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 wish someone would point out to that irritating twerp that George is in prison because he broke the law, and that if she really plans to spend her life with him she would be better advised to help him accept that actions have consequences.

I’ve missed several episodes this week and I’m not sure I’ve got the will to listen back. I will say, yet again (and on the basis of this evening) that Amber is an absolute horror.

I don't believe a word Amber says about anything, from the alleged school bullying (which I take to mean being ignored by the crowd she wanted to be part of) to the probably imaginary flat she has at her parents' place. If she told me the weather forecast was for snow and ice, I'd wear shorts, sandals and a sleeveless t-shirt. She is a very stupid young woman, and thus very well-suited to George. But I don't think she's quite taken on board that the Grundys aren't exactly Ambridge royalty (you'd think that Em'n'Ed living in a caravan might be a clue).

I really wish she'd change her mind and go to Turkey!

Oh wow - whoever linked the GQT Ambridge edition (can’t recall if it was this or the previous thread) - thank you so much.
I’m nursing a very poorly cat tonight and this has been just what I needed.

I was driving so wasn't paying full attention but is the reason (made up) Susan and Neil aren't going to Georgie's party is because they are going to see his birth relations? Is that why Neil's adoption was shoe horned in, to give Susan an excuse not to go to George's party?

George is just as likely to take umbrage that his grandparents aren't there as if they where. Susan and Neil are in a lose lose situation.

Maybe we need Clive Horrobin to come back and deal with the problem?

Yes, this. It's not his grandparents fault George is in prison, he is there through his own actions.

Ooo this sounds fab, where is it?

To hell with Ambridge, love and gentleness to your cat. I hope s/he is better very soon. 💕

I hope your cat feels better soon!

Oh my goodness Totters - that’s the exact one I’m on too! Working my way through them, interspersed with an audible book.

I suspect an Elizabeth clone will turn up to organise Freddie into taking over his heritage. She'll probably have some great fights with Lily.

Yes I agree that will be what happens - Lily will start to take control and then Freddie will find a wife who is very keen to be lady of the manor

Are you doing the series in chronological order, @ISeeFrasierCrane? And is this a re-read, or first time?

Although I’d watched all the TV adaptations I’d never read any of the novels until about two weeks ago, when an excitedly anticipatory thread on The Hallmarked Man piqued my curiosity. Couldn’t believe people were booking annual leave to read it. Read the free kindle sample and immediately ordered the print copy. Not wanting to be removed from that world while I waited for it to arrive, I kindled The Running Grave - and was mesmerised. So I had to finish that first. Then went back to THM. Finished that and downloaded the samples of all the others. For some reason TB seemed the most appealing. Finished it about an hour ago - and will probably start Ink Black Heart tonight. 🙄

(My own image in my mirror is shaking its head in disbelief …)

Oh yes I hope your cat is better soon. I love my cat ( Reggie), so much I hate it if he feels poorly💖.

Amber is a right bitch. Susan and Neil can't win either way when George sees they are not at the party for him to have a go at, he will be nasty and twist it like they don't care about him and that he and Amber where right about them.
Anyway they all care to much about that little git.

Yes, @TottersBlandly chronological and first time but put them down for ages. I can’t think what got me back into them but it may well have been an enthusiastic thread! I hadn’t even heard of The Hallmarked Man but just seen the stellar reviews (sometimes I wonder if I live under a rock…)

How big is Will’s gaff? No doubt big enough to host the small number of folk who want to celebrate George’s release.

It’s Oh-LIV-y-ah, not Oh-livy-AAAH

Sorry, couldn’t resist.

Anyway, I didn’t mind post coital P&R, there was no slobbery smooching which is the one thing I can’t stand. I still find Paul irritating but he has dialled his performance down a bit, which is an improvement. I wish they’d talk about the last time they were together when Ruairi threw himself at Paul and was rejected because….can’t remember. Was R was drunk or something?

I like Ben but I wish they hadn’t made him such a pompous know-it-all. He’s quite lecturey isn’t he?

What would make sense with Freddie is for him to fall in love with a naice sensible gel (hard g) who was on Lily’s Estate Management course! That would be a neat, non-contrived scenario. Did we ever meet any of her cohort?

Good god no. I can't stand Chelsea and particularly her voice.

Paul has almost eradicated (for now at least) the campness in his voice. I wonder if someone could help Chelsea to rid herself of the nasal, stroppy team sound. Perhap Jim could be Professor Henry Higgins to Chelsea's Eliza Doolittle.

Is Jill up to dinner out, a wine-tasting and then a day at the spa? She sounded so frail last time we heard from her yet last week she was churning out a Black Forest gateau (not something I have the energy to even think about doing). The fact Ben entered a jar of her honey to the F+P show shows she’s also still active with her bee-hives. We’re meant to believe she is the Ambridge version of Lynda Carter (although I wouldn’t like to see her in a gold/blue/red leotard anytime soon) but they really ought to start winding her schedule down- it’s becoming increasingly unbelievable.

Yes, that's what Susan claimed: a totally invented excuse. It could be why they shoehorned in the whole adoption nonsense, I suppose, just to provide this plot point, but on the other hand, 'sledgehammer to crack a nut' springs to mind. Also, it would mean the SWs have been scheming to arrive at this conclusion for some considerable time and, given the lamentably un-joined-up SLs we've been suffering, I’m just not convinced they’re capable of it.

Amber is a nasty, scheming madam. Everyone meekly pretends she knows George better than his whole family does, on the basis of some letters and a few prison visits. I just can’t understand why Susan, usually so annoying feisty, hasn’t told her where to go.

According to the BBC Archers page, Jill will be 95 in about a fortnight's time - much the same age as Patricia Greene. I'm sure there are women of that age who are extremely active, but Jill has sounded old, frail and bonkers for years now. Maybe she'll cark it in the sauna?

We've had a couple of fostering storylines. David Archer's great-uncle Tom Forrest and his silent wife Prue fostered two boys, and Oliver and Caroline (Oliver's second wife, now deceased) did short-term fostering for a while before they decided to buy Grey Gables. All of which makes it even more unbelievable that the Neil the Foundling storyline was never so much as hinted at in the past. I agree that George will take huge offence/be very disappointed at Susan and Neil not being at his welcome home party, with Amber gaslighting him that their non-appearance is proof that they don't care. I don't find Amber and George's epistolary relationship in any way credible. I simply don't believe George has it in him to be much of a letter writer. In fact I continue to find their whole relationship far fetched, particularly the way she has moved in with the family despite being such an irritating person. The fact that Nelly has been shoehorned into the storyline as an excuse for Susan and Neil missing the party just makes the whole thing even more implausible.

I found the story of the George and Amber prison correspondence utterly ridiculous, chiefly because I'd be surprised if George ever mastered a pencil, let alone the alphabet.