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!

That would point to it being Amber or Brad and him knowing it.

Could it be Eddie?

I was also annoyed re the police phone call and the pointing towards Markie / his associates . Which seemed a bit of a “cop out “ - pun intended .

I did think as it was a very serious charge - I would assume aggravated assault / attempted murder that the police didn’t seem to have much actual evidence other than phone evidence .

I do appreciate that there will be artistic licence and also that they wouldn’t necessarily divulge all the details to George anyway .

There will also be a distinction between having enough evidence to charge and actually being able to get a conviction too .

I must admit I hadn’t thought of the possibility that George was making this call up . When I think about it , if the police were providing an update surely they would also say that and person X is due at court on y date for the first court hearing .

So maybe the SWs haven’t; “ bottled it “; by going for Markie / his associates . Which would have been really annoying after all the hype / extra episodes .

There did seem to be a rush for a lot of the characters to immediately blame Markie . That could be deflection, or even just wishful thinking ie they don’t want to believe that someone in their community could be capable of such a despicable act , so much easier to pin it on the ; “baddie “.

So George may still be covering up for someone close to him or to use to his advantage at a future date .

Re immediate family etc , surely the assailant would be unable to go on as normal and not feel guilty . So would leave ; Keira( we don’t know how she has reacted ) , Eddie ( not wanting to see George at all ). Amber , unlikely but we don’t know a huge amount about what she might be capable of , we know she was bullied in school , so may have been triggered by George’s appalling behaviour towards others . But would guilt be enough for her to remain in a relationship with George ? Unlikely .

Or the police call is genuine, they've charged someone but it'll turn out to be incorrect and an Ambridge resident confesses on their deathbed? Ironic if someone 'does a George' and lets Marky take the rap for them beaning George.

The clobbering of George was opportunistic. He could not have been foreseen to be where he was when he was or to be wandering alone on New Year's Eve just before midnight.

Planning it might have been a bit difficult for that reason.

Simon Williams, who plays Justin, does have a wife in RL, but it's not Lilian or Lilian's actor.

It's Lucy Fleming, who plays Miranda. I hope she does have a lovely life!

So his ex-wife in the Archers is played by his wife in real life. What are the odds of that?
<sarcasm, nepotism, hmmm>

Far from the only instance of it! Formerly Fat Dan, Will Grundy, Tom Archer #2 - actors are all children of other cast members or writers.

I suppose it saves on hotel rooms when they are recording!

What a shame that Justin didn’t become more “Simon” (after selling a bit of his empire and retiring). That would be far more fun.

And that would be fair but given what we have since found out about Joy suggests this is unlikely.

@ThatFlightyTemptressAdventure I was thinking George was going to go postal and shoot half the cast. Maybe hoping, actually. I had a similar mental list.

If I met someone who had bought a brand new house in her/his 50s or early 60s, had no job and presumably therefore no mortgage, and made no mention of an inheritance, Lottery win, advantageous divorce settlement, generous redundancy payment, early retirement lump sum or similar, I would definitely wonder where the money had come from. Joy may have sold up in another part of the country to re-locate close to Rochelle and the bairns, but what size of place would she have had to have in the North-East to be able to buy a new house outright in the West Midlands? Crime would be very much on my mind. We've often talked wistfully about Joy living in a new identity as part of a witness protection scheme, but the fact that Rochelle was able to find her Mum suggests that's a non-starter. Shame.

No marital home, for a start?

Maybe we need a whole new thread, that can only be read to the theme-tune of “Soap”, to explain the cast/real life complexities.

He's also brilliant in an episode of Victoria Wood's 'Dinner Ladies'. Watch from 24 mins for the best but if the link doesn't take you to the right place.

yes crime would be on my mind too
or she's a madam (unsure of a better term for that)

I agree there's something fishy about the police phone call
but I'm unsure why George would want to protect anyone when there's so much to gain from his victim status (heightened if the assailant is family or neighbour surely)
Amber might be the culprit, as she was very keen to pin the blame on Markie, and she may indeed have been triggered by his vile behaviour to his family. Also, it wouldn't be unreasonable to think he has been guilty of worse behaviour towards her than we have heard. George might protect her because- he wouldn't want her motive to be made public and/or he can then blackmail her.

I got the impression that the divorce from Rochelle's father was a long time ago so even if there was an owned marital home it presumably would have been pretty small and mortgaged.

There's never been any indication that Joy had any kind of wealth in her background. We don't know anything about what work she presumably did after her divorce but she certainly doesn't give the impression of having been a high earner.

This is part of the problem with her, she has no hinterland, is very one dimensional. In real life, even if she was a very private person, she would have dropped the odd thing into conversation with all the people in Ambridge who seem to think she's a marvellous friend.

Also in real life some people just wouldn't be able to resist asking. Decades ago I was widowed very young in my thirties, and afterwards I moved nearer my parents. Due to life insurance, death in service, mortgage protection etc I was able to buy a large house outright which many people of a similar age couldn't afford. I also didn't need to work. As I got to know people at the school gate etc it became clear there were people some who were extremely interested to find out about my financial situation, some were subtle but others just couldn't restrain themselves from asking me quite blatantly. I'm sure there would be people in Ambridge who would ask Joy, especially as it's not as if she was a widow with an inheritance.

I am a very nosy person but I wouldn’t think ‘crime’ re Joy. More likely, at her age, I’d assume inheritance + good pension + property. That we now know more about her background and it doesn’t fit very well with her house just makes me think th SWs didn’t plan ahead very well. I think IRL some people in the village would know a lot more about her backstory and finances than they do in Ambridge.

George’s assault is odd. Who is in possession of the knowledge that the wine bottle was one of the same kind as the Bull freebies?

I don’t like Eddie, but his behaviour is understandable. I think Will is heading for some sort of breakdown/epiphany. If I never hear the phrase ‘one of (y)our own’ it will be too soon!

I'd assume something mundane, like a relatively small (i.e. substantial, but not millions) premium bonds/pools/lottery win, or inheritance, or something like that. I mean, she might have been earning a fortune as a Soviet spy or professional blackmailer, but it seems fairly unlikely.

However, I'm glad I'm not a neighbour of any of you with wilder imaginations!

That we now know more about her background and it doesn’t fit very well with her house just makes me think th SWs didn’t plan ahead very well

This. Cock-up before conspiracy is the way to go. Of course the SWs will manufacture some ridiculous back story when its suits their book.

I still don't buy the Marky thing. If you're a gangster planning to off someone, you don't plot to get hold of a bottle of "prize" chardonnay from the local pub and stalk your target along a bridle path. I hope it's Amber. Or Mick.

[Drifts into wistful fantasy of how this could go]

I don't think Marky's gang would want George dead anyway. He'd be far more useful to them by putting the fear of God in him and using him as a pawn for their wrong doings. They would have contacted him, scared, him, blackmailed him. Not clonked him with a bottle.

Would the police be wanting to prove beyond doubt that the bottle was the weapon? Surely they don't just assume because a broken bottle was found at the scene? I think we've been led to think one thing has happened but it will turn out to be something quite different.

So disappointed with these storylines…
Why didn’t Emma remind Will of their new resolve to parent George properly rather than feebly trying to placate him
And George and ‘its over’ what is - it barely started…