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%.

Hello, not a regular poster but Archers Addict here. I am finding this very painful, the guilt and fear Emma is going through which means she constantly panders to George no matter how aggressive, manipulative and dishonest he is, is hard to listen to day after day. I’m getting the same feeling I had with the Helen/ Rob story, I just want it to stop.

Noooooo - this is when TA is good; long drawn out agony built entirely on character and history.

I only feel sorry for the (mostly undeserving) SWs having to pad out the weighty stories with nonsense about pizza trucks (and tractor run secrecy). I wish they could put their feet down and insist on a few intense, whole episode, two or three character dialogues.

I guess, in the long run it’s an interesting story, maybe I’m too sensitive to the evident suffering of the involved parties, and also George’s ghastliness.

Didn’t Alice leave her daughter for a life of boozing in London?

That was another effect of her illness. It’s in no way comparable to someone else deliberately trying to get her imprisoned to cover up for his own crimes.

I think George is a very written complex character. His behaviour is awful but he is also full of remorse and self-loathing? He sounded genuine when he told Ed he thinks he will be better off back in prison because he is a monster. Unfortunately Ed discouraged him from speaking to his parole officer as he is in deep denial and he is failing to see what George himself has recognised: he has uncontrollable anger issues and violent tendencies that put his entire family at risk.

I did wonder if Emma mentioning he is not getting along with Kiera was signposting that she will be his next victim.

With Alice, it’s quite hard to differentiate between the effects of her ‘illness’ and those of her rather unpleasant nature.

I disagree. I think this is the best storyline for a very long time. It actually has depth for once and I think George is being acted and written really well. I hope they do continue with it, let it develop and don't just quickly finish it off never to be mentioned again like so many other storylines recently.
If it's painful for you to listen then of course there's always the off button.

Azra is some sort of ‘Flood Mary’ …

Another episode that could be lifted out and we'd not notice it gone.

I didn't recognise Azra and daughter's voices to start with.

Azra's voice sounded different to me, almost as if they'd changed the actor.

Gosh Paul’s voice really grates. And now he suddenly has a grandmother who bakes cakes. I thought the grandparents all lived in the West Indies (and at least one died last year).

And could we not have had even one day without some building disaster? Beechwood sewage, then the shop, now the surgery. Are the SWs drawing lots?

Sorry, @BrightYellowDaffodil!

I do like Paul. And his voice. And am entirely happy for him to be attempting a cake passed down through generations of his family.

tonight was just pointless fluff

But Shula is coming back 😀

I suspect it might not be pointless … We’re just on the foothills of Christmas and SATTC 75th anniversary plots, surely?

I’ve never really believed anyone who said “it was the drink talking” when they’ve made excuses for horrible behaviour whilst drunk. In my personal experience, people who say or do something awful when they are inebriated are simply displaying their true colours.

Same here. I wondered who it was. The conversation with Lily, Josh and Paul (I think that's who it was) was excruciatingly boring and I turned off. Did I miss anything important?

No. Drivel.

Not so easy when it’s in most of the episodes. I don’t want to switch off as I enjoy a lot of the other stories/ characters.

What's SATTC? My brain refuses to try to think of anything other than Sex And The (The) City! 😆

I tend to find it really hard to differentiate between really disliking a character and whether or not I like the storyline. I think' I quite like the George storyline. I really dislike George the character and I think he's beyond redemption, but I remember a friend having a take on why she was tolerating a certain ex of hers after his behaviour, and it was about it being important for people to not feel that they are beyond redemption. For all that I think Ambridge would be safer with George behind bars, it is ringing alarm bells that George himself thinks he is beyond redemption. If you truly believe that about yourself, there's no point in even trying to be better or to bootstrap yourself up out of the hole you are in...

I agree it seems foreboding for Something Big jut in time for Christmas.

Shake Ambridge To The Core.

Forty plus years listener hanging on by a thread. I’m hating all the story lines except George’s. What started out as a barely believable belated jump on the influencer bandwagon has turned into something with a lot of layers. My take on George’s violence is that he’s terrified. He’s an absolute nobody outside prison, unwelcome and loathed. His subconscious is telling him he’d be better off back inside. What makes it so fascinating is the number of people who feel responsible for him and who will be riddled with guilt, either because he’s going back, or because of the deed that leads him back.

Excellent post @partystress. What I don’t understand is that his violence is directed against the person who is genuinely trying to help him. And Ed is prepared to tolerate it in a misguided attempt to shield Emma. How much more is he prepared to take? And will his failure to act lead to someone e frailer and more vulnerable than him being George’s next victim? I agree with a PP that it could be Keira because this is what would force both Emma and Ed to stop making excuses for George and they would both blame themselves for not opening their eyes sooner. I’m not in the least bit interested in the flood at the surgery or the state of the Stables.

it's like all those posts we see saying that menopausal women aren't getting angry, it is just that the hormonal balances has changed and they are less able to tolerate bullshit.

So when you drink, your filters are impaired and you say things that you wouldn't usually because you know not to.

Totally stupid ep. Setting up 2 areas, possibly 3, of conflict:
a) Shula coming to see the absolute state her house is in
b) Azra not hitting targets (or IT is useless)
which leads to
c) useless IT/not hitting targets plus the boiler/piping issue: Ambridge surgery to close.

Observing how stories are being created now is pretty depressing. I imagine that in the scant few years before I started hearing (if not perhaps properly following) TA, the writers had plenty to do reflecting real life post-war rural conditions. Then for decades there never seemed to be a ‘formula’ and stories seemed to emerge more or less organically (except around anniversaries!). Maybe it was more skilful writing that meant the planning seemed less obvious.

Now it seems that in the absence of any knowledge of, or interest in, actual rural life, the creative team comes up with maybe a three month plan and each SW is sent away with an instruction card for their week:

Cause someone to be unable to carry out their normal job.

Disable a building - so that at least three characters are placed in an unfamiliar environment.

Invariably flip flop any character’s strongly held viewpoint on a new situation.

Erase, as far as possible, any discernible economic or class distinction between characters.

Etc.

Etc.

I’m finding George’s story (so beautifully encompassing Grundys, Carters, Horrobins and tangentially Bridge Farm and Home Farm) enthralling; the rest is just time filler.