Tis the season to be jolly, Fallon, Alan, Helen, Lillian; Deck the Hall with boughs of Holly, Lily, Will and Jill, Tilly Button. Celebrate Christmas with The Archers!

[PseudoBadger]

Thanks to SmallLegsOrSmallEggs for this thread title way back in November!

It would have to be the cellar steps that do for Rob BYOS - while he's is fitting out Henry's brand new, personal boy-space dungeon for his birthday.

Doc's DD is 12 I think. So, awkward times ahead when one of Frilly insists on a romantic relationship with their step sister ...

In the meantime I'm already redecorating Blossom Hill for Amy.

I'm sure Knob drugged Helen to make her sleep that deeply on Christmas morning - even with the door closed and Henry being told to be quiet, there's no way the voice of an excited 4 year old wouldn't have got through (unless, of course, he gagged Henry as well). I also strongly suspect he bought two dresses and swopped the labels around to make her think she's larger than she is.

Someone asked how emotional abusers carry on, surely they know it will end badly. I really don't think they do know that - they think they're so superior and clever that they will never lose their control. And if they do, it won't ever be because they slipped up, it will be because someone else misbehaved. Also, sadly, I suspect that there are all too many cases when they succeed in keeping the abuse going up to the bitter end, but they have their partners so firmly under their control that no-one really gets to find out about it.

I do worry about how Lilly is going to manage with exam subjects that require an oral, given her total inability to speak.

Will the demise of Berrow mean a reprieve for the Brookfield cows? Maybe they can pick up Berrow's contracts? v

Don't Berrow cows also produce the stuff needed for the bio digester?

Shame Henry's birthday is on Saturday. We can justifiably skip the excitement of his party (which obviously Helen, Pat & Tony won't be able to attend).

And Henry's birthday party ain't gonna happen either...... "He'd be just as happy with a family tea".......

But isn't Tim WhatsisFace a great actor (who plays Knob)? I'm almost a swooning fan of the actor (not the character).

I think a lot of the old-timers on TA are sort of resigned to 'whatever' they have to read, it comes thru in the characterisation.

Only immediate family though Bert. He doesn't need any hangers on like grandparents when Rob can give him everything he needs.

Just catching up on last night now. He is getting worse.

I can't bear the Helrob storyline anymore, there's no balance, a tiny bit from Pat last episode. Poor Henry.
I wonder if there will be a robotic milker going cheap, Pip would be exctatic.

I worry about Helens bones.

It's clear that scum like Kira and her mother aren't going to be allowed to cross the threshold. My guess is that Knob will manufacture some more mistakes for Helen and then tell her she's working too hard and a party will be much too much for her. After all, SOK is so much more important than Henwee, isn't he?

The party will either (a) run smoothly and Rob will be the best dad in the works ever (tm) playing games with all the kids loving him and the mums swooning and going ahhh or (b) a disaster because Helen suddenly can't organise anything.

Great last episode - hopefully Pat will mention the wages thing to Helen. Notice how Rob got Tom to do his dirty work for him there.

I think the wages thing will be another way of reinforcing to Pat how dippy Helen has become. "Oh silly you, did you forget that you & Rob had agreed to this." Even worse though will be when she tries to pay for something and her card is refused because Rob hasn't told her that he's taken her money. She won't be able to ask Pat to change it back again.

If Rob has been working free of charge and Helen has been getting her wages paid into her own account, how would Pat know the sort code & account number for the joint one?

I haven't listened for a couple of days, and iplayer was misbehaving this morning, but need to say that Knob's hunting will not be cheap. It costs around £150 to hire a horse for a short day's hunting, and if you want to stay out all day you need two horses, changing them at around 2pm, so that is £300 plus a cap payable on the day and subscription of perhaps £2000. If he's acting master he must have been hunting very regularly in order to be "known" so probably two days a week. Hunting hirelings are usually quietish horses not up to being masters' horses which have to be mad bold and able to jump at the front. Can't see how this can be financed by job sharing.

Also, bridge farm will have to be setting up pension plans for both of them, under the new scheme. Or is Borsetshire under a different form of government.

The BBC had a DDOS attack on its website this morning, hence problems with i player. (Like Mumsnet had in August.)

Also, bridge farm will have to be setting up pension plans for both of them, under the new scheme. Or is Borsetshire under a different form of government.

It's Brigadoon!
When there are so many employers in the story I want to scream at the SWs that we never get any mention of something like this. Jolene must have had to register, Charlie at Berrow (in fact I think the deadline was last July so Rob should have done it), Pat for sure. Grey Gables, Home Farm etc etc.

SOK won't be allowed to get overweight anyway, he'll be shamed by his loving father into his very own eating disorder.

Is the pension not only for businesses over a certain size. Would BF qualify? But yes I did wonder about the sort code. And I dud notice that Knob said something like, i thought I'd memtion it in case Helen forgot.

I had to register our small business so Berrow must have had to with its unspecified number of workers. Grey Gables and Bridge Farm also employ more than we did. We've now retired so no longer have to worry about it.

It's details like the sort code which distract me from the story but that might just be me!

Who would Knob choose for godparents, do we think, given we know he'll get his own way.

Thing is, Knob has no respect for women ... Elizabeth, maybe? And Tom?

Oliver, Justin and Caroline.