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!

I assumed she must have written to him, because I don't think they're allowed phones in prison ... hence the queuing for payphones and being chucked off after 5 minutes or whatever.

I've only recently started listening again and realise I don't know how George and Amber met. I have not missed an episode and still don’t understand. Amber is a plot device, unlike the rest of the Grundy clan she does not feel real at all. Susan and Neil chose to stay away from the homecoming themselves so as not to make it all about them - I was half hoping George would ask where they were. I think they will have their own reunion/reconciliation when the time is right - they really do have his best interests at heart. Amber seems to have no clue about what George actually did judging by her lack of insight into who might not be happy to see him out. I’m not sure she’s expecting him to be spending his time gaming either. I don’t l’agrée with the whole celebratory approach to George’s return, but I think it’s exactly what the Grundys would do - compare and contrast with Freddie’s release which I seem to remember was more low key (prepares to be corrected by @AskingQuestionsAllTheTime)

I dont know about these days but my Dad was a prison officer and you wouldn’t believe the things he did for them. He was a “hard” man but realised that prisoners needed someone to have a bit of faith in them if they were ever going to make it upon release. He used to give his lunch away, organise competitions, teach them songs etc. And this was in a Cat A prison with some of the nastiest offenders. But he believed you should never write anyone off. RIP Dad x

He sounds a wonderful person @Sidebeforeself ❤️

I have in my mind that Amber and George had followed each other on socials (Instagram or TikTok I presume) before he was banged up because she talked quite nauseatingly about how he looked doing his heaving stuff about competition. People who do heavy work don’t have the same shape that gym obsessives do - hence the bulking out - plus of course he’s had X months off cider.

Within a very short time it was hailed by young men as a wonderful thing because women were no longer able to use possible pregnancy as a reason for saying no, and if they said no could be accused of being dykes, or cockteasers, or frigid.
This is horrifying, I sometimes think things haven’t progressed but I’m pretty sure this particular arseholery is no longer in the mainstream now (only the manosphere). The idea that a woman needs a good reason NOT to have sex with you has pretty much died out I think (plus lesbian isn’t an insult).

Lesbian was used as an insult in the 70s and 80s though. I think the girls coming out as 'non-binary' etc now is a way of holding boys at arms length but making it seem more cool. I'm only judging this by the female schoolmates of my grandsons (one of them is gay and both well educated on consent) . They are both at university now and it seems to be less of a thing. I suppose more people have decided who they are by 21.

Thank @WitcheryDivine .He was.

Amber is growing on me.

runs away and hides

I thought that George had made up with Neil and Susan but then there was all the business with Susan's mum's engagement ring, and they fell out again. Or was that all a fever dream?!

WitcheryDivine
"Within a very short time it was hailed by young men as a wonderful thing because women were no longer able to use possible pregnancy as a reason for saying no, and if they said no could be accused of being dykes, or cockteasers, or frigid."
This is horrifying, I sometimes think things haven’t progressed but I’m pretty sure this particular arseholery is no longer in the mainstream now (only the manosphere). The idea that a woman needs a good reason NOT to have sex with you has pretty much died out I think (plus lesbian isn’t an insult).

The past really is another country, isn't it. At that time, many young men seemed unable to grasp that a young woman might simply not fancy sex with them and not have to give them a reason, or an excuse. The insult to their manhood was intolerable, and the woman in question had to be reduced to someone they wouldn't have wanted sex with anyway, as soon as possible and in the most hurtful way they could think of. This wasn't all young men, of course, but it was definitely something my friends and I came across quite a lot (we were choosy, you see).

And if you did have sex with them, of course, you were then at risk of being publicised as a slag.

(Lesbian was almost respectful; dyke was the insult-term.)

SQUELCHING SOUNDS INCOMING

.

😄

That was a mildly entertaining episode. Do we think they actually Did The Deed, or do they remain virgins?

The story of the party was refreshingly unexpected too. So much for Amber the Influencer!

I noted that according to Amber the fiasco of a non-party was the fault of all the rude no-shows she had invited, not hers for failing to check any of them actually said they would come.

Does she really think that an invitation from her is the equivalent of a Royal Command?

You do have to wonder who, exactly, she had invited. His family basically felt unwelcome, hers were presumably not asked, George doesn't have any friends (apart from Brad) and nor does she. People who are watching their social media "content" are probably not local. I was going to add "... or have better things to do", but if you're watching Amber or George then you probably don't!

Didn't she mention "All their friends from school" at one point?

Given they have both claimed to have had a horrible time at school because they were bullied, I didn't think that sounded a particularly good idea.

Did she really say that? Ha! I must remember to listen properly (though letting it wash over me is preferable). That would explain the alleged no-shows, though.

I've been fond of her for a while but I adored Russ so am used to ploughing a lonely furrow on these threads.

The party turned out as I expected.

They took it well though.

I do wonder why the scriptwriters had such an odd meeting between Emma and Amber in the car park at the prison. Amber was absolutely vile with no real justification.

It all seems to have been forgotten now and I wonder what the point of it was. They certainly seem to be selling it as though she really cares for George, she seems reasonably helpful with the Grundies, has made peace with Chelsea so is she going to be revealed as a complete bitch again at some point in the future?

Oh didn’t you realise that a short stint of love and understanding from the grundies has totally changed her 🙄

I think they like / (need?) new characters to make an 'impact' so overdo them to start with.

On balance I think Amber was bullied at school and overlooked by her parents, so has reinvented herself as a 'popular influencer' as a kind of defence mechanism. Underneath she just wants a family and to be loved.

I'm slightly worried that as a former 'top set' student she may find she is better suited to being with Brad when she starts being more real to herself and everyone. She may like the idea of George more than the reality.

On the other hand George himself is quite vulnerable, but has a supportive family who no doubt will help on the employment front, and if he settles into village life again so it may work out all right.

I did wonder what Ed was moithering on about redwing. They say 'seeep' when they are migrating at night, not whatever he said, 'wibble, wibble'. I've watched birds for sixty years and can do a fair redwing impression!

That snippet of analysis of George's schooldays - well meaning but easily distracted. Was that indulgent rose- tinted spectacles, or is he going to be re-invented as misunderstood undiagnosed ADHD?

I think I'll be quite cross if it's the latter.

I did wonder what Ed was moithering on about redwing.

I wonder if they're now setting George up as an archetypal country lad while Amber will be yearning for the bright lights, big city lifestyle.
Whatever, I suspect Amber's going to be upduffed pretty soon as she'll see it as a great influencer opportunity: "Me still sexy while pregnant"; "Me holding cute lickle baby booties and simpering"; "Me sorting out the perfect birthing nightie"; "Me covered in regurgitated milk and baby shit and shattered because George won't get up to do night feeds...oh bugger!".

Yes, I'm not surprised that the "friends" didn't come to the party: I recall I predicted that some threads ago. But I'm still confused by Amber. I agree with the impression that she was possibly a lonely geek at school and has reinvented herself as an "Influencer", but...are we supposed to like her and excuse her awful entitled behaviour, just because she was bullied?! Her squealing and squawking is so put-on that I just want to slap her with a wet fish, and she's been objectively awful and cruel to quite a few people.

The streak of meanness isn't even below the surface. When she arrived, she was very vocally looking down on everything Emma & Co. did...I just can't imagine all that having been forgotten in such a short time, or Brad even being interested in her. Brad's previous girlfriend was another academics geek, with whom he could at least talk on the same level. OK, so Mia is awful in her own selfrighteous way, but at least she comes across as genuine, if extremely overbearing. Maybe we're supposed to think that Brad is attracted to overbearing bullying females, regardless of what flavour?

Is George actually happy that his room has been redecorated without his input, and that he's going to be dragged off to become a trendy sushi-eating metrosexual (is that still a thing?), when he seems to want to settle back into farming-related pursuits? I love sushi. But has George eaten sushi before?