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

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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 Given how out of date a lot of the other character pages are, this seems odd, but there we are.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.

I don't think Brian ever gave Kate or Alice to believe they were going to inherit all his land? Or indeed Debbie. He offered two of them management of the farm at the moment, but I don't think he ever suggested that managing it under his direction came with ownership for them any more than it did for Stella.

Adam has always been the entitled man's entitled man, and a sulky toddler with it. I think he assumed that Mummy Dearest would outlive Brian, thus making Adam's succession a done deal.

Adam reminds me of my younger stepson, who is about the same age. It is a bit sad, because I used to be very fond of him. I have an appointment next week to rewrite my will based on his recent appalling (and unsuccessful) demands for money from his dad, who has Alzheimer's. His loss will be Médecins Sans Frontières gain.

He "needed" the money to buy a house. He bought it, so I assume his very wealthy mother coughed up.

he assumed that Mummy Dearest would outlive Brian

I am so glad she didn’t. Frightful woman.

Adam has worked on and managed the farm for a long, long time and has always had a battle with Brian, who has enjoyed poo poo-ing his projects. I have no reason to believe his projects were unsuccessful, except for reasons such as lack of labour. The farm seems to make enough money for several people to derive an income from it. Personally I think the best thing Adam did was leave Home Farm. But he’s nearly 60 now with a family. It’s not so easy for him to just up sticks.

I do sometimes wonder what happened to the cross country course, the shoot etc etc. Have they been ditched?

God, Brian's a fearful shit.

I’m sorry @Gonners that sounds like a horrible situation to be in ❤️

What would Jenny have made Brian do at this point?

I know Adam doesn’t have masses of fans on here but I’ve always quite liked him. I was absolutely furious with Brian tonight for his reneging on his undertaking to Adam just a few weeks ago that he’d leave him Home Farm, to which he (Adam) has dedicated years of hard work. I was actually shouting at the radio - which I seldom or never get involved enough to do.

What would Jenny do?

Well … She loved Ruairi, of course - but she couldn’t stand Brian’s constant dismissal of Adam, and she would never have tolerated this.

She’d have told Brian that unless he had a new Will drawn up within 24 hours she would march Ruairi to the police station herself.

The main objection to Adam seems to be his weary voice. If pressed his financial slyness several years ago is mentioned.

I agree with you. He's already shown his capability year after year after year and now Brine kicks him down.

That thought crossed my mind too.

I thought the way Adam's voice changed, when he realised Brian's perfidy, was excellently acted. And when he went home immediately I thought that was it for his working at Home Farm. But then he swithered. I felt sorry for him but his languorous voice doesn't appeal.

I'm sure he talked to Alice and gave her the impression he wanted her to take over.

He did. I remember thinking "This is going to end in tears" and rather looking forward to it.

I have a hunch that the Home Farm inheritance/management storylines arose because the writing team forgot that Adam was an older Dad (so of an age where his peers are busy selling their businesses/looking at their pensions, rather than wondering whether to sign their children up for cub scouts).

What Brian did was ask Alice if she wanted to manage the farm while he looked for someone to replace Stella; he didn't offer to leave it to her if she did. She turned it down, just as Debbie had done before her. At that time Brian was not planning to offer the job (not the property) to Adam, who had stolen money from the farm account, failed to pay it back when asked to, and then stomped out in a huff when Brian didn't apologise for having been cross with him about this theft. (And for having left Brian to believe, however briefly, that the thief was Alice, which must have been absolutely horrible for Brian.)

Gosh the Home Farm storyline is the one that is keeping me listening at the mo.

It was clear from when Brian offered the farm to Adam that it was going to come unstuck. My pet theory is that he really is in the first throws of dementia, and that is going to come out when it is too late for him to alter his will. So: do we know what is currently in the will?

Also thanks to pp for pointing out the sacrifices and so on that Jenny made in bringing up R off her own bat, when she could have told Brian to take his progeny and push off. He knew about her children, she didn't cheat on him and produce another. Time for him to do the same for her (memory).

I would like someone to dob R in to the police and have done with it.

All the Aldridges should gave learnt from Peggy that people can change wills at any time (especially if they like to favour whoever is currently in their good books.) And they should also all have learnt that Brian is a nightmare to work for if you want autonomy in what you are doing. Plus I would have thought Adam would have realised that not being of Brian's seed will never make him a front-runner for Brian, however much he might deserve it.

I think Adam ought to have realised that spending twenty plus years picking fights with Brian at regular intervals and sniping at him in between hissy-fits and threats, while never supporting him, might not be the best way to endear himself to his mother's new husband (who was only employing Adam because if he didn't Jennifer was threatening to divorce Brian) and persuade said husband that Adam was the best thing since sliced bread and should be given free rein to do whatever he wanted to with Brian's farm.

(Is sliced bread a good thing? I have never been sure.)

Brian may or may not be a nightmare to work for; Adam is the employee from hell. Also unemployable in any but an essentially menial capacity, as he found when he flounced and tried to find and keep other work.

Reminding myself again that this is an Anniversary Year. 💃

Adam is going to move for a dissolution of the Home Farm partnership. It will be long and complex and costly and will bring Home Farm to the brink of bankruptcy. Maybe it will go over the edge. Maybe Brian, or the other partners, will see sense at the last moment.

Either way, I hope Eddie lives long enough to have a ringside seat - and brings his knitting needles.

Alice said it last night: Who's going to run the farm if you're not there? Adam is the only member of the family capable of running the farm. They all know that and no one wants the farm to fail, least of all Adam which was why he came straight back after Brian backed himself into a corner with Stella. Ruairi doesn't have the first clue - even with Adam holding his hand. We all know Debbie's not coming back and Kate is not a farmer.

There are other people like Stella only less prone to lying and nastiness, and without a connection to Justin Elliott. And Adam as an employee is a complete nightmare. What Brian needs is a farm manager he has chosen for himself – since he is the person who will have to work with that manager – rather than one chosen by (God help us all!) Kate and Jennifer because of her sex and her having said something nice about the Environment. (I would bet that Debbie and Alice didn't vote for Stella so much as against anyone Brian preferred.)

I loathe Helen; how intrusive and prying can she get? I could almost hear her tongue hanging out, slavering over Kirsty, who sounded poleaxed.

I honestly don't know what the stats are in Real Life, but in Ambridge it is starting to feel as if all a woman has to do is age to forty three or so and she will either get pregnant or think she is pregnant.

Jennifer and Kathy and Ruth and Vicky and now Kirsty.... And didn't Pat have a scare? Kate convinced herself she was going to have Jakob's baby.

It would be quite amusing if Kirsty isn't but it turns out that Helen is. Helen was only forty-seven this month. (grin)

I would so love Helen to discover she is pregnant, but for it to turn out to be by Dane!

Great conversation between Adam and Stella confirming just how impossible Brian is. It would serve him right if Adam did leave him in the lurch - and there’s no one waiting in the wings this time to swoop in and save the day. But Adam won’t do that because he’s as passionate about the farm as Brian is. That’s the irony - Brian will never find anyone outside the family prepared to put up with his pigheadedness. Adam really is his best bet.