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!

You're right, he did. Made a great big announcement which was pretty-much ignored; neither Jennifer nor Brian seemed in the least bothered, or even all that interested. A couple of days later, after Ruairi had fled to Ireland to get away from the vileness of Alice, Brian mentioned he felt that might be in part his fault for not being enthusiastic enough about Ruairi's announcement when it took him by surprise coming out of the blue, and Jennifer told him that Ruairi leaving had nothing to do with Ruairi's sexuality or how Brian reacted, which came as a mild relief to Brian. (He is probably used by now to all his children over-reacting wildly to anything he says or does, and in general seeming to resent his existence most of the time while being quite happy to take his money.)

I have to say I find people’s sexuality the least interesting thing about them and I can’t say I’d be particularly bothered if either kid announced it to me

ruari and Paul seem ok but I think ruari is going to be a mini Brian - so poor paul

agree that pip and Stella aren’t believable as a couple.

Do the SW have some sort of orders to emphasis homosexual relationships? Seems highly unlikely that there would be 3 gay couples within such a small circle of people.

I had hoped that after the subtle morning after scene we wouldn't have to hear the sloppy slurpy sounds, but unfortunately it looks like the SW are determined to put them in there.

@Buxusmortus , Ruairi is bisexual, as is Pip.

And both are in homosexual relationships.

For now.

It was homosexual relationships that were mentioned, not the claimed sexuality of anyone in them.

I have just moved away from a rural village in Hampshire. That I know of, there was one lesbian marriage, and three male gay relationships. They were not part of the same families though.

Ruiari and Paul are making me cringe.

And I'm just so anxious for Cleo!

They had all moved into the village, though.

I commented on he sexuality of the individuals, not their relationships, @AskingQuestionsAllTheTime .

Accurate though; I've a friend who works in prisons and the male prisoners call all female staff/visitors 'miss'. Gives a helpful distance/authority thing, I think especially when the female staff member is considerably younger than the prisoner.

But they have chosen to be in homosexual relationships, therefore would be included in numbers of homosexual relationships. When pip was with Toby she was in a heterosexual relationship.

I've no idea of the number of people who are supposed to live in Ambridge, so possibly 3 gay relationships would be proportionate to the population, I was just surprised that there are 3 gay relationships among the small number of people who are in the cast. And it does seem extremely unlikely that both Brian's son and stepson would be gay, as @Trivium4all said.

I’m wondering where Paul and Ruairi might live, once they’re an established couple. In the shorter term in might mean musical chairs at The Stables (particularly if Dane is defenestrated and Lily, replacing him, is offered a suite at GG) but I’m more curious about their mature future together. If together. It’s always possible Ruairi might lead Paul a merry dance for decades.

It’s always possible Ruairi might lead Paul a merry dance for decades. I think Ruairi is being set up to be a chip off the old block - charming, philandering, ruthless. As for where he's going to live, the Home Farm farmhouse is back on the market - maybe he and Brian can move in there.

Gosh - the outcry about Beth and Margaret snogging in Brookside seems like 100 years ago now. It was only in 1994 but it might as well have been when the dinosaurs roamed the earth. Heads would have been spinning back then if we had been told that 30 years later, an entire episode of TAs would be about the lives of two gay couples and absolutely no one will bat an eyelid.

And it does seem extremely unlikely that both Brian's son and stepson would be gay, as said.
Pip and Ruairi both being bi - SWs/Editor leaving their options open.
Why is it an Archer and an Aldridge who are in same sex relationships, and not a Grundy, Carter or a Horrobin?

What would be a proportionate number of gay couples in a given population?

Bottom line - the Archers needs more Archers.

Pip doesn't need to consider changing her name to a husband's. Ruairi needs an Archer wife who keeps her own name and gives in to her offspring. Afaik the only suitably aged possibility is Meriel.

"Rising" would be my answer! I work with young adults, who are very keen to tell me that in their cohort, bisexual is the new norm.

I also think it's inevitable that sooner or later we will have a trans story arc. Possibly they'll need to introduce a new character for that?

I like Stella. I'd date her!

Yes, The Archers relies on an ever-replenished flow of Archers to maintain any coherence. But Ruairi already has sufficient, unarguable Archer-proximity - so I don’t agree he needs an actual Archer spouse. (To me that would seem a bit incestuous.)

On the other hand (and this has cheered me up!) Machiavellian as he may emerge to be, he’ll want to maintain that Archer proximity once Brian shuffles - because otherwise he runs the risk of spending his adulthood entirely isolated from the family he’s been brought up amongst. So he may actually allow Adam to keep his head attached to his neck for quite a while, post-Brian. Or replace him with any other of Jenny’s children.

I very, very much want Paul to be absorbed into the Archer / Aldridge clan and to become a powerful character in the village rather than just an insignificant consort.

According to latest census data 3.3% of the population are homosexual or bisexual, homosexual is about 1.5%. Varies by age group, highest in the 16 to 24 age group.

So he may actually allow Adam to keep his head attached to his neck for quite a while, post-Brian. The fact is he needs Adam. He may be able to talk the talk and frankly he could say anything to Brian and Brian would agree with him, but you can't learn to run a huge farm in a couple of weeks or even months. I suspect what will happen is that Adam will go from being answerable to Brian to answerable to Ruairi. Where is Ian in all this? We've heard hours of Stella discussing her options with Pip while Ian has been AWOL for months.

So if we say 6 people is equal to 3.3%, a population of 181 people over the age of 16 would be needed. As there are 6 gay/bi people in the programme there should be 181 cast members at present which there obviously aren't, so I'd say they were overrepresented.

Of course the Archer/Aldridges could be supposed to be the only gays in the whole village which would make it more accurate.