I'm out

[WordGetsAround]

I wondered if it was worth (belatedly?) starting a thread for people to declare when they give up on the archers?

I'm out.

I've enjoyed the Hellknob story in its early stages, defended it and then longed for it to be over. I had all my hopes pinned on a Christmas finale, then New Year, but the pain goes on and on. I keep thinking that I've stayed with it this long and that it would be such a shame to give up now, but I can't keep going.

DH gave up 6 weeks ago and he's survived, so it must be possible to go cold turkey!

I think when it's all sorted out I will come back - and may even catch up on it all, but I can't keep going with it day after day not knowing when/if it's all going to be resolved.

Please use this thread to declare if / when you're out - or any thinking out loud you're doing.

Tonight's episode will be the first in 10 years I won't have listened to (v committed podcast listener!!).

(Might keep reading the amazing thread though!!!)

[Eastpoint]

I'm not even sure when I stopped listening, it just happened as I realised that I wasn't enjoying TA anymore. I could advance search myself to work it out. To my surprise I'm listening to Radio 4 less and so SOC has caused a double loss. I have started watching The Good Wife on Netflix whilst cooking dinner but that is now reaching the end.

[nauticant]

It wasn't just HelnRob, it was the ramping up Eastenders style that did for me after more than 30 years.

Upthread walterwhitesgf wrote I love a gritty drama with violence gore and psychological torture for want of a better word on Film, TV or in novels so I am not sure why this has made me turn away from it.

For me it's the feeling that my emotions are being manipulated. Much of drama does that to a degree but if pushed too far it becomes distinctly uncomfortable.

[EasyToEatTiger]

I'm still enjoying the main Archers thread on here, but not listening to the relentless misery, handwringing and total lack of insight into Helen's plight, let alone anyone else. I do not want to feel my hair stand on end when Arsula opens her mouth. I am no longer interested in Rob's manipulations. I really don't care any more. I hope H has a baby girl.

[LadyAshley]

I totally agree with FadedRed

[Butteredparsnips]

Pretty much out too. I just get cross.. I've even stopped lurking on the threads because they were becoming very argumentative too. I'm sad, TA used to be a temporary safe haven and now it's just grim.

[FadedRed]

I stopped listening three months ago, after thirty+ years of listening regularly, and about four years of 'off and on'. Not happy about Nigel's death and the repercussions between Elizabeth and David, found all the failed farm move and HeatherPet tedious, loathed the Roy Tucker affair and marriage breakup, and even worse, when Kate came back. The Helen story was the final straw, as I never liked her character and it was so obvious that RT was a bad 'un from the start.
I am still dropping in and out of Pseudos brilliant threads, but even then only a quick skim through about once a week.
It's a shame.

[Tryingtosaveup]

I'm out after 20 years

[LadyAshley]

I left officially about a month ago, maybe a bit longer. Just ridiculous, like a pantomime villain, just can't be bothered with it.

[Figmentofmyimagination]

I grew up to the sound of the archers and then took over the habit from my mum, so 40 years in total, with a few gaps here and there!

I finally gave up completely when I heard a suggestion in the dialogue that Henry was going to live with rob and Ursula. Like a pantomime or a dickens novel. Last straw for me! I'm out. Reclaiming Sunday morning instead of listening to the omnibus is very liberating - not only for me, who was a fan, but also for the rest of my family, who most definitely weren't.

[Wrappedinablanket]

35 years for me. It's too stressful to listen to now. An unpleasant experience. Years of the Rob storyline? Not for me.

[Marilynsbigsister]

47 yrs for me. I'm out until this nonsense is over and the sw stop changing the personalities of long running characters in order to fit the dramatic storyline. It's lost any sense of realism for me.

[EasyToEatTiger]

walterwhitesgf I agree with you! I feel that I am being tortured. At the moment I think of Bridge Farm and, Oh no, what next? I grew up in an abusive family. It is not something I want to listen to again. Enough of it in RL. Except the perp is a woman.

[walterwhitesgf]

I too have given up after more than 30 years of listening. Like the OP I enjoyed the hellknob storyline in the beginning but it became much too uncomfortable to listen to for me especially once the cruelty (as I saw it) to Henry began. Once the stabbing happened I thought I would be able to listen again, but as much I don't doubt the storyline is following a realistic path given the characters and events, I just didn't enjoy it and had a kind of can't be arsed feeling about the whole programme. Maybe I truly am getting middle aged in my tastes or maybe it's just the writing I dunno. I hope to go back and I do try and keep up with the storyline. I love a gritty drama with violence gore and psychological torture for want of a better word on Film, TV or in novels so I am not sure why this has made me turn away from it . I think it has just gone on too long . Whilst it's good to reflect real life it is after all a fiction. In a novel or a film etc the length of our exposure to this kind of thing is more limited.Fwiw I did live in an emotionally abusive marriage for more than 25 years so the idea that the storyline is too realistic or close to home isn't lost on me but I have not had this reaction to other dramas of this nature

[WhereTheFigawi]

So glad to find this thread! I was out about two weeks ago, after 20 years. Surely the whole point of the Archers is a bit of lighthearted escapism while you cook dinner? The Rob/Helen thing is just too stressful to listen to.

[LowDudgeon]

I stopped listening weeks ago. I'm still following, via Lowfield, but switch off if I hear the theme tune. I just don't care.

I was upset about Nigel but didn't stop listening then. We thought Vanessa was bad...30-year listener lost here. Well done, Sean.

[FiveGoMadInDorset]

I am struggling now

[firesidechat]

Is everyone else still clinging on?

I'm not listening. I have radio 4 on all the time and reach for the off switch as soon as the theme tune starts. After many months of crying wolf, I've finally done it. It's quite cathartic.

[EasyToEatTiger]

I'm giving up too. I've experienced too much shit in my own life. Even though Rob is a psycho, I don't understand why he would want his wife to kill both herself and their unborn child. I don't see why Helen has been put in this situation. The best, kindest people can get caught up in the most stupid dangerous situations. TA is somewhere between RL and dull drama. Ursula has been parachuted in as a pantomime baddy and I don't like all the sleepwalking into an even bigger nightmare. It's horrible for Helen. Yet there are no revelations, no gossip, in fact nothing to suggest that Rob isn't the superstar he thinks he is.

Yes, BYOSnowman, I too feel anxious and irritable listening. Time to tune out. But I do enjoy the threads!

I know it takes time to sort out a nervous breakdown. It takes years. Are we to endure Helen mumbling, going mute, while her parents bleat away about how normal they all are? Are they going to start thinking that Helen was just a wrong 'un? Do we, as listeners have to endure all this? It really isn't kind or neccessary. I think SOC has done us a disservice with this sl. With so much else going on in Ambridge, I really do not want to drop in to the misery of BF. But the spell is broken.

[WordGetsAround]

Is everyone else still clinging on?

[MrsArthurShappey]

Gruach I'm not as prolific a poster as you but I still get immense pleasure from the threads despite not listening. I catch up on Lowfield for detail as the thread only provides so much.

[BYOSnowman]

I'm with you vita

Part of improving my mh is distraction and doing things that make me happy. Listening to the archers makes me anxious and irritable.

And I don't need to hear a mentally ill woman being subjected to prejudices on that basis

[Gruach]

I can see why someone might decide to back away sharpish right now. It's pretty depressing.

But a) It's fiction - doesn't matter how many worthy bodies they claim to have consulted, in the end they want a story that's in all the papers and all over Twitter.

And b) They've said it will play out over the coming year. So what we hear this week or next is not the end of the story. They are clearly front loading the police procedure section with points against Helen - we can be certain there will be a reversal at some later stage.

I'm tempted to give up myself - but I'd miss the threads! The Archers - one line at a time thread is enormous fun.

[VitaSackvilleVest]

I've decided to give up on the Archers for a while.

Its not doing my mental health any good, and I now feel like the only way for Helen to be free would have been to have used the knife on herself and that worries me,

[firesidechat]

A reminder about the Spoilers thread. Always worth a visit!

Will it make me feel better Gruach?

My ibs has flared up tonight because of this. Not a happy bunny.

[Bananasandchocolatecustard]

I grew up listening to the Archers, my mum has always listened. I stopped when Nigel was killed off. I also stopped watching Coronation St when Hayley was dying. I won't go back to either.