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 thought she was Clary, as in clary sage?

You missed the crossover episode between SILENCE OF THE LAMBS and the ARCHERS?

Alas, not according to the cast lists. They always spell her Clarrie. (pouts)

But maybe we can call her Salvia Sclarea, Sally for short! That would really confuse everyone.

Clarrie is usually short for Clarice (f) or Clarissa, or Clarence (m).

The cast list has Ben as just Ben, Eddie as Eddie, Josh as Josh, Tom as Tom, Debbie as Debbie, Kate as Kate, Johnny as Johnny ...

Josh is Joshua Matthew, Kate is Katherine Victoria, Ben is Benjamin (?), Johnny is probably John (?) Richards.
Tom was Tommy for years and is probably Thomas (?).

Benjamin David Archer.

All the tractors on our local runs just have loads of fairy lights, etc. No themes.

Because it's dark, you know? They're not floats in a summer parade! 🙄

Ours come through in the day and are lightly decorated, but generally just with fairy lights and maybe some tinsel see

Dear oh dear …

Oh dear. That went badly. On the other hand it's opened up a new angle on George - he will hit when he feels in an emotional corner.

Still annoyed about Joy. She's been overexposed certainly, but this controlling. inquisitive side is new and unconvincing. In the same way Ruth is all sorts of irritating, but her badgering and impertinent questing of Leonard is not in character.

Odd that SLs have pursued nosiness as a line with two characters. Trying hard not to be pissed off that it's women.

OK, I admit it: I've been trawling the net for "festive tractor run" and similar.

None of them seems to have an angel or the Baby Jesus or Three Wise Men or whatever else Yuley Christmassy thing involved.

There are one or two Christmas trees covered in lights, and two or three drivers in red suits, presumably being Santa. Quite a few stars outlined in lights. One or two illuminated "Merry Christmas"es on the front of rigs. And a couple of sets of antlers plus a red nose on the front.

But mostly it's just tractors covered in fairy lights. Or smothered in fairy lights!

Exactly. How exactly do the script writers think you can dress up a MASSIVE TRACTOR in a theme?! 🙄

On the other hand it's opened up a new angle on George - he will hit when he feels in an emotional corner.

I don't think it's a new angle? He lies, and pushes, when in a corner.

Glad it wasn't his mum though. This time...

My DAB went down just before the end ... so, did Grorge actually hit Ed? Ed appeared to be comforting him at the end. Unfortunately I think he will have to hit a woman before anyone takes any action.

I was referring to physical actions, not lying. He's hit out twice in quick succession, not something he's done before, so yes, a new angle.

And Ed couldn't exactly get into a fight with him, given that George has already probably broken his wrist. I'm fairly sure a broken bone was what Alistair's insistence on getting it looked at properly, and it still being swollen, was about.

George has always had a cowardly streak.

Oh, Brad …

I do think it’s a shame that he’s being exclusively utilised in George’s story. I mean, he’s in the second year of his degree and we still haven’t heard a single thing about any friends, uni activities, pre-Amber potential girlfriends, career options. No travel, not even a weekend away, no vacation work outside Ambridge … It’s Phoebe all over again. And no wonder that Tracy struggles to understand what it’s all about, when his life scarcely looks any different to school.

I think George punched Ed because Ed was walking away from him (and last week assaulted Ed because he was following him..), burst into crocodile tears and Ed comforted him. It’s a shame Hannah or Alistair didn’t witness what happened because EdnEm will no doubt concoct another cover-up to explain the bruising caused by the punch.

Yeah, I thought he was supposed to be super clever at maths, or something? And was going to escape the Horrobin lifestyle by going to uni?

Now he just seems like one of the basic village plodders.

Ed saying it's ok and comforting George sent shivers through me. He and Emma will continue to cover up George's violence because they don't want him to go back to prison, but covering it up and making excuses is all part of how domestic violence continues. I'm sure Ed's wrist is broken and I'm also sure he won't get it checked out.

George is malevolent, I'm sure he has the capability of doing something terrible( to someone else). He obviously needs anger management classes but he won't get help because none of them will admit to anyone else that anything is wrong.

I want Brad to get out of Ambridge to a distant uni, find a nice girl like Hannah fry who loves maths as much as him, so he can become a confident man in a happy relationship, and maybe multiply (see what I did there). I just wish he could get out of Georg's clutches.

That's why I think he will hit a woman and even the Grundy men won't stand for that. It will probably be Emma.

Hannah Fry wouldn't look twice at the absolute drip that Brad has turned out to be!

I was never comfortable with an 18 year old lad (I know on MN an 18 year old is considered an adult but ...) going to prison for a crime that didn't involve violence.

Now he's out, he's still being punished by his community. Unlike drug dealer Freddie. I know George can be a shit but prison served no purpose other than to ruin his life.

George's imprisonment enabled his traumatised community to begin healing, without the prospect of running into him. He might not have, at that stage, inflicted physical violence on anyone, but as we know from Relationship threads on MN, trauma doesn't have to be physical.