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

I missed Today, but in the still watches of the night wondered if Rob might be paralysed or similar. Helen would be forced to stay with him and nurse him, condemned to change his catheter and rub his bed sores. She would get her revenge by feeding him nothing but tuna bake before tampering with the brake on his wheelchair and pushing him into the Am.

I though Kate Chisolm spoke well, particularly with regard to the manipulation of the plotlines according to reaction on social media. That is exactly how this has felt. Or, alternatively, it is BertrandRussell 's party game

Yes, that was interesting. In the good old days, the scriptwriter was in charge. Nowadays, they have to react to social media and incorporate that.
Except that social media is saying that they got it wrong. So they listened but didn't hear ? All they heard was "get rid of Rob" not "free Helen in a realistic and supportive way".

Sorry if this has already been posted but this is the ending I'd have liked to hear. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/gdWM4xN00RkjMwzblRwRjt/the-speech-everyone-wants-helen-to-make

Generalisation alert - but Rob's a middle aged man. He was already wound up before the blessed tuna bake, then the confrontation ... I wouldn't be surprised to hear that he suffered a heart attack during the struggle. And that any stabbing was just a secondary injury.

Ok prediction for tonight:

Kirsty is a nurse right? She'll come in and patch Rob up who was only grazed along his side and knocked himself out falling over.

As Kirsty is cleaning him up there will be Hellin and Henwee fleeing the house to go to BF.

I can but hope.

Snowman I do agree with you all really. I'm trying to rationalise being pleased that I might be able to start listening again. I've really missed it, ridiculous though that is.

Thank you for that perspective, fairyqueen. Am happy to consider it. But think this is a let out for SOC and his shockjock tactics.

Apparently it's a couple of weeks old. Sorry.

Have spent way too much time thinking about this but why didn't Kirsty answer the phone on the first ring.

Surely she would have been sat in her car round the corner with her eyes glued to the phone?

Goodness! Over 400 posts here already ...

Interesting tweet from.someone bringing them to task. They replied saying it is the statistically the most dangerous time for women (they tweeted that @ me as well.)
She replied saying having been through that she was aware but statistically ery few stab their partner.

And (crucially) that it feels like what had been a quietly building story about control was in fact a build up to a trial instead and that is disappoinring.

This. V much this. We thought we were getting a well handled DV story. Instead we were getting the prequel for a bit trial.

Well soc has totally lived up to expectations. He is officially a walking stereotype.

he had such a chance to show he's more than just a sensationalist and he blew it

No - Kirsty is absolutely not a nurse. She has no professional qualifications whatsoever.

Isn't the whole point that it is the most dangerous point for the woman - not the abuser?

This really was the worst possible conclusion to the sl tbh. It is the least likely and most damaging

She will probably have first aid training from working at the spa?

Also woke up this morning still rattled and riled by last night's episode. Can't bear the message it seemed to convey. And Helen now criminalised. Totally agree with Vango:

But who's going to believe her Augusta? She has no witnesses. Rob and Ursula recently told Pat that Henry was afraid of her. Helen herself told the psychiatrist that she tried to hit him (Rob). Rob told the boarding school that she wasn't coping with Henry at home. She's been well and truly set up. All tracks have been covered. Kirsty, her only ally, has never liked Rob but hasn't witnessed any abuse directly and Helen's done a very good job of convincing everyone and anyone that he's the perfect husband and father. Even her own Mother and Grandmother now think he's a saint for putting up with her and her 'moods' He'll probably argue (since I'm certain that he's not dead) that he was protecting Henry from a knife-wielding Helen.

Would love to see those stats (also raised upthread) about the % of abused women who stab their partners. One for D^3, perhaps?

I think the little montage they played on today was an indication of how the audio-book will sound. Any inconvenient inconsistencies removed so it all gels together rather nicely and then becomes the archive so literally rewriting history (Stefan and the culvert amongst other things a distant memory, never to be referred to again). And I think the audiobook is what this has all been about - those predicting any audiobook would need a dramatic conclusion were spot on. I'm actually beginning to think it is pointless trying to analyse it in any other terms than that It's not real, it's a plot drawn up by a man from EE - what did any of us expect?

Kirsty may have 3 day first aid training

Kirsty has a degree in something, but mostly she's spent her life serving in Ambridge Organics, doing bar work and is currently running the health club at GG, while also having time and inclination to waitress in Fallon & Emma's tea shop.

She might have a first aid qualification for the health club, I suppose.

RedShoe who was laughing manically? Was this on Today? (I'm abroad at the mo).

And needless to say deriving ZERO comfort from the idea of Rob being stabbed; far too good for him. We all needed long, drawn out humiliation and pain for him. Public scorn etc. How DARE he get off the hook.

How the Hell am I supposed to get on with my day when I am still so angry?!

A film or TV extravaganza would be even more justification for melodrama ...

LillianGish
I'm actually beginning to think it is pointless trying to analyse it in any other terms than that sad It's not real, it's a plot drawn up by a man from EE - what did any of us expect?

I think, following the extensive media coverage including interviews with the actors about their recognition of their responsibility to abused women, the statements of support and involvement from WA and Refuge, and the background research and interviews with abused women, that we might have expected a more satisfactory conclusion for Helen?

I'm happy to listen to drama for drama's sake but when we've been repeatedly told that they're highlighting a real and important issue, and involving non-fictional characters, I expect something better. Fool that I am.

I agree with you Fairy.

I think last nights episode was an illustration in how not to leave your abusive partner. It also brought the SL to a swift end, which many of us wanted and called for as it was all so harrowing.
I hope that in the next few episodes the message "why the heck did Helen put herself in so much danger, she had much better alternatives" is shouted from the rooftops.
I also don't think it stretches probability that Heken would cook him a dinner that she thinks he hates them tell him she's leaving because she is pretty arrogant.