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%.

The money that went missing shorty after Alf was found in the vestry, where he had no possible legitimate reason to be, was being stored in the vestry but wasn't a church collection: it was a village-wide collection for new curtains for the Village Hall refurbishment after the flood. And earlier in the same visit Alf had definitely stolen, first forty and then a further twenty pounds from Clarrie's handbag – theft he admitted to when Clarrie directly accused him of it.

The new game George had a little later was found to be on loan from a friend at school.

Brad is a blithering idiot.
That is all.

He's an intelligent young man.

He is gifted in one particular academic area; in every other area, and in particular in the matter of common sense, however, he's deficient.

I disagree. He was well aware that there was more to Ed's fall.

Sunny Ormonde doing good work with dementia sufferers - with some brief recollecting of June Spenser and Arnold Peters:

The Archers’ Sunny Ormonde: ‘Poetry helps us remember our loved ones’

https://www.thetimes.com/article/004b4bba-3522-4a9d-865a-57b7226a4b70?shareToken=0acac8425d1bb205a26dd6519cd3cc69

Ed and Emma are storing up major trouble letting George get away with a blatant assault on Ed. He's now got the message that they won't report him and will pressurise everyone else not to, and they all know that if it comes to light that they are covering up more of his crimes they will not get away with it a second time. So he can always blackmail them to allow him to carry right on.

I think they are building up to an issues story - domestic abuse of parents by adult sons. Although Ed is a fit man in what - his forties, able to physically defend himself? However there have been a good number of comments about how George has bulked up with all the prison gym time.

I think Amber will find out or, maybe, witness something. She might even be the victim and she will report it. I don't think she'd stand by and excuse it.

I’ve decided to stop listening for a few months because I’m finding the whole George thing really uncomfortable listening and the rest of it all a shower of shite!

I really like Brad but I do wish the SW wouldn’t veer so wildly between depicting him as an intelligent if shy young man with considerable emotional insight, and a complete plank.

@Ginmonkeyagain , Ed's 41, and fit and healthy. George is 20 and has been working out in a prison gym for the best part of a year and it sounds like he has anger management issues.

a blatant assault on Ed

Was it, though? Take the stairs out of the equation and what actually happened was that George shoved someone who was badgering him and who followed him when he was retreating into his own space to get him to back off. Probably still technically’assault’ but I can’t imagine the police or CPS taking it remotely seriously as I have set it out. Not for someone not out on licence, anyway. Ed might have meant well but he was out of order to follow George -and if that is ‘victim blaming ‘, well, some ‘victims’ do ask for it.

It may or may not have been a blatant assault, but it definitely wasn't followed by, "oh, Ed, Ed, shit I didn't mean that, I'm so sorry, are you all right, are you hurt, i'm sorry, I'm sorry,..." And Brad said something about George's expression that suggests that it was either deliberate or a convenient accident that didn't cause any remorse.

No one who shoves someone standing at the top of a flight of stairs should be able to rely on ‘accident’ … Any sane adult, no matter how irate, must be aware of the risk.

no, not meet cute. The very opposite of meet cute.
BRAD, RUN AWAY!

I just had to look up the meaning of 'meet cute' - what an unnecessary expression.

So did I as I've never heard or read it before. An unnecessary American expression.

He’s perfectly aware that George pushed Ed on purpose, he’s going to do something as he’ll be scared for Amber (eventually) and then George will assault Brad and be sent back to prison.

I think you are spot on there.

He has known that for a while now that Ed and Emma won't report him; they didn't report him for lying to the police and letting Alice be prosecuted for an offence he had committed, until Neil and Susan forced Emma to ring the police about it, and they'd known about that literally for months.

Attacking Neil and Susan over that, and egging on his girlfriend to do the same,shows that he knows exactly what went on there.

Once the idea of blackmailing them for not reporting him enters his head he won't hesitate to do that either.

'meet cute' - no. Not cute at all. More 'falling for the most inconvenient person for the sake of a SL'

I thought meet cute was when I (looking like a young Meg Ryan, obviously) went to the grocery store, the bag split and a young Harrison Ford-lookalike picked up my runaway apples and our eyes met... cue walk home through falling leaves in Autumn mists. ...

Aaaahhh! ❤❤❤

I feel 20 years younger already.

Meet cute is a first meeting, and Brad has known Amber for years.

It never fails to amaze me - on MN, in RL, the Archers - the crap that parents will put up with from their kids. Even into adulthood.

Yes, it's weird, isn't it.

I quite look forward to George being dumped by Amber and doing some nutty ex-incel things. Maybe someone will film him and he'll turn into a meme. This might become a bit too meta...

What I mean is that it would be quite satisfying if he did something that caused all women in Ambridge to hate him (but not of the murder variety) (and not counting unwanted pregnancies).