This discussion has been closed.
Posted by Bette (U2222559) on Tuesday, 13th December 2011
It just seems so odd - shoehorned in. I can't relate to it at all.
Now Alan is /still/ contemplating 'telling Amy'. /Why/ FGS?
, in reply to message 1.
Posted by Lady Trudie Tilney Glorfindel Maldini (U2222312) on Wednesday, 14th December 2011
Agreed Bette. Doesn't seem to have enough about it to be a main SL. I wonder why it didn't run alongside Clive and Erin from the start (we had 3 running SLs in series 1).
, in reply to message 1.
Posted by parlourmaid (U14579830) on Wednesday, 14th December 2011
just maybe this storyline will link to amy and clive.
It is odd, especially as we have hardly heard from Alan or Amy in the main programme for most of 2011, which makes it seem more tacked on than ever.
Could be quite an interesting SL, but as I don't know Catherine, hardly know Amy or Mabel, somehow it's not engaging me as much as it should.
I guessed from the start it was something to do with racialism so I don't know why Alan seemed so surprised by it. Why on earth tell Amy? Specially if her mum had had some justification for her actions.
It's worth it just to hear Mabel. She's fab!
, in reply to message 2.
Posted by Elnora Cornstalk (U5646495) on Wednesday, 14th December 2011
Agreed Bette. Doesn't seem to have enough about it to be a main SL. I wonder why it didn't run alongside Clive and Erin from the start (we had 3 running SLs in series 1).Â
Agree with you both, Bette and ermintrude. I've been wondering why it didn't run alongside the Bridge Farm story in TA, as they're both about digging up the past and full of worrying about whether it's right to 'tell'.
I don't remember Mabel sounding so much like Aunt Ada Doom as she has at points during this story, but then it's ages since we heard her.
I'd also like to have heard more from Usha, after that initial slightly jealous (?) thought bubble, but she seems to have faded out again now. The story could do a lot more to explore that marriage, alongside the Shula/Alistair relationship.
But with only two more weeks or so to go, where how it can really develop.
Yes, but then we have also to listen to Alan in Hamlet mode
I think Alan's behaviour has been bizarre. He's a vicar fgs. They are supposed to be good at this kind of thing. Instead he's put himself first, upset Mabel dreadfully, insisted on visiting her when she said not to and generally appeared needy and overbearing.
It is completely out of character.
, in reply to message 9.
Posted by Elnora Cornstalk (U5646495) on Thursday, 15th December 2011
Indeed, Glebe Cow. his first phone call, so late at night, was selfish too. Mabel was just winding down, making Horlicks, when he rang. He did apologise, but he'd already disturbed her by then, and would be leaving her facing a long, sleepless night. Not a good way of opening the subject, and really insensitive. It wasn't an emergency!
, in reply to message 10.
Posted by Marmalade Drizzle (U2239190) on Thursday, 15th December 2011
Agree with the shoehorn...
Why on earth did Alan not know about this before? I can't believe that in all their years of marriage did it not slip out. Especially given the type of character has and the religious belief they both shared.
Marms
, in reply to message 1.
Posted by footintwocamps (U9458464) on Thursday, 15th December 2011
It just seems so odd - shoehorned in. I can't relate to it at all.
Now Alan is /still/ contemplating 'telling Amy'. /Why/ FGS? Â
And now Usha is urging him on to do so, against Mabel's advice.
For heavens' sake, she's a solicitor. If anyone ought to understand the value of keeping some things secret, it ought to be her.
This SL is getting annoying. What's the silly man going to do next - track down the "victim" and suggest that she sits down to pray with him, Mabel and Amy?
It all seems very odd to me. I could understand if they ran a storyline about a present day bullying/racism situation, but something that involved Alan's dead wife, when she was a youngish teenager? It's not as if Catherine has even been a character in the past, so we don't "know" her (and care less).
All the storyline seems to be telling us is that people don't always tell their partners everything about their past, and if somebody's dead you can't ask questions. Have we learnt anything new about the characters? Only that Mabel didn't want to give away her dead daughter's secret. Big surprise that. Alan and Usha? I too had hopes that we were going to get a storyline about Usha feeling jealous of Alan's previous wife, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. And now we get a lot of angst about telling Amy. Well, for once I'm with Mabel. What Amy doesn't know won't upset her and what benefit could there possibly be in telling her? It would be a stupid thing to do. So of course they're going to tell her.
, in reply to message 13.
Posted by Lakey_Hill (U14391672) on Thursday, 15th December 2011
I suppose if it's bullying and racism they wanted to highlight, there aren't that many candidates now. Amy is probably too old to be bullied. Usha has had a racism story already.
It seems mad to tell Amy.
, in reply to message 14.
Posted by Organoleptic Icon (U11219171) on Thursday, 15th December 2011
Unless they are about to produce a gollywog out of a hat the whole s/l seems pointless.
I suppose there is a vague analogy to the Rich and Erin s/ls - but hardly one thaty was needed?
, in reply to message 14.
Posted by charmingAnnielynn (U11952070) on Thursday, 15th December 2011
I don't understand all the angst Alan is going through over it. Unless they had at some point sat down and said "I'm now telling you every single important thing that ever occured in my life, scout's honor" then it's not all that surprising that a wife who died tragically young may have not yet revealed every single thing about her past. After all, it was THE PAST. And I can actually appreciate Usha's annoyance about it; obviously she new Alan had a past wife, but for him to be this upset and focused on one year out of the childhood (which really has no impact on today or the future - it's not like he found out about some genetic disease she may have passed on to their child, for instance) of someone he hasn't been married to for - what - over a decade now? It must make her feel a bit like Catherine is some ideal of perfect wifeliness and Usha will always be second place, the one who is in his life because Catherine isn't available, not because she's the one he wants now.
Well exactly. And whatever he feels about Catherine not having told him (and I can understand him feeling a bit hurt), it's the past. There's nothing he can do about now, and he's not going to get answers to his questions. Time to move on. Please move on the storyline!
, in reply to message 17.
Posted by JoinedPeetsBoard_Smeesues_too (U14519481) on Friday, 16th December 2011
Ushaa is right though - these things have a habit of coming out. If Amy found out by accident she would be upset ..
Alan and Catherine were not married that long were they? How old was Amy when her Mum died?
JPBS
I dislike this SL almost as much as the Pat/Rich SL on TA
, in reply to message 1.
Posted by PaulHammond (U5000908) on Saturday, 17th December 2011
Now Alan is /still/ contemplating 'telling Amy'. /Why/ FGS? Â
I don't think he should tell Amy - but it seems negotiating that hurdle is the last wrinkle in this storyline.
I also thought it a bit out of character for Usha (as revealed by her thought-bubbles) to advise Alan to tell Amy about Catherine's past conviction as some kind of way of pointscoring against Alan's dead wife! I thought Usha was supposed to genuinely care about Amy's feelings, for instance.
It is odd, especially as we have hardly heard from Alan or Amy in the main programme for most of 2011, which makes it seem more tacked on than ever.
Could be quite an interesting SL, but as I don't know Catherine, hardly know Amy or Mabel, somehow it's not engaging me as much as it should. Â
Not engaging me much either but then Alan's never been a particularly interesting character and comes across as far too pious, even for a clergyman. As for Amy, she's practically non-existant (except when called upon in her professional capacity, e.g. at last year's Christmas party) so I had to laugh at the scene a few weeks ago when Alice and Amy met in a cafe and, discussing Mabel, Alice responded "I love Mabel". It was news to me that they'd even met! I don't know where this SL is leading but I wish it hadn't started. Frankly, I'd far rather hear about Matt and his dodgy dealings.
, in reply to message 21.
Posted by JoinedPeetsBoard_Smeesues_too (U14519481) on Saturday, 17th December 2011
Amy and Alice were in TA a lot when they were younger. They tried to save the druggies of Borchester from themselves. Mabel was in it much more in the past ..
JPBS
, in reply to message 22.
Posted by Elnora Cornstalk (U5646495) on Saturday, 17th December 2011
Amy and Alice were in TA a lot when they were younger. They tried to save the druggies of Borchester from themselves. Mabel was in it much more in the past ..
´³±Êµþ³§Ìý
Alice and Amy also had a rift over a racist slur, but I can't recall the details (... anyone?); and the SWs also whipped up a feud between Mabel and Aunty Satya [whatever happened to her?]. Alan has been blokey and boring throughout.
, in reply to message 23.
Posted by JoinedPeetsBoard_Smeesues_too (U14519481) on Saturday, 17th December 2011
The only rift they had so far as I know was over Alice's ambitions to join the RAF - for Amy was a pacifist.
This was during the time that Alice took sanctuary at the vicarage after the discovery of her father' s parentage of Ruairi.
Made life difficult for poor Alan having two feuding teenage girls under his roof ..
JPBS
, in reply to message 24.
Posted by Elnora Cornstalk (U5646495) on Saturday, 17th December 2011
Thanks for reminding me of that, JBS. The other incident (if indeed it existed) was some careless remark on Alice's part, which suddenly revealed all kinds of assumptions; and was smoothed over. (Was it something to do with Noli?... ) But perhaps I imagined this - after all, Facebook keeps sending me ads about the signs of dementia..!
, in reply to message 25.
Posted by JoinedPeetsBoard_Smeesues_too (U14519481) on Saturday, 17th December 2011
You might be right there! I vaguely remember something like that! I don't think it was as significant as the row over the RAF though ..
JPBS
, in reply to message 26.
Posted by Elnora Cornstalk (U5646495) on Saturday, 17th December 2011
Phhew; Thanks JPB! and you're right - the RAF was the Big Row. After that, Amy went off to her midwifery course, and rather drifted out of the programme.
Hmm ... I like the fact that one story came out of the recent, known past of two characters; one came out of known developing characters; and one is a Christmas mystery taken partly from character and partly from the deliberate void in Alan's past history.
Knife crime, sometimes related to race, is a big issue here at the moment [the police and community have suppressed guns only for knives to pop up in their place.] They've already sketched out the web of accommodations that Alan, Amy and Usha make with Catherine's memory and I'm not sure it needs to turn from subtle to a direct conflict for Usha. Interested to see how it turns out - it's been a thumping good series so far.
, in reply to message 28.
Posted by mousenmerlin (U14705155) on Sunday, 18th December 2011
Yes, this series has been fantastic - but did wonder how Alastair never seemed to have a receptionist/veterinary nurse around. Erin arrived after schools so her visits to help delivery lambs would have been during ordinary work hours.
BUT the Catherine/Mabel/Alan SL is too big an issue to have done and dusted within the next two episodes. It needs to be bought into TA and developed there. Also gives us a chance to hear more of Mabel.
Interesting that by far the biggest mail on AmEx series 2 concerned [a] Cloive and Matt then Eric and Alastiar / Dan.
The TVOA thread seems to have gone almost unnoticed. Why?
, in reply to message 30.
Posted by Lady Trudie Tilney Glorfindel Maldini (U2222312) on Tuesday, 20th December 2011
Because we're a bit puzzled by it, I think, and still not really sure where it's going. 3 episodes left, I wonder what will happen - Amy wasn't exactly thrilled with the news was she? Did she really say something about 'catching them' (ie the person who bullied her mum)?
, in reply to message 31.
Posted by Lakey_Hill (U14391672) on Tuesday, 20th December 2011
I thought that she was talking about catching the big car that had almost made her crash, when it was her right of way.
, in reply to message 32.
Posted by Lady Trudie Tilney Glorfindel Maldini (U2222312) on Tuesday, 20th December 2011
Ah that would make more sense. Still, she didn't exactly sound calm and collected, did she?
, in reply to message 33.
Posted by Lakey_Hill (U14391672) on Tuesday, 20th December 2011
No, she didn't. Odd that both she and Alan have been so cut up about this business. It seems such a very long time ago. But then if it had been my mother, perhaps I would care ...
, in reply to message 30.
Posted by Organoleptic Icon (U11219171) on Tuesday, 20th December 2011
In reply to DracsM1:
Interesting that by far the biggest mail on AmEx series 2 concerned [a] Cloive and Matt then Eric and Alastiar / Dan.
The TVOA thread seems to have gone almost unnoticed. Why?Â
Because it seems totally pointless?
I presume they are going to produce some closure of it.
Amy stabs rude white person?
I thought she was going to crash, tonight!
So did I Bette, In fact I wondered if they were going to write Amy out/ off. Vinette Robinson is getting great reviews for her Ophelia at the Young Vic at the moment [ to Michael Sheen's Hamlet.]
, in reply to message 37.
Posted by Organoleptic Icon (U11219171) on Tuesday, 20th December 2011
In reply to :
So did I Bette, In fact I wondered if they were going to write Amy out/ off. Vinette Robinson is getting great reviews for her Ophelia at the Young Vic at the moment [ to Michael Sheen's Hamlet.Â
Why kill her off? She can just do midwifery somewhere remote?
But this whole SL doesn't make much sense, does it? I thought perhaps Amy could kill herself or be seriously injured, the Alan would be beating himself up for telling her about Catherine ... but what a horrible and dreary SL that would be!
I can't see where this story is going either. It seems to have no relevance to anything that's gone before for Alan and his family, and feels rather parachuted in. Was it in someone's contract that they have to have so many hours of broadcasting? I can see no other justification.
I think that Amy's act of losing her temper and chasing the other car was the second swift retaliatory act of hers we've heard about recently? Mind you, can't remember what the first was now, so switched off from the storyline am I, just that I thought it was a clumsy way of demonstrating that she's inherited it from her mother. Can't think why it needs to be demonstrated tho, if that's it, with the series almost at an end. Dunno, just dunno.Spect I'm totally wrong.
, in reply to message 41.
Posted by Organoleptic Icon (U11219171) on Wednesday, 21st December 2011
I think that Amy's act of losing her temper and chasing the other car was the second swift retaliatory act of hers we've heard about recently? Mind you, can't remember what the first was now, so switched off from the storyline am I,Â
Amy spoke harshly to Cloive.
I think Amy the madwoman murderess is almost certain.
What else could the s/l be for?
Amy and Cloive - thanks OI, that's what it was.
Thanks for reminding me of that, JBS. The other incident (if indeed it existed) was some careless remark on Alice's part, which suddenly revealed all kinds of assumptions; and was smoothed over. (Was it something to do with Noli?... ) But perhaps I imagined this - after all, Facebook keeps sending me ads about the signs of dementia..!Â
IIRC, it was about hunting or some other aspect of country life which arouses strong feelings. Amy was criticising it, Alice was defending it, and blurted out something like 'you just don't understand because you're----' and then stopped herself. Amy said 'you mean because I'm black' and Alice said no, no, she meant because Amy wasn't from a country background. Caused some awkwardness between them for a while.
I don't like this Alan/Catherine story either, it's heavy handed and irritating.
, in reply to message 44.
Posted by Elnora Cornstalk (U5646495) on Thursday, 22nd December 2011
Thank you, Tadpole. That sounds right! (I do wish the production team could just post the famous continuity file cards on line - or old scripts. It would be wonderful to be able to search back and check!)
, in reply to message 33.
Posted by footintwocamps (U9458464) on Friday, 23rd December 2011
Ah that would make more sense. Still, she didn't exactly sound calm and collected, did she?Â
As I've posted elsewhere:-
Midwifery is as emotionally draining a career as can be imagined; when it goes wrong, it is dreadful.
TVOA should have thought about what a tough time Amy has at any time just now - NHS hospitals are permanently understaffed with unsettling rumours constantly going around. And even in 2011 I fear that in a provincial hospital being mixed race probably makes Amy's life harder.
But no, he had to sully the memory of her treasured mother with a tale from heaven knows how many years before she was born., despite having been warned not to do so by her grandmother.
The man is a fool.
To which I might add, I was married to a a mixed race NHS midwife, so I do feel able to empathise with Amy rather more than some her have managed.
, in reply to message 46.
Posted by shulascat (U14737252) on Thursday, 29th December 2011
There are incidents from my past (relatively trivial I have to say) that I prefer neither my husband nor anyone else ever to know, there are probably stories in my family that I am sure I have never been told. I do not want to know some of the things my kids may have got up to. I just hate this fashion for 'baring all' and the fact that I would probably be accused by a psychiatrist of being too buttoned up. Why should Amy not be left alone to have happy memories of the mother she loved? This is a pointless storyline.
, in reply to message 47.
Posted by JoinedPeetsBoard_Smeesues_too (U14519481) on Thursday, 29th December 2011
Only because it must have been a high profile case and they thought Amy would find out by accident - through the internet and local papers
JPBS
Umm we heard Amy herself musing about what made her different from Clive, since they both had an aggressive streak, either inherited or inculcated by family behaviour. I rather liked the way that a family secret which both Alan and Mabel found hard to live with had made Amy more appreciative of Usha. Her father and grandmother felt personally guilty for the fact that Catherine had not talked to either of them about her past. Amy could not burden them with her own emotional response.
And it was another example of the 'step-parents can be good parents' maxim ... that's if you think that Alistair got away with it this time.
, in reply to message 48.
Posted by Organoleptic Icon (U11219171) on Thursday, 29th December 2011
In reply to JustPresidentBun With Stars - some hope:
Only because it must have been a high profile case and they thought Amy would find out by accident - through the internet and local papers
´³±Êµþ³§Ìý
Hardly, given how difficult Alan found it to get any info.
Before the internet age.
Welcome to the Archers Messageboard.
or  to take part in a discussion.
The message board is currently closed for posting.
This messageboard is now closed.
This messageboard is .
Find out more about this board's
´óÏó´«Ã½ © 2014 The ´óÏó´«Ã½ is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.
This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.