Archers thread #196: Run, Rex, 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'd like to marry Pip, 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.)

So now we know who bonked George on the head. Will the stunning revelation lead to anything interesting or credible happening? Answers on a postcard, please!

Will Alice and Rex become an item? Will Amber come to her senses? Has Adam's constant languor and fatigue now removed his ability to speak on air?

Over to you!

This.

That was No. 4!

What was the mystery house for sale? I felt they were being weird about not saying where it is (road name) but intensely detailed on distances. Probably to avoid yet another discussion on the flexible housing stock of Ambridge.

Just putting this here.

Did Kirsty say it was ex housing association or have I imagined that? Is there a council estate in Ambridge, presumably it's on there? If that's the case I'm surprised Helen is happy to live there, I wouldn't be. I'm also surprised she doesn't want a bigger house, her boys presumably have friends and if you can give them another room to game in/hang out then that's so much better.

I know she thinks she's going to live in the farmhouse one day but that must surely be after Pat and Tony have died, which could be 20 years or more away, by which time her boys will be grown men likely with their own children and won't still be living with her.

Very postive episode!
Chris and Hannah sound good together.

I promise there are some perfectly nice council estates out there... I live on one 😂

Isn't Grange Spinney the housing estate/council housing? The biggest menace would be the Button sisters (I think - don't they live there?).
I did try to look up Ambridge's social housing, but all I found out is that near the real life village of Inkberrow they're developing a new housing estate unhelpfully named Ambridge Fields.

Thank you, @YisRexposherthanfreddie! 😄 And with a mobile beauty salon, too.

(Strangely I never encountered that street when I lived in Edinburgh.)

Well Helen liked Finlays room so much she stayed there all night. 🤒

They're developing a new housing estate near Inkberrow calling it 'Ambridge Fields'?
That's rather fun, wonder what names they'll give the new roads/streets
'Aldridge Walk' 'Archer Avenue' 'Grundy Close' 'Horrobin Drive'?

Pargetter Falls, Badger's End.....

To be fair, neither Lee nor Dale come into those categories.

Who did Helen stalk?

she wasn’t the best partner to Lee - has he emigrated yet? That would certainly get him fat enough away

So, lemme see, Helen was just meeting up with Finlay for drinks/a meal, falls almost immediately into bed with him, and the date is still going on well into the next morning? So had she already arranged with Tom and Natasha to sort out the boys and ensure they were ready for school in the morning, or did she just assume they'd work out she was shagging and take over for her? I mean, I know they're presumably reasonably independent but someone needs to ensure they're up and out on time in the morning.

Also, we already know Henry is anxious about his mother and relationships so how would he be feeling if she hasn’t come home?

I assume she messaged Tom and gave him tmi

Maybe she doesn't come home on a regular basis because she's spending the night with Dane so they're used to sorting the boys out and assumed she'd be with him.

Or does Dane stay over at Beechwood too? It's a lot to expect Tom and Natasha just to take over the parental role on a regular basis, but maybe they do.

Helen is dreadful the way she shagged Finlay and is presumably going to carry on with Dane as if nothing happened. She obviously doesn't like him that much so why stay with him. Is she one of those women who has to have any man in her life to feel validated?

Helen’s history and relationship with men is complex and difficult. Help me with this:

Before Greg?
Greg - older man, took his own life. I recall Helen got a bit weird with his daughter… wanted her to keep a baby conceived through an inappropriate liaison?
Helen decided to have a child on her own.
Rob - who could forget Rob.
Lee - seemed ok to me.
Dane - never gonna work
Finlay - I reckon we haven’t seen the last of Finlay.

Among the odd men Ambridge women dated (not always Helen, Kathy picked some oddballs too) were cucumber man and stapler man, who may or may not have been the same person).

Lee was nice and normal and his decision to put the Atlantic Ocean and the North American continental landmass between him and Helen is entirely understandable.

My mate saw Mark Bonner in the audience of the theatre in Wycombe Swan on Thursday night. She resisted the temptation to tell him to run away from Helen

And of course she lost her brother.

Helen leaping into bed with Findlay shoes why she really really still needs to do the Freedom Progamme.

And utterly unrepresentative of life as a single mother, certainly in practical terms.

Her youngest is 10. They are old enough to be left with Tom and Natasha for breakfast and the school bus, so long as the other household members are ok with it.

Well, she would have lied to her household about where she was going / who she would be seeing, anyway. So although the SW didn’t include it, I have no doubt she’d have phoned or messaged late in the evening to say she’d got held up with her cheese making old school friend and wouldn’t be back until the following day.