Bartleby and find his release gets put off for a few more months. With any luck Amber will get bored with waiting for him and bugger off.

I rather like the idea of the two brothers, who seem genuinely fond of each other, running Home Farm together. Don't know how it would work with Stella as manager though.

‘Fond of one another’ they may be, but brothers they most certainly are not. “I rather like the idea of two unrelated males of disparate ages running Home Farm together “ doesn’t have the same ring to it, admittedly.
One of Adam’s countless past hissy fits was triggered by Brian considering a suggestion from Ruairi seriously as opposed to just doing what Adam wanted. I can’t see it working terribly well.

Sorry about your cat , I know it's heartbreaking. #Trivium4all.

In a nutshell. I wanted him back - but unless there’s some follow-up regarding his London life, this writing seems stupidly hasty and amateur. Where’s his baggage? This too. And his crash course in farming - learning in a couple of weeks what it's taken other characters a lifetime to pick up - means Brian will probably be announcing his retirement next week, or more likely at the Highland shindig, and putting Ruairi in charge. I like the whole cuckoo in the nest theme that was seeded when Siobhan died and Ruairi moved in, but is there any need to move with such indecent haste?

In ambridge world there doesn’t seem to be a job that someone can’t pick up in 5 minutes.

Isn’t Home Farm run as a business with various family members as shareholders? Even if Brian is the majority shareholder surely he can’t just nominate Ruairi as the new head of the business.

Sorry, silly me, I forgot the SWs have no experience of the real world.

‘Fond of one another’ they may be, but brothers they most certainly are not.
Two of Adam's half-sisters are also Ruairi's half-sisters. Neither Adam nor Debbie are related to Ruairi.

In Ambridge world there doesn’t seem to be a job that someone can’t pick up in 5 minutes.
Other than anything done by Helen.

I really dislike Ruari being described as "a cuckoo in a nest". He wasn't a cuckoo. He came to live in his father's house. He has every right to be there and as much as any of the others.

He wasn't a cuckoo.
That's debateable.

No it's not debatable. Ruari is Brian's son. Describing him as a "cuckoo" is a despicable way of thinking.

It is debateable. That it is despicable is your opinion.
I can have my own opinion.

I suppose he was a cuckoo in jennys nest

that expression makes me laugh as my mum is very petite and I was a big baby - someone once saw me on her lap and said ‘it looks like there’s a cuckoo in your nest’

@Bruisername , what a strange thing to say to a new mother.
People say the oddest things.

its become a family joke now because I was the only one with tall genes so people have always asked where I get my height from (I’m not even that tall!).

How tall was the milkman?

Heard that before too!!

you’d think I was a giant living with borrowers the way some people comment!!

I'd like it if it was decided by someone that Ruairi wasn't included in the holiday scheme, and that he was left in sole charge of the farm while all the rest of them got isolated by snow/floods/some other Scottish disaster. Weeks later they can be rescued and return, to find he has staged a coup, and changed the locks and the passwords.

Or planned an elaborate ruse by moving all the furniture and animals between farms and gaslighting them into thinking they’re remembering wrong