Alice and her drink problem The Archers

Lilian is a very good example of the 'Ambridge effect'. I think she's 73 / 74 and anyone else would have felt the fall out of all that booze and all those fags!

I've been a dedicated Archer listener for decades, and IMO Alice (and Chris) must tell their family and friends, and deal with Alice's alcoholism issue head-on, instead of "pussy-footing" about. This way everyone can support them and no-one should unknowingly "enable" Alice's drinking. (Like Brian did, so unintentionally.) Unless I'm missing something, I don't think that anyone (yet) has said to Alice: "Look, you just have to tell your family and close friends and get them to help you; you simply can't do this on your own, and (whatever you may say to the contrary) without such support you are putting Martha at grave risk...."

The thing is if Alice gets professional support it will unpick the reasons for her drinking. Either way if they pretend or are open and seek support the marriage is presumably doomed. It will be safer for Martha however if they get professional support, but I am afraid there is no happy ending for Chris and Alice as a couple.

Galaxy, I have known couples stay together, and keep a good marriage when one is an alcoholic. Yes, it needs honesty, and each couple works out their own way to handle it.
I would love to see this tackled realistically & well by TA.
I have to say that if I was in the Aldridge family, I would find it difficult to tell any of them, except perhaps Adam.

I am finding the story line particularly harrowing as I have a much loved member of my family struggling with addiction. We have found that although an alcoholic can go through detox generally it is the underlying mental health issues, unless dealt with effectively, that lead to relapse. Yes, family and friends need to be aware of the situation but the shame and guilt carried by the alcoholic makes them extremely secretive and ultimately, it is only the alcoholic that can make the decision to stop drinking, pressure from family and friends just isolates them further. It is a truly dreadful disease and most alcoholics cannot just stop drinking as the effects of withdrawal can be life threatening unless done gradually. The Archers has at least drawn attention to the fact that anyone can become alcoholic, regardless of education, class, family background and support and I can personally vouch for the pain and heartache that it causes.

Davida1968, Alice’s support buddy, a recovering alcoholic gave the advice to tell family. I think Alice’s response was, she’d rather die

Iam64, as I recall it, the "support buddy" didn't stress to Alice just how important it can be for family and friends to know when someone (that they love and care about) is an alcoholic. It simply got "mentioned" and never discussed again when Alice said that she couldn't possibly do it. If Alice had done this, then surely Brian wouldn't have offered a bottle of wine, (presumably the first incident of many like this, when family/friends don't know about someone's alcoholism) and the persons close to her would surely offer support in various ways.

I think its complex because Alice's means of support are probably part of why she is drinking. If she was honest her marriage to Chris has partly led to her failed ambition, Brian and Jenny's children were probably going to be damaged because well years of disfunction, Brian drinks a lot as does Lillian, and let's face it Kate is not going to be helpful. Alice feels suffocated by her family in my view, as she desperately said the plan was to build rockets (is that right?) but she is trapped in ambridge.

Aeroplanes - she trained as an aeronautical engineer, and did work at that for awhile after her marriage - she had to commute to somewhere near Birmingham. My own take is that there are a lot of 'mother' issues in that family - Peggy did her best but was rather absent emotionally because of her need to make a success of the pub on her own. Jennifer has racketed around rather, and her very good handling of Ruari came after a lifetime of hit-and-miss parenting. Kate loves the whole idea of pregnancy & babies, but can't handle the actual children.
Adam has finally settled, thanks to Ian - whose job in Ambridge is to provide a lot of sensible support. Now Helen's OK, maybe he's got a slot for Alice!

If I was being supported by Adam I would move on to hard drugs I think. His voice/delivery drives me crazy.

Mouseybrown60, you're quite right - I'd forgotten about the pass at Harrison! Nonetheless, I still think Fallon is being a tad too holier than thou.

As for telling the family ... I'm not convinced it would help. There would be horror at her actions and thus the guilt factor would be intensified. I can't see them being sympathetic, caring and supportive and I wouldn't put it past Susan to influence Chris to move back with her and Neil, taking Martha with him.

Of course now she's given up breastfeeding she has no "excuse" not to drink at the forthcoming christening...

I suspect she has done some things that she is finding difficult to cope with. I dont think the Harrison incident will be unique.

Galaxy I expect you’re right. That drunken attempt at seduction isn’t likely to have been an isolated incident

Ages ago when they were building the drinking storyline, there were a few mentions of someone at work, there was something off about the way she talked about that person. Sometimes TA drives me mad but then I find myself feeling really sad about a character I dont even really like. It's very good at that kind of thing. That and friendship, I think they do that really well too.

I appreciate the real life time, the way a story line develops slowly. Your point about feeling sad about a character you don’t particularly like, made me think of line of duty. Good writing shows the complexity of personalities,

The Jack dementia story started when my mum was diagnosed. He ‘died’ just after my mum nearly ten years later.
The Helen/rob coercion story was also long and in real time which TA do so well. The Alice alcohol story will probably follow similar pattern. It has more impact than most soaps where serious problems are resolved in weeks.

Thanks for the post Iam. Good to know TA fans are still around. I miss the goss on the original Archers post.

I think the storyline about Alice has been done well, and her story reminds me of some families I was involved with, with young children, where one or both parents were alcohol or substance misusers. So difficult and sadly often ends in grief all round.

On a brighter note I just love that Jazzer and Tracey have got together.

Was there an original TA thread on GN? I go on the one on MN but it often takes me days to catch up as it moves quite quickly. Should we start one using this thread? Tries to contain excitement

There was a thread a while ago but TA stopped at Covid and when it came back it was truly dire . Thank goodness it’s almost back to normal now and life returns to Ambridge.

Nannarose

Actually, they hate nurses in The Archers. I think there might have been a district nurse about briefly in the 60s. Amy has disappeared since she became a midwife - even though Alice might have found her helpful.
So determined were the scriptwriters to avoid nurses and midwives that they gave one midwife a clunky few minutes on Zoom - then Alice managed to be in a rehab centre with no nurses; give birth with Jim & Jazzer; have doctors undertake nursing & midwifery tasks, and arrange discharge with no follow-up.
So although I agree with OP, I am wondering what plot twists & turns the scriptwriters will come up so that no mental health nurses or health visitors come anywhere near the family.

The scriptwriters must have read your post, Nannarose.
Will it be Ben to the rescue even though he he hasn't started training yet?

Going back to my comment about the women of Ambridge having trials and tribulations heaped upon them, one of my favourite storylines was Natasha's wild spending, credit card debt and the possibility she may be bi-polar like her father.

I hope it hasn't been swept under the carpet like a lot of promising plots.

Good point merlotgran. In RL, Natasha would have been furloughed or wfh this past year. Endless opportunities to spen squillions on line

They do often put promising storylines on hold, then resurrect them years later during a lull, when everyone’s forgotten about them. I keep expecting Rob to turn up ?

Will they sideline Ben now he's going to follow a career in nursing?

I very much doubt it.

Oh merlotgran - spoiler alert!
I haven't managed to listen to this week's episodes yet! So funny because I was thinking about sending my thoughts to Feedback. Maybe some other disgruntled nurses have already been in touch.
And if they follow this through, Ben doesn't decide against, drop out, go to work abroad or anything else to keep him out of the way, then I'll be delighted. Now, we need Kathy to resume teaching and someone to train as a social worker......
I have been impressed with Emma in recent years - she was an awful self-centred moaner but her trials have had a positive effect on her. She is now just the sort of person that could do well in a caring role.
And yes, I'm sure Rob will turn up!