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.

Asking for a friend (as too short to bop many over the head with an empty wine bottle), but what would Ruaria/George/Brian each be charged with? Does a “well he started it” apply?

Will Anna T be back in court for Brian/Ruari? She might well return to Ambridge, now “new” Carol is walking/talking/being needy.

I’m still cross that they skipped recording Philip M’s trial (who must surely be out on remand by now)!

Everyone in Ambridge (with the possible exception of George) will know all within the week.

I think Philip and the ghastly Gavin have long been consigned to the Pit of Ex-Characters.

Arf @DeanElderberry Who do you think Lil will tell first ... not Justin. Perhaps Alice?

Gavin Moss came out in 2024 and rushed around for a week or two getting Forgiven, since when he hasn't appeared. Philip Moss I don't think has appeared since before he was up in court.

GBH or attempted murder?

Para 1: Ruairi, GBH at the very least but possibly attempted murder. Brian, perverting the cause of justice perhaps? And George, blackmail.

Para 2: Who cares?

Para 3: I agree that Philip Moss's trial might have been interesting, unless he pleaded guilty in which case why bother.

I know it's early doors for reflection on the part of the Aldridge clan, but what colossal hypocrites Brine and Lilian are in their judgement of the Grundies closing ranks.

It will be very interesting to see reactions all round when it comes out.

The sheer entitlement of it… the way Lilian was talking about George before she got to the truth.

I quite like most of the Aldridge children… except Kate who is also exceptionally selfish. Ruari seems like a lost soul who should never have been sent to boarding school. He doesn’t seem to know who he is.

Yes. Maybe we should have given the script writers credit for planning this since Bridgegate. The Aldridge/Archer clan up in arms because George didn't own up when the original incident was more through stupidity than malice. Now they will close ranks to shield Ruairi from justice when he planned the near fatal attack on George. Compare and contrast.

Did Brian tell Lil that George thinks it was him? I might have missed it but I'm not convinced he did, so she doesn't know about the blackmail but.

Or was I not listening?

I don't think he did. I am listening, but frankly it goes in one ear and straight out of the other. So he probably did!

I didn't hear him tell her this.

He didn't. He only told Lilian that Ruaridh bottled George. She does not know about the blackmail - neither does Brine, as he offered to pay George to stay away and is not aware that George was recording it. Unless I've missed it, George is not (yet) a blackmailer, but the fruit of Brine's overactive loins has definitely committed ABH, if not GBH.

No you're right, Brian doesn't know about the recording and George hasn't really threatened him with anything explicitly.

It was daft to tell Lil that it was Ruairi, because she is quite dim enough to let it slip to George (while ranting at him).

Darker
The sheer entitlement of it… the way Lilian was talking about George before she got to the truth.

Lilian identified George as a loathsome little horror, and who is saying she is wrong? He is hardly a fine upstanding citizen, and, as she rightly remarked, having been hit on the head with a bottle hasn't made him a better person.

Ruari is no better than George. He has had a difficult upbringing, as has George, but all the advantages. He is going though a similar crisis of guilt that George went through.

Lilian and Brian should both know better than to ‘protect’ him, as the truth will out eventually.

To be fair, Lillian's immediate reaction was that Ruairi should go the the police and confess, but she eventually agreed with Brian.

Oddly enough, I agree that Jenny might well have wanted to ‘protect’ Ruairi. But Brian just isn’t like that. He prefers to face things head on. Yes, slack morals in personal matters, but I don’t for one moment believe he would prefer all this ducking and diving to marching briskly to the cop shop with MyBoy and trying his damnedest to arrive at the least painful resolution.

But George went through no crisis of guilt; his crisis was all about his fear of getting caught and punished. During it, he tried to put the blame on two innocent people, and only ceased to do so when his mother rang the police and told them what he had done.

Guilt and fear of being caught are not quite the same thing. And the words "I'm so, so sorry", however frequently repeated, in whatever context and to whom, are not amendment. Nor is bursting into tears.

I'd suggest that Ruairi, who wants to hand himself in, is in fact diametrically opposite to George, who tried his very best not to hand himself in at all and flailed around accusing others of what he knew was his own offence. George actively lied to the police; Ruairi has not lied to the police at all as far as we know.

I agree that it is both wrong and totally out of character for either Brian or Lilian to lie in order to protect Ruairi – especially since Brian's action was and is against Ruairi's wishes.

hmmm
if Brian's story (that he did it) becomes known, it could be supporting evidence for the dementia story and hence call into question the as-yet-unwritten codicil to his will
because his verbal agreement with Adam is surely never going to come to pass

I hope that Alan sees through George's near begging story and he has strong boundaries

I'm not particularly a royalist but I was and still am really narked with how quickly Camilla went from Queen Consort (oh no we wouldn't call her The Queen just because old mumsie died) to... The Queen.

There will only be one The Queen in my lifetime. <gavel>

Can anybody explain to me why Adam was happy with the role that Brine has decided he should have on the farm in the future?

If I understand it correctly, Adam gets a farming job for life and Ruari gets all of the proceeds of Adam's hard work.

I didn't hear Brian saying that Ruairi was going to inherit the farm. If he did, I cannot see why Adam sounded even slightly pleased about it, nor why a codicil to Brian's will would be needed for Adam to continue to manage the farm as he already is.

Brian said that he would make his wishes known that Adam should continue to manage the farm.

It's possible that I misunderstood the bit about Ruari inheriting?!

I predict that Ruari will get everything and Adam end up with nothing. Maybe Brine will die of a heart attack from all this stress before he changes his will.

I do NOT want to listen to a future Ambridge in which Ruari owns the damn farm though.