Archers addicts 3!

Right. Michael Gove. My favourite.

The current story line may have got us feeling hot under the collar but it appears it has affected Michael Gove too!

This paragraph would make things look difficult for Helen if she is found guilty. I am not sure how she would deal with Rob having the baby on day a week. Obviously she will keep the baby while she is on remand.
Describing how new mothers are treated in prison, she added: “Women know right from the start they can’t keep their babies. We draw up a separation plan. The babies go on day release with their fathers or the prisoners’ mothers who will be caring for them.”

Ladies, please!

As you have started putting words in my mouth I will happily wait to see what they do with the business merlot as they (or rather the scriptwriters) know more about it than either you or I do. As I have said I think it is perfectly acceptable to believe the character Tom would behave in this way.

My comment on ranting is because you have had a go at so many characters - not because you have reflected on the character we have got to know over the years and decided they are not being true to how they have been drawn nor because you have reflected on the situation they are in and come to the conclusion that this is not how they would behave but simply because you feel you know better and they are not behaving as you would - that is ranting in my book but to each his own; rant on if it makes you happy and I will try to ignore it.

Gracesgran, can you not have a discussion without accusing me of ranting?

You are contradicting yourself regarding the shop. How can they rely on its cash flow, considering most products will be bought in (as you suggested) and keep Rob away when he recovers - because if it is successful he'll be in there like a shot unless they wind it up (as you have also suggested) Then they will lose yet another income.

What other enterprises?

There's a small beef herd, one variety of cheese made with bought in milk and a struggling organic veg box scheme.

All I'm saying is it's not enough to support Pat, Tony, Tom, Johnny and whatever money they're paying Rob. Not to mention legal expenses already incurred.

From other organic farms merlot just as they will source the pork.

Isn't that rather going against part of the organic farm to farm shop ethos - reducing food miles?

Eggs in one basket? What about the other enterprises? You enjoy your rant merlot I will enjoy the drama and the analysis of the characters rather than aiming off as you are. "Bridge Farm shop will be up and running for Rob to take back control" - really? Can you imagine any family business doing that? I imagine they would all rather wind it up after what he has done than let him back in

There may be another answer other than getting rid of the pigs but I am happy to watch it evolve as things do. I can see why Tom had gone in that direction. Whether or not we would agree with him it is something I can imagine his character doing after all the pigs were never his thing, he took over because he felt responsible after John died and right now they are one responsibility too many for him.

Poor Johnny. Only a short while ago Rob was openly suggesting they should be rid of him, even deliberately giving him wrong career advice. Bridge Farm shop will be up and running for Rob to take back control.....thanks to Tom unless they have the sense to lease it out to Emma and Fallon and that will lower their income.

There will be no job for Neil (which will save money but make them hugely unpopular) or Johnny - who is basing his studies on stock farming, following Tom and Tony's advice. Jazzer has already gone.

Putting all your eggs in one basket farm shop doesn't sound like smart work to me. Even when Helen was making a success of Borchester Organics in the pre-Rob days, it didn't have to support the whole family.

From other organic farms merlot just as they will source the pork.

I think you're right, Daddima. Without Neil, Tony wouldn't have been able to keep the pigs going while Tom was AWOL in Canada. It's madness to get rid of a breed line just because poor diddums Tom is squealing about the work. How are the organic veg boxes faring now he's had to replant all the stuff the pigs destroyed because he forgot to switch the electric fence back on? Tony's beef herd won't be bringing in enough to keep all of them.

Why isn't Pat running the shop? Clarrie (and Susan?) are in the dairy, Henry only visits on Sundays, she's not allowed contact with Helen, she didn't rush out to help replant the cabbages so what the heck does she do all day?

Can somebody remind me......Where do they source the milk for their organic cheese?

Hard work is only one part of success merlot. Smart work is what makes in the end and I think this is a smart but temporary move to retrench while they sort out everything around them. Farmers are very different these days and have to see the business they are in not stay in something because they always have.

You are right - he shouldn't have reacted to Jazzer the way he did but the pressure they are all under is unimaginable - unless you have had a sibling who knifed someone and was charged attempted murder and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. You seem to critique the all characters on the basis that they do not behave as you would. Life is not like that. All families, businesses and even nations are made up of teams and teams do not work if they comprise people who have very much the same strengths and weaknesses; for them to work you need a cross section of characteristics. Just as Helen is the Helen she is partly because of her brother's death so is Tom. In some families that major trauma can split people apart and lead to drink, drugs or mental health problems. My opinion is that because of the past Tom feels overly responsible for the people around him and it is often more than he can cope with (but I am not a psychologist )

As for the business needing to survive - in my opinion it does not need income so much as it needs profit and cash flow. With the pigs money is going out for a long period and consumes a high level of expensive time before any profit is made. I still believe getting the shop up and running - and not by Tom - is the best bet in the first instance. The faster turnover and quicker profit will give Tom space to sort out the rest of the farm. He is who he is and really the only discussion we can usefully have is whether he is making the best business decision. I have given my opinion and you have given yours; it would be interesting to have a couple of business gurus give us theirs

" reassured"

Wasn't Neil pushed by Susan to demand to be made " pig manager", so it was really he who should have decided to sack Jazzer?
I seem to remember him being reassired that Tom wouldn't interfere ( but I might have imagined that!)

Sorry, Gracesgran. Can't agree about the pigs. There's a thing a farm needs to survive and it's called 'income'. Good old Tom, the master of the 'knee jerk' reaction, decides to ditch a product that is also sold elsewhere. The shop wouldn't have been their only outlet and nearly everything in that shop apart from veg, pork and one brand of cheese had to be bought in so now he'll have to source organic pork from elsewhere which won't be cheap and won't be a Bridge Farm brand.

He makes such a song and dance about keeping pigs that it makes you wonder why he's in farming in the first place. Farmers don't deal with stressful situations by getting rid of their stock unless the bottom falls out of the market - like some dairy farms. Refusng to apologise to Jazzer, when it's probably only Jazzer's good nature and loyalty that has kept him out of court, is plain stupid and 'pig-headed'

Tony moved heaven and earth to keep the pigs going when Tom buggered off to Canada. No wonder Neil doesn't want to help out any more.

Both Helen and Tom have been over-indulged in the past and Bridge Farm is now paying the price.

If they make Rob redundant who pays for Henry's upkeep?

I think he has taken the right "business" decision about the pigs. This gives them a break from a huge amount of work but is not irrevocable. If I were advising him (business-wise) I would suggest he has a meeting with Fallon and Emma and see what they suggest about the shop - after all their business is being affected by the shop closure. The space provided by the pigs going should give him a bit more thinking time which he is desperately short of at the moment. I don't think he is likely to have Jazza back; if Johnny eventually takes on pigs as his own business he may have to bow to his decision. I think Johnny is too immature (in his own lovely way) at the moment though. Such a difference between him and say Josh although they are of a similar age.

I love the roundedness of Peggy's character - I'm sure I have met people like her. None of us is perfect but her flaws are the other side of her strengths which is true of us all. It's when the flaws don't reflect the strengths that I find the characters unbelievable.

I enjoyed Peggy's visit to Helen, the connection with grannie can't be under estimated. Peggy isn't always in the wrong, though she's made some mistakes in the recent past, such as missing Tony out of her will and only seeing the beauty in Rob. Thankfully, she saw sense after the bull attacked Tony and perhaps the stabbing incident will be another road to Damascus moment for Peggy.

Jazza needs to be re-employed so the pigs can stay. Tom needs to calm down, maybe try mindfulness in one of Kate's yurts. Where is Kate? ( I read the actor playing Kate is on maternity leave so maybe it's that simple) Johnny is a good lad and keen to take on more responsibility so Tom can delegate. Fallon and Kirsty could do some work in the shop whilst the cafe is so quiet. Sorted!

I am assuming they can't at this point merlot; I do feel sure they would have checked although they may feel they a) don't want to poke him with any sort of stick so he makes it difficult for them to see Henry on a Sunday or b) not have enough money so he moves to his mum and dads and takes Henry with him - just a thought.

Pat's probably got to agree to wear one of those things they put on Hannibal Lechter to stop him opening his mouth

Yes. Why didn't it occur to dim-wit Tom that by closing the shop they could remove Rob from any involvement in the farm?

It sounds like Tony has been on the internet. I wonder what it is that Pat could sign so that she can see Helen?

I still feel there must be a time when Robs job becomes redundant.

We need a lawyer

If I was Anna I'd go home, bash my head against the kitchen wall a few times then pour myself a very large

Ye Gods!!!

Tom....The master of all sensible decisions.....

Apparently his job is to secure the future of the farm. I give it till the end of the year.

We don't actually know how she got there or if anyone was with her Merlotgran but I saw it as entirely true to Peggy's character to overcome what ever needed to be overcome in her very practical way.

I do wish they wouldn't feed us the improbable with the elderly Archers though.

Peggy is in her nineties. Only last week we heard her asking Adam to take her arm as they walked to the car so he could drive her home. A tiny real life incident!

A few days later she's travelling off to God knows where on her own? Enduring the unsettling pocedure of a prison visit and promising to visit Helen in the Mother and Baby Unit.

Emphasising that she would be happy to visit with Tom would have been more believable.

She's probably rich enough to be able to afford a taxi each way so why not just say so?

At last, some sense, go Peggy!

The professional men and women I know personally or as a result of work were often known to agencies, including the police. If the victim or one of their children didn't dial 999 their neighbours often did, in some cases frequently. Domestic abuse is shameful, wherever in the class system (forgive the shorthand) the people sit. I don't want to seem picky MargaretX but my experiences and the research evidence don't lead me to share your conclusions. That's one of the positives of this story line, it's encouraging discussion and challenging views

They don't appear in the statistics because they have never been in contact with the police nor have they reported anything to anyone. They manage to get out but they still suffer.