Archers thread #195: Run, Amber, run! Discuss 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 think 19 is an ideal age to have a baby with a convict, 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.)

Emma spoke sense to George and Amber tonight. Goodness only knows where this storyline is going. I can't see George being Father of the Year. Oh dear.

Over to you!

Plenty of people wear rings which aren't engagement rings. Farmers probably less so, at least when they're working, but that's exactly why it might have been lying around on the side.

He is sleazy, to me he sounds a bit like Julian Clary trying to add innuendo into every sentence.

I dunno...I wondered from the beginning of the fancy lunch scene, when Stella sounded so nervous, if there was going to be a proposal, and when she started flapping about the cheesecake being eaten, I knew immediately that she was worried about the ring being swallowed. So I didn't hear Paul's comments as innuendo at all; I just figured that he had seen the ring in the scan and put 2 and 2 together. I was quite surprised at this development, though, because like many on here, I don't find Pip and Stella especially convincing as a couple.

I'm not sure what we're supposed to be thinking about George and Amber now. Is she meant to be honestly committed to him again? My impression has been that Amber herself doesn't know what she wants, and that her protestations of love etc. are perfectly sincere in the moment, but that she's chasing an image of life. Is that the intended impression?

I would really quite like some farming content now. The inheritance question addressed seriously would do, and some talk about the hideous weather and what that means for animal husbandry. Or something that's not teen love, or an unconvincing relationship!

Exactly right. Can't stand JC. Every sentence has to involve his sex life. Absolutely grim. Paul gives me almost the same queasiness. Not the same queasiness as P isn't real and JC is, unfortunately.

When I was young, someone who talked constantly about his own sex-life (it generally seemed to be men who did it) were usually thought of as "a bit of an exhibitionist" and pitied somewhat, because on the whole we didn't believe that if it was that great, he'd need to go on and on about it and try to convince everyone how great it was.

I am told that men mostly held the same opinion, they just didn't roll their eyes quite as much as women did when the dreary types started up again.

I probably wasn't paying sufficient attention. I was cooking.

"I would really quite like some farming content now. The inheritance question addressed seriously would do, and some talk about the hideous weather and what that means for animal husbandry. "

What??? But that would require TA to be an everyday story of country folk. There's no way that'll happen.

Especially now that it is officially "Essential drama set in the countryside" or some such.

"Contemporary drama in a rural setting", according to the website. Presumably this is for some value of "contemporary" with which I am unfamiliar?

You know what I would love? Just for once in her life for Ruth to say "milkinG".

What a load of bollocks that was. The SW must be mortified.

Couldn't agree more. Twaddle.

I suspect the SW is extremely chuffed with herself.

(This week's scripts were written by Sarah McDonald Hughes, whom I understand to have claimed credit for the tosh about Neil being a foundling.)

Thanks; I knew it was something yick.

Are we meant to be thinking that Amber’s parents are awful? Because if my teenager daughter got herself knocked up by an out ex-con, damn right I’d be making similar recommendations.

Amber's mother seemed to be implying that she herself had been in a similar scenario (so presumably when pregnant with Amber) and it had had a negative impact on her life - not exactly the best way to endear herself and her opinions to her daughter!

The problem really is that (a) Amber doesn't trust her mother, very possibly with good reason, but equally possibly not ... we just don't know and (b) she is daft enough to have got pregnant - by George, of all people! - on purpose.

But in the end, who among the listeners even cares? I expect the scriptwriters think it's all utterly riveting, though.

I've been on Amber's side in that scenario although I was a bit older. I didn't give in to it or the suicide threats that followed.

well quite
Ambers mother is clearly an idiot and although I agree she may be trying to protect her daughter from the fate she herself suffered (dates and ages would help here and I wonder if Amber is curious enough to figure it out) but I was getting waves of snobbery and what will the neighbours think. Amber's dad should have stepped in - to stop her mother. I can't imagine what will persuade Amber to end this pregnancy now.

Yep! Amber's mother has put paid to any chance of Amber changing her mind. Failing divine intervention, she is doomed (doomed, I tell you!) to produce Grundyspawn.

I was astounded that Amber's mother was talking about being trapped in an unhappy relationship because she was pregnant in front of her husband. Or is he not Amber's father?

Shockingly bad acting from “Annemarie” and “Bill”.

I also laughed (in the wrong way) at the bit where Amber mimicked George’s accent and grammar in a supposed loving way….

The only good bit was when Amber reeled off the names of all the Grundys/Carters in quick succession, like she was on a Name that Grundy gameshow. I was half expecting her to namecheck the ferrets.

What struck me was how like Amber and George Amber’s mother and father sounded. My real problem - if I may be allowed to go on about it again - is that I still don’t really understand how Amber ended up fixating on George. Apparently they were all at school together where Amber was bullied by Chelsea, but then Amber was changed beyond all recognition (what was she like before??) and ended up as an influencer. And then having attained this glamorous new persona she decided to look for a boyfriend in Borchester prison. And what’s happened to the Turkey teeth Amber? She’s been very inconsistently written. It’s not a compelling story to me because everything about it feels poorly fabricated. Is she reinventing herself because she didn’t feel cool at school or is she rebelling against her parents? It definitely sounded like she was hoping for some sort of hand out tonight. Is George suddenly going to revert to being a psychopath or is that it now? All he needed was the love of a good woman? Has Amber met Hannah yet? Has Esme for that matter?

Re inconsistent writing of Amber, cast your mind back to the very first time she appeared, ranting at Emma in the prison car park about something like Emma parking like a typical generation X or something, completely OTT and oh so hilarious when Emma found out she was George’s girlfriend.

Agree.
The acting was awful but I agreed with her mother who with age and maturity( and experience?) can see what an absolute disaster it is being pregnant at 19 with someone like George.

I think we're all supposed to be cheering on George and Amber as a wonderful couple, but why would we? Has Amber forgotten that a couple of weeks ago she was in love with Brad?

Utter rubbish.