Now back living in Ambridge with his parents, the 17 year old Ed isn’t doing well. Whilst elder brother Will takes on adult responsibilities as an apprentice gamekeeper under Greg, Helen’s then boyfriend, Ed goes further into delinquency. Led astray by his old school-friend Jazzer, small time crimes such as an opportunity theft of money from Caroline lead on to the more serious crime of joyriding, ie taking & driving away. At one point he even steals his brother Will’s car and it was this that brought him up against the law.
The run up to this run-in with the police probably deserves some further explanation. In the summer of 2001, Ed and Emma (both 17) are becoming romantically attached. They dance together at the Ambridge music venue (The Bull Upstairs) and Emma kisses him. She is in two minds about her feelings though, as she also likes his elder brother Will. Soon after, she lets Will take her to a music gig in town, but returns to Ambridge with Ed – in Will’s car! Ed crashes the car avoiding a deer and is thrown from the wreckage, but redeems himself to an extent by bravely returning to pull the trapped Emma from the burning wreck of Will’s car. Badly burned, he is hospitalised for a while, and Emma also needs hospital treatment for her injuries.
Emma’s parents, not surprisingly, take it badly. Emma’s dad, Neil, is not keen to allow Emma to associate with either Grundy brother. Neil eventually relents over Will, but not Ed, whilst Emma insists that she must be allowed to thank Ed for saving her life. Will considers Emma to be his girl, although Emma’s still not sure about that. Both sets of parents (Carter and Grundy) fall out over the row, and the bad blood between the two brothers can probably be traced to this episode.
Once out of hospital, Ed is charged for the offence of stealing the car, banned from driving for a year, and given a community punishment. Emma becomes closer to Will and by New Year, the writing is on the wall for Ed, who at the age of 17, believes he’s lost the love of his life forever.
2002
But Ed’s not the only Ambridge resident in trouble with the law. A terrible surprise hits Ambridge in Spring 2002, leaving Jazzer hospitalised, and Alistair (Shula’s husband) under suspicion of supplying illegal drugs to him. This episode is interesting, not just for how it affects Jazzer, but also as it’s a rare occasion in Ambridge for one of the middle or upper classes to be under suspicion of a crime. Normally that only applies to the workers (Susan Carter, Eddie Grundy, Roy Tucker, Ed himself of course) although now, Helen Archer has broken that rule by being remanded in custody and denied bail, for attempted murder. Hmmm... can anyone remember if that happened to gamekeeper Tom Forrest, when he was charged with actual murder, way back?
By now, Emma and Wills are definitely a couple, and Ed is trying to lose himself in other things, notably by forming a band called Dross with Fallon, Jazzer, and Jazzer’s brother. Ed had inherited his father’s love of music, and his excellent voice was noted early on when singing in the church carol concert in the 1990s. He received an electric guitar for his 16th birthday, and this fuelled his interest in rock music. He formed Dross, with Fallon on guitar and vocals, Jazzer on drums and Jazzer’s otherwise unmentioned brother on bass. They played gigs around the area, and notably in The Bull Upstairs, a music venue that Fallon had persuaded her country singing Mum, Jolene, to found.
(We could go off at a substantial tangent here, on the fascinating subject of Jolene, Eddie, Sid Perks, Kathy Perks, and Jolene’s varied love life, which brought her into the role of Landlady at The Bull. For now, let’s just accept that Jolene was the landlady then, and was happy for her daughter Fallon to set up and promote The Bull Upstairs as a music venue).
Until, in spring 2002, Jazzer was using Ketamine, a horse tranquilizer, and overdosed on the drug at a gig held there. Hospitalised, and with his life in danger, the rest of the band were devastated at this turn of events.
Of course, a possible link between the supply of Ketamine and the local vet’s practice wasn’t lost on the coppers. This was well before PC Burns came to the village, and it may be that an unnamed DC from Borchester Green first pointed the finger of suspicion at Alistair Lloyd. Shula Hebdon-Lloyd, nee Archer, was shocked to find herself caught up in a police investigation into her husband. She’s an Archer after all; this shouldn’t happen to them!
The supply was eventually found to have been made by Alistair’s partner in the vet’s practice, who was an undiscovered drug addict and had been stealing drugs from the practice under Alistair’s own eyes. Charges against Alistair were dropped, Alistair removed the offending partner from the practice, and Jazzer recovered. However, an after effect of Ketamine poisoning is memory impairment, meaning he was now an unreliable member of a professional rock band, and Dross broke up. Ed’s dreams of success in music were proved to be as hopeless as the dreams his father had, a generation earlier.
It has been said that Dross was based on Limp Bizkit, but according to Hail! Hail! Rock and Roll, by John Harris, Dross’ music was performed by the Birmingham indie-rock band The Def Offenders. If you want a copy, you can google it.
This blog is no. 5 in a series on Grange Farm and the Grundys. If you'd like to read from the beginning, follow this link
Further reading
Affects of Ketamine poisoning
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2002/may/23/healthandwellbeing.drugsandalcohol
Jazzer, the stereotype Scot, with quote from Keri Davies..
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1331821/BBC-accused-racial-stereotyping-including-drunk-Scot-Jazzer-The-Archers.html
Interesting article about Jazzer’s actor, Ryan Kelly
https://disabilitynow.org.uk/2012/04/07/ryan-kelly-heard-but-not-seen/