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

Imagine. That would be the best I could hope for. I also think vaguely what Rob hoped for when he picked up the knife- more evidence of unhinged Helen, more reason for him to have control.

However, I think he is dead dead and we'll get the boring trial storyline.

imagine
You got there before me and put it much more concisely.

Sorry Vango!

At the risk of outing myself, I am a slight soap insider. I assume The Archers is like the TV soaps in that they will have researched this storyline and spoken to charities like WA from the start. I've heard about storylines being changed on the advice of charities.

BUT saying all that, it's not a public service, it's entertainment. If that happens to raise awareness of whatever issue (which it has, let's be honest - everyone's talking about it).

I am slightly uncomfortable with Helen being in the wrong now and I very much hope Rob isn't dead. I also thought it was weird that she left her half-packed suitcase where he could see it, but I can buy her cooking the dinner and everything - she was trying to take back some control, wasn't she? She wanted to confront him and make him know that she knew what he'd been doing - like the bath water and the tuna bake.

I thought it was very good, overall. Helen was great.

Please tell me arseula isn't going to fight pat and Tony for custody of Henry while Helen is banged up!!!

Kathy - they've been banging on about his being a public service and wanting to do the sl justice - not just the listeners!!

And expectations of the archers are different to those of the to soaps!!

The best line last night was when Helen said something along the lines of "you sad pathetic little man".
That is what most abusers are. Big bullies in their own home. Insecure. Threatened.

But now they have taken abusers, remarkably boring, common people, whose idea of their own power actually far exceeds its reality and turned them into monsters who cannot be escaped.

I'd rather have seen the moment when the abuser rails in fury when he realises actually she can leave, he doesn't own her or his kids and actually the courts etc. Don't take his side. And he has to FOTTFSOFO.

1 in 4 women is suffers DA at some point. So that's a lot of abusive men. They are not remarkable. They are common. They don't deserve stabbing they deserve leaving like the sad pathetic little wankers they are.

BUT saying all that, it's not a public service, it's entertainment.

It's not entertainment if I'm sat there saying "well that wouldn't happen in RL" and start picking holes in the plot. It descends into unbelievable twaddle.

The whole point of TA is that it is not a soap.

I've heard about storylines being changed on the advice of charities.

Well in that case I'm AMAZED that the charities still think it's worth commenting favourably after last night's 'entertainment'. This surely CANNOT be the ending they might have advised?

Helen left the suitcase on the bed because rob came home earlier than expected. That's why Kirsty was still there

De-lurking from this and other threads. I haven't listened to the Archers for ages now but did a couple of episodes recently and last night's one. The reality is that it's unrealistic to expect storylines to reflect real life because A, it just isn't possible with e.g. A DV storyline as on the whole they play out over years not weeks/months, and B, it's entertainment, and there's only so much of someone beating the crap out of their partner which can be sold as entertaining.

This was never going to end realistically. No storyline of this type has in the history of broadcasting, to expect the archers to be the first was naive at best.

WRT charities who benefit from these storylines, they are being entirely disingenuous to suggest that these types of storylines raise awareness, it's about money for them and nothing more. The fact that someone from WA and refuge have been happy to go on record to suggest that leaving is the most dangerous time for a victim to leave in response to said victim stabbing her aggressor to death says it all.

I think that it's perfectly reasonable to suggest that last night's episode was crap purely because it really just was shite. But unreasonable to expect that the story could play out realistically.

Also, for people saying Kirsty should have been waiting outside that isn't realistic either. If anyone posted on here that they were worried about a friend who was at risk from her partner everyone would advise her to keep herself safe as well. No-one would advocate waiting outside for the friend to leave in case she was at risk. No-one.

BBC retweet from Women's Aid:

Listen to @BBCWomansHour from 10am this morning to hear our CEO @pollyn1 discussing last night's @BBCTheArchers #domesticabuse #helenandrob

WRT charities who benefit from these storylines, they are being entirely disingenuous to suggest that these types of storylines raise awareness,

It is SOC and TA who have been preening their feathers about awareness raising.

Abd given that WA use their money in part to promote safe leaving I am pretty sure they would have taken a sl where she phones WA and the police and leaves without stabbing anyone.

A DV storyline as on the whole they play out over years not weeks/months,

Playing out over years is what TA does!!!!!!!!!! It's not like other soaps.

R4 How does anyone know what would happen in real life? Everyone was saying that about Downton Abbey but Julian Fellowes got ALL the stories out of the newspapers.

I reckon it was the fact that knob had started on Henry that made Helen become so angry. I would have too, she's not loopy just terribly upset and fearing for her child.

WannaBe
A DV storyline as on the whole they play out over years not weeks/months,

It's been going on for at least 2 years, and prior to that with Jess (as evidenced at the house-warming party).

And I'm not convinced by the argument that it's unreasonable to expect that the story could play out realistically. I thought they'd arrived at exactly that point when the mist started to clear for Helen last week and she began making tentative steps to confirm her worst suspicions.

I might have to go and smash a few plates now

Things can happen fast once a decision has been made and Jess obviously made Hell see the monster clearly.

What's really irritating is that this is the soap staple ending to these sl - abusive man killed. Predictable.

Helen left the suitcase on the bed because rob came home earlier than expected.

I'm guessing that Henwee goes to bed about 7 o'clock. It was a Sunday so the farm shop would have closed hours ago. The timing is all off.

But BUT if you are planning to go away you sort it as soon as the abuser has walked out the door (or, rather, five minutes later in case they 'pop back') and you clear all evidence. You don't arse about all day packing a bag like you are going on holiday.

R4, surely The Archers is a soap? I don't really understand why it's not. Or why expectations are different, as BYOSnowman said. It's just a regular drama based on the lives of the same characters - I definitely consider it a soap.

I would also argue that it's raised awareness of emotional abuse (not to mention raised however much for the charities, and got everyone talking about The Archers!).

On wh now..

The Archers is on women's hour now discussing the storyline !

Did she start to say it was really enjoyable ?

I am now leaning towards last night being a red herring.

Knob is unconscious, has minor knife wounds but tripped and banged his head and was knocked out somehow in the struggle?
Kirsty calls 999 and races round and gets Helen and Henry.

I am going to remain optimistic that they are leading us up the garden path and this will still turn out positively for Helen.