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!

Yawn.

Maybe you should go to bed if you're tired.

Or tongue in cheek because the spelling police had been out.

I was raised on The Archers and absolutely loathed it, but I think it might have been Kate that got me back into it, because I could see that she was an objectively nightmarish person, but she was just SO entertaining.

Her and Marjorie Antrobus, who I absolutely adored, although can now remember nothing about.

Sorry to hear you experienced bullying over your name in RL@DeanElderberry. DH and I made a conscious decision to give our two international
names that are easy to pronounce, spell and read in most European languages. DD has a friend here in France called Phoebe - easy enough for a French person to say if they hear it, almost impossible to attempt if they just see it written down. Bilingual/ bicultural people can see the pitfalls - no one who speaks French and intended their child to grow up in France would call their son Connor for instance, but the majority of people are monolingual and the idea of stuff being pronounced differently or carrying a different meaning doesn’t cross their minds if they like the name. When it comes to spelling, even the most basic names often need to be spelled out - that goes double when it’s in a language you’re not used to writing. I took the “he who cannot be spelled” reference to be a jokey reference to “he who must not be named” (which used to be used to refer to someone whose name I’ve now forgotten), but I’m not Irish so it’s not for me to say whether that is something that might give offence. I like to think there’s more that unites us than divides us on these threads - there is nowhere in RL where I could indulge in such detailed nitpicking with such Ambridge obsessive. It really is a unique little community -,and generally one of the most good natured on MN.

@noodlezoodle The Dog Woman, Joe Grundy used to call her! She started off a bit of a nightmare but became a village treasure.

I thought George’s mini outburst was to show he still can’t manage his anger.

I do hope the speed watch volunteering does not presage a Tragic Death.

But, it’s the 75th anniversary; George has survived one attempt on his life so is essentially a walking miracle; the Grundys are all reconciled; the next generation of the Grundy clan is on the way, with the baby’s mother happily ensconced within the family - and George has everything he could possibly want. It could be argued that his story arc is … done.

So, no, I didn’t like that car, either.

I took the “he who cannot be spelled” reference to be a jokey reference to “he who must not be named” (which used to be used to refer to someone whose name I’ve now forgotten)

Darrell, who was married to Ilona/Elona, and had a daughter Rosa, and possibly another child.

I do hope the speed watch volunteering does not presage a Tragic Death.

Whereas I would dearly love to hear Lynda effing Snell being mown down.

Oh please don't leave. This thread is suppose to be about a fictional load of people and to me the spelling of a name is not important. As I said before it dosnt really matter how its spelt its not a real person. My maiden name was always spelt or pronounced wrongly as is my married name which is Portuguise and only pronounced by someone who is from Portugal or Spain.
I don't think anyone is racist on this thread and I hate when that is used all the time to shut someone down.
Once again please don't go I like reading your take on stuff on here.

Of course the fukken spelling is not important. The Imperialist assumption that non-English names are there to make jokes about is.

And that if a member of a subject nation complains, the natural rulers must huff and flounce at being forced endure such impertinence.

Marjorie/Margery, potato/potato

Anyone else have thoughts about that car?

Why cant Alice just rock up to Chris's home and tell him she is seeing Rex for heavens sake. Is it that important even though he is Chris's mate, then surely he'd know he is a good bloke, not like the drunk she was going out with before.
They are always saying they both should move on. They've been spilt up for a few years now. Get over yourself Alice.
Don't care if someone is trying to run George down, the Grundy's always make me want to turn off when they are on especially bloody Eddie.

I don't think Alice wanted to tell anyone yet, but she has forgotten she lives in Ambridge.

That's what I took from the car incident too. Though part of me is wondering if Marky's gang would really have dropped revenge and gone away so tamely...

Kate is awful. She blatantly went straight home and told Kirsty.

Oh, nothing about Rex …

Alice didn’t want anyone to know …

What kind of useless sister is she?

Yes,George has still got some work to do to control his emotions. Ideally, he'd be seeing a professional to get help with that, now he has a pregnant partner--a peak time for domestic abuse to start, apparently.

Kate is awful isn’t she? I think she is the person I’d dislike most in RL. Nosy, indiscreet and holier than thou with an innate superiority complex. Happy to abandon her own children, but expecting total support from her own family which can be summed up in her refusal to move her yurts (a mobile business if ever there was one) and preferring to see Home Farm sold and pulled to pieces instead. I can’t think of a single redeeming feature. Which makes her a brilliant character of course!

I was also really fascinated by the conversation on ‘Blue Lights’. Archers characters so rarely acknowledge the existence of the BBC.

But the idea that a person like Princess Kate Aldridge - business owner, partial Home Farm heiress, daughter of Jennifer, grandmother - would be living as a lodger in her home village in the year before her 50th birthday is still impossible to comprehend. (There is no way on earth Peggy would have given all her money to charity and left people like Kate, (or Helen,) with nothing. Not because they needed her money but because she would have felt it an achievement to be able to provide for them.)

I know the SWs want people living together for reasons of dialogue, but they go to such lengths to achieve that; it twists all the reality out of things.

Can't we just discuss the archers? I hate how these threads go off on huge tangents.

But the idea that a person like Princess Kate Aldridge - business owner, partial Home Farm heiress, daughter of Jennifer, grandmother - would be living as a lodger in her home village in the year before her 50th birthday is still impossible to comprehend. Indeed. Still less the idea that she would have been living with Peggy and then a Brian in a caring capacity when we all know she cares for no one but herself. I can’t remember why Kirsty agreed to put her up (or should that be put up with her?)

Did Eddie/Will/David know who was George’s dad at the point of wetting his head? I can’t remember the exact details but wasn’t George’s dad only revealed to be Will some time after he was born, before which time Ed was assumed to be his father? Did that scene ever actually happen or are the SWs hallucinating previous storylines again?

The Blue Lights advert was absolutely baffling.

I was about to answer that Kirsty needed the money … But she sold her Beechwood house to buy Willow Farm, and I had the impression the former would have been much more expensive than the latter. So now I’m confused. 🤷‍♀️

Particularly since, as far as I’m aware, Denise is also Kirsty’s lodger. 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

@EBearhug , 2 daughters. I think they were Anna and Rosie. Their mother was Ilona.

@noodlezoodle , I loved Marjorie Antrobus. I can only remember the name of one of her 'girls', Bettina.

The reason the discussion has gone off tangent is because of the 'I'm not racist, how very dare you' responses.

Both @DeanElderberry and I have given our reasons why we take offence. I don't know about Dean but I've had posters agreeing with me.

Why can't people stop for a couple of seconds and realise that xenophobia exists, even if it is subconscious or 'just banter'.
It really isn't about the spelling, it's about making fun of/belittling an Irish name because it is Irish.

"DeanElderberry · Today 06:24
...The Imperialist assumption that non-English names are there to make jokes about is.
And that if a member of a subject nation complains, the natural rulers must huff and flounce at being forced endure such impertinence."