Archers thread #199: Kaboom! The Aldridges are self-destructing, and it's GLORIOUS. 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'd drop everything to help Helen create a new cheese on national minimum wage, 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.)

If you haven't heard last night's episode (Friday 22nd May) you really must. It's episodes like that that keep me addicted. Funny how often they involve the Aldridges, the most dysfunctional and also by far the most interesting family in Ambridge. Also very well acted on the whole. How lovely to hear Tamsin Greig in TA, but I wonder if we ever will again.

Some cracking posts towards the end of the last thread, which is here: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/radio_addicts/5518503-archers-thread-198-josh-sent-to-patagonia-pip-stays-put-wrong-way-round-discuss-the-archers-here

Over to you!

Adam and Ruairi were surely Jenny’s favourites?

Why? You think she favoured boys?

She loved Ruairi, yes, but he was not her own child.

Alice was the late “bonus” baby and spoiled accordingly I think.

I agree.

I’ve only heard Adam as an adult (not sure how old he was when he was given a voice) but if he was as irritating as a child as he is now I’m not surprised he was no-one’s favourite. That said, I do agree Jenny favoured him and, against all expectations, Ruairi as well. When he left Ambridge after that awful business with Alice, Jenny said he was the best of all her children🤷🏽‍♀️

Kate just exasperates everyone but she has become the voice of reason recently and closer to Brian. As for Alice, as a fellow younger child with much older siblings I suspect like me she was spoiled and indulged but no-one really paid close attention to her. I was left to own devices from an early age whilst my parents dealt with the dramas caused by my 3 teen siblings (no complaints from me, I got away with a lot!)

I ‘met’ Adam when he came back from Africa. He’d been silent for a long time. I think Jenny missed him a lot while he was away.

Poor Amber.

Did she say The best of all of us?

I was afraid to add it to my post above in case I’d misremembered exactly who was praising Ruairi.

What a tedious and pointless episode. It did nothing to progress any storyline.

As for last night's rubbish with the budgerigar, in reality he would have been a tender morsel for a peckish sparrowhawk within hours of escaping.

Agree re tonight's (Friday 19th) episode, after Brad's conversation with Kate last night I was waiting for Amber to go to the shop by herself and run into Brad there or somewhere along the way.

Yes I think it was actually the “best of all of us”.

Re tonight’s episode, it was boring but perhaps setting the stage for Amber to gradually realise that life at no.1 the Green is not for her long term. It doesn’t sound as if George has plans to move out anytime soon so she will be envisaging life with a toddler in that house which will become increasingly claustrophobic.

To be fair to her parents, I would be a bit concerned if my grandchild was coming home to a tiny room in a chaotic house that sounds as if it’s…less than clean.

otoh George does seem to be shaping up and if he researched the paint independently that shows initiative and concern
I was grudgingly impressed

Is he really shaping up? George is fine when things are going exactly his way but we’ve seen flashes over the last few months (including tonight) of his petulance and bad temper when he doesn’t get what he wants or thinks he has been wronged.

Emma told him she was very worried about how he would handle the pressure of becoming a father and the demands of a baby precisely because of his volatile temperament.

Amber's dad is a bit rough but seems human. Her mother, not so much! Somewhere in Borsetshire there is patio waiting to be built with her underneath it. But they really are the most improbable couple, as are Amber and George.

It was amusing to hear Wiwyum attempting to be charming. And oh! the joy of an Archer-free episode!

I doubt if Will's house is dirty. It sounds as if it's small and has a lot of people living in it, so it's probably a bit cluttered, but Clarrie would never allow her family to live in squalor. The Gordon house is probably one of those soulless places with a monochrome designer kitchen that looks as if it's never been used. Acres of space and just the two of them rattling around there now Amber's gone.

#TeamGrundy [words I never thought I would write]

The Gordons probably have a cleaner, on minimum wage, 5 days a week.

I presume he's Ian's favourite!

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g , It won't be small. It will be a 3-bedroom house of decent proportions, but it would seem small if you're used to a bigger house. There are only 4 people there. It used to be the Carters'.

I didn’t find that episode boring at all! Amber is proving a really interesting character and her relationship with her parents is going to have big effects on the Grundy future.

New thread. Feel free to fill this one up first. I'm out a large chunk of today, hence getting this done now.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/radio_addicts/5544653-archers-thread-200-trouble-in-ambridge-all-200-threads-could-have-had-this-title-discuss-the-archers-here

Thanks @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g . Hope everything is OK with you.

If Anne-Marie Gordon is so stuck up why did she call her DD Amber?

Whose was the SUV that Helen remarked on it always being parked on The Green?

I think Amber is on of those names that can be surprisingly ‘upper class’ like Stephanie and Nicola.

I can't think of any 'upper-class' Stephanies or Nicolas. I think the names might have been middle class briefly.
Names like Colin and Linda sound quite 'Nancy Mitford' but she was older than my grandmother.

Amber Rudd went to Cheltenham Ladies' College.

Princess Stephanie of Monaco, Grace Kelly's daughter.

Jilly Cooper was very class conscious and one of her heroines was called Amber.

Princess Stephanie of Monaco Forrin', royalty, and Stéphanie not Stephanie.
Jilly Cooper was very class conscious and one of her heroines was called Amber. Not read any Jilly Cooper for a long time. Was she the one whose breeches split?
Elizabeth Jane Howard had a daughter called Nicola, who was the granddaughter of Robert Falcon Scott. Falcon could be a potential name for Kirsty's baby, although I think Heron would be a better choice.