Archers thread #195: Run, Amber, run! Discuss The Archers here.

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Thank you, @PseudoBadger, for kicking off this long, long series of Archers threads.

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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!

Especially to crack his skull with an empty bottle of wine, a full bottle would be a better weapon.

I think Brian was the person George remembers leaning over him, and that Brian was telling the truth about calling the ambulance. I'm not so sure about the rest though.

Notice Brian only confessed when George said he would start asking about who left the pub at the relevant time 🤔

@AnotherHormonalWoman ‘Old rich white dudes’ have a million more effective ways of punishing yoot than smacking them about the head with bottles.

Brian and Ruari have been touching on inheritance recently haven’t they. This feels like a twist on legacy -as protection. But of Ruari, Chris (for Alice), Paul (for Ruari), Jakob (for Kate)? They were missing their wine bottle.

well, I did not see THAT coming
but I did think...'I bet George is recording this' so maybe I have a future as a criminal mastermind after all
I agree Brian did not do this, not his style and he isn't capable- so he may be protecting someone- which means he had to think pretty fast when George confronted him- and we may have months more to go of this story 😒

I don't understand this post. What on earth does George have to do with Home Farm inheritance?

I'm.convinced it's not Brian.
He is trying to protect someone.
George is definitely going to try and blackmail Brian I hope he calls his bluff. Or goes to the police and reports him!

As in Brian is protecting the reputation of the next generation of Aldridges?

I dunno, I think maybe it really was Brian. He's the only one in the family who hates George enough to do it. But in his arrogance he sees George as inferior with no choice but to bow down to him and accept a truce.

And these lifelong farmer types have a kind of super strength, even into their 80s.

Brian’s choice is an unexpected form of legacy. Provision of protection by self-sacrifice rather than money - for the time being.

I’d be delighted if it was Brian, that would be fun and Brian was convincing to me, but having come to the thread I realise you’re right and he must be covering for someone. Not sure how it could be anyone but Ruairi? Brian would only cover for his children and it wasn’t Alice (or Kate) plus Brian was pretty scathing to Ruairi at the end of an episode the other day which I thought was a contrast to how he’s been so pleased with Ruairi making a go at the farm in recent months and was a bit weird. Also I think Alice commented the other day on how there had been tension between Brian and Ruairi recently? Plus Ruairi was particularly angry at George during that family meeting Alice made them do. I wonder how this will play out…

I really want it to have been Ruairi. Odious little squit.

I didn't say it was a good plan! Merely that I could imagine a drunken ORWD could well fancy that he could take on a younger much fitter man. And if the latter were drunk enough or off guard enough, he could well get lucky.

There are several stories of young men having lost their lives to a single punch in a drunken street brawl because they fell and cracked their head on the road.

I do like the idea of Ruari spending some time in prison and losing his chances of inheriting the farm.

If Brian had done it he’d have chosen something more effective surely. This is a guy who must have finished off countless animals in his time. He’d have got a heavy stick or a stone from the hedge. Not a bloody bottle.

Btw does anyone else wonder if Rory shares Alice’s drink problem?

14/01 episode is when George meets with re Aldridges. Ruari is very angry and hostile… his father doesn’t give any sign of knowing anything or wanting to stop R talking or anything though

I want to relisten to the police interview with Brian, but can’t see that that is available anywhere any more?

back in the day, basket weaving was one of the activities offered to people in institutions for people with poor mental health etc.

I used to have a waste paper basket my father had woven when recuperating from an appendectomy - which meant he wasn't fit enough to do national service, and by the time he was, they had stopped doing national service.

Amber was really annoying and needs to shut the fxxx up.
Wouldn't, when Chelsea gets her horse box fitted out, need a garage to park it to keep it safe from thieves. This project of hers is going to cost a lot more than 5 Grand.

Bother untill that episode I thought George was a genuinely reformed character! There has been less of a sneer in his voice.

I haven't be able to listen to the last couple of episodes. are they geoblocked in forrin?

I don’t think many are buying the idea that Brian did it.

I think I’ve managed to find the 1 Jan special: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002p0ds

I think if that was the scenario, Brian would have shown some propensity for it already. But there hasn't been so much as a hint of it.

I don't think Brian called the ambulance. He was taken off guard when George mentioned that it was his phone that was used to make the call, so it sounds as if he didn't know about that.

This all too clunky for words - I like the idea of smell unlocking memory (and it makes sense of why such a point was made about Brian receiving aftershave as a Christmas gift), but the idea of Brian sneaking round in the dark on NYE to attack George is just not credible - Brian may be many things, but he is not violent - nor is the idea that he would then immediately confess when confronted by George (followed by the long and drawn out analogy with the accident - trying the save the victims then pinning the blame on someone else). I just knew George was recording Brian because that’s what always happens in dramas. In reality Brian wouldn’t have given George the time of day. It’s drama for the sake of drama as if this were a one-off Agatha Christie style whodunnit where we don’t know any of the characters. The inheritance stuff with Ruairi is powerful because it rings true with Brian’s soft spot for his only biological son, but also with his tendency to play off his kids against one another and his determination to assert control. The bottle attack and confession feels like someone else entirely.

This is the bit that made me suspicious too. That was a calculated move, not something you would forget.

Do we know who gave Brian the aftershave? Might they have given the same to someone else?