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!

RuairiDonovan
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?

I think that was Fenella Maxwell in "Riders".
Amber showed up as a baby in "Rivals" and in later books becomes a female jockey.
She's Billy and Janey Lloyd-Foxe's daughter.

Thanks @LaMarschallin , I had a feeling it wasn't her and that it was someone with a 'jilly cooper name'.
I haven't read all her books. I thought they were fun when young but I tried reading one recently and gave up.
Wasn't the child's name intended to contrast with the Tabitha, Perdita and Fenella-type names?

At primary school, the roughest kids were the ones with 'jilly cooper names' or double-barrelled surnames.
The long names were ones that would meet MN approval and were shortened with the long form not used. I have no idea if they became high court judges or headteacher but I suspect not.

Many years ago I worked for a firm where Jilly Cooper was a client (not in my department, thank goodness). I only came across her a couple of times, when I was having a break and sitting in reception, reading the paper and she came in for a meeting. She was the most vulgar, patronising cow I've ever come across but (unintentionally) hilarious. I particularly recall her advising the very beautiful and impeccably dressed receptionist that Top Shop had some absolutely sweet little dresses that would look lovely on her. She also addressed her as "dear".

Do shops not sell lead-free paint as standard these days?

I thought so. I assumed you couldn't get lead paint these days, it had all been reformulated decades ago.

Christ, there hasn't been lead paint for sale since 1992. Absolute nonsense from the scriptwriters.

George showing the Grundy Bloke Shoulder Chip at the end there. Very "The Grundys And There Oppressors" (for those of us of a certain vintage)

I mean, who the hell wants their baby to share with a teenage aunt?

knowing the grundy family, they might have a tin or two because it might be coming in useful one day.

Well, there was mention of the cooker hob and the fact it was very dirty. But I agree it’s probably cluttered rather than actually filthy.

I’m sure Clarrie gives everything a once over on a weekly basis because Wilyum is a Grundy man and so cannot be expected to clean. Poor Poppy will be groomed into taking over her tasks and becoming the default cook and cleaner

Why would Clarrie be giving it a once-over? They're at No. 1 the Green, Clarrie's at Grange Farm.

That's a good point. I don't think Influencer Amber would have stood for her baby's cot being painted in a colour that isn't currently fashionable, though.

We bought a house in the 1980s which had belonged to an ILEA maintenance man. He'd made a lot of wonky cupboards with doors that didn't shut properly and here and there the wood was stamped 'Property of the ILEA'. I think that was also the source of the hideous paint he'd used all over the house, the shade of extremely milky cocoa that's been forgotten about and started to congeal. He may have parted with his own cash for the orange paint that was also much in evidence. What a money pit that house proved to be! But I digress.

@Rafting2022 , Toy-safe paint means paint that has been formulated to be safe on toys. These paints are designed to be non-toxic, free from harmful chemicals like lead, phthalates, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which can pose health risks to children.
Regular paint may contain some lead. It won't be much.

I think the point of the lead paint is it shows Amber's mother sticking her oar in where its not needed, based on out of date advice. Even when my DCs were small the advice re paint was about 'old' toys and furniture, not the paint you would be buying currently, and that was in the 90s.
Let's see how up to date she is with safe sleeping advice.

Sorry, I still love her 😆

"Maybe Ruth could do it."

Yeah, way to go, Ian. You hand that poisoned chalice to Ruth. I'm sure she'll be thrilled to bits to be dragged into this toxic sump of a family feud.

@Gonners how odd - I know a large number of people who knew Jilly Cooper well (mostly through racing) and nobody has a bad word to say about her, quite the opposite. Same for journalists who seemed to universally adore her.

Because she is a martyr and is always working herself to the point of exhaustion on behalf of the men in her family. I know they are at no.1 the Green. That’s my point. I can imagine her doing all the cleaning at the farm and popping round to Will’s place if he doesn’t keep the house clean.

I am a huge fan of Jilly Cooper's work but
I thought this interview with her was interesting:
How wonderful of you to come! | The Independent | The Independent
https://share.google/UYaQ3aPpJYNn26qVe
It struck me that the incident with the hungry, stray dog at the beginning was unexpectedly - and doubtless unintentionally - cruel. Calling to him, raising his hopes, then driving off in a taxi. The action of someone who wants to be seen as an animal lover but quite superficial.
I re-read "The Common Years" recently with its tearful description of having to have her dog (Maidstone?) put down. But this was because he'd killed several cats (and possibly another dog - can't find the book at the moment) because Jilly wouldn't/couldn't keep him on a lead.
No empathy for the other animals owners.
She's quite unpleasant about some other real people in that book too who sound quite recognisable.
Strange, too, how it's aways "a fat woman" who disagrees with her.
I've always loved her work from my early teens and still read and re-read her and I appreciate most people who met her raved about her loveliness but I no longer love Jilly herself.
There was another interview in The Times with Camilla Long which was also less than gushing, but it's probably behind a pay wall.
I do find it hard to believe she called someone "Dear" though. In "Class" she points out that lower middle class people say "Dear" whereas upper-middles say "Darling".
She seems to have said "Darling" a lot.

Bugger!
Too late to edit and I'm missing an apostrophe.

I don't like Ian and Adam calling their son Xander. It's such a pretentious nickname. IMHO. (BeatriceBatchelor , current main thread but the chat has moved on and I don't want to derail)
It's current. No different from using Kit as a diminutive for Christopher. I know two Xanders and it seems normal. The Archers' Xander has never been Alexander other than when they announced his name.

I think that one Kit and one Xander I know have that on their birth certificate. The adult Kit is a Christopher and one Xander is Alexander.

There's have been complaints about the name Pip in the past. e.g.
BeatriceBatchelor · 11/09/2025 17:30
Pip is such a daft name for a grown woman.
And don't any of you claim you're called Pip!
One of the producers is called Pip Swallow.

Pip has always been Pip and her brothers don't use their full first names.

There is nothing pretentious about Xander

I don't think so either. I think it might be a diminutive that might have been 'posh' 30 years ago but not so now.
The names that I don't like are Nova and Seren. To me they are:

(I'm sure I'm supposed to be doing something more productive)

I have always thought of the stellar twins as Seren and Dipity.

Ha I agree. My first car was a Nova. Seren is an extremely common name in Wales, nothing special about it.

@ExOptimist , typical name for a pony with a star marking on its forehead in my day but popular for girls now. I still don't like it though. Poor Seren Monk!
There was a 'boutique' in a fairly local town called Nova. I can picture it now. The owner was called Nova.
Talking of boutiques, there was one in a not so nearby town and it was only when I saw the shop front that I realised it was only 'Mary and Co'. I'd only heard it said as Marrietsy.

Was the owner French?