Things To Do in Ambridge When Rob's Dead. Can The Archers get Home Deliverance for Helen?

[PseudoBadger]

smalllegs yes that's what I meant too. The absence of overt nastiness was such a relief. You would try and keep the peace just to avoid the nastiness.
Thank you for the , here are some for you too.

I really recognised the blaming he did bringing Pat into it too. My ex used that as a frequent tactic. He would tell me how selfish my behaviour was if I expressed needs or emotions. I was often told how other people had confided in him about my awful behaviour. He also thought I needed psychiatric help and he made out he had had discussions with my parents about my mental health.
I was gaslighted to within an inch of my life too.

However awful this SL is it has been very well done and very well researched , well apart from the silly boarding school business.

We can but hope that it will give some women the strength to improve their situations and know that they are not crazy and suffering alone.

Seconded. I do also hope they realise you don't have to wait until they hit you. You can leave anytime just because you want to.

DadDadDad my dad and husband both listen and my dad is my best bet (apart from this thread!) for the history and in depth analysis. My husband has temporarily stopped listening because of RobHel and I'm listening way less but my dad still is. So at least two more male listeners though neither on MN as far as I know

What I struggle with wrt this storyline is the fact that Helen is so bloody obnoxious to start with. Yes no one deserves what is happening to her but, shamefully, I am sometimes 'glad'. That is the wrong word, but what I mean is that I have little sympathy for her as a character so I don't feel for her in the same way I might feel for someone who was 'nice'. If that makes sense?

You don't have to like Helen, bigbuttons. If anything, it makes the storyline more intriguing because we don't like her, but we don't like Rob's behaviour either. I think the storyline would have come to a far quicker end of they had decided to go down the same route with (say) Fallon, because she is a more likeable character and a knight in shining armour (or Kirsty) would have leapt into rescue her. This one has been allowed to develop naturally because Helen can be such a brat, which means that nobody in the village can pinpoint anything wrong as she is not necessarily acting out of character.

I actually wondered after reading the posts whether I wanted to hear TA (which is unlike me). But I've Listened Again and it is now getting very heavy. The worst thing is Hellin whimpering apologies instead of getting out of there with Henry.

Her fake happy family paradise, has become ashes and she must bloody go.

For clarity, let me add that Mr Trump's managers are alleged to have done the above. Obviously not Mr Trump himself.

If you don't find much sympathy for Helen, how about Henry and the baby, as they could be far more damaged if they experience years of this?

Just to close off the point about male listeners, what I think is great about these threads is that after a couple of years posting here, I've only recently thought about the fact that I'm the only man posting here. Gender is simply not an issue (hooray) unlike some areas of MN

Thread titles please?

DDD, of course. No-one should go through what H, Henwee or the baby are experiencing or will/could/might experience in future. But H as a character is still, as someone upthread quoted 'a fully paid-up member of the awkward squad'. And I guess always will be, unless her experience of domestic abuse teaches her otherwise assuming there isn't a tragedy in store

But that's the point isn't it. Helen wasn't a sympathetic character and to some extent has been complicit in her own abuse.

She was very willing to embrace the smug couple role, happy to start relationship with married man etc. And the reason No one has noticed is because she has form for being both stubborn and vulnerable at the same time.

These are the kinds of women who are abused. It's not always little mice cowering in a corner.

That's want this is such a good storyline and wouldn't have worked nearly so well with Fallon.

And why it's so difficult for women to recognise abuse because every step of the way they think it is their choice, or can't quite work out when things went wrong.

Helen's past behaviour has made it easy for Rob to convince Pat that it's Helen's idea to have a HB. Also Tony persuaded Pat to back off more than once because of the way Helen has behaved towards them before.

I'm a bit surprised that it's only now that he's hit her that we are given a helpline number when one of the most admirable aspects of the story so far has been that the abuse has been psychological.

Is SOC seriously claiming that the abuse began recently? We were onto him two years ago! We wondered ages ago whether the SWs were going it alone on this without SOC noticing.

I think Helen's in denial. It can feel very shameful to admit to yourself that your husband is a total shit, and to admit it to your nearest and dearest who you've been tagging along saying it's all fine, luvvy duvvy. She has no previous experience of domestic abuse, so she has no way of naming it. All she can really articulate is that something feels very wrong. She doesn't know what it is, what to say or how to be. So of course she blames herself. She wants a healthy happy family. At least a few things are slotting into place. Henwee's behaviour since Arsula arrived, and now she's been belted one. I think they've egged the cake and keep adding eggs. Now we all know what's going on, perhaps the sws could focus on something else, until at least Hellin's eyes are a bit wider open.

I don't think it should end in tragedy. A good friend suffered a terrible loss of 2 immediate family members due to DV, but it was such a rare incident that it deserved national news headlines. Sadly a more realistic scenario would see Helen lose all self esteem and Rob move onto his next victim.

it makes the storyline more intriguing because we don't like her

yeah, that totally. I can handle this dysfunctional relationship being explored deeply, because H. is so dislikeable I'm not unhappy about what happens to her. Going deeper brings home that it's plausibly what could happen to a real person. I always thought Hell was chosen by SWs to get into this mess because TA listeners don't like her much if only it could have been Ruth.

For me the storyline will become too harrowing if the kids get it. I mean, suppose H. grows a backbone & kicks Knob out. He'll still have full parental rights. She won't be able to stop him. And Kn. could be insidious to the kids. The idea of listening to ongoing child abuse (albeit fictional) bothers me wildly more than whether annoying-adult-prideful Hell gets kicked about (literally). Kids being abused is the story line that will make me tune out.

I can't find it now in all the flurry of posts last night but I think someone mentioned June 2nd as a possible Comeuppance Day.
Is that the date of Linda's Resurgam Day?
Or is there some insider knowledge of SODDOFF - Soc's leaving?

Part of the trouble with the Hel/Rob story is that it's too easy to miss the fine detail of what else is going on in Ambridge.

lljka The only way the kids escape his influence in their lives is if he is fully exposed as an abuser and as a very nasty piece of work who blocks culverts, lies and schemes, fiddles the books, assaults SABs etc etc.
If enough of that sort of thing came out then I guess Helen could overturn the PR for Henry at least.
I hope for a gaol term but my hopes have been dashed too often!

sadly a death would not be an unrealistic scenario, as 2 women a week are killed by current or ex partners- but I don't think it will happen here, I really hope we hear Helen helped to realise what is happening to her and getting out with Henry

Haven't caught up with thread fully but just wanted to jump in and say I used to LOVE composhat on these threads. I see him on other threads and wonder what we've done to drive him away. He was funny.

DDD how's this thread for posts per day? Seems like a quick one to me.

I want Hellin to finally flip and murder Knob.

This would ensure Knob gone forever and Hellin gone for a considerable time.

Plenty of thread in here where women finally leave abusive relationships, and then spend the next ten years battling over the children. It is heart breaking, and sadly I think this is the way this SL is going.

Thread title suggestions

Let's hope Helen screams it from the rooftops. And Henry doesn't find his mum dead.

Bore that's not funny.