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!

Can anyone remember the details of the last encounters with Roger? I know it started out all 'my real daddy' and then went sour but that's all.

selfish, grasping, deeply unpleasant entitled individuals

Maybe it's a topical reference to the many threads on MN where adult children seem to all be waiting for their "Boomer" parents to cark it.

Agree @TottersBlankly

selfish, grasping, deeply unpleasant entitled individuals Actually I think that's a better description of Kate than of Adam and Debbie.

selfish, grasping, deeply unpleasant entitled individuals

Yes indeed. What an absolute shower - oh! I thought I was still on a Peter Murrell thread. Back to The Archers.

😂😂😂

I guess the news doesn’t feel great to anyone in Scotland or with a background there. I lived in Edinburgh for a year but never managed to feel involved in the national politics. So am just feeling the general 😮🙄

Phoebe’s a PPE grad though - wonder what she and her partner are thinking this morning.

I'm rejoining The Archers after a hiatus of a few years and am frantically trying to catch up.

When I started listening, Sid and Kathy were having a baby and Kate had done a runner. I think it was about 1995.

Alice is dating Rex? He's always seemed so decent, and she's generally a brat.

when did you stop and rejoin? We can help fill in the important bits.

Nigel falling off the roof
Ruairi coming to live with Brian & Jenny
Helen Archer & Coercive control
John Archer's son turning up (and gone again)
Tom jilting Kirsty

Me too, I thought it was because I was special😂

Alice is IMHO a likeable character now she's a recovering alcoholic.

And actually seems to care about her Dad rather than his land.

Here's what MNHQ said about the group thingy in response to my question on Site Stuff.

This is something we're just trialling at the moment. We hope it might make some of these mini communities easier for MNers to find and follow. Rather than dozens of spin-off or continuation threads living loosely within a broader topic, these discussions might have a clearer and more permanent home within the structure of the boards. As we say, we're just seeing how it works out for now but all feedback is welcome.

I became less regular a listener around 2022. I dipped back in around the Alice/George crash.

I don't know the Maliks, and I don't know who thumped George when he came out of hospital. I think Fallon was being ousted from the tea room by Natasha at one point as well.

I thought the way Adam demanded the land, followed by Debbie, without a second thought for their siblings was shocking. It was literally “just give us the land NOW”.

I know Kate is a nightmare but I don’t think she’s ever been particularly greedy? Ditto Alice and Ruiari. Brian’s biological children all seem concerned for his health and well-being. I do not get that vibe from Adam or Debbie. I never thought I would say this but…I’m #teamBrian😅

Sorry the last bit of my post was in response to someone who posted that Kate meets the greedy, grasping and entitled description (I do agree she is the latter!)

But, @Eastie77Returns - Brian had already promised Adam the land. Then reneged on it.

Debbie wanting a cut is a different matter. I suspect if it had been better written over past years, Debbie would have made sure to maintain some sort of presence with regard to the farm, if she’d always anticipated inheriting a part of it.

But I guess, as others have already said, they all expected Brian to die first, leaving the deciding to Jenny.

Brian should have sorted this out 20 years ago, but I guess back then he had MySon new on the scene.

The Maliks live on a small new build estate on what was Bridge Farm land. They are: Doctor, her husband (a plumber playing at farming part time), a daughter who isn’t sure what to do with her life at present working as a receptionist at Grey Gables, and a son who’s about 15 but had leukaemia twice as a child.
George went to hospital after being bottled by Rauiri. But it started before that when George caused an accident when driving Alice home when she was passed out drunk, having fallen off the wagon. But the framed Alice for it …
The best thing is just dive in (and maybe listen to some of the podcasts).

D’you think that would have been the reason, @Darker?

Because I agree, it’s inconceivable that a hard headed businessman like Brian, with all his familial complications, and his apparent love for the land, wouldn’t have ensured the business had a clear future that everyone understood.

Unless he really was waiting for a time when he could pull a fast one on Jenny, disinheriting her offspring so he could leave everything to Ruairi?

I know some of you have said you’re going to this:

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/may/26/gurner-the-archers-stars-on-touring-stage-show

I can't believe Brian hasn't had a will in place for ages - but he will have also seen from his MiL that you can chop and change your will as people fall in and out of favour.

Brian had already promised Adam the land. Then reneged on it.

Wonderful, isn't it!

Have to agree with a lot of this analysis!

Thanks, @MollyButton (you're much more polite than your Ambridge namesake!)

So R bottled George in revenge for framing his half sister? But got away with it?

I've listened to last week's omnibus (I was tempted back because I'd heard Debbie made a surprise agreement)

I'm glad Kirsty's pregnant. The loss of Wren hit her so hard

@Eastie77Returns ... I have always been #teamBrian, regardless of his behaviour. I suspect this has more to do with Charles Collingwood than Brian, though. The same goes for Tracy/Susie Riddell.