50 ways to leave your lover. Get on the bus Gus, give a knife to your wife, Rob. How not to write helpful storylines masterclass from The Archers.

[PseudoBadger]

Poor poor Henry

medically possible

KD?

Either: damning the actual author of tonight's outrage (Tim Stimpson) with faint praise because he didn't himself get the stabbing gig.

Or: utterly horrified at the turn the story has been forced to take and piling all the blame onto the person he holds responsible.

I'd like the custard recipe, please. Then I can make custard and at least something good will have come of all this.

I find Bird's custard much easier, but love Tescos extra special or whatever they call it ready made custard.
I get annoyed when women claim killing their abuser was the only way out in situations like this.
Helen had the option to leave when he was out and go somewhere safe but deliberately went for the nuclear option. She's not supposed to be that dim.

Bertrand pls share your recipe for custard, may need a few gallons to get over this episode.

Congratulations, Pseudo, I'm so pleased the 50k went to you! Bet you didn't envision this when you made the first post in April 2013...

And it's cheered my up to see others are celebrating this meaningless little milestone!

Only slightly tainted by Pseudo's suggestion that I might have miscalculated.

I think that Kirsty will arrive with suitable burly male , rob will come round from his concussion and threaten her /Helen / Henry with the knife . Then the police will burst in , having been alerted by Kirsty , and arrest Rob.

I don't think he's seriously injured at all.

I agree with everyone who says it was too melodramatic, unrealistic and unhelpful to women who are being abused .

Dh thinks I should stop listening.

For your own good DFW? ...

Is there a way of sending SOC a vat of custard that explodes all over him when he opens it?

I found the tuna pie and custard option weird. You're not going to have 2 courses of pie surely and why bother with pudding when you're telling your husband you're leaving, especially if you're telling him he'll never see his unborn son.

I am with you smallegs

Boycotting TA is the only way to go. I cannot believe the praise on Twitter. How can people think it was well written.

I didn't think the actor who played/ plays Knob was as convincing as usual. Parts of his diatribe sounded like false anger. Almost like panto.

To be fair, KD was just answering someone who asked whether he wrote the episode.

Abel, Henry being there was the worst part. I can just about believe that Helen would have cooked a meal and decided to tell him face to face and that violence might ensue (although I think this was the wrong tack for the sw to take). What I cannot for a second believe is that Helen would have planned to do this with Henry in the house. He stayed with Pat and Tony last week. Rob would have bought the 'mum and dad offered to have Henry so I could make you custard' line. Or she would have waited until Henry was back at school next week. Plus I can't imagine that they will be able to realistically portray the type of trauma Henry will go through.

I'd like the custard receipe too, please. I've always fancied making my own.

I thought it was Tuna pasta bake?

why bother with pudding when you're telling your husband you're leaving

have you no breeding?

2rebecca, Helen wouldn't have known there was going to be a pie for the second course when she started making the tuna pie - Kirsty brought it with her.

Warm up 500g milk. Whisk 4 egg yolks, 30g cornflour, 80g caster sugar and 1 tsp vanilla in a bowl. When the milk's nearly boiling, pour half of it it into the egg mix, whisking like crazy. Pour it back into the pan, still whisking like crazy. Heat slowly, still whisking til it simmers and thickens. It's pretty stable because of the cornflour, so it won't split like an egg only one. Take off the heat.

If you feel like clogging your arteries, beat in 40g unsalted butter.

It was tuna pasta bake. Which made Rob's line about it being the best meal Helen has ever cooked slightly unbelievable.

The sad thing is that, as it's a soap, it doesn't have to be realistic and usually isn't. But they've only gone and deliberately made it realistic, and made a very VERY big deal of that fact. They've gone down the 'awareness raising' route. We've all accepted it and acknowledged it. And now we'll be spun a line that it's only fiction, the characters aren't real you know!

I won't stop listening as I'm glad the Rob/ Helen thing is over, it was too dominant and Rob too much of a pantomime baddy at the end especially when they brought in Cruella Ursula as evil MIL sidekick.
I did stop listening for a while after Nigel and only listened sometimes since and probably read more about TA here than actually listen to it.
I didn't want EA whilst cooking dinner so had Bryan Burnett on radio Scotland instead playing themed golden oldies. Much more fun.

If one good thing comes of this, let it be that Bertrand teaches me to make real custard

Any chance of a quick summary? I've read all the posts and the news reports but can't find a summary and can't bear to LA (haven't been listening for weeks now...)

Things I don't understand:
When was Kirsty there and why?
How did Rob know what was going on and then put the music on?
Did Helen say he was dead after checking or had she run out of the house? Where's Henry?
Do you reckon she'd be able to claim she was defending Henry?

Sorry for being a non listening wuss....

Another really terrible thing about the way they have escalated this is how will they handle the characters coming back from that?? Helen, Henry, all the extended family, really.

Best we can hope is that Rob was sliced rather than diced and just knocked himself out.

Bit depressing that's the best we can hope for.

Rebecca - this is not the end, it is just the end of the beginning

Thank you, Bertrand!!