Archers thread #198: Josh sent to Patagonia, Pip stays put. Wrong way round! Discuss The Archers here.

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

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Not feeling greatly enthused about what's going on in Ambridge at the moment, tbh. I'm annoyed at Brian's hypocrisy about Ruairi given the furore over George's attempt to frame Alice as the cause of the accident. I do hope we don't have a slow drip drip drip now as one after another the members of the Aldridge/Archer clan find out what really happened and endlessly agonise over what to do. Frankly I don't care. There! I've said it.

Pip's OK. Well, good, but what was the point of that story, I wonder?

I suspect I'm in a minority of one in rather enjoying hearing (a) from Bert Horobin and (b) about Fletcher. I surmise Bert is here to stay for a while because the BBC has (amazingly) updated his character page: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/1wQP3mKR6yr9LVs05jddxcY/bert-horrobin (prominent actor photo warning). Given how out of date a lot of the other character pages are, this seems odd, but there we are.

That's all I can be bothered to say! Over to you.

Thank you.

The Bert actor looks exactly as I had imagined in my head!

thanks for the new thread.

Thank you for the new thread; Bert looks like a scruffy version of Bill Bailey!

The trouble with updated the cast photos is that listeners would realise just how "out of age" some of the writing is.

Love the title Gasp

You’d rather have her laundering some local man’s overalls in Ambridge for the rest of her life

Why does it have to be one extreme or another - a drudge or a FWB?

Maybe Erik will turn out to be The One and lay his hat in Ambridge.

One thing that makes me cringe, is the fnar fnar tone characters take when asking how someone's dating life is going. I've got a couple of friends who are trying online dating. I might ask "how did you get on with that chap you were seeing last night?" in a conversational tone but if it were Ambridge, I'd no doubt be nudging and winking.

nudging and winking Shudder. Spot on.

The updated character page made me think - is 6 The Green a 5 bedroom house? I know I know, Ambridge bedroom fairy, but:

1. Bert
2. Tracy & Jazzer
3. Brad
4. Chelsea
5. Stewart - though he might have been on the sofa

Vaguely recall something about the kids fighting over Stewart's room... I might be making that up

Stewart moved out some time ago, more like decades than mere years. Gary, whose room was disputed by Chelsea and Brad, left to work in Harwich docks in May 2022.

The sleeping arrangements at 6, The Green are

1: Tracy and Jazzer
2: Chelsea
3: Brad
4 (Downstairs en suite made from the dining-room by Neil): Bert

Thanks Gasp

Someone on the last thread if Robin Fairbrother has met Rosie. He has, he visited after she was born bringing vintage champagne for David.

There was a hoo-har over a Christening and Jill finding out one of Rosie’s middle names is Grace.

Thanks @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g!

Hard to say what Bert has been brought back to audible life for. I guess in the 75th anniversary year Big Things have to happen in the Horrobin household too, though I thought Chelsea starting up a business covered that. Bert doesn’t sound frail or ready to shuffle … Maybe, now Peggy’s gone and Jill (and seemingly Jim) are essentially voiceless, Bert has been written in to provide age balance, along with Carol.

As for Robin meeting Rosie; Toby regularly has her to stay with him, which I assume also means seeing her grandfather occasionally. Don’t think the writers have ever made clear exactly where Toby lives now, and how close (or distant) that might be to his father’s home, but the Fairfather has always sounded like someone who’d want plenty of meetings to check up on what his son was doing with the business. Bit like Brian, in fact.

Toby's father has a wine-shop in Stratford-upon-Avon so I always assumed that is where Toby is now living, since he is working for his father. I also got the distinct impression that contrary to Toby's expressed hope, Robin has not "stepped back" from the business to give Toby a free hand, so Robin probably lives there too.

Cheers @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g

🤦‍♀️ Oh, Rex... 🤦‍♀️

Yeah. There might be stupider things to do if you want to impress a recovering alcoholic about how much you care about her than show up paralytic on her doorstep in the middle of the night, but I can't think of many. Or indeed any.

Oh Brian, too. He's told almost all his children they'll inherit at one point or another.

Once again - poor Adam …

I actually enjoyed that episode!

So, can we now confirm that the point of Rex is to show Alice what a fine, upstanding prize of a husband she threw away?? 😄

What a plonker Rex

He's a wonderful and very funny actor! Did you see him Detectorists and Small Prophets?

What was Rex thinking of? Having accused Chris of enabling Alice by drinking too much, he then proceeds to do just that himself.
Brian’s flip-flopping is entirely predictable, but also understandable when you consider Adam’s age - Brian could live another ten years by which time Adam would be 70, and ready for retirement. The logical thing would be for Adam to take the reins now and to train Ruairi up to take over in the fullness of time (which is sort of what they were doing).

Oh, has something bad happened to Adam? Good-oh!
(not listening any more, so am here on false pretences)

Adam has always seemed old for his years, and not in a good way (if there is such a thing). Or perhaps this is just him being the most boring fictional character on the planet?

Surely Alice has to get rid of Rex now? I said he was a boring drip the other day, now he's also shown himself to be a thoughtless, crass idiot with a nasty streak( accusing Chris of enabling Alice's drinking).

Alice needs to rid herself of rex. He's a liability and likely to drive her to drink.
Alice needs to get back with Chris - which I think is where all this dating is going. Theyve looked at other relationships, and realise they are each others soul mates. They were after all a love match.
Rhauri needs to contact the police. He doesn't need the extra pressure of home farm. He needed to go to Ag Col and do a degree in land management or something, rather than messing about with the pigs.
Brian needs to make his mind up/ sell up. I couldn't believe he was having Adam as fit for retirement at 60 when he's what 80 odd(?) and still in charge himself.