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

Please don't give the SWs ideas about the Rob-falling-off-a-horse storyline. I fear they would go for the option of Helen going all saintly and deciding that it's her duty to look after him in sickness and in health, and we'd be stuck with 50 years of him whinging and guilt-tripping her from his wheelchair.

What about Helen going on the hunt and doing the classic fall & miscarry?

Gruach - I missed Rob being handed £10k - who gave it it him and why?

I don't think Helen is pregnant - when Rob said "I almost can't believe this is happening" yesterday she sounded very shifty when she replied. She just said it to stop him being furious...

more likely that Rob will insist Henry goes hunting. Rob will push him beyond his riding abilities and he will have an accident.

Peggy gave them £10,000 as a wedding present.

Peggy gave Rob and Helen £10k as a wedding present. We have to assume they're currently living on it but it hasn't been spelled out.

"Unless you don't want me there"
"Didn't we agree"

All the www subtle www things. And re the dv stuff, st my booking in the midwife asks to see you on your own to suss out what the situation is. There's also stickers in the ladies loo you can take and put on / in your folder just plain ones so they know there's something wrong without you having to mention it in front of a possibly abusive partner.

I guess the 'about to be escaped from abusive husband has an accident leaving him wheelchair bound so wife stays through guilt' has been done in emmerdale

Blimey Wips it never crossed anyone's mind in my day (old gimmer emoticom) though of course it should have.

Or maybe soc is planning to channel Dickens at Christmas and we will get a new improved rob for new year.

Which ghosts will visit?

I have a vague memory of being asked the question by a midwife 20 odd years ago in a sort of apologetic 'I have to ask because it's on the form' kind of way. I think I was surprised and vaguely impressed.

Thanks Gasp and Wipe. Rob certainly doesn't seem to be in any sort of hurry to find a new job, does he?

Nice to hear Charlie again.

Yes, isn't it? And who would have thought we'd have been saying that when he first appeared.

I do like Charlie. I imagine him as blonde and compact. Like a rugby prop. Not an England one mind you.

I'm getting highly irritated by the economics of Ambridge. The whole village hall thing had me cursing at the radio - decent village halls can more than pay for themselves and generate a nice income for other projects as well (eg subsidising toddler groups, AA type sessions as well). Why on earth do they think that a few amateur brickies putting back what they already had will work in the long run - and where the hell do they expect farmers to get the time from to do that as well.

It's the same as LL being able to presumably give up a major function room for free at peak Christmas Party time just because Lynda needs somewhere to put the play on, never mind running an Opera season where there were only about 10 people in the audience.

Oh that was a massive catch up & what an interesting bunch you are. Most enjoyable (omnibus listener here)

My DD has just started hunting (with bloodhounds in training) -her(rented by the week) horse is no thoroughbred though. I shudder when I read about the accidents that can befall anyone involved with horse riding...

Aren't village halls the kind of thing that Lottery money supports through match funding. Agree on the 'economics of Ambridge'. No one struggles only the Grundies. And yes how is the Titchener family earning a living?
Longing for Helen to spill.

LilianGish I asked that very same question - what is the point of Carol? - a few threads back and everyone seemed to think she was some kind of plot device. But she has failed in that function - all these unresolved storylines. And SOC has blown the budget on her

She needs a dog.

Too many of her scenes are set pices - we know she makes witchy brews and plays bridge; it would be far more interesting to see her in more unlikely situations.

If I were writing TA (...) I would throw all the character cards up in the air and pick them up blindfold. Carol walkng her dog and stopping to talk to Nic and Poppy or happening upon Jamie lopping branches ... just imagine her in conversation with Maurice! And isn't she godmother to one of the twins? She could have a role as someone people talk to about what's in their heads, a sort of counterpoint to Susan with village gossip. And she needs to stop exploiting Bert.

Is that Rob doing the voiceover on BBC4 nature programme?!

Yes diesel! h will have a hunting accident and die.

As in the Waugh novel decline and fall - where there's that chilling conversation on the phone when the mother is told and she's relieved it's her child and not her lover- they both have the same name... I digress....

Not Decline and Fall, A Handful of Dust. I thought of that too, with all that talk of hunting accidents! (It was one of my A level set books.)

Did anyone else notice Oliver officiating at the wedding in Downton last night?

I immediately thought of A Handful Of Dust when Rob started on insisting that Henry goes hunting with him! I am a little bit fearful for Henry to tell the truth.