Archers thread #191: Mulligan: stew made from odds and ends; second chance after poor shot. Both fit the bill. Discuss The Archers here.

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Mulligan mostly makes me think of John Finnemore's Souvenir Show. This is good, and tenuously connected to a recent TA storyline

Over to you!

Hmm … At the moment New Amber is sounding, intermittently, like Lily.

And why are they implying that Freddie Pargetter would never have tasted kombucha before? I know he has no social life, but surely it’s served in The Orangery? And obviously at the Bridge Farm tearoom.

And Freddie would never have laughed so cruelly about someone whose father had just died …

well no, but farmers do support each other. So it is batshit that the call hasn't gone out to get more farmers to help out rather than stretching the Brookfield lot so far.

But at what point is she going to stop making vague references to ‘after the funeral’ and start actually taking practical steps to sort stuff out? Getting a copy of the will, details of bank accounts, applying for probate? Plenty of people manage to sort practicalities out whilst grieving and planning a funeral because they have no choice.

She should be keeping a record of all the hours worked and pay them out of the proceeds when the cows are sold. Anything else is bordering on theft.

The stuff about organising the funeral is slightly baffling. Both my parents were buried two days after they died. The undertaker handled all the business - what clothes did I want them in, did I want a death notice in the paper etc (yes), did I want an expensive coffin (no), did I want music (no) did I want to write prayers (yes) and say a few words afterwards (also yes), and would the local pub dinner be suitable afterwards (yes).

I know we do things differently in Ireland but of all jobs to hand over to the professional, surely that's it.

And it was made clear that I would not be expected to stump up money for at least a year.

The whole Esme storyline is ridiculous and unrealistic (common theme with TA). Farmers would be signed up to help out in the short term.

What have I just listened to…

What the heck was that last 15 minutes about. Helen plays a great drunk!

I can't believe they are still going with Rory's plan and going to Scotland. His dad should have told him to cancel it and any list deposit paid by Rory. I know I've not spelt rory correctly

Exactly!

People being drunk in real life is repulsive and boring, actors pretending to be drunk in a thirteen minute drama is repulsive, boring and a total waste of a limited time slot. And this is the second time they've done this in the last two weeks.

I think they put the drunk scenes at the ends of episodes so people won't turn off their radios and then not bother to tune in the next day because they have missed a chunk of the programme and realise they don't really miss it.

I didn't recognise Henry and Tom. Probably because they've been silent for the last six months. Utter tripe with Chris and Carly too. And the drunken scene - Helen played it excellently especially Drain=Dane. Another relationship down the pan!

When did Henry start to dislike Tom so much. I don’t blame him, obviously, but it seems to have come on quite suddenly. Poor boy needs his space but as predicted Helen shows no sign of finding her own place. I bet Clicky Heels is thrilled.

Anyone know the name of the actress playing Carly?

I don't think we've heard much from Henry recently so I expect it's been brewing up. He's a teenager cramped together in a house with 4 younger children and I expect Tom is trying too hard to be all matey with him. No wonder he's in a bad mood.

Is Helen ever going to buy her own place or is she now ridiculously assuming she'll be buying with Dane so has stopped looking? I refuse to believe a suitable house hasn't come up in all this time.

My thoughts exactly.

Henry sounds like a misery-guts, and why would you take your bro on a date because he is annoying your spoilt child.
What a load of pony that episode was.
Is Carly going to be Chris's new girlfriend, but she has 2 kids of her own so that would be a houseful if they do get together.

I see Henry will be 15 at the start of January, so it's time he started asserting himself.

He is still too young to drive, Jack is only 9, the twins are little, and I do not admire two out of three of the adults in the household deciding to get too drunk to respond to an emergency. Maybe unrealistic of me.

We have been complaining for ages that we haven't had any Tom/Helen/Natasha commune drama and now we get some everyone's complaining? I thought Henry was being a good normal teenager, wants space and is grumpy about having to miss out on the holiday because a "not even related to Peggy" upstart has banjaxed the whole thing.

Helen said she'd go? blimey, what a cow. She should have said "no, it's a family holiday and my sons are actually related to the woman who left the money" and forced them to cancel. The least i would have expected from her.

Although - most teenagers i know consider all those old 80s films absolute cult things and would jump at the idea of actually watching a DVD.

ETA: Loved the drunk acting. Even though taking your brother on a date is supremely unbelievable and daft.

We have been complaining for ages that we haven't had any Tom/Helen/Natasha commune drama and now we get some everyone's complaining?

I think we wanted sniping between Natasha and Helen with Tom caught in the middle. Then an epic blow up with Natasha being wonderfully vindictive and Helen being entitled as ever. Not a mardy teenager.

Actors (male and female) struggle to play convincing drunks but Tom and Helen were very entertaining.

I really enjoyed last night's episode. Chris needs to meet someone with kids so Carly might fit the bill nicely and the connection to Oliver gives her village roots of sorts. I also liked the way they worked in a shared memory of Mulligan, a neat attempt to give him roots after the event. I loved Henry's reaction to the film - it reminds me of my own DD asking "Is it an old film?" about anything late 80s/early 90s with me insisting it's actually quite recent before calculating that in fact the equivalent time lapse for me at her age would have been something like Casablanca or Gone With The Wind which I would have definitely classified as an old film! Crazy to think that the 1980s for her is like the 1940s for me - literally the olden days! I also loved Helen and Tom's drunken homecoming in that they very much sounded like the brother and sister that they are. I think the house share works for them - in the same way a house share would work for me and my brother - less so for kids and partners. They've both probably regressed a bit as a result.
Edited to add that the holiday continues to be completely nonsensical - if Henry is staying at home with his grandparents that means Peggy's own son, Tony, is not going either. Have the SWs forgotten the conditions of the will? Ruairi is not even a blood relation and he has taken over.

telescoping time "but surely the 80s is only 20 years ago" reminds me of me bringing home a fantastic Blender from my mum's on my last visit (I have had my eye on it for ages, it has a glass jug, and the blades and jug come apart for easy cleaning, unlike more modern ones). She bought it in the mid-70s on the American base close to where we were posted.

Family discussion ensued. And we realised that the equivalent time lapse would be my mum bringing a gadget from 1920 to our 1970s household. And i wanted to cry!!

Yes, Louise Brealey. She was the forensic pathologist Molly Hooper in Sherlock.

Cripes! This will set some of us off hyperventilating - 50 years ago this week Bohemian Rhapsody was released. Half a century.