Archers thread #197: Runs, Ambridge, runs! 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 find it credible that Kate, who changed continents twice to get away from her own children, has now morphed into Grandmother of the Year, 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.)

Well, Finlay may have made good his escape, but we're all still stuck inside the Borsetshire forcefield. The cricket team is rising phoenix-like from the ashes but will now be The Bull's team, not Ambridge's. Will Alice and Rex make a go of things? Will George cope with a month off the booze? Will the real Brian Aldridge re-appear? Will we hear a bit more about farming? We did get a lambing scene the other night, which was good.

Over to you!

P. S. The pointless new AI title generator MN has introduced in spite of absolutely nobody ever asking for it wanted to call this thread something like Discuss The Archers here, no spoilers. I won't be following its suggestions.

Very true. If Khalil wants to find a home for the turtle that was wished on us when DD's family moved away, he's more than welcome.

I thought Chris had told George that already, in an emotional scene earlier this year. Someone forgot to tell Warburton that he had, perhaps.

when Caroline and Oliver got together, Brian could not resist letting Oliver know he had "been there" twice. He was utterly horrible. No change of character at all.

It's for 6 months, I think - they did tell us.

And yet they were, and remained, good enough friends to go on holiday together, with their wives. Investing in a farm in Hungary was something they did together, too.

Wait! Does Oliver own a bit of the farm that Debbie runs for “Home Farm”?

Things are likely to get very messy when either Oliver or Brian gets deaded.

No, Oliver does not own any of any farm. He sold his holding in a farm in Hungary in order to help Caroline buy Grey Gables.

At least, if that is the one you mean. Brian has no investment in it any more either; and it was never being run "for Home Farm", it was owned by a consortium of businessmen of whom Oliver and Brian were two.

And I think that although Brian pulled strings to get her a job on the farm in which he owned shares, she is now working for a different farm anyway.

Though Caroline was very cautious, and Jennifer patronising and spikey. It was less of a holiday, and more of a business trip to see oliver and Brian's Hungarian ventire.

I think it was Justin Elliot who got Debbie running the Hungarian farm originally?

There really was no one quite like Jenny - daughter of a drunken pub landlord - for elephant skinned,
Lady Muck snobbishness. 😄😍 (Apart from Nigel’s Ma, of course!)

(Although one of my favourite ever exchanges was Caroline telling Will - then lodging in her attic iirc - that she never had baked beans in her larder as she never ate them.)

Justin joined the programme in 2014 and Debbie went off to Hungary in 2005 (Lowfield, Monday 2nd May, 2005: "At the end of the week she is going to Hungary to manage the venture there; it was Brian's idea and he put Debbie forward.") so I don't think he had anything to do with it.

I don't think you need to be a snob to dislike the taste of baked beans. And of course some people are allergic to beans.

I loathe baked beans, though I eat a lot of lentils and chickpeas and other kinds of pulses. I find baked beans are too sweet, though I'm sometimes tempted to make them myself as, in theory, I should like both the tomato and bean elements!

That would be my position if they didn't also cause me to itch, turn purple starting at the inside of my wrists and spreading up my arms, and vomit! Unfortunately all the pulses have this effect, which means I wouldn't be terribly good at being a vegan.

I'm probably on my own here, but I enjoyed hearing Lynda talking to the budgie. You're not on your own. I enjoyed it too. He was never going to be Elgar was he.

Have they bothered to tell us how long George is meant to be wearing this tag? A year I think, or maybe 6 months. He said he'd be wearing it when the Geambrino turns up.

Nope Chris had told Hannah (I think) , but had apologised and made up with George. The conversation with Hannah was supposed to explain his change of heart.

Thanks, MollyB. I knew he'd let on about it, and couldn't think of anyone but George that he would have told.

In which case I agree that George being so laid back about it was extraordinary.

Business trip, not holiday.

I thought Reg said he'd be wearing the tag for a month.

Baked beans on their own aren't very nice but I would eat them cold if hungry enough. Like @Abra1t , they're a bit too sweet. Baked beans that have been overcooked are not for me.

I eat them in things like chilli because they are cheap. As a vegetarian, I eat a fair amount of lentils and pulses.

Was it Matt Crawford, then? Something to do with Bee Land - and Matt was in the Consortium with Brian and oliver?

BL never had anything to do with the Hungary venture as far as I know. Matt employed Debbie at the same time as her managing a farm there but that was I think the extent of his involvement.

Adam, you idiot..

Dang … I’m sure that was a good episode - but I was in a complicated text exchange all through it … Will have to listen properly later.

Wow …

Harsh.