Archers thread #194: Bottled on the Bridle Path! Discuss 75 years of The Archers here.

[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 wishthat we'd heard the Reverend Shula preach over the festive period, 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 am all Archered out after the excitement of the 75th anniversary yesterday, the special drama (Truth and Lies), the podcast, you name it. Now it looks as if George is going to pull through, the hype seems a bit overdone. So it's over to you!

I still think it was Auntie Chris.

Still alive, I believe.

Or one of The Gills?

Or that postman who had one line to say in 1973..

What about Oliver? The local philanthropist. Took matters into his own hands for the good of Ambridge.

Adil, secretly returned and taking revenge for Caroline’s bench …

Amber’s mum, who’s heard about Brad’s MIT / tech bro potential. Only the best for her daughter …

Stella - regretting having Hannah foist upon her …

Laurence - planning to frame a Malik. Doesn’t matter which one.

George’s former pad mate, newly released. Heard about George’s coffin scheme and wants the business for himself.

Oh, oh! A very pissed off wedding planner, to whom George had promised all the worldly goods possessed by his entire clan.

I don't think so. She joined well with haymaking.

I think it could be Amber or Keira (though possibly Keira was found too far away, not quite sure of the geography, which is probably a little elastic as required by plot lines...) I suspect if it was one of them, it wasn't intentional, but came across George while running away/taking some thinking time. Then when George taunted whichever one it was, she either had her own bottle from somewhere, or George had one, and took it, "you're already drunk enough!" and then, "urgh, you can be so annoying, leave me alone!", swinging the bottle round to just give herself space and accidentally clonking him on the back of the head.

I think if an attacker had planned ahead, they'd have chosen a different weapon.

Has anyone asked Hilda Ogden for her whereabouts ?

I really want it to be Harrison, but if it was then it was a feeble effort. Failing that, I'd like it to be self-inflicted.

grooming gangs? General harassment and abuse of girls?

The Archers: Live at 75 👀👀

Sorry if this has been posted on previous thread, I've only just seen this today. Sounds like a jolly good use of an evening 😆

I largely agree with this, but I don’t think she has gone rogue.

She is probably GRU on a mission is to sow discord into the heart of middle England.

I fear that George may not make it home - as so much emphasis on him getting out . But as others have said , we also thought that for his release from prison and he was released .

They do seem to be increasing the mentions of Keira - but probably a red herring .

Not sure I still think it is Amber whodunnit - think some of her behaviour was just guilt . Also difficult as I understand that it is a new actress , she sounds completely different and also seems to have changed personality / softened but could be she has just settled into the family .

Re the CCTV tampering there are quite a few that it could be linked to . Brad would have the capability and could have deleted it to protect someone else . We haven’t heard directly from Brad .I don’t think he would be able to assault George and then not be completely torn up about it .

Also so many people linked to the pub or people who have worked there recently . Again that could be a red herring anyway e.g covering up an argument - Fallon / Harrison etc .

If no link to CCTV , Hannah / Brian still possibilities .

If George does make it home - what happens to him ? Is he a slightly reformed character , does he get eaten up by trying to find out who assaulted him / know who did it - and keeps quiet .
He is quite an abrasive character and if he acts as he did before , he will stretch any sympathy now earned to the brink.

That strikes me as something of a reach, to put it mildly. Grooming gangs utterly irrelevant to the storyline, and the Grundys are clearly now vigilant and concerned about Keira.
Possibly it’s not only fourteen-year-old girls who lack a sense of proportion.

The broken bottle is a red herring. It was Jill with Dwarf Battle Bread in the shape of a flapjack.

I think maybe it was more that your comments about teenage girls were rather tasteless in the context of recent news stories.

I don’t think Brefugee was suggesting Keira was a grooming victim.

She has been rather sidelined in the story, though, despite what must have been a distressing experience for her.

with respect: if we don't listen to girls, we don't find out what happens to them. We KNOW this to be true.

absolutely
I think (and sincerely hope) we are not going to get a grooming gang or county lines story but a responsible family would be rightly concerned if a 14 yo suddenly disappeared after having been unhappy and wasn't answering her phone or where you'd expect them to be, and I was surprised they didn't contact the police who I believe would have taken it seriously

I started a suspect poll.

Options limited but could add another one with more names.

www.mumsnet.com/talk/radio_addicts/5472038-archers-fans-who-attacked-george

On the podcast didn’t the writer say that when he pitched this idea he had a list of about 30 possible suspects. I can’t remember the exact number - maybe 26

Now I think he just fell over pissed and bottled himself. And maybe someone saw him but did nothing about it.