The Archers spoilers thread #11: Can't wait for 7.02pm? Join us here!

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

Spoilers thread for The Archers on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds. All Archers listeners are welcome here, whether you post on our main Archers thread or not. There's just one rule: please keep all spoiler-related discussion in this thread and do not spill the beans on the main Archers thread.

We usually add the BBC teasers and cast lists for forthcoming episodes as they become available, plus the Radio Times and Daily Mail previews when possible. Feel free to add anything else you come across, e.g. cast news, scriptwriter tweets!

I think suicide by cop is probably rarer here than in the States, on account of the armed or otherwise condition of ordinary policemen in the two different countries.

Unless George does get hold of a gun and start to use it, would they call out the armed police?

Yes they would - see the recent events near Thetford, where a man was shot dead by armed police.

Not all police in this country are armed. And a good thing too: would you trust Harrison Burns with a gun? especially given that he posed with guns and boasted about it in his "socials"?

The case in Thetford seems to have happened because the person killed was reported to the police as being armed with a gun, so an armed response team was sent. It wasn't just a killing by a random bobby on the beat. (Or cop in a jam sandwich, or whatever else.)

If we lose George but keep Amber I will be livid. Not that I like George, but the character is well written and the actor is brilliant.

Yes, that feels like a "worst outcome" result, doesn't it. At least we know George! Amber is just another blow-in.

Borrowbox has delivered the new Radio Times so I have the cast list for week-ending Friday 9 January:

Helen, Henry, Jolene, Tony, Brian, Alice, Neil, Amber, Clarrie, Ed, Eddie, Emma, Will, Joy, Akram, Jazzer and Fallon
David Payne wrote it (just in case that anybody can remember whether he does good weeks).

No sign of Chris (there had to be a reason why made such a song and dance of getting out of his little flat).

I wonder if they are teeing up for 4 months of "Joy in Ambridge"

Oh gosh - not Chris …

Neil and Susan don’t deserve that.

Oooo. Not Neil then. I wish we could do polls. I'm still voting for Chris deaded & George turning the gun on himself. No Tracey & Chelsea in the cast list.

Is anyone else reading the other thread wryly?

Madcats
David Payne wrote it (just in case that anybody can remember whether he does good weeks).

David Payne directed a week in April 2024 and has shared-directed two weeks late this year, one with Pip Swallow (November) and the other with Marina Calderone (October). This will be the first week he has written. That's assuming it's the same David Payne.

Yes! Extreme care needed at the moment. Not that we know that much, tbh, as I posted earlier - I think they are going to toy with us.

Crikey! That's a baptism of fire. Brave man.

So is Rex being positioned to ‘comfort’ Alice in the aftermath to the anniversary brouhaha?

It's increasingly looking as though Chris's days are numbered.
Didn't Rex suggest to Alice that it's "not too late" to get back with him?

@TottersBlatantlyTowardsTheBaileys If Ambridge were in the USA, that would be deemed a cruel and unusual punishment for Rex.

I thought he meant it's not too late to get together with someone and have another baby. She was talking about the way she was with Martha and she'd like to do it again properly. It will probably be Rex of course.

And it came to pass that Fairbrethren should spread their seed amongst the two most prominent houses of Ambridge … ?

Two things that come to mind on the one in, one out theme:

If it’s Chris, I imagine Brian will be sorely regretting his ‘starter marriage’ quip in his Anniversary Day insert.

I don’t think we will be treated to any confusion over paternity, given how careful they’ve been to point out that Amber slept in Chelsea’s room. (It would be too soon anyway, if it’s being announced sometime over the next few days.)

Now worried about Debbie, who we learned tonight is in Ambridge at the moment. I wouldn't put it past the production team to have got Tamsin Grieg in on the quiet (she's not in the cast list, but they have form for this) and had her confront Clive Horrobin or his great-nephew in a scene echoing Clive's armed raid on the Post Office. Or they could have her there but silent, I suppose. Jack Woolley had a heart attack during Clive's attack. Brian, who has heart problems now, will be in The Bull with the extended Aldridge family, including Debbie and Alice, tomorrow night. Debbie is the most expendable member of the clan, given that Tamsin Grieg is never going to be able or willing to return and many of us would be aghast at having Debbie recast (OK, I would).

Poor Martha!
Edited to say nothing against Rex intended. What I mean is that baby no 2 would get extra special treatment and we all know what kind of treatment Martha got "in utero".

I take your point.

I am not enjoying your cogent and persuasive argument, @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g…

Neither am I. I see I was so perturbed last night that I spelled Greig wrong. Oh well, today's the day it all kicks off!

That would be a waste of a dedding. Much though I dislike Debbie, she is so seldom around that she might as well be dead anyway.

I feel pretty sure it won't be an Aldridge, we've already done them all hating george, what would be the point?

Ditto George himself, we've already had all the concern and grief about him when he went to prison. Even if he survived it would be the same stuff.

Let's see!

So were Debbie, Shula and Jill all at Lower Loxley at Christmas and Kenton and Jolene decided to stay at home with Pot Noodles? Odd.

If The Archers has succeeded in attracted new listeners, I suspect that most have never heard Debbie or Shula, so I doubt they have targets on their head for now.