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's interesting. But as you didn't actually ask for anyone to attend they may not have stopped your 'phone, iyswim.

It’s definitely not the case that your phone is blocked after calling 999. It would be deeply unethical for a start, but I know from experience that it’s not true.

Ah that makes sense, kind of. It would mean that the emergency services have some sort of technology allowing them to selectively block someone who has phoned them from phoning someone else, which sounds a bit mad once you type it out. I should just google it I guess, but where's the fun in that?

Welcome, @PuggyPuggyPuggy! There’s a school of thought that insists this thread is so relentlessly negative as to be unbearable - but I’m not sure those people love TA as much as those of us who are alert to every single failing in the writing and production.

Thank you @Agapornis! I am contentedly single but I have a horrible feeling that if I ever so much as bumped into Neil Nunes in a lift, I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from proposing marriage.

I had to ring 999 a month ago. They told me not to use my phone before the ambulance arrived in case they needed to contact me, but my phone was fine as I did, in fact, make a very quick call to a relative to update them.

OK, as I said that's only what I was told. Other people's experience seems to show it's not true.

I have only just caught up. What I can't understand is when they discovered that Keria (sp?) had run away why they didn't call the police straight away. If my 14 yo had I would have rung as well as get everyone out looking.

Welcome to new listeners. We’re probably a bit more negative/sarcastic over on the “Spoliers” thread.

As somebody who is “vertically challenged”, I think the whole idea of the “bottling”(?) was to ensure that anybody would have sufficient reach to bop George over the head.

If I were a publican, I reckon I’d have saved the cases of vino to lure punters in for “free 1/2 bottle with every meal”

What with Dry Jan alongside Veganuary and an aspiring murderer on the loose in Ambridge, I suspect the takings at The Bull will be a tad lean.

Ambridge had a Spring panto last year, so we must be careful what we wish for in 2026…

For sure! But this is the Grundys; they might have felt the police would blame George because of the note she left, and that the Code of the Grundys would be against that.

Being fair, I don't think the police are ever going to be their first thought: they are so used to thinking of them as The Enemy.

(Sorry; this was an answer to Redcliffe1 upthread.)

Madcats
Welcome to new listeners. We’re probably a bit more negative/sarcastic over on the “Spoliers” thread.

At least one poster on the Spoilers thread has stated they are there because this one is unremittingly critical, I think.

I love Neil Nunes aswell he’s so …. yummy to listen to

I think having a bit of a WTF discussion is part of loving TA. Otherwise Joy always having the requisite skills to step in to the breach or Tom asking Henry where he’d been all day when he got home from school would just be annoying.

I am grateful for the sharing of TA experience on this thread

theory Keira did it and ed and jazzer are covering up for her
hence why jazzer is acting so flaky.
Ive plagerised this from a bluesky thread that i’m on
but its a good theory

It felt a bit like an Agatha Christie setting up multiple potential suspects who either were acting dodgy or couldn’t be found. Clearly Keira running away was the plot device for everyone to be out searching and split up to create the list of whodunnit characters. Was it Jazzer in the library or Fallon in the Bull with the cut on her hand from a broken bottle or Harrison with his revolver etc etc.

The rather unusual name "Birling" very loosely connects Cabin Pressure and recent TA (via An Inspector Calls...)

Thank you @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g for the new thread. I think we are going to have to expect the unexpected - e.g. I was certainly not expecting George to be conscious, never mind speaking so soon - and what an exasperatingly corny cliffhanger on Friday.

That was probably me. I find sometimes that the posters who seem to hate The Archers rather spoils my enjoyment of both the programme and the MN discussion.

Cabin Pressure and TA are already linked by Herc being father to the Fairbrethren.

Sounds like you're going to fit right in!

A quarter of a century ago when the internet was a great novelty and the BBC was setting up messageboards for every conceivable subject, they set one up for Current Storylines for The Archers. I suspect they thought the devoted listeners would set to work talking about their favourite characters and storylines. What they actually got was relentless criticism and nitpicking, punctuated by people comparing notes about which characters they hated most.

@TottersBlankly I feel they made Neil Nunes extra bass-y for this. I approve too. Maybe he received a nice new Deep Vibrato microphone for Christmas.

Was that Mustardland? And was it moderated by the great Keri?

I lurk here all the time and love the theories so manning up to put forward mine. Given what we have heard already, Amber still loves him, Eddie is sorry for what he said etc, looks like this will be a redemptive story line for George. So could it have been Ed? George will cover for him, accepting the wickedness of his recent behaviour, effectively paying Ed back for protecting him after his two attacks. It’s amazing what a bonk on the head can do!

My theory - bottle will be the free wine (the one where they helpfully listed every person who had one a few episides ago). George will have left a phone message for Emma which will not reveal the identity of his attacker but this will drag out for several episodes.

George will have a personality change due to his head injury and become kind. When we all like him again, he'll have an aneurysm and die.

Yes indeed. I wasted enormous amounts of time there, and I know others here were also regular posters.

I feel like there's been a lot made in recent weeks of sibling squabbles between George and Keira. Not sure if this was a foreshadowing or a red herring though!