Loxfest is over. Locket-gate is upon us. Discuss Mowgli, Rob's new secret and of course the new road here with other Archers fans.

[PseudoBadger]

New thread for hopefully an exciting Sunday episode. Poor Hayley.

I was willing Hayley to throw a frying pan at Roy's smug, nasty head.

If he had come in grovelling but to come in seeming to have forgotten - I would have gone mad not just sobbed to myself

I guess those were tears of grief as he really killed off their marriage with that performance

I don't know about 'eastenders-ish'. I don't watch. I liked the rhythm too.
Was it a different writer perhaps?

It was all still quite subtle over the pressure on Helen re-hunting and her relationship with her parents. I think they have to continue to portray her as deluded. I get quite 'stabby' when I hear Henry calling Knob dad. But maybe it's 'normal' in the circs (I don't think so really).

I must go off and seek a life for myself now. For tonight only though ....

And! If your son said what he had said would you really have started with the line 'I love you and your sister so much'

Give the kid some credit - face the issue head on

At least we heard from lily (why wasn't she at school?)

CuttedUp thank you!

Aaaargh What actually happened please?

I can imagine you would respond by blanking the very idea of your son having seen you shagging the help...

I'm useless -I thought it was post-partum Leonie in the changing room so was thinking "how unlikely, no-one goes clothes shopping at 6 weeks"
Always said Jess sounded a bit non-descript

yes, Roy didn't even remember her it was heartbreaking to hear her. But I want her to channel some righteous anger and satisfy my blood lust

Wow this just made me listen to my first episode for months! Oo-er. But HOW on earth have Hayley and Jess not met before??!!

I'm catching up with Bake Off. Then I will catch up with Ambridge!

I keep missing chunks, so:

Does Hayley know?

Is Jess pregnant?

Has Freddie told Lily?

What happened with Ed and the combine harvester?

Where's George's puppy these days?

Thank you in advance!

Was that Jess in the changing room? I thought it was just some chatty stranger?

Thanks again.

there are never strangers on the archers!!!

Tbh I'm surprised Rob hasn't impregnated Helen by now. I'm sure he could lay the 'biological clock' line on her with good effect.

What's the developing storyline around Rob being so keen to introduce Henry to hunting, do you think? Is it just to further illustrate what a cad he is?

I think pat & tony are pretty anti hunting (& so is Helen - & she had been sticking to that) so another bit of leverage away from her family?

LOL. I just looked at the description of tomorrow's episode and it says, 'It's Friday night at Blossom Hill Cottage.' That's it. Ha ha.

Wow! Very late to the party.

For those who haven't heard it:

Roy gives Hayley some money to buy a dress - he is going to take her out for dinner

Hayley meets a stranger in the changing room who says how fat she (stranger) looks - Hayley says she remembers that stage - stranger says she won't buy the top because next week she won't be able to get it over her bump

Elizabeth tells Roy that she's had a call from the school. Freddie is missing and no one knows where. E and R spend hours looking for him. R neglects to phone home to tell H that he will be late. Eventually F turns up and tells E and R that he knows what they have been doing. R blusters. E sends him away. F tells her that he wishes Nigel were there instead of her.

R finally arrives home. H is sitting in the kitchen waiting. He explains what has happened but doesn't bother to apologise. H waits till he has left the room and bursts into tears.

Helen is putting Henry to bed when the doorbell rings. Helen opens the door and finds that it is Jess - surprise, surprise! the mysterious stranger from the changing room. Helen expresses shock..... Dum de dum de dum de dum....

To be fair, Rotaboy did apologise, albeit pretty perfunctorily. I noticed because I was muttering "Say sorry, you pratt" and, very obediently,he did.

I enjoyed the picture of Rotaboy getting ready to have a lovely time doing his would-be stepfather act with Freddie, only for Freddie to take the wind totally out of his sails.

He ought to be aware now that if Hayley doesn't know, the chances of her finding out have just increased massively. But maybe he's dumb enough to assume Lizzie will be able to persuade Freddie to keep quiet.

Thank you, Mimsy

I missed the first 7 minutes and was running dd's bath through the rest! Bad timing!

I hate the way Rob calls Henry 'Little man', It speaks volumes.

Nice juxtaposition of one sinister stepfather manipulating his DSS and a would-be SF being flatly rejected by another boy. The more often you read or type Rob and Roy the more you realise they are both quite alike - selfish and manipulative.

Will Rob be able to talk his way out of this one - or has the hunting thing begun to weaken Helen's complacency just a little bit? He dismissed her legitimate concerns about taking Henry hunting by sneering at her parents and indirectly sneering at her.

Presumably Jess will stomp in and declare "and it's Rob's baby!" but Helen will think that she has made this up to get him back.

Of course Rob himself won't currently have any proof that it's his baby either - woud actually be quite a nice twist if it wasn't, and Jess really was a fruitcake.

Poor Hayley.

Elizabeth is just so annoying, why would she keep flaunting Roy in Freddie's face? And who does Roy think he is?

I was quite irritated listening to the Hayley/Jess conversation in the changing room as I couldn't figure out whose voice the pg woman's was as it was familiar, I thought she sounded like Nic to begin.

I guess Hayley doesn't have any friends to talk to/go shopping with on her day off. I feel even sadder for her now.