Will it be porridge or curtains for Knob? Await a sensible and sensitive ending to That Storyline on The Archers thread.

[PseudoBadger]

Threads are moving so fast! Will this thread be here to welcome SOK?

What MH issues did Pat have? I Have just listened to tonight and was so cheering her on as she called the WA line.
Off to read the Graun piece now.

Go Helen. Go as far as you can.

Although her eyes are beginning to open, she is going to struggle to see the whole picture clearly; she has so many reasons to deny and disbelieve the information she is confronted with. What I hope from now on is that she will begin to trust her own judgement once more, becoming resistant to Rob's gas-lighting.

However this story reaches its climax, I want other people to see who Rob is too, but I wonder if this is unlikely, and if instead we will have lots of I don't know how Helen could possibly have left Rob, what with everything he did for her

I bet he'll be absolutely lovely and caring and sweet to her for a while now. He's sensed he's losing some of the power over her, so he'll pull her back in.

@OLIVIA: Pat had pretty severe depression after John died. That poor family has been put thru the mill, really.

Of course, the one person who would believe Helen if she opened up is Kirsty. I assume that will dawn on Helen, but will Helen be able to swallow her pride and admit to Kirsty that she does need her help?

PresOlivia Pat became very depressed after the death of John and had a spell away somewhere to recuperate. The old BBC ML board used to talk of her going to stay with the nuns at Prestatyn!

I agree AskBasil.

I've just been saying the same re the daughter of Knob to my Mum Booming. I'm fact if they don't kill Helen/ the baby off then a daughter could be a the final push for Helen to realise that she must get rid of him. A " would you want this for your own daughter? " moment.

I actually think having some 'how could she leave him when he's treated her so well' would be good because that is what happens in rl

I coud imagine Susan saying something like that.

Booming, your exH sounds soo like my current H. I start all the fights. Everything is my fault. Anything I comment on is a criticism. Defence. Build up the defences!

Oh dear, Easy - are you ok?

BYOS I agree that it does happen in RL, and so yes in many ways that would be a better SL, but there is also a big part of me that wants to see Rob destroyed, not physically, but for his reputation to be in tatters. I might be bringing my own baggage to this, but naively, I want the pantomime to end with the villain being ruined. For Rob, the truth would be humiliating.

I think Hellin will be believed. She only needs to say he slapped her and people will be so shocked and knob well and truly on the back foot. He can bleat on about her instability till the Berrow farm cows come home but that is something tangible.

Maybe if it's a daughter he will bugger off and never be seen again. He is so bloody loathsome now. Whatever it is hellins mothering instinct will kick in regardless and she will protect her babies from that monster.

easy

easy. I never believed what my ex was telling me about myself but because I still loved him what really upset me was that he believed it. By the time you've defended yourself and got increasingly upset you look like you are arguing! So it's win win for them.

And as for criticism. Can I tell you that if you don't agree with everything they say and have opinions of your own, even for minor things like not liking dahlias, you are criticising them. He used to say 'if you are not with me you are against me' and he meant 'if you don't agree with my point of view, I regard you as the enemy!'

Honestly, get out, they never change.

Even reading the thread is making my heart race. Come on Helen!

DadDadDad - Oh yes I see what you mean. The outgoing call would still be logged in the phone

There are enough people on the village to expect some of them to not see what all the fuss is about.

When he goes down it will be different of course!

Hope Hellin realises that. I used to redial a non real number just in case ex did that.

My ex used to claim I was being deliberately difficult for not wanting to watch any of the progs he had recorded on the sky planner, of course he never wanted to watch anything I had recorded. I was told off for having already seen films he wanted us to see. I was told I was deliberately walking at the wrong pace when we were walking together in the street.
The point I am trying to make is that these controlling abusers chip away at your ability to be free thinking and independent. They really do believe they are correct and you end up believing they are correct too. My ex has a thing about lying.he says he never lies and goes mental if he thinks someone is lying to him, yet I have known him to lie outright.somehow, , like Rob he convinces himself the lie is the truth.

Olivia, as others have said, Pat became very depressed after John's death. Hellin was utterly lacking in sympathy or understanding. I remember a scene where she told Pat in a very hard voice, "These are antidepressants. You are depressed. You need to take the tablets." Nobody would dare to speak to precious princess Hellin like that.

Hellin was also a complete bitch very unpleasant to Hayley; told her that John's business was a family business, that Hayley wasn't family and she therefore couldn't be involved.

How deeply ironic that Rob was gobsmacked at Helen's "going to lie down" and not make the master's tea, when he's spent the last umpteen weeks urging/insisting coercing her to do precisely this. :o

All part of the abuse. Making sure Helen can't ever get it right.

It occurs to me that if, after the denouement , Hellin lets it be known that Knob hit her, St Smugula will castigate herself for lying about Knob beating up the hunt sab - had she not covered up about his violent propensities, H might have seen him for what he is and never have married him.

St S will rend her garments, don sackcloth and ashes and make a pilgrimage on her knees from Ambridge to Felpersham Cathedral as self-imposed penance.

I had forgotten about Pat and her AD's. Which of course could affect how she views Hel being prescribed them...

St Smugula will castigate herself for lying about Knob beating up the hunt sab - had she not covered up about his violent propensities, H might have seen him for what he is

Especially after Simon Pemberton and Debbie Aldridge.