Messageboard
Notes and Queries聽 permalink
Mike's marriage to Betty.
This discussion has been closed.
-
Message 1.聽
Posted by Devonfire (U15579279) on Friday, 18th January 2013
I have read several posts about how badly Mike treated Betty when she was alive. Could someone tell me about this as I wasn't aware of this.
-
Message 2
Posted by Spartacus (U38364) on Friday, 18th January 2013
My recollections are that Moike was pretty much devoted to Betty, and these recollections he's sharing with Vickoi are more a reflection of his own insecurities. Yes, he wasn't around much when the kids were growing up, but that was par for the course at the time - Betty would have been more surprised if he /had/ hung around the house with her rather than heading down to The Bull with Eddoi and Walter Gabriel.
-
Message 3
Posted by Dee (U3082905) on Friday, 18th January 2013
I agree Peet. Hindsight is a wonderful thing & looking back on how Mike, and probably most average men in RL, treated Betty was par for the course. Woman were not seen as intellectual equals nor was their role in caring for the home & children seen as on a par with earning. Yes, Mike probably toolk her for granted, left all teh child rearing to her & didn't lift a finger in the house. So it was in millions of households.
Most women in the UK would not tolerate that now (although it still happens in some households, especially those with deeply held religious convictions) although it is still women who take responsibility for most of the childcare and household stuff although that is now viewed as important in its own right. ANd, of course, most women now also work outside the home. But "traditional" roles between husband & wife still prevailed until fairly recently. Remember in 1981 when there was a deabte whether Diana should promise to "obey" Charles in her wedding vows? She did, but I'm pretty sure Kate didn't when she married William. Pretty indicative about the gender role within marriage. -
Message 4
Posted by Dinah Shore (U14984316) on Friday, 18th January 2013
OTOH, Pat was pretty shocked/surprised with the Mike and Betty relationship, and how he treated her, when Mike and betty lived with PandT.
He was all that was old-fashioned and unpleasant in a marriage at the time, and as Brenda remarked, not around much for the children, when Betty was alive. -
Message 5
Posted by Mabel Bagshawe (U2222589) on Friday, 18th January 2013
However, I 'm fairly sure there's a clip on one of the vintage tapes or programmes of Mike telling the newly wed Tony, who was chuntering about Pat wasnting to be involved business side of the farm, doing the accounts etc, that he and Betty had a marriage where they had equal roles and he couldn't run the business without her.
Not heard the epi but he may thinking back to their temporary separation when he was going through the worst of his depression, as he wasn;t that nice to her then. -
Message 6
Posted by JustJanie - Fairweather Strider (U10822512) on Friday, 18th January 2013
Oddly enough, I was listening to that scene just now! It's from 'Vintage Archers - Pat & Tony.'
Tony is confiding to Dan and Mike that he and Pat have had a row because she wants to do the books and he says that's 'man's work'. He asks if they know of any couples who share the work 50/50 and Mike says, "Me and Betty divide the work and the play right down the middle."
Dan says he wished that Doris HAD offered to do the books but she wasn't keen. So Tony ends up looking like the dinosaur.
At first I thought I must have been mistaken, that it wasn't Mike, because I had heard how unkind he was to Betty and that didn't sound like the sort of thing he would say. But it certainly was Mike.
Perhaps it was his version. Or perhaps he wasn't so terrible to her in those days. I don't know as I didn't listen then. -
Message 7
Posted by Peggy Monahan (U2254875) on Friday, 18th January 2013
I don't have a lot of memories of very specific things but Mike certainly came over as devoted to Betty, in the way of the time. No suggestion in my memory of bad treatment as such. I think that the stuff about how HE sees that he wasn't the same then as he is now is rather well done in fact.
-
Message 8
Posted by cath (U2234232) on Friday, 18th January 2013
Betty was a complete doormat. She nearly always did what Mike wanted.
The only time she went off piste iirc was when she stopped taking the pill without telling Mike (that was Jill's idea) because she wanted children and he didn't - certainly not then.
When she became pregnant he was horrified and my recollection of those days is that he was completely detached and left Betty to it. He seemed to like Roy when he first saw him (I don't think he was at the birth) but then left Betty to it. He insisted on giving both his children names that Betty doidn't like but she didn't argue with him.
I disagree that that sort of behaviour was usual then - I remember shouting at the radio at his selfishness and at Betty's doormattedness. -
Message 9
Posted by Peggy Monahan (U2254875) on Friday, 18th January 2013
I disagree that that sort of behaviour was usual then - I remember shouting at the radio at his selfishness and at Betty's doormattedness.聽
I don't remember the births of Roy and Brenda, I can't have been listening very carefully then. But I don't think the idea that is put over that he was abusive to Betty is right. Betty was a strong character. -
Message 10
Posted by rick_yard_withdrawn (U14573092) on Friday, 18th January 2013
Betty was a complete doormat. She nearly always did what Mike wanted.
The only time she went off piste iirc was when she stopped taking the pill without telling Mike (that was Jill's idea) because she wanted children and he didn't - certainly not then.
When she became pregnant he was horrified and my recollection of those days is that he was completely detached and left Betty to it. He seemed to like Roy when he first saw him (I don't think he was at the birth) but then left Betty to it. He insisted on giving both his children names that Betty doidn't like but she didn't argue with him.
I disagree that that sort of behaviour was usual then - I remember shouting at the radio at his selfishness and at Betty's doormattedness.聽 Doris actually, nor Jill..... -
Message 11
Posted by Mabel Bagshawe (U2222589) on Friday, 18th January 2013
< At first I thought I must have been mistaken, that it wasn't Mike >
I think it was the previous voice of Mike, not the present one, which probably didn't help -
Message 12
Posted by cath (U2234232) on Friday, 18th January 2013
>Doris actually, nor Jill.....<
Thanks, I thought it was Jill because I had it in my mind as the stupid woman at BF. I never did see much point in Doris either so I'll take Jill off my blacklist. -
Message 13
Posted by Organoleptic Icon (U11219171) on Saturday, 19th January 2013
I think Mike's past poor paterhood is a recent invention.
-
Message 14
Posted by Spartacus (U38364) on Saturday, 19th January 2013
I think it was the previous voice of Mike, not the present one聽
Oooh. I thought Moike had /always/ been played by Davros. -
Message 15
Posted by cath (U2234232) on Saturday, 19th January 2013
>I think Mike's past poor paterhood is a recent invention.<
If by recent you mean within the last 30 years or so then I agree with you. It was nice to hear the sws had remembered something correctly about the old SLs. -
Message 16
Posted by smee (U2226513) on Saturday, 19th January 2013
Mike was a old fashioned kind of bloke so he had an old fashioned kind of marriage to someone who was also a bit old fashioned. Whatever you might think of that, they were definitely devoted to each other. I guess Brenda (erm, I know, not exactly a paragon of feminism) and Vicky (?) may have made him think a bit about this.
-
Message 17
Posted by Peggy Monahan (U2254875) on Saturday, 19th January 2013
I think it was the previous voice of Mike, not the present one聽
Oooh. I thought Moike had /always/ been played by Davros.聽
Terry Molloy has played Mike since 1973. By my reckoning that's 40 years. Was there really somebody else before? -
Message 18
Posted by Organoleptic Icon (U11219171) on Saturday, 19th January 2013
>I think Mike's past poor paterhood is a recent invention.<
If by recent you mean within the last 30 years or so then I agree with you. It was nice to hear the sws had remembered something correctly about the old SLs.聽
I was questioning if it WAS valid.
But I was abroad at the time. -
Message 19
Posted by Mabel Bagshawe (U2222589) on Saturday, 19th January 2013
Encyclopaedia claims three Mikes -
Gareth Armstrong - also one of the Harry Bookers and latterly Sean Myerson, the batter for Darrington
Alexander Wilson
Terry Molloy - also a voice of Alf Grundy
No dates are given, so can't say for certain which one was in the Vintage tape, but it certainly struck me as not the current one -
Message 20
Posted by shulascat (U14737252) on Saturday, 19th January 2013
I don't remember Mike treating Betty badly. So far as I remember, Betty removed some of Mike's rough edges and they were a hardworking, devoted couple. I'd be interested to know how much research the SWs do on their characters to keep them consistent.
-
Message 21
Posted by politebirder (U4482231) on Saturday, 19th January 2013
Mike had a nervous breakdown when his business went bust and he and Betty split up for a bit as he was irrational and dangerous.
Other than that he was a good husband as stereotypical men of his age are. -
Message 22
Posted by Dinah Shore (U14984316) on Saturday, 19th January 2013
he was a good husband as stereotypical men of his age are.聽 Tony wasn't - he had an equal partnership with his partner, in the days when Pat was well-written. He also did child care, and made joint decisions.
Mike was just an arrogant rude word. -
Message 23
Posted by politebirder (U4482231) on Saturday, 19th January 2013
He was not, AFAIR, an abuser, an adulterer, an alcoholic or a gambler.
So perhaps you are being a bit hard on him? -
Message 24
Posted by Peggy Monahan (U2254875) on Saturday, 19th January 2013
Tony wasn't - he had an equal partnership with his partner, in the days when Pat was well-written. He also did child care, and made joint decisions.
Mike was just an arrogant rude word.聽
Msg 6 above about listening to a vintage episode: 鈥淭ony is confiding to Dan and Mike that he and Pat have had a row because she wants to do the books and he says that's 'man's work'. He asks if they know of any couples who share the work 50/50 and Mike says, "Me and Betty divide the work and the play right down the middle."
Dan says he wished that Doris HAD offered to do the books but she wasn't keen. So Tony ends up looking like the dinosaur.
At first I thought I must have been mistaken, that it wasn't Mike, because I had heard how unkind he was to Betty and that didn't sound like the sort of thing he would say. But it certainly was Mike.鈥
So that seems to put Mike and Tony in a different light. -
Message 25
Posted by Dinah Shore (U14984316) on Saturday, 19th January 2013
Well, it shows how ruddy deluded Mike was.
-
Message 26
Posted by cath (U2234232) on Saturday, 19th January 2013
> Mike says, "Me and Betty divide the work and the play right down the middle."<
That's what Mike said and I expect he believed it. But he didn't do any housework, he didn't help with the children, he didn't do any 'wimmin's' work at all. Remember he didn't know how to cook and after Betty died Brenda showed him how to make a tuna bake.
He was completely unreconstructed and I remember disliking him enormously in the 70s/early 80s. Betty was almost as bad because she kowtowed to all his wishes.
But his depression did turn him into a kinder, more sympathetic person. He was really good with Pat when she was depressed. -
Message 27
Posted by Peggy Monahan (U2254875) on Saturday, 19th January 2013
I remember disliking him enormously in the 70s/early 80s聽
So can you shed any light on the fact that the TA site and Terry Molloy's wikipedia entry say he has played Mike since 1973 but the Archers' Encyclopedia says there have been three actors in the role. Did he exist before 197S? Has he taken breaks?
II don't remember liking him much myself but I don't have any very precise memories. -
Message 28
Posted by cath (U2234232) on Saturday, 19th January 2013
Sorry, no, I didn't start listening until 1975. I grew up in a house where TA was banned as being complete rubbish and I was trained to dash for the off switch when the music started.
Terry Molloy is the only Mike I've never known (if you see what I mean). -
Message 29
Posted by Organoleptic Icon (U11219171) on Sunday, 20th January 2013
In reply to Dinah Shore:
he was a good husband as stereotypical men of his age are. Tony wasn't - he had an equal partnership with his partner, in the days when Pat was well-written. He also did child care, and made joint decisions.聽
Yet now he is a pussywhipped pantywaist. -
Message 30
Posted by cath (U2234232) on Sunday, 20th January 2013
And loving it.
If only Betty had realised that she needed to be assertive, eh. Probably too racy for the 70s and 80s though. -
Message 31
Posted by shulascat (U14737252) on Sunday, 20th January 2013
Yeah, I had forgotten the breakdown. Didn't him become violent? But that was part of the illness - I think he loved Betty, even if he treated her in the old-fashioned way that might be expected of a couple living in a village that is always 50 years behind its time.
-
Message 32
Posted by A Frend (U2249422) on Sunday, 20th January 2013
"Remember he didn't know how to cook and after Betty died Brenda showed him how to make a tuna bake. "
He didn't know how to use the washing machine either which is why his daughter had to give up university to look after him. That last one makes me wonder about the SWs it realy does. -
Message 33
Posted by Tayler Cresswell - Host (U14232848) on Sunday, 20th January 2013
I remember disliking him enormously in the 70s/early 80s聽
So can you shed any light on the fact that the TA site and Terry Molloy's wikipedia entry say he has played Mike since 1973 but the Archers' Encyclopedia says there have been three actors in the role. Did he exist before 197S? Has he taken breaks?
II don't remember liking him much myself but I don't have any very precise memories. 聽
Hi Peggy
I think Mike first came to Ambridge in 1973, newly married to Betty.
Mike was also played by Gareth Armstrong and Alexander Wilson - though I don't have dates for when - I'll check with the team about that.
Tayler -
Message 34
Posted by Peggy Monahan (U2254875) on Sunday, 20th January 2013
Mike was also played by Gareth Armstrong and Alexander Wilson - though I don't have dates for when - I'll check with the team about that.聽
Well this would seem to imply Terry Molloy took breaks. -
Message 35
Posted by cath (U2234232) on Sunday, 20th January 2013
>He didn't know how to use the washing machine either which is why his daughter had to give up university to look after him. That last one makes me wonder about the SWs it realy does.<
It made me wonder about Brenda actually. She was truly pathetic.
Not surprising he didn't know how to work the w/m - remember DeadStBeddy insisting on washing and ironing Roy's shirts, much to Hayley's disgruntlement? -
Message 36
Posted by A Frend (U2249422) on Monday, 21st January 2013
" ... remember DeadStBeddy insisting on washing and ironing Roy's shirts, much to Hayley's disgruntlement? "
Yes indeed and Roy lapped it up. So in thrall was he to his mummy that he didn't want to leave even although his wife was miserable about living with her in laws. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree - Roy's as ghastly as his father.
My comment about the SWs is that they write this stuff. And it seems to me that they think that children should leave work and studies to look after parents - they certainly wrote that for Brenda.
And they now seem to have Brenda prepping to look after Bethany (gladly). I think she should be hightailing it and leaving the parents to look after their own baby otherwise she's going to be looking after that child for the rest of her life.
My view is adults are responsible for their own actions and that as parents they don't have the right to foist the care of one of their children onto brothers and sisters in the years ahead. No matter what the disability is or the degree of suport needed for a child it is for the parents to arrange for that in their lifetime so as to make sure that they don't blight the lives and careers of their other children by requiring them to take over when the parents themselves are too old or infirm or dead to do it themselves. -
Message 37
Posted by cath (U2234232) on Monday, 21st January 2013
>My comment about the SWs is that they write this stuff. And it seems to me that they think that children should leave work and studies to look after parents - they certainly wrote that for Brenda. <
And they wrote Cloive slashing horses and Matt making life impossible for his tenants... it's fiction not autobiography and writers make their characters do things that they wouldn't necessarily do, or approve of, themselves.
In Brenda's case she was always limp. The only times she showed any spunk was when she was doing that investigation into Chalkman and then she got trodden on but eventually she applied for university. Good for her. But then she reverted to type and made up a story about looking after Mike - she'd had one term at university and didn't like it. I thought she was exasperatingly in character.
I assume the sws made her do it because they wanted her to get together with the SLT - she left Willow Farm very quickly after Betty's death so I've always assumed that I've got to look after dad was an excuse for not going back to Bournemouth. Pathetic. -
Message 38
Posted by A Frend (U2249422) on Monday, 21st January 2013
Yes it's fiction but people do slash horses and set fire to houses etc. However, I suspect a lot of 29 year old women with no interest in babies would not think it their first duty to look after a newly arrived baby when the mother is perfectly capable of doing same. So it's odd *to me* that the SWs write this as a first choice for this woman.
As someone else posted on another thread Mike's duty as a father extends to Brenda as well - something he conveniently forgot when the SWs had her washing his smalls and cooking his tea for heavens sake. -
Message 39
Posted by cath (U2234232) on Monday, 21st January 2013
Mike, to be fair, told Brenda he didn't want her to stay in Ambridge for him. He had Hayley and Roy around so he was hardly going to be completely alone.
Iirc he kept saying are you sure? and Brenda said yes this is what I want to do. It was her idea in the first second and third place and Mike exerted no pressure on her.
If you want to blame anyone else for Brenda's stupidity then maybe you need to look to Betty having set such a terrible example to her children. -
Message 40
Posted by Tayler Cresswell - Host (U14232848) on Tuesday, 22nd January 2013
Mike was also played by Gareth Armstrong and Alexander Wilson - though I don't have dates for when - I'll check with the team about that.聽
Well this would seem to imply Terry Molloy took breaks. 聽
Hi all
This back from the archivist on who played Mike Tucker and when:
Terry took over the role of Mike in 1974. Before that it was played by Gareth (a very well established Archers鈥 actor) and I presume Alexander Wilson 鈥 whom I know less about. Gareth was best known in The Archers for playing Harry Booker 鈥 the postman and Sean Myerson, the cricket playing publican at The Cat and Fiddle. 聽
Tayler -
Message 41
Posted by Peggy Monahan (U2254875) on Tuesday, 22nd January 2013
Terry took over the role of Mike in 1974. Before that it was played by Gareth (a very well established Archers鈥 actor) and I presume Alexander Wilson 鈥 whom I know less about.聽
Well Who's Who on this site says "It was in 1973 that Terry was asked to take on the role of Mike Tucker in The Archers 鈥 鈥渢he Milkman from Hell鈥 he says 鈥 and he has played the part ever since.鈥
That could mean he was asked in 1973 and started in 1974 but most people would understand that he's played the role since 1973.
So when did Mike appear and how long did these other actors play him for? Disappointing if the archvist can't answer these questions. -
Message 42
Posted by Mabel Bagshawe (U2222589) on Tuesday, 22nd January 2013
In an interview here
Terry says he was hired as his voice matched Gareth Armstrong who had already recorded one episode as Mike, before moving on. First recording December 1972, transmitted early 1973.
Not sure how this sits with three actors - however it's not unknown that they get info wrong in the Encyclopaedia. I think it's the Polly Perks actor list that we've queried before -
Message 43
Posted by Peggy Monahan (U2254875) on Tuesday, 22nd January 2013
Thanks, interesting article and gives us some clear facts. It does sound as if the third actor is a mistake. maybe he was thought of for the role.
-
Message 44
Posted by Dinah Shore (U14984316) on Tuesday, 22nd January 2013
Mike, to be fair, told Brenda he didn't want her to stay in Ambridge for him. He had Hayley and Roy around so he was hardly going to be completely alone.聽 Well, up to a point, Lord Cooper
Friday 20th January
Alan calls round to see how Mike is doing, and finds that Mike is dreading the idea of the family leaving him. He knows Brenda should go back to university, but he needs her there, and he's worried that Roy will lose his job and move away if Grey Gables is sold.
Wednesday 8th February
Brenda goes with Tom to buy a trailer for the Gourmet Grills, and on the way, offers plenty of suggestions for marketing them. She wants to have a pitch at the Lower Loxley Point-to-Point, though Tom thinks they're too late for that one. She tells him that Mike is delighted that she's going to live at home; he wept when she told him. But it will take the weight off Hayley. -
Message 45
Posted by dickie (U2267358) on Sunday, 27th January 2013
As someone else has remarked, Mike was an old-fashioned husband.
Given this context, and excepting the time when he was clinically depressed following the failure of his business, I don't recall that he ever behaved badly towards Betty. In particular I don't recall any suggestion that he was unfaithful.
However, he was a miserable, moaning git. -
Message 46
Posted by Lynnie P (U3585914) on Friday, 1st February 2013
He was very typical of his time, was Mike - he got on Pat's nerves because he was hardly a new man...but then neither was Tony - he was always down the Bull at one time, she was worried he had a drink problem like his Dad. We change as we get older - other times, other mores and all that stuff.
It has happened to a lot of blokes I know. Their daughters grow up and give them a hard time, and they change their ideas...well a bit. And second marriages are not like first ones are they? You might feel completely different about the second time around.
If people always stayed the same there would be no room for personal growth - and some people do grow up!
LynnieP x
About this Board
Welcome to the Archers Messageboard.
or 聽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
Search this Board
主播大秀 iD
主播大秀 navigation
主播大秀 links
主播大秀 漏 2014 The 主播大秀 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.