I was there too! SOC (who was sort of OK [ducks]) said that Helen Archer was like a "flinty" Ibsen heroine in the hands of Louiza Patikas and that the whole idea for the very involved Helen and Rob storyline came after seeing her and Timothy Watson acting together.
Carole Boyd said that Lynda was inspired by JR and Alexis Colby (!) and it was her idea to make her really, really annoying as the original brief was "yuppie doormat". She forgot Leonie's name. She was charming though.
Timothy Watson is HOT. I can quite see how Helen would be seduced by him....
I too sighed deeply when that bloke wasted his question opportunity by banging on about broadcasts in mono...the poor lady in front of me was obviously a mega fan (she was wearing an Archers T shirt) but didn't get picked despite waving her hand wildly every time the mikes got close.
On recasting, SOC pointed out that Grace had been recast at least once, so a very old precedent for recasting a major character. Quite amusingly when the question was asked about characters sounding alike, Eddie Mair asked the audience who sounded similar and the response was an instant chorus of " Charlie and Tom!".
The reports about Timothy Watson getting social media abuse are blown out of proportion- he joked about having to stop looking at Facebook but said that he obviously saw it as good to be told how much people hated Rob because that meant he was good at his job. I felt for him a bit though because I am sure he knows that Rob will eventually get his comeuppance and have to leave (in a box?) so he has no chance of being a long running character like the others onstage with him.