Helen is drowning in the Cow Pat of Destiny. Please SWs - when will it be curtains for Rob?

[PseudoBadger]

Come on Kirsty!

Missed a number of episodes, but i'm guessing they never got to the bottom of the cows getting contaminated food (i think?) it was so obvs knob. Horrible episode tonight though

I've shared the justgiving page, despite it outing me as an Ambridge resident to my friends and colleagues. There was a thread elsewhere on mn.

Eastpoint, same here.

I thought helen was worried about the night in on valentines, given that one of the recent nights in resulted in rape.

have I remembered that Robs temporary reconciliation with Jess (if that's what it was) was on Valentine's? I just wonder if this years Valentines will be significant.

Not keen on Toby's attempt at mind games with Pip either.

That's the second time a mention of Valentine's Day has coincided with a bad reaction from Helen. So it could be that she associates it with the rape, or possibly has some sort of subconscious worry about the night with Jess.

Adventures - Olivia pops up on this thread so you could ask her (or pm her)

there was a thread in chat about the just giving page.

Keri Davies twitter feed (mentioned upthread) is well worth a read if you are on twitter. He is very entertaining and is particularly busy this week.

Was embarrassed to realise the other day I follow about 80 accounts on twiiter and >30 of them are archers related.

Just thought, wouldn't it be sort of wonderful if life mirrored art with a Helen Titchener wing at a refuge - following the Calendar Girls production in which fundraising for a sofa led to funding for a hospital wing.

I think Helen is quite aware that Rob is only interested in the baby, intuitively, not perhaps fully consciously yet. When she met Kirsty, she defended Rob by saying that everything he did was to take care of the baby. Not to take care of her - as any normal woman would say, with 'thus also the baby' naturally implied.

I thought it tipped into pantomime villain territory last night. Just me?

I don't think it's panto. It's unbelievably the reality for many women. It might seem panto-like because it is just so bloody awful, it's hard to believe it could possibly be true. Sadly it is.

Maybe you're right, Bigbuttons. It's just that Knob had been so adept at cloaking his cruelty in faux concern before. Last night the gloves were off. But, as you say, maybe that is just how this horror pans out.

I was also a bit dubious about how he planned to stick to her like superglue when she was in hospital given that that isn't how things work (visiting hours, not being allowed to stay overnight etc.). Just felt it was a bit clumsy.

The gloves are only off to her remember. That's how these men operate. To the rest of the world he will present a different face. He will tell everyone that she cannot have visitors, including her parents and brother. He will put it so that if they care for her enough they will leave her alone., he will do this with everyone. He will probably take her phone' 'by accident'. So when he leaves hospital he can pretty well guarantee that none else will visit.

He can still.pass off what he did as concern. You won't look after yourself darling so I will have to do it for you.

De-lurking to say that this storyline needs to end soon because actually, it's now out of the realms of realistic into stupid teratory.

Bearing in mind how Rob and Helen met we're not talking about someone who met a totally charming man, was swept off her feet and the family were all incredibly happy for her etc. We're talking about someone who had a close relationship with her family and whose family actively disliked rob at first due to the fact that he was, in fact, married and Helen was an OW. And now they are swallowing every word he says without any consideration for how Helen is? Nope. Totally unrealistic.

On the whole script writers do an incredibly bad job of abuse storylines and should probably stay well away.

Goodness, I find it all too realistic wannabe. Some people on this forum could relate life stories that make Helen's seem quite tame

Still haven't plucked up the courage to listen to last night.

I am not listening until the SL begins to turn. So thank you everyone for keeping me up to date.

Thinking back to when H had her (first) ED, and again when she was dead set on having a baby, RealPat discussed all her worries about H with Tony. Endlessly, iirc. There would be no possible way that what's going on now would just not be mentioned between them at all, and that Pat (whether Bot or not) would simply accept Knob's perfunctory declaration that H's ED definitely hadn't returned (although I guess that's looking pretty hollow now - will PatBot finally start to see a glimmer of sense, or will she add insult to injury by swallowing wholesale whatever new lie Knob serves up to her to cover himself?).

While the abuse itself, & Knob and H's dynamic, are chillingly realistic, the overall SL lacks conviction for me because SWs have ignored what would happen in RL; H's parents (at the very least) discussing their concerns. There was a time when Pat'n'Tone were central characters and were portrayed as a couple who talked a lot about their lives and family. But maybe now the archivist has gone, they don't remember that?

Helen already feels abandoned by Ian. If Kirsty suddenly cuts contact, Helen is unlikely to be rational, thinking instead that she has been abandoned again. I know that I just store phone numbers in my phone these days, so Helen won't be able to call her by other means and I think Helen's pride will keep getting in the way of her wanting to open up.

I feel it's getting a bit panto too

It may well be realistic but you lose your ability to educate when the audience turns off.

I can only assume this is education now as it isn't very entertaining

Repeating myself here, but I don't believe Patbot or Kirsty for that matter will not visit Helen even if Knob tells them not to. They will know when he is in the shop that Helen is alone at home, neither lives far away it is unthinkable that they wouldn't visit her. Patbot is Helen's mum for goodness sake - she doesn't need permission to visit her own daughter. And where the hell is Tony - being in Panto is no excuse - surely he at least warrants a mention? Helen is not stranded in another part of the country - her family and friends live on the doorstep - within walking distance in some cases. Knob works in the family business so his movements are easy to monitor.

I think how we view the reality of the script depends on our personal experiences of DA.