The Cheese Queen needs to tread Caerphilly. Camembert the tension? Join The Archers thread and hope it gets Feta from here on.

[PseudoBadger]

Sorry but I couldn't resist an opportunity for puns galore

I think its very sad that Helen only told Rob about the pregnancy tonight when he started being so abusive to her - simply as a way of deflecting his anger. I'm sure that, even if she only knew for sure today she was pregnant, that she had been contemplating an abortion and had not intended to tell Rob anything.
Having not had a big problem with Ruth in the past (and understanding her frustration at David's Mummy fixation) I am now very irritated by her.
Me, over infested? Not at all

Oh my word, the first time in MONTHS that I tune in, and THIS!!

Rob has really ramped it up. It was all simmering, ambiguous menace before, tonight he was overtly aggressive.

Is the baby the product of the rape, do the dates tally?

What exactly is Rob's problem with Fallon anyway? Just that she and Helen have been friends? He must know surely that the first rule of soap land is that all available jobs go to the existing cast

I hope she does miscarry as it would at least mean she'd have no ties to him and could go for a divorce.

NB Not said lightly at all, by someone who well knows the heartache.

And I missed what he was so cross about before she stammered out the news of the pregnancy, something about Fallon at Bridge Farm (picking up fagends from upthread here)

And Kirsty? I've been a bit worried since SOC said something about the jilting testing T and K's relationship, surely they won't get back together...?

Think I'm going to have to listen to the film. I just wish it were possible to edit out any and all Kenton, Ruth, and Fairbrethren.

It's make believe. I can also hope Ruth herself drops dead of a stroke. David is reasonably pleasant, at least.

Have been struggling to keep up with these threads, but had to check in tonight.

Am I alone in secretly hoping that the no doubt starving, scruff, will finish Ruth off?

Something will be wrong with the baby or the pg, won't it

Yes. It will be a girl.

Am I alone in secretly hoping that the no doubt starving, scruff, will finish Ruth off?

Snurk.

I was thinking today, after they mentioned the RT festival on Feedback, that if SOC has Rob on the 'panel' to face questions that that is a vote of confidence. Rob will be around for a while IME. (Good thing, too)

Wow that was a tough episode. Poor Helen, she's totally trapped now.

Really glad it's not just me irritated by Ruth. Honestly, she's acting like her mum was in fantastic health.
David's going to snap at some point and tell her that all along he said the trip might be too much for her.

I imagine David biting his lip and secretly thinking, "thank goodness it wasn't me that did the drive down".

I've often wondered if Ruth is Jewish? My only evidence - her name, her Dad's name (Solly) and her dad had his own business. Yes, I know it's flimsy but I've never come across anyone called Solly who isn't Jewish. DH is Jewish so I have some insight . Anyway, she should be getting HP in the ground bloody fast if so

Rob's problem with Fallon is that she's a tough independent woman who is liable to make a success of things and who won't llsten to and fawn on him. Can't have Helen risking being contaminated by such subversive people. Also she is all too close to PC Plot who in turn won't have forgotten his activities with the Hunt monitor.

The trouble with all this business of wrapping Helen in cotton wool is that of course she will be far too delicate to work in the shop or have anything whatsoever to do with setting it up, Rob will have to step into her shoes in relation to all decisions on the shop and café, and he will make all the decisions about things like Henry's education. When Henry starts acting out at school because he isn't being allowed anywhere near Mummy in case he should damage the Spawn of Satan, Helen won't be allowed to discuss it with his teachers and Rob won't report back to her because "it will only stress you out, darling, you know I only take on all these responsibilities to help you". She won't be allowed to get up to him in the night if he's upset, or to look after him if he's unwell. And her diet will be monitored to a frightening degree, given Rob's obsession with food. God help the poor woman if she gets a headache, she won't be allowed to risk the precious cargo by taking painkillers.

But I suppose she'll be having her first scans around Christmas, allowing for a big story line around the fact that the Spawn of Satan is female.

Yes, agree with Inimitable. I'm reminded, horribly, of Rosemary's Baby, where Mia Farrow was always being cosseted and mollycoddled by her husband and the creepy woman next door, forced to sit and rest etc etc. if Hellin starts scoffing raw liver we'll know there's summat up

I haven't been involved with these threads for a while, so I hope you don't mind my butting in to post this - I'm skipping back to last weekend and ignoring all the Ruth/Heather and Rob/Helen stuff for the moment.

I was thinking about the cricket match last Sunday and how Adam remonstrated with Rob for not 'walking' when he edged a catch. I get that this highlights what a bad 'un Rob is.

But I can't see how, in real life, if you're batting, your captain (in this case, Adam) would actually come on to the field during the innings and suggest that you 'walk' (i.e. admit that you're out).

It's just not believable that Adam would do that. Surely he would just stick to having words with Rob after the innings was over?

Did anyone else think the same thing?

And I agree with posters upthread who are baffled as to why Tony didn't talk to Johnny about the sledging that Rob seems to revel in. Isn't Johnny supposed to be a good guy? And isn't Tony supposed to be his mentor? So why is it that Johnny seems to think sledging's ok (didn't he say something like, "I don't know how to play any other way"?).

I am going to be contraversial and say I think the way Hellin is behaving is a brilliant portrayal of the way survivors of DA behave, meekness on the surface whilst underneath pedalling frantically to avoid trouble.

But...where was the lead up to this?

She does not come from an abusive background so is not predisposed to slip into that mode of behaviour. Getting a spirited person to deny their own personality and agency this completely imo and ime takes a bit more overt conditioning on the part of the abuser. I.e. the survivor stands up the abuser and gets threats to leave, dramatic strops before they get to stage where the victim knows what is coming and keeps the boat steady at all costs because they know the consequences. He seemed up until date night to be at the red flags starting to show stage while she was already at that worn down stage. Unless there is supposed to have been a lot we have not heard. (Which i suppose is true of DA).

We know he can be shouty and aggressive yet he actually isn't to Hellin.

Hellin was never a natural people pleaser before.

Its as if he has done the shouty bit but we never heard it.

I am just worried listeners without experience of DA will think oh well its not that bad she could just tell him to FO. When in fact most survivors have struggled and tried and learned the hard way its not worth it. And been sucked in by the nice, nasty, not so nasty (which starts to seem like nice) dynamic before they get to the stage where all it takes is the slightest himt of displeasure before they are running for cover

Rob has been coaching Johnny.

But yes T and P, never shy of voicing criticism in the past, seem suddenly to have developed a blind spot.

I can't believe a baby being female is still a legitimate storyline in 2015 - the fact that he let Henry's comment go and even enthused about the baby on condition it's a boy was just chilling.

Anyone else notice the Mr Knightley-gone-bad of "badly done, Helen"?

It's basically a story from 200 years ago, the whole thing.

Mr Knightley-gone-bad of "badly done, Helen"?

I did notice the odd turn of phrase but don't know the work(?) you are referring to.

Oh sorry it's a paraphrase of a bit from Austen's "Emma"
m.youtube.com/watch?v=LDjfYXJ3yRo

The baby girl thing is just another heaping of 'bad' stereotypes onto rob though.

No one will say anything about him wrapping her in cotton wool because she has been wrapped in the stuff her whole life. Helen has always reminded me of a child who feels they are totally independent without realising all the things their parents do to keep things ticking over (pay bills etc). She has always been over reliant on pat and Tony so they will probably be relieved she has someone else so they can have a bit of peace!

Also, why would fallon just pitch up like that? Don't most normal people call ahead? And it's not very professional!

SmallLegs, I think you're mistaken in saying there's no lead-up to the Rob/Helen storyline. She's always been insecure and quite fragile mentally, and that was compounded by the business with Greg.

Therefore it's not unlikely that she was so bowled over by the fact that, as she thought, someone loved her and was fully committed to her and Henry, that she wasn't going to stand up to him: she feels instinctively that if there's a difference of opinion over, for instance, what she wears to a social event then she must be wrong and Rob must be right. Then, when he's telling her that she works too hard and must give up the shop she feels that he's cherishing her and that it's only right that she should be ready to wait on him with the lunches ready on the table for him when he comes home. Plus, of course, she doesn't - or rather didn't - want to do anything that might end what she perceived to be the happy ever after ending for her.

Davros My dad was jewish too but he wasn't practising, the opposite if anything and we weren't because dm isn't.