Archers thread #200: Trouble in Ambridge! (All 200 threads could have had this title.) 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 love to be Brian's child or stepchild, 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.)

Over to you!

Plus Kirsty has had years of seeing Wren's little half-sisters happy and healthy, while she had almost lost hope of ever getting pregnant again. Now she has months of uncertainty about her baby being born alive and well.

Funny how it's the women who get blamed on MN.

I meant the “ need” to tell each other first - I didn’t mean the circumstances were the same.

(Apologies, @Trivium4all, my previous comment was inadvertently truncated! I didn’t intend to directly relate St Stephens’s to wider Church finances - it was just that the wider issue prompted a question in my head about the sort of things Alan has been heard to talk about recently. He’s much less crusading than he was decades ago.)

What doesn’t add up for me is that she makes such a big deal about Martha, people I know that don’t want children are indifferent or uninterested in children.

I don't think I agree. DD's godmother is happily child-free but dotes on her niece and her goddaughter. She just likes the fun parts then to hand them back to parents.

She's in her fifties now, and says she made the smart choice - all of the best bits when she feels like it, none of the drudgery and expense.

@MoistVonL I don't think I agree. DD's godmother is happily child-free but dotes on her niece and her goddaughter. She just likes the fun parts then to hand them back to parents.

Some of us put on a better act than others. 😉

Was anyone else hoping that when Harrison yelped in pain that Fallon had trapped A Vital and Sensitive Body Part in the deckchair?

I just think that the Fallon/Harrison fallout is very credible and I feel for them both.

I think Harrison is still planning to get Fallon upduffed again, despite knowing she doesn't want children, and have zero sympathy for the ghastly man.

He’s just so self important. He’s a fairly junior police officer returning from a one year secondment. He’s joining the rural crimes team, not counter terrorism.

Are we really supposed to believe he’s such a key member of the team he can’t book a weeks leave. 🙄

I agree that the fallout seems very well done so far. Surely Fallon must have caught on by now that Harrison is talking as though he still hasn't accepted that she never wanted the baby in the first place, and wouldn't have gone through with the pregnancy, if she had been aware of it. It's quite troubling.

I think Harrison accepts that Fallon doesn’t want a baby, but Fallon is upset because it’s obvious that Harrison does. I feel she’s not sympathetic to the real anguish he’s experiencing because she doesn’t want to acknowledge it. It all feels very human to me.

She'd be the one carrying the baby, she'd be the one giving birth to it, she'd be the one parenting it. He'd probably be too busy with his 'big job' to be around much. She has never wanted a child.

Feeling a bit over invested in Kirsty because our pregnancies are almost exactly in line 😬

Oh wow! Congratulations!

That suggests the previous pregnancy was a wanted one rather than an accident arising from an ONS with the bloke who left her standing at the altar.(Does the woman’s stupidity know no bounds? I mean, eww, Tom. I refuse to believe he’s a great shag. ) She was by no means certain whether to continue with it or not.
And one might as well call a child ‘Noisy, aggressive little shit’ as ‘Wren’.

But she did continue with it and endured a very late miscarriage. The poor (fictional) baby never had the chance to be a noisy aggressive little shit.
I can only assume that your post is something to do with what happened last night.

Funny how two people can listen to the same thing and hear it differently.

I don’t think Harrison wants to put pressure on Fallon, or that he doesn’t respect her decision.

It’s just that deep down he wants a baby and it’s tearing him apart.

I think you must have been listening to some hoax version of The Archers, @Darker .

It’s just that deep down he wants a baby and it’s tearing him apart.
Then why doesn't he bugger off and have one with someone who wants a child then? He probably already has.

Maybe because the number of marrieds in the archers, particularly in they age group, is ridiculously low and the bbc need to tick quota boxes…..

Thanks @Every1ElseInKnowsley ! Just hoping everything works out for Kirsty (and me). Don’t usually care so much about fictional foetuses.

Harrison is in a sad position but he’s been handling it badly for some time now. No one is forcing him to stay married to Fallon and it’s not like she’s been unclear. He needs to be an adult and end things rather than staying with one foot out of the marriage and resenting Fallon and everyone else for it. He can’t control everyone’s actions, only his own.

Also, Fallon is 41, so even if she did have a damascene conversion it could be a tough journey to conceive. How old is Harrison? Younger?

Children conceived accidentally are not always unwanted. Sometimes they turn out to be wanted very much.

Neither Fallon or Harrison are dealing with this perfectly - but that’s what happens.

They both went through the trauma of the Am incident. They experienced it differently because it exposed a truth that both of them should have paid a lot more attention to.

Harrison going away was the litmus test. I hope they are now able to have an honest and compassionate conversation about it and let each other go.

I think this is the sort of slow burn storyline that the Archers does particularly well.

I don’t think Harrison wants to put pressure on Fallon, or that he doesn’t respect her decision. It’s just that deep down he wants a baby and it’s tearing him apart

Exactly. I think TA are handling this well.

Then why doesn't he bugger off and have one with someone who wants a child then?

I expect it's because he loves his wife very much and can't imagine life without her.

Re. Rex and Alice - are they planning on moving in together?

@Every1ElseInKnowsley - Noisy aggressive little shit is a reference to wren the bird, I believe.
Tiny but with a very loud song.

Looks like it, @BeatriceBatchelor. Presumably into Alice’s cottage rather than his houseboat.

I rather liked the fact Harrison and Fallon’s dilemma prompted such an unstressed and proactive conversation between Alice and Rex. It was wonderfully mature - and they’ve both gone up in my estimation.