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 Given how out of date a lot of the other character pages are, this seems odd, but there we are.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

That was quite excellent. Glad Brian told his ghastly stepchildren a few home (farm...) truths. Kate should've come back for that. I would have liked to hear her waspish and selfish input, veiled as concern for her father.

Jenny must be spinning in her grave …

If the land is worth millions they're going to have one hell of an IHT bill.

I feel sorry for Adam. He played this wrong, but he is the one who has been there for years. He should however have realised long ago Brian wasn't going to pass to him.

Adam should just take his cut and buy himself a wee soil friendly farm ian can have a michelin starred restaurant on.

That was pretty brutal.

“You’re not my children”. Ouch. I appreciate Brian felt cornered and that they were ganging up on him but that was really cruel. Adam wouldn’t have cared (and he was wonderfully awful and grasping today) but poor Debbie..

Wowzers! He said it once and then double-downed and said it again. That episode almost makes up for the months of stupid Joy and Akram. Alice’s plaintive cries that she was just ‘worried about Dad’ were brilliantly timed. Going to have to listen again at bedtime…

It would be neither out of character nor beyond the bounds of biology for Brian to take up with a 35 year old and sire a few more sons.

Hannah? Pip? Esme?

Some hired-in farm manager. Ambitious hired-in farm manager.

That was delightfully chaotically played. Does anyone know what the legal terms of the partnership are? Presumably Brian can't just waltz out; there must be some sort of contract?

I forgot Chelsea and Zainab. Brian will have looked after himself legally.
Did he say Alice will inherit The Stables? I thought it was Lilian and Shula who owned it.

Also, Lilian and Adam know about the NYE Chardonnay shenanigans.

Excellent acting by all, great episode. That's what I miss when we have to hear the tedious Maliks, silly storylines etc. Going to be very interesting to see how it all plays out. Loved Brian's true ruthless streak coming out when dealing with the grasping stepchildren.

I'm pretty sure Lilian and Shula own it, both of whom have their own sons. I can't see why Alice would end up inheriting it.

He isn't actually related to Lily.

I assume he meant that Alice will inherit running the business, though Fagash may well leave her share of it to Alice.

Team Brian here. And interesting that Kate didn't turn up. She would probably have sided with Brian, having first confirmed in writing that the land she uses for Spiritual Home would be hers.

I very much enjoyed the havoc. #TeamBrian

I forgot Lily!

What has Lily got to do with any of this?

What an episode.

Just listened again. I'm Team Brian too. Loved Adam's confusion when Debbie appeared.

I wonder if the writers are going to do that annoying thing of having an entirely unrelated storyline for Sunday's episode

Ooh, I wonder if Adam will blackmail Brian, if he leaves him the farm then he won't go to the police re Ruairí.

Yes, I was sure his sneaky little trip away to see her was going to come out somehow, but it didn't.

Great episode. But I just don't like Brian, although he is good entertainment as a character and wonderfully acted.
He should have done succession planning yonks ago in a way that would be fair to all parties, including the children of the wife he claimed to love.

I’m sure Adam was bursting to say what he knows about Ruarie…. I was impressed that he didn’t! Especially when Brian came out with the ‘not my own children’ line.

Ridiculous of Adam just to demand the land get left to him. Surely he must have known that was never going to work?