Culvert operations in Ambridge - discuss The Archers here. It's not his baby by the way.

[PseudoBadger]

Is Ed's wedding very soon?

Charlie is trying to give rob enough rope. There's no way he would let rob handle contacting stefan. Also Charlie told david he'd been trying to contact stefan when he had not- why say that?

He will be surprised to find H doing the presentation - i was actually expecting him to ask Pip. it'll be a farm Sunday showdown!

Also there's quite a bit of Shula david interaction - plenty of chance for shula's confession.

I don't know if I've missed something but surely it makes no sense at all for Helen to be involved with this?

Nail. Head.
Will someone please go to one of SOC's many roadshows and ask him if, along with his agricultural adviser, they have considered getting a credibility adviser.

arf @ "Shocked at all the cruelty to bears" from ... Ebearhug

I suppose Charlie's still trying to get to grips with Rob's underhandedness. Charlie's used to people doing what he tells them to do so he tells Rob to contact Stefan and that's that. Job done. Or so he expects, but Rob has failed that test.
Rob has another chance now but won't do it and will tell Charlie another lie. Gradually he's losing his nine lives.

I was more intrigued with Charlie's insistence that Rob mustn't do the presentation. Is it because he knows he's bad at it? Or because the culvert rumour is out there and Rob is a potentially bad example of a BL employee?

I can't remember what happened last year. A calf died but did Rob lose his temper with a member of the public?

Also...
I thought that scene with David and Charlie last night was very well done. Charlie wanted to see how David reacted to the news that Stefan has left. David didn't give anything away in words but the tension was there in spades.

Will the grundys end up in woodbine cottage?

Rob messed up the presentation last year. Why not ask one of the other two managers?

Rob was rubbish last year. Couldn't answer questions and got cross with Jim (in private) for showing him up.
I am more intrigued by the fact that a whole year has gone by and I have done v little!!

But don't you see? It's all part of Rob's complete takeover of Helen, body and soul. If she agrees (which, of course, she will) he will have separated her completely from the ethos and aspirations of her family - right under their nose.

I'm thinking it might also cause another rift between Bridge Farm and Peggy - who's probably rather keen on big business.

He's such an opportunist.

As regards the Stefan plot - given how stupid they think the audience is (Northumberland ...) I suspect the resolution will be far less convincing than anything suggested here.

Yes zero, that's it exactly! Rob thinks he's so damn clever. He'd eat himself with a spoon if he could. But Charlie is cleverer. Of course he could access Stefan's HR records and get his phone number - he knows now that it was Stefan who spoke to David, he's just got to find a way of finding the smoking gun. Maybe if he speaks to Ed it will help?

Can't wait to hear Pat's reaction to Hellin's complete submission to Big Farma.

I can't go to the thing in Soho - please go Eastpoint or Zero or someone else.

Can I give a BOOP point to Timothy Watson. Rob is a horrible piece of work but TW's acting of him is brilliant. It's amazing how much sinisteryness (is that a word?) he can put into a simple line of dialogue.

That's true R4 - I still notice some of the cast acting after nearly half a century of listening to them, but Rob is just Rob.

It was the tour of the digester thingy that Rob messed up by not knowing his facts and stumbling through it badly. That was when he snarled at Jim.

Open Farm Sunday (I always hear that in my head in Ruth's accent) was a different disaster when a calf died in view of the public. I can't remember exactly what happened.

I think getting Helen to do it is a sign of desperation on Rob's part.

Actually even without anything else, the fact that the manager of the enterprise is incapable of promoting it should be enough to lose him his job.

He'd eat himself with a spoon if he could - brilliant

Knob's bluster over not being able to contact Stefan, and then tying himself in knots trying to stop Charlie doing so, was lamentable, though enjoyable. I'm no fan of Charlie partly because he sounds exactly like Tom but I don't believe he's dense enough to be taken in by Knob's utter nonsense. Hopefully he's got his beady eye on him now and won't stop till he's got to the truth.

I'm surprised by the amount of time Rob is able to take off. He's always nipping home for lunch or coming home early and surprising Helen. Usually on the grounds that he's having a bad day. Is that acceptable behaviour in that sort of job? Does he really not have set hours?

Yes, zero, in my mind Charlie is preparing a dossier to use when he starts a full disciplinary process against Knob, including:

• refusal to schedule anything that clashes with lunch
• regular absences to collect small child from nursery
• ostentatious display of single wicket trophy
• culvert blocking leading to potential murder

I hate the way that Rob makes snide little remarks about people, often in a sort of conspiratorial way as if he expects that the person he's speaking to also goes around secretly despising others the way he does. For instance he was trying to get Charlie to make fun of David and his concern about flood defences and described the person Charlie suggested for the Farm Sunday talk as "pimply". I'm sure he also said something about him not being able to string two words together. Rob constantly belittles people including Helen, "you're so scatty Darling" "you know how stressed you get Darling".

I love the way that Charlie pulls Rob up on it. I hope we hear more of them together.

I haven't heard last night's yet, but is it right that Rob is suggesting Helen should do the presentation about Berrow for OFS? Does Charlie know? If not, I do hope he rips Rob apart when he finds out. It is, quite simply, absurd to suggest that a large organisation like that can't find anyone to do the presentation other than the girlfriend of one of the managers who has nothing whatsoever to do with the running of the farm.

Exactly, Zero. He knows that if he messes up on another BL PR event then the skids are under him even without the culvert thing.

My guess is that Helen will be asked about something she finds indefensible. She will deviate from the script and it'll make it into the local press.

Then he'll be able to blame her if he loses his job....

I have only just realised that Charlie's drowning was a baptism.

This is how SOC has justified his character shift/ evolution. Charlie was dreadful when he first arrived - calling them all yokels, rude, abrupt, dismissive. But now we can see clear water between his attitude and Rob's.

I'm tempted to be a little bit impressed with the SOCetry here ...

It follows then that Charlie might take on the burden that is Helen.......

yy, you could also argue that his infatuation with Adam has had an effect But that's good, isn't it? Characters developing and evolving? I like masterful, clever Charlie (I may have mentioned this before...)

Oh enoch, that would be interesting...

Adam would be the priest who led him to the water and oversaw the baptism ...

Interesting ...

But less interesting than Charlie caught in an eternal triangle - with offspring - between Adam and Kate.

I couldn't bear Helen cooing 'Oh Charlie,' every 5 minutes though!