We love Charlie. But we want Adam and Ian to get married. What will happen in Ambridge in the pre-Christmas thread?

[PseudoBadger]

Just listened to Friday - we are 2 weeks from Christmas and David didn't even ask whether Ruth will be back by then?

i have seen the actor who plays Rob, I wonder what RL person you imagine him to look like
Is he a rugger bugger type - or Yellow cords and crew clothing
WHAT ARE THEY LIVING ON? Is it that wedding money?

Maybe he is running up a massive debt and it will be part of his downfall?

I presumed Helen felt faint because she hasn't been eating enough? (Long term listener and recently found these threads).

PS Does Dr Locke know her history of eating disorders? He might spot the signs that it's back even if he doesn't see through Rob...

I think it's another clumsy contrast. Ruth can escape and has escaped but is in no danger. Helen can't escape, has no means to escape and IS in danger.

By which I mean Ruth has escaped from nothing at all really. She didn't need to.

Amy is mixed race. Her grandmother, Mabel, is originally from Jamaica, now lives in Bradford and used to visit Ambridge from time to time. She was not best pleased when Alan married Usha because U is Hindu and M is a devout Christian.

Rob wears red trousers and his collar up. And a quilted jacket. He dresses a bit like a junior Brine I reckon.

As for what they're living on, I assume it's the money that Peggy gave them. Although someone here speculated that he never spent any money when he was at Berrow Farm and so he probably has savings given he must have been on a fair whack.

(for some reason, typing that has reminded me when he did that awful thing of making Helen make the speech at the open day, despite it going against her organic principles. Just because he could :( )

I wonder if early on the SW did intend for Rob to be unmasked by the paternity test and have a story of his relationship with Helen spectacularly unravelling, then realised they could instead sustain a long abuse story if the whole Jess thing was closed off.

So, we keep contemplating "X will be Rob's downfall", but it's possible they could let this situation simmer for a loooong time.

elpth Alan's deceased wife was of Caribbean descent. When he first arrived in Ambridge with his daughter David asked if Amy was adopted ...

Don't know if you remember Alice, supposedly Amy's best friend when they were teens, chatting about her horse and casually informing Amy that black people don't ride. And not really backing down even when Jenny tackled her and insisted she apologised. (Have never quite forgiven Alice for that ...)

I think you're spot on DDD. They're making it up as they go along And reacting to listeners. That's just not the ta way afaic

The annoying thing is that unless we hear it from the writing team's own lips we'll never know exactly when they started to turn the story around from the original idea of Rob the Lothario to SOC's revised idea (as he explained) of Hel/Rob.

There's so much dis-something between the story they started to tell and the one they're now telling.

In defence of Rooth storyline... If you have been to NZ you will know it is a) a very very long way so the longer you can stay the better as going again seems unlikely and b) it is summer there and one of the most beautiful places on earth!! And she's probably having great sex.

Anyone feel like doing a glossary of terms for those like Brenda who feel a bit excluded?

I'll do BOOP as I'm quite proud of it.

At the beginning of this year a poster whose name could be abbreviated as BOOP pointed out, with great eloquence and charm, that the threads were becoming rather negative and off-putting. BOOP points are like gold stars for anything in an episode or storyline (s/l) that you feel was particularly well done. (There were no actual gold stars available then.)

Wonderful to see Brenda returned from the Dark Side.

The first improbability of the NZ story was that someone would go to NZ for a fortnight. We've been trying to go for years and feel it's only really worth doing for about 6 weeks - which is the minimum length of time our NZ relatives come to visit here.

IIRC SOC took over after Rob had been having an affair with Helen & after Jess moved in and attempted the house-warming party which went so wrong. That was when we knew he was a nasty piece of work from the way he treated Jess whilst stringing H along and Kirsty had definitely rumbled him by then as he was cast with her in Lynda's panto.

Yes, that's how I remember it, enochroot. We never knew why things had gone so badly wrong between Rob and Jess but the scenes between them were a revelation because he was so nasty to her and so saccharine at that point to Helen. So the roots of the controlling behaviour storyline were right there at that point. I don't think they had necessarily fixed on that direction but it does hold together with that we know about the Jess backstory.

I should add that I always feel when TA is at its absolute best the listeners discuss the storylines and the characters without bothering to mention the writers and the editor, except in passing. When things are less good (ie most of the time) we're far more likely to start criticising the writing, the direction etc etc.

I was wondering the other day though.... Knob was so nasty to Jess, but he did not seem to control her like he is doing with Hellin. IN fact, he left her pretty much to her own devices.

He was downright nasty, but not manipulative. It just seems so different to his treatment of Hellin. I just wonder if this is at all true to like. i.e. he is a bastard to different women in different ways. Or is it all part of the same treatment, and Hellin can one day look forward to be treated like Jess?

Jess was also pretty cowed, but nowhere near as frightened as Hellin. Does this make sense?

I thought Hellin sounded for a moment like she wanted to tell Knob off, last night. Just for a tiny moment, but then she squashed it down again because it doesn't fit with her perfect picture.

Brenda: I can't remember what SOC means, either. I just ignore posts I can't understand.

The real explanation for Ruth, surely, is a panto season.

And hellooo Brenda

I've always vaguely wondered whether the Knob storyline came about because the SWs were frustrated by the Paul'n'Lill story. Paul seemed to be a very controlling type in relation to his ex whilst being charming to Lill, but the whole story was cut off in its prime when Paul keeled over - maybe they realised Lill just wasn't the type to put up with any sort of attempt at control and decided to revive the idea at a later stage with Helen, who is much more obviously vulnerable.

Helen can't escape, has no means to escape and IS in danger.
She can go to Brudge farm anytime she us prepared to admit she was wrong. (About Rob being fantastic).

I think the Sws starts a sl and tyen thriw a dice to see how it works out. TA role play.

as questions about abbreviatyons are so frequent, why don't we do what they do on other threads and add them to the OP of each thread?

De-lurking to take you back a few posts to the whole Nigel /roof storyline & those who feel bitter about it. I think there's some of you on here who listen to the Dum te Dum podcast? Did anyone hear the episode with Graham Seed (ie Nigel Pargetter)? Talk about bitter! He is clearly still very annoyed & upset about the whole thing. I found him quite ungracious actually, going on about how great he was as Nigel & how the whole thing is rubbish now he's not in it (I paraphrase slightly!).

Sorry if you discussed this at the time, I lost track of these threads for a little while do may have missed the while thing.

Sigh. Wtf is boop

This is infuriating in an otherwise great thread.
Can someone link me to the writer talking about the tub storyline ?

Oh I've read the boop thing. Tbh it's a bit shit.
Just say "that's a good point" already.

I explained BOOP at 10.15.