Archers thread #193: Christmas in Ambridge! Don't expect any wise men (or women). Discuss The Archers here.

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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 a couple of acquaintances to clean and tidy your house without your permission, 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/5457344-the-archers-spoilers-thread-11-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.)

What do we think - best Christmas ever followed by a nice quiet New Year? No, me neither. We have the tractor run to look forward to , and then whatever they've got lined up for the 75th anniversary of the first ever episode - New Year's Day 1951. I can't imagine that anybody involved with the programme then expected it would still be on the air 75 years later. I wonder what they would make of the current direction. The lack of farming content would be a surprise, given that was the whole reason for devising the programme in the first place.

Over to you!

The obvious choice is for George to go to Brad, if so, and he sees Amber there will he beat Brad to a pulp or will Jazzer give George a smack. Im sure Jazzer is capable to do that.
Amber should just pack up and go back to her parents, she must know she is putting weedy Brad In danger.
Or George will go to his Nannas and have a fight with Chris. So many variables!

It was the "Shut my bedroom door" line that was really terrible. Brad is being a total tit.

I do like long running storylines. I remember listening to the Emma/Ed/Will love triangle while at university, and here it is still having an impact over 20 years later.

Am I inventing this, or the time Nic hit George (once, she wasn't a serial batterer) was that also not a reaction to his going off on a rant about Emma having had a sex life?

Someone will turn up, George could go to Alan who is the only one in Ambridge who has a Christian duty vis a vis the down and out. I'm thinking the penitent thief, which George is, metaphorically. And on and off)

There's homeless shelter in Borchester, we hear about it on and off. Though there is a certain charm in the idea of George freezing to death in the bird hide.

I think he’ll be rescued by someone completely inappropriate, Alice, Fallon or Hannah. But fingers crossed for the bird table!

Are we heading for history repeating itself? It seemed they were keen to include that Amber and George had sex the night before and now Amber is to spend the night with Brad. Will there be a pregnancy announcement in the new year with questions over who is the father?

I didn’t think it would be possible but I felt sorry for George last night. It was all very clear cut and total 180 from everyone.

Had a big post Christmas catch up last night. But it was getting late so I may relisten to the last two episodes.

I really hope they aren't heading for a suicide/ attempted suicide in the near future with George. He's fighting everyone and self pitying but he's not coming across as suicidal.

The thing is would he just turn up at Brad's without calling? And he'd have to get past Tracy and /or Jazzer first. I'm not sure I want him to barge in and discover Amber there. I prefer when storylines play the long game.

He might swallow his pride and go to Neil and Susan.

Or he'll be found by Pat sleeping in a shed with the goats at Bridge farm and she'll sneak him out plates of left over turkey sandwiches and mince pies.
Or maybe not.

I had been looking forward to the scales dropping from people's eyes but that was too much too quickly, in my opinion anyway.

Agreed, and also think they (or at least Emma) would have been swayed a bit by the fact he was seeking help. and though they may have throw him out (I also think unlikely), I do think they would have helped him access the homeless shelter or whatever.

Agreed @CarlaH . It would have worked better as a slow burn. Or slowish. It didn't feel realistic them all turning up to gang up on him like that.

I agree. It was too quick and hardly any doubt from Emmur which just doesn’t ring true. I felt sorry for him. His worst crime tonight was saying horrible things - which he would, given his immaturity . This would only have rung true if they’d discovered something had also happened with Kiera.

I didn't feel sorry for George. It was done very subtly, but did we all clock that he was trying to coerce Amber into sex just before his family turned up? And the reality is that he has been blackmailing Ed into keeping quiet about his assaults by playing on the "we mustn't upset Emmur" theme.

He really is a total idiot. The only people supporting him unquestioningly have been his family, yet as soon as he feels he is being criticised he tries to deflect all the blame onto them. They were bound to be angry once they realised what was going on, but if he'd demonstrated any sort of real contrition they would have been back on his side.

Yes definitely clocked that too with Amber @JudyCoolibar. It was really uncomfortable but very much in character for George.

And meanwhile he's been busy targeting the women in the village he thinks he can intimidate.

I've never understood the sympathy for George, he really is a piece of work. Even uses and abuses his only friend.

I had been looking forward to the scales dropping from people's eyes but that was too much too quickly, in my opinion anyway.

Things can escalate very quickly. I think it was actually quite well done considering IRL the ugly scene would have played out over several awful hours. I enjoyed it. They are all good actors. It’s hard to imagine it’s the same programme that had stupid Joy clapping her hands a few days ago at the thought of a hot chocolate with marshmallows and the fact that Bethlehem exists outside the Bible…

There's definitely an A team and a B team. And the B team certainly gets a disproportionate amount of air time.

It would be a good story if he went to shelter in the piggery, got eaten by the pigs (without causing them any digestive or other harm) and left a mystery that only the listeners will know the true answer to.

Being eaten by pigs as the best.

I like that. Very Dahl-esque.

Yes. Also, we know that something has been going on between George and Keira, which Keira refused to talk about but which clearly had upset her and worried Ed and Emma. I think that would have been in Emma's mind when the manure hit the ventilator.

If George had been physically abusing someone outside of the Grundy family Eddie would have been making excuses for him. He is not a nice person and I didn’t feel sad for him all.

it fits though - outside the family? close ranks and protect the Grundy.
Inside the family? that is not the Grundy Code.

The one time Nic smacked George (because he had deliberately knocked two-year-old Mia to the ground) was when he was three years and one week old. I don't suppose he remembers that actual incident at all; what it led to, his not going on holiday with Jake and Mia, would be more likely to stick in his memory.

I remember Nic smacking George. She didn't thump him. He was a nasty little child then

A few days ago, George was being sexist with Fallon - suggesting she only needed to ask for a kiss.

i hope there isn't a 'who's the father?' baby but it is a soap.

It's a shame that they didn't drag Mia back from University as I feel confident that she would have spotted if there was something not right with Keira. If Amber does hang around, it would be good for the two to have scenes together.

Is this all likely to play out a bit like "Adolescence", but with an older teen? I seem to remember that half the country was obsessed with the programme (probably around the time the Editors sat down to plan 75th anniversary), but I've managed to refrain from getting a Netflix sub to find out what all the fuss was about.

This is almost as exciting as "Who shot JR?"!

Better to have rented him a very basic room in town for one month and dumped him there (between them all they could probably manage the rent) so he could get work in a place where nobody knows him either no transport issue.

An angry and frozen George on the prowl in Ambridge does nobody any good.