Archers thread #192: Village of the Dammed. Discuss the beavers here. Throw in the odd word about the Archers if you must.

[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 love to have Kate present as you give birth, 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.)

I'm more excited about the arrival of the beavers than anything else going on in Ambridge at the moment. I hope there will be a webcam.

Bets on how much of next week is set in the castle or on the way there/back? I'm bracing myself for at least 50%.

I agree that George and Amber seem to be about to part ways. I don’t think she and Brad would be a good fit, but I’m sure that’s where the SW are headed.
I keep mistaking New Amber’s voice for Lily.

Poor Brad, he needed a lie in and then a bit of peace for some studying, not being forced out of bed to go shopping and an interrogation. I love Tracey but she was very annoying last night.

Mmm … But the shopping was just a ruse to get him out of the house so they could have ‘a proper chat’. She does try.

Imagine if Brad had Ruth for a mother. He’d have emigrated by now …

What on earth did Tracey have in her TWO trollies?!?

Sourdough, Greek yoghurt, biodynamic wine …

I had the impression that they went to some sort of cash and carry, so Tracey probably took the chance to stock up long-lasting basics like toilet paper.

Our Christmas Eve tractor run has been cancelled - health and safety and all that. Same as our annual beer walk was cancelled several years ago.

We are rural urban fringe. Once the ‘townies’ get wind of something they turn up in droves to watch. Small children running about in the dark and 40 tractors rumbling past is not a good mix.

She's probably like me, topping up every time one of the world leaders makes me feel wobbly about international politics. I have 14 dozen loo rolls atm. Might get a few more soon.

Urgh. They are really failing with Amber here. Complete character transformation. Old Amber would have set boundaries, asked directly and probably managed not to insult George. She would also have been honest about the relationship. (although: clearly she doesn't want to go crawling home with her tail between her legs, so pragmatically she will be staying at least for a while)

If they shove Brad and Amber together i am going to have a cow.

Confession time. In late 2019 we decided to go a bit more sustainable at Brefugee Towers, and i found a German start-up that sold bamboo toilet paper, all sustainably resourced and partially grown in Germany. They could deliver a pallet of loo roll which was directly packed into the box - so excellent no extra pakaging, and the boxes are great for storage. So i signed up to their subscription. Which meant that about 2 days before lockdown i received a box of 192 toilet rolls. But i still had about 1/4 of the last box. So they went in the garage.

And then all hell broke out and so i was sitting on a massive pile of loo rolls and looked like a right hoarder! (unfortunately, they have gone bust so i'm reduced to buying packs of 10 like a caveman.)

Lidl do packs of 2 dozen. Just saying.

i am HUGELY fussy about my loo roll. It must be recycled, not packaged in plastic and in packs of at least 10. (I'm not in uk and don't use Lidl much)

I can usually manage 2 out of the 3. It really really annoys me that the major recycled brand switched from unbleached paper packaging to plastic. The UK is far ahead there.

New Amber is absolutely nothing like Old Amber in character. It wasn't the SWs' fault that they had to recast, but the change in the way they're writing her is ridiculous.

I thought old Amber was awful with her squealing and screaming and outrageous comments, but now I realise that at least she was distinctive.

The new one is just bland, in voice and personality, I often don't realise it's her for a few moments when she's in a scene. Why have they stopped the squealing and ott behaviour? Is it simply to show that she's now realised she's made a mistake with George?

Can it be that it was just Original Amber giving a different interpretation to the script?

There is no way on earth George would have fallen for this one - he’d have found her far too stuck up and goody goody. There’s no mischief to her!

I think (and I’ve said it before), they seem to want to introduce new characters with very forceful and distinct characters, who then calm down after a few weeks. Inevitably everyone hates them initially and they grow on us as they calm down. Joy however has not achieved universal acceptance but I blame that a lot on the teeth grinding rochelle plus storyline and listener saturation.

Azra and husband did slip through the net slightly hut they rode in on the backs of their initially very annoying children.

Perhaps in earlier appearances, when Amber did not know the Grundy clan, we heard her how she is with strangers or as an exaggeration for her social media brand. Now she knows them, the facade has dropped and we are hearing her normal quieter self ?

I recall Lorraine Kelly (TV personality) saying she played the role of Lorraine Kelly and her real personality was different.

George Grundy is something of a jerk. I was starting to feel sorry for him and ponder on how his acceptance back into polite society was going to be scripted. Rescuing a cat up a tree perhaps or saving Alice from a run away horse.

He has just no self awareness and an overwhelming desire to not be blamed for anything ( wonder if this is genetics - from his Uncles side or whether it's because he was used as something of a pawn in the love triangle between his 'rents).

And what is Kirsty plotting?

More than "something" of a jerk. He just attacked his Uncle or was it his father (I can't tell anyone apart lately).
Brad sounded suspicious of the cover up, so no doubt it will all come out eventually.

His stepfather … (Also his uncle.)

Much though it pains me to side with George, Bone’Ed got what was coming there. Dolt.

I always imagine Ed as the bloke on 'Porridge' who's three sentences behind. 'What's an isthmus?' That one.

I agree. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say George could have killed Ed - in fact I wondered if he had and didn’t hear any of the Kirsty/Justin nonsense because I was waiting to find out what had happened. Ed has George’s best interests at heart - he is one of the people who is on George’s side which is why I found that scene so shocking. And straight away George’s instinct was to lie about what happened instead of holding his hands up, trying to blame Poppy - pretty much a repeat of what happened after the crash. The crash was at least an accident, but this was a violent attack. Ed appears to be colluding in the cover up, but it sounds like he has broken an arm at the very least which will put a stop to any tree surgery for a while. I feel we are being shown very clearly who George is (if we didn’t know already) and I wonder where this story is going. Also does anyone remember George stealing money from a church collection or am I remembering wrong? He does have form for stealing money.

I thought it was interesting that George said something to the effect of "I would never steal from my family" - which kind of implied that he definitely would steal from other people, and confirmed all our suspicions about certain unsolved crimes in the past.

I've just Googled "can you join the Army with a criminal record?"

Yes, you can. An option for George?

IIRC, long ago habitual criminal Alf Grundy, Eddie's brother, made a rare visit to Grange Farm. Everybody was mistrustful of him. While he was there some money went missing from a collection box in the church. Everybody blamed Alf, who left in a hurry around that time. However, also around that time the young George Grundy suddenly had a new game he'd been asking for. I think Ed and Em assumed Will had given him the money, and probably vice versa. The seed was planted then that George might have nicked it. He clearly has very poor impulse control and a dreadful temper.

Run for the hills, Amber! (Which I would quite like to happen anyway, but any woman would be an idiot to tie herself to this young loser.)