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!

What the fuck are they doing with Phoebe here?

Well, Ian's right: she is a piece of work. Which is easy to forget, since Rob is a bigger one.

another missed opportunity

Unconditional?

You beat me to it enochroot

Or some sort of scholarship?

I don't think they give unconditional offers at Oxford. Frustrating! I want to know (although I'm sure she got in).

So now obviously Clarrie et al will tell that nice Mr Rob how Hellon was crying and hormonal at the shop, and he will ban her from there forthwith.

Why have they brought Alex back into things? She's going to have an offer but angst about it, isn't she?

Imagine YOUR OWN GRANNY doing a cliffhanger on you

You used to be able to get an offer of EE if they really liked you.

Oh I reeeeally hope she gets it

and tells Alex to poke it

That was my thought, Gaspode but if it was a rejection then JD would have sounded less thunderstruck, if you see what I mean. If it had been an offer she would have been just plain hysterical.

Was that Helen's last chance of getting help before being incarcerated for the duration? I fear it was.

Those days are long, long gone, Stickerrocks, and in any case usually followed a very good performance in the entrance exams as well as the interview.

I wonder if it was an odd way of signifying that Phoebe had got into another college, not the one she applied to? Too complicated, though, I suspect.

Sounds like an offer to me, just by JD's voice.

I reckon Helen was just very low in blood sugar, due to the fact she is clearly starving herself. I think this story line will continue to roll until she is around 8 months, faints, goes into prem labour, Knob is barred from the labour ward, throws a massive scene about "being at the birth of his son", and Helen will then spend the next year in therapy for her eating disorder, and in court fighting for a child arrangements order for both children, and an injunction against Knob.

Sorry, got a bit carried away there

Love that storyline sunny! Deserves its own little BOOP.

Almost wept at the awe and pride in Jenny's voice at the end tonight.

I'm really enjoying the Helen storyline it has helped me recognise how I became involved in a relationship like that 3 years back which ended 7 months ago it's also stopped me going back it's not so easy to spot when your being worked on by someone you spend half time thinking am I being abused ? I hope this has helped others in similar situations.

I don't think you're far from the mark there, sunny.
I can't see any way out for Helen other than a complete breakdown in health which could put her beyond Rob's clutches for long enough to get some perspective.
More and more I'm thinking she's not going to survive this and he's actually going to go undetected.

Soc won't want to get rid of a baddie

It was obvious this 'morning' that Phoebe had had the letter and was hiding it. I had hoped that she wanted to open it on the phone to Hayley. What a disappointment that the confidant was supposed to be Alex.

"what a piece of work you are" to Ian.

Did anyone notice how strong and forceful Helen was with Ian, arguing her position. Do you think she noticed and suddenly remembered that that is what relationships are supposed to be like.

She didn't sound forceful to me, desperate rather; one more thing crumbling before her eyes ...

I have been listening to the Archers for about 30 years.

Other than the current Rob and Helen story, the research and script writing has been so sloppy recently, particularly over the last year, that I am surprised the actors can put up with it. I wish they (SW) would get a grip, do some proper research and stop with the complete personality changes of longstanding characters.

I used to record the episodes on cassettes - before we had computers, then in later years I listened to catch up. Now I just read this thread most of the time.

Actually - this thread is much more interesting and the quality of the writing is better.

Thanks to all the posters who contribute.

[delurks]

I've been listening on and off for 20 years or so...the older I get the more I listen. I am very, very glad I found this thread as TA has been making me increasingly cross and exasperated and it turned out that IT WASN'T JUST ME!

And yes, this thread is definitely better than listening.

I think Ian's reaction was realistic. He hasn't seen much of Helen (he hasn't been around much!), he can't stand Knob after the Bradley Wiggins incident among other things. Knob as good as tried to stop him marrying Adam based on information supplied by Helen - we didn't hear how that was resolved, but assume there was a huge heart to heart off air. He doesn't know how Knob behaves with Helen - he thinks she loves him (he's never liked him). Helen still doesn't fully know the circumstances and the manner in which Knob spelled the beans. Ian's also too nice to say to her "I think your husband is a nasty piece of work, I don't know what you see in him" which again is quite realistic as which of us is actually honest enough to say this to our friends - it's a very tricky one to call. Helen needed to be honest with Ian to elicit an honest response from him - "I'm scared of Knob, I don't know how to get myself out of this situation" - unfortunately I don't think she is yet ready to be honest with herself (though she seems to be moving in that direction). What I can't understand is why Ian and Adam haven't talked about Knob - Adam is family he won't cut Helen out. He knows how it was, he must be able to see how malicious Knob was being and that Helen was trying to protect him (Adam) and save his marriage to Ian. People are beginning to fall into two camps - those who think the sun shines out of Knob's arse and those who think he's a nasty piece of work, but that Helen is complicit in that (well actually I can only think of Ian who falls into that camp and possibly Kirsty).