And while I’m on a roll, What do we do with complex people ? People who are a mix of good and bad ? They turn up in our village all the time.
Take J of the previous episode. She is indeed bigoted and poisonous of mouth. She also starts and promulgates gossip and is given to wild exaggeration and accusation. She could indeed be drawn large in Ambridge if there ever was a character who, regardless of their standing, history, social condition and education, wasn’t flushed through with middle class values.
So not much chance then.
Now add this bit of complexity; J is given to selfless acts of kindness. A friend of ours had Leukaemia. As soon as she found out, J (previously unknown to the family), turned up and offered to help. She tirelessly ran errands, kept undesirables at bay, looked after the house, took the elder sister to and from school and was generously and generally helpful over the four long years of the illness. After he died, she continued to help out. She also looks out for the old people of the village, running an informal shopping taxi service.
How do you categorise someone like that ? Radio audiences wouldn’t find her credible.
And she isn’t the most bizarre character in the village. Not by some distance.
