SOC reveals he's a quitter whilst Keri sews up plot holes on Twitter about the wicked wife-sitter! Discuss the Archers here.

[PseudoBadger]

Not long until our thread's 3 year birthday!

Yay for Pat standing up to Rob about Johnny's future and the shop.

Please, please let Tom and Pat realise Rob's knobbery. I want Tom to speak to the chicken suppliers on today's ep. There's no way that can be explained away. Helen sounded drugged at the party

I was struck by Rob's very glib account of what might be making Henry wet the bed - that mummy cares more for the new baby.
So this is the idea he's been putting into Henry's head isn't it?

Then he claims to be no expert on child psychology, followed by that nasty chuckle.

Is it just me or has Helen been pregnant FOREVER?

So, if the shop doesn't make money there will be NO BRIDGE FARM for Johnny to work at? Does this make ANY sense?

Rob wants Jonny to think there is no future for him and to clear off.

Notdead - Helen's at 28 weeks, so not quite forever.

Is it normal to have a scan ar 28 weeks?

I'm starting to think she's an elephant

Maybe it will be rob threatening her little Johnny that will open pats eyes

So, if the shop doesn't make money there will be NO BRIDGE FARM for Johnny to work at? Does this make ANY sense?

Only in Rob's mind. He has shouldered his way into the shop - and somehow doesn't realise that it isn't central to everything at Bridge farm. (Maybe because if Rob isn't involved then it can't be serious because he is the centre of the universe.)

Lets be honest if the shop failed, what would happen?
They'd have to think of new ways of distributing their produce. They would probably let it to some other entrepreneur, so still make an income. Depending on what kind of shop took it on, they might still be able to use it to distribute/publicise some of their goods. I'm sure the Tearoom would keep going regardless. Tom still earns from his pigs, and as Pat and Tony get older - Johnny will be useful for Tractor driving etc.

The helen/rob story line is boring me to death. Last night when knob said his mother was an expert on childbirth why didn't someone say "what? She's got years of medical training and experience like the drs and midwifes? Really? I don't think so. Helen has to have the baby in hospital, the medics say it is risky not to do so. Rob, surely you don't want to risk Helen & the baby's health?". That would be nicely passive aggressive just like knob and arseula. They all just accepted what rob said - absolutely ridiculous.

I hope Helen and the baby dies and rob leaves the area so getting rid of 2 obnoxious characters.

Let's look at Rob's work record. Brian reckoned he had a good CV and presumably his references were checked before he was taken on to manage the megadairy. However, in practice he clearly wasn't that great and having walked out of that job many, many months ago he hasn't worked in his specialist field since, which is going to look awful on his CV now.

He interefered with the way the shop worked before when it was in Borchester, and it all went disastrously wrong. The woman he insisted was taken on as manager was useless. The shop had to be closed down because it wasn't making any money. Why didn't anybody query whether he knew anything about retail management before he was allowed to make that appointment and take on a supervisory role there?

Since then he's tried to interfere with the tearoom and he's pushed through his vision for the shop, all without the faintest understanding of either business, and yet once again his mesmerising effect on the BF Archers means nobody has really stood up to him on any of this, except Tony over the shelving/tables he bought which Rob tried to get him to take back. He messes up the ordering so he can gaslight Helen, and to hell with the effect on the shop's profits.

He is trying to rubbish Tom's products, which up to now everybody has always said were great. Tom's business presumably cross-subsidises other enterprises based at Bridge Farm, so if it failed it would endanger the whole farm.

He's got Helen scarcely leaving the house, so her cheesemaking must have ground to a halt, and that was another good earner for Bridge Farm.

He has no opinion of Fallon, Emma, Clarrie and I would assume Susan, for both snobbish and sexist reasons, so he sneers at everything they do. If he ever got control of Bridge Farm dairy he'd probably sack Clarrie and Susan and replace them with female equivalents of Toby. He would like nothing better than to evict Fallon and Emma, who seem to be doing well and are therefore good tenants/a good fit with the Bridge Farm businesses.

Surely somebody soon is going to say some of this out loud? It really does stretch credulity to the limit that nobody is querying why he hasn't got another job. How does he expect to support his family in the longer term with no salary except from the shop? Can't they see that the only reason for him to have walked away from his former career is because he wants to annexe Bridge Farm and run it his way?

De-lurking to say: what gaspode said

I agree Wonderdog

The only reason I can think of is that they have all been so worried about Helen in the past that they are just so relieved she has found someone to 'look after her'

So they pussy foot around him as they've sways pussyfooted around Helen. They are also likely to believe the 'Helen's fragile' lines because she has been so vulnerable in the past.

The only thing I find unbelievable is that Pat didn't notice that Helen wasn't eating. As a mother I think you would still watch that like a hawk.

Archers on Feedback again!

What Gasp0de said.

He can't have settled for shop work as a career choice because he's a man who calls a job a 'position'! He would only think it worthwhile if his eyes were on the ultimate prize of controlling entire BF business.

Meanwhile they are letting him get so far inside because they defer to what Helen appears to want rather than confront her with some very necessary questions.

This is in contrast to the way Brian continues to question Adam's decisions. Imagine Adam announcing that Ian is going to job-share with him and then letting Ian run the contracting. Brian would go ballistic quite rightly.

Right, here we go. 16.52 for those listening on i player.

Sneeze and you'd miss that, but Roger Bolton did say that 3 out of 4 of those who contacted Feedback wanted the story to stop and many had stopped listening. Hmm.

I thought the reaction to the home birth plan was of astonishment and disbelief, and they did raise concerns. But Helen isn't 15 - she's well into her 30's and its not her first child.

Well I'm hurumphing over this silliness now.

Not so long ago I was here saying how plausible the whole DA storyline was. I found it chilling and realistic and true to my own experinces.
Sadly it has gone the way of famous people's plastic surgery;both of them have had to keep upping the ante until they look ridiculous. They should have left well alone when the going was good.

I really hope this doesn't end up putting homebirths in a negative light.

Tom is starting to show some concern but Patbot still seems to lap up every excuse in the book, surely this HB idea will get her attention now! Her apparent distance from Helen is the part of the storyline which is really annoying me above anything else, even if she isn't seeing H as often as she used to, you would think she would still call her regularly especially after not long being in hospital. Then again, Helen always snaps at her for making a fuss over her so in a way poor old Patbot can't really win!

I think it's very plausible for Ursula to want talk Helen into a HB as its what she thinks is best and of course she knows better than anyone else including experienced midwives and consultants. What's surprising though is how quickly H agreed to it! Still feeling a bit confused as to why Knob is so keen to go along with everything his mother says but I suppose the HB idea is another convenient opportunity to control. For instance, if her medical history were less complicated and she had been keen for a HB initially, then I can easily imagine she would be talked round to a hospital birth instead. It's all about never letting her have things her way. Even in giving birth, it's really quite sickening tbh.

And as for what is happening with Henry, I really hope they don't take it too far, it's horrible to listen to. Knob and Ursula want SOK to be the golden boy and keep Henry in a cupboard

Knob will be working on Johnny next to put him off any grand ideas of following in his grandads footsteps...that space is reserved for SOK. Although, what is wrong with Knobs own family farm? Is there a rift with his father we don't know about yet?

He allegedly didn't get on with his parents but is now chummy with his mum inexplicably

And as for what is happening with Henry, I really hope they don't take it too far, it's horrible to listen to

This

I have grown to love Henwee and his SHOUTY VOICE

Shouty baby voice

Well I suppose the alternative to Shouty Baby Voice would be Morwenna Banks doing a bit of a lithp