The past month in Archers-land passed terribly quickly, I can’t quite believe it is 2013 already. To recap on the festive antics of our Ambridge-based friends, we must begin with Lilian and Matt. What is going on in that woman’s head? I don’t understand why she doesn’t just leave Matt if she is so unhappy with him? Why sneak off into the kitchen to take clandestine phone calls? They aren’t married, they have no children. They have a history but it’s a tempestuous one at best. What’s stopping her just running off with Paul? The business, maybe? I don’t get it.

Matt tries to make amends by being nice to Joyce and making her flat super safe, being even nicer to James through gritted teeth, and then whisking Lillian off for a trip to New York. But it may not be enough. We’re still waiting to find out.

Brenda mentioned in passing that it was only a week until Vicky’s due date. We heard some of her trips to ante-natal classes with Mike, the giggling and the happy mood they are in. I can’t quite believe this has come around so soon, but it’ll be interesting to see if the actual birth and reality of baby affects Mike in any way.

Ed, Emma and the children move in with Neil and Susan. Ed struggles to fit in, and Susan takes a while to adapt, but they seem to get there eventually. David also gives Ed some work to do covering on the farm over Christmas. Things are definitely getting better for the younger Grundys. It was also very refreshing to hear Will shot down by his father when he got all snooty about people struggling to provide for their families.

It was interesting to hear the dissection of Ed’s business skills, particularly as he felt guilty for not being able to handle it, and had to be convinced that no one had shown him how to manage the accounts - why should he know automatically? It’s nice to see people rallying around to help him.

There’s Ambridge Extra adventures to be had, but I don’t have much to say about those. Clive was arrested again, Donna seems completely scatty and weak-willed and Tracey is exactly the same as she is in the main programme, stamping all over the place and being demanding!

A few things to finish:

• Elizabeth is still working on improving the business, worried about taking on a big loan for the bedroom conversions. She also navigates a difficult time at the New Year’s Ball, and, oddly, has Iftikar to lean on for support.
• The Christmas show went off without a hitch, or with a Kenton-shaped hitch that actually made it a lot better than it might have otherwise been. And Lynda had to admit that she didn’t necessarily know it all. Amazing. (I really liked the James Bond style stuff between Jill and Kenton.)
• Tom kicking off about not being featured in Borsetshire Life, where Christopher was chosen for an interview was totally in character and just as annoying. I liked him being told off for talking about his ready meals non-stop. If we did one of those word count images of The Archers in 2012, I think ready-meals would be the largest.
• What’s going to happen in Whitby?