Knob throttlers form an orderly queue at Blossom Hill Cottage! Discuss the Archers on the Official Thread

[PseudoBadger]

Do you know that I was 3 months pregnant when the first thread started - DD was 2 yesterday

That must also mean that Poppy Grundy's 2nd birthday has passed by unremarked upon...

Round here a something like Blossom Hill Cottage would rent for at least £1200 pcm. Pub lunches, hunting costs, car maintenance, groceries etc. on top of that. Peggy's money isn't going to last long.
Assuming Helen is getting a dividend from the farm and they had some savings then they might buy a bit of baby equipment before the joint account is empty.

Yes Wips "Old fashioned", I was just thinking that Peggy's upturned nose at Feebs will partly be to do with her legitimacy or lack of it; in Pegs' day that was shameful and sometimes even included victim blaming.

Nobody mentioned Phoebe's aunt, Brenda, who got excellent A levels and could have gone to a much better university than Felpersham.

peggy is such a cow. I think actually if Rob asks her for money and says please don't worry Hellon's little head by telling her, she'll say 'of course Rob, don't you look after her well, here you go...'. Cow.

OK, now Rob's told Peggy, by tonight's episode how many people do you think will know that Helen is pregnant?

Peggy - to Jill, Carol and Chris? Chris obviously tells no-one but her fuschia, Carol possibly Bert, Jill - the rest?

I predict Peggy will tell J-darl who will tell Lillian who will tell Lynda who will tell - ta da! - Kirsty.

Or Peggy will tell J-darl who will tell Pheebs who will tell Roy who will tell - ta da! - Kirsty.

On the midwife scene, I actually think the most significant moment was when Rob came back into the room and H almost shushed the midwife which was followed by a very awkward silence. I don't think the "perfect" comment was a sign of her being taken in, it was more subtle than that.

By the way, Keri Davies said last night that the script was checked by a midwife.

Is there a more chilling sound effect now than the door of Blossom Cottage being opened?

And what a bastard he is, telling Peggy. To say nothing of "where are you going?"

Will Peggy assume that Pat and Tony know, or will there be an awkward conversation there? (Or does Pat already know, sorry, may have missed that)

Actually, it occurs to me that Carol would be a great confidante for Helen - and might lend her some special herbs to stir in Rob's tea.

DDD - Pat does know. And is, of course, thrilled now that she has gone to the Dark Side.

'Darling, why are you taking your phone into the bathroom? You don't need it there, do you. Just leave it here. In fact, I've been thinking about the harmful effects of radiation on the baby. I think it would be best if I keep your phone for you for the time being, don't you? You know what you ladies are like, always on your phones! If I have it, you won't be tempted. You can see it makes sense, Helen, surely.'

I thought the midwife was very unconvincing. She sounded too wet and naive to be a midwife. They're generally fairly robust characters and are very different from social workers.

OK - I'm really not keeping up, am I?

On the Blossom Cottage door: when Peggy left after Rob arrived, the next sound we heard were a couple of locks being secured. It turned out to be the start of the next scene (Ruth locking Heather's place), but for a moment I thought it was Rob sinisterly locking the doors before turning to Helen with his latest piece of nastiness...

Me too daddaddad! Thought the sw were laying it on thick!!

midwife is very wet.

@squeaver

One of the script writers was asked on Twitter last night about "why such a big deal for a minor character's death?" and their response was "it's Ruth's story" which I suppose is true. Tbh, she is annoying, but I don't think they're over-playing her grief manifesting itself as guilt. I reckon there's more of a marital crisis on the way as she can't forgive David for the aborted move.

So echoes of the aftermath of Nigel's fall then. Poor Dave can't catch a break when it comes to the deaths of his in-laws, can he? Watch out Jolene and Alistair!

Anyway, my plot prediction is that Jill will come over for Stir-Up Sunday and there will either be a massive reconciliation or an even bigger bust-up.

ooh where are the script writers on Twitter?

ALSO: please can someone tell me when they went to the doctors? Not the creepy m/w last night but the docs" I missed that one.
TIA

I am hoping that the midwife actually saw through the charade, but was going along with it, as Rob was within earshot.
Boop for the rattling of keys at the end of RnH scene into the Ruth scene.
Ruth could do with bereavement counselling, someone suggest Cruise please.
Is Helen en route for a suicide attempt?

There were at the docs lat week olivia Rob was disappointed the doctor didn't do another test. He also told helen to sort her hair out before she went in.

Didn't think Midwives did a home visit unless you were incapacitated, or after the birth?
And agreed, that woman sounded far too young, especially to be working out in the community.

I think Helen is still really not sure what's happening to her and her marriage. She's obviously quite conflicted about being pregnant now, it's not when she would have chosen.

But...it'll be interesting to see if it will be slow burn or if she will turn to her Mum or someone at Christmas to say she's unhappy. I just can't see her doing that - she's got such a need to be in control and to show she can cope and be in control.

Our midwives visit at home now sometimes. Protocols seem to vary with counties and keep changing.
I doubt the midwife would have spotted anything odd as husbands of pregnant women often want to be there and come to appointments and fuss a lot and can seem a bit overattentive.
I hope she either isn't pregnant or miscarries as endless custody battles with Rob would be sooo tedious, same re not giving him any rights over Henry. You can draw a story out too much

The midwife has the sort of voice that makes me feel rage.

Long time lurker and avid listener here. When I listened again at lunchtime I felt the midwife was more astute than I had last night. Think she may not have been taken in.

Another one who thought the midwife might have been putting on a 'everything's fine' show so that Rob wasn't tipped off but mentally she was furiously scribbling notes to watch this one closely and try to get Helen to see the magic dots in the ladies loo at the clinic (I assume they still do that - I think someone else mentioned it on the other thread).

I see Rob as being like Patrick Bergin in sleeping with the enemy, I could well imagine Helen in the bath and realising all the towels are dead straight - that film creeped me out massively and this story line is the same.

I don't think they've had an only child review the script for Ruth's story line. Only children run in my family big time (me, my son, both my parents, 2 out of 4 grandparents) and I've never seen anyone reacting the way Ruth is. You're not alone as an only when your parents die if you've got your own family around you (partner, kids, friends) - the only convincing thing was Usha making the journey to support Ruth which my parents close friends did for them and my grandma's friend did for her.

Given SOC's penchant for reminding us of stories gone by I'm wondering if he's wanting to bring up Chris Carter and the cleft palate. When Chris was born, Susan was very upset by the cleft palate and whilst that's been repaired so successfully I've never heard it referred to since (unless they did when he was kicked by the horse and was in hospital for the first time since babyhood?), it will of course be well known to Pat and others. So............what if Helen and Rob's baby has a cleft palate. would Helen be relatively calm and accepting, citing her cousin's husband as the perfect example of how this will work out and Rob, encountering something less than perfect, feel otherwise?