Aldridges Assemble! Await the return of the prodigal daughter to Ambridge with the rest of The Archers audience

[PseudoBadger]

I can't resist alliteration

Guess the editorial team had no stomach for another Bridge Farm wedding right now.

And of course it avoids any complicated explanations around Rob's family and their absence from any celebration.

Yes. How very Rob to take Helen away and wedding ambush her. Effectively taking control so she had no opportunity to have any say in her own wedding (her first?).

That said lostening to bridezilla chat from H would have been awful and he may he saved her from wedding dress disoredered eating.

But still.

Brilliant - didn't see that coming at all (until they started telling Henry they had something to tell him). V clever though - he's in her clutches before anyone can warn her off and now everything is about to hit the fan.

She has to be pregnant first before the full denoument.

Sorry that should be she's in his clutches!

Yes - was listening with my mum and as soon as someone mentioned she was looking radiant my mum said "I bet she's pregnant".

I'm just relieved she isn't knocked up (yet). Poor Henry :(

Poor Pat will be doubly upset - that she's missed Helen's wedding and that her new son-in-law is Knob.

Knob is such a knob! It's just like the dress for the ball at Lower Loxley again. He won't share her with anyone. Selfish twat.

It's a triple whammy for Pat. Not only is Knob her SIL and they got married in secret but Pat was fooled into babysitting Henry for them while all this was going on. That's adding insult to injury!
Make it quadruple whammy. They couldn't even stop long enough for a chat and a cup of tea so Pat missed the homecoming.
I'd be mega browned off.

I think Tony needs to speak to Mr Sinister Solicitor actually. He and Pat are handing the farm to Tom and Helen but Helen's legally tied to Rob now and when he gets the push from Berrow Farm he'll doubtless be working at Bridge Farm meaning that when Helen finally sees the light (or is bumped off) Rob will be claiming a sizeable chunk of what should be Henry's inheritance...........

I was a little afraid that the gift of a toy boat might presage a watery demise for Henry ...

YY re the conversation between Rooth and Pip. Very odd and uncomfortable.

So mean the way that H&R whisked Henry off. And bloody rude actually - if your parents provide free childcare for a week, the least you can do is stay and have a polite cup of tea with them

Hmmm... wondering if they are planning a real drawn-out dirty divorce. In which case Helltich will need to get herself a Shit Hot Lawyer (so not Usha)

Or

Will it all come out at the eleventh hour that Knob is still married to someone or other and the marriage is therefore bigamous?

At all events Hell and Knob getting wed does not make him legally Henry's father, does it? Doesn't he still have to adopt him for that to be the case?

he's not still married though is he- didn't the divorce come through?
or did I dream that?

Lowfield is fab

Lucky Henry has not one, but two presents; a sailing boat and the news that Rob and Helen have got married (though quite how marriage law has been circumvented is unclear.) Lucky Henry now has a new daddy. Won't Pat and Tony be pleased

Thanks, Jo Saunders

The divorce from Jess came through, apparently.

Wouldn't put it past him to have been married more than once in the past though.

Loving the Lowfield

Rob's been shown riding high lately - hero of the flood, hero of the cricket team, now married to Helen the moment she's sold the shop and inherited a hefty share of a farm.
Pat'n'Tone must have known when they decided to hand over to Tom & Helen that Rob would control Helen's share one way or another. I hope the partnership agreement is water tight.

Are we supposed to think that Rob surprised Helen with the wedding? not possible, you have to give at least 15 days' notice and he couldn't do that for her I don't think. I wil be really annoyed if they don't explain that.

I don't know if this is still possible but it used to be that you could pay a bit more and get a special licence with a lot less notice. It is a plot feature in some older books and films.

Yes, he would need to adopt Henry to be legally his father. Alistair did this with Daniel.

I must say I'm quite glad that we were spared weeks of wedding preparations and angst, but I'm still totally bemused at the idea that the IoW during the first week of the school summer holidays is to be regarded as a fantastically romantic holiday/honeymoon destination. I bet Rob is worrying that all the balls he is juggling could come down soon and therefore decided he wanted to tie Helen down ASAP. I'm guessing that he was somehow misreporting the fertility stats and hiding a downturn, possibly because he was so busy dashing home for lunch all the time that he forgot to organise AI at the right time or something similar.

I'm assuming that stuff Shula said about men-only mess dinners in the army is correct? If so, I share Jill's bemusement that it's even legal. If I were a senior officer in the army I'd be telling them that if they didn't want women at their dinners then they weren't having the dinners at all.

The things TA drives us to ...
The rules are here. Both parties have to give notice of intention to wed, currently 28 days. You have to nominate the venue.
So it was either a pre-arranged plot by the pair of them or the SW don't know how to use the internet.

Yes, whatever Rob's been doing sounds more like a cover-up of mistakes rather than a monetary fiddle.