Rob - dead? No, no, he's, er, resting. He's just pining for the Canadian plains. As Helen is taken into custardy, discuss the Archers here.

[PseudoBadger]

24 hours for 1 thread!!

Helen was beyond daft thinking that she could calmly tell Rob she was going after the bloody pie and custard. This is what makes it difficult for me. I've never really liked Helen previous to this so these sorts of stupid decisions for me risk switching me off her as a victim

Not a helpful observation at all.

How is that not helpful? Genuinely puzzled

I'm not trying to be helpful per se, I'm just sharing my observations

I think the ambulance crew said they had examined Henry and there was no mark on him, didn't they? So knob obv hadn't done anything too violent too him. Sure him grabbing Henry was the catalyst for H but without any evidence it's going to be hard to use that a motive for stabbing him.

Well you could say in Helen's case, leaving has become the most dangerous time for her in another sense. She is now in danger of losing her freedom and her children. Isn't going to happen

They haven't interviewed henwee yet. Pat and Tony haven't quizzed him on what he saw. Not sure if he's been checked for injuries, or if the social workers talked to him. Henwee could be the key here.

"I take it to mean that WA are riding on the back of this to push themselves to the fore in helping women leave abusive relationships. For you either go to WA or you don't get out?"

"Trying to push themselves to the fore"? What, that organization that devotes itself to supporting women suffering domestic violence and helping the plan their escapes? Wanting this to be a realistic and helpful depiction of what happens in real life? The bastards.

Not my view Bertrand, just what I thought the previous poster was saying

Vango

Sorry all for seeming flippant but I just can't take this panto crap seriously. Like I said before, it's a collective mass hallucination (probably caused by Joe's experimentation in the cider shed, which has accidentally leaked into the water supply) and we'll all be back to normal soon.

Now, why's Peggy on the church flowers rota two weeks in a row? I don't know what Alan's thinking of! Clearly distracted by something .... Ooh I wonder ? Do you think ... ?

How can the Archers even play this out with child actor Henry? How can we hear him being interviewed as the key witness when they don't want to upset the actor?

By the way, I think Helen cooking dinner was quite plausible. We know, as listeners, that it was crazy, but she still hasn't really go her head around the fact that she is being abused. She felt she could turn the tables by being assertive. She hadn't been reading all these threads about how leaving is the most dangerous time. She wanted to do it with dignity, like it was a choice rather something she was forced into it. I totally buy it. (Not sure I buy the multiple stabbings, however).

Perhaps the route out of it will be that, as Rob begins to come round, he starts muttering "Come here, Henry, I'm going to kill you and then I'm going to kill your mother ..." And who should the nurse be but Amy ...

Cue cheerful signature tune.

I'm all for WA and refuge raising their profile - I wish the sl would have allowed them to push further by having Helen use their services more than once

A lot of what I'm reading from WA seems to come across as implying the only way to get out is to fully engage with them. Whilst that's a good thing to encourage - there must be other ways. It just seems quite black and white.

Some women may not feel comfortable contacting a stranger but may feel more comfortable speaking to a friend etc.

It would be good if WA could clarify the stats wrt number victims killed by their abusers vs abusers killed by their victims. I should imagine that is a powerful statistic.

How can the Archers even play this out with child actor Henry? How can we hear him being interviewed as the key witness when they don't want to upset the actor?

The actor who plays Helen has said in past interviews that she has never met the child actor who plays Henry, so maybe he just gets told to say something and they record it, before it gets stuck in with the rest of the dialogue? Just an idea.

Fair enough Augusta. But was he pulling him toward him, or pushing him to his room?

I'd have thought that, at the very least, he was raising his hand to him prior to hitting. I'm sure if I saw a man do that to my child I'd definitely try to grab the arm, at the very least. I think D3 is right, that's how the stab to the wrist happened.

iisme I did say in that post re. Kirsty "This is not what I think". What I was trying to illustrate was the story that Rob could spin about her relationship with his wife.

Also - is the advice of the Archers going to be its ok to kill your abusive partner to get free of him, so long as you make sure you make sure there is evidence of the abuse first? And not a lot of evidence at that if Helen isn't convicted?

Or alternatively- you can never be free and if you snap you'll be sent to prison and separated from your child and there's no winning.

I found the Bridge Farm scenes quite moving tonight. So relieved that their first instinct is that they've been blind to something rather than that their mentally 'delicate' daughter has finally lost it. And super Kirsty - absolutely prepared to go with her gut instinct and absolutely on Helen's side. Amazing that she didn't shout 'duh!' at pattonytom at any point.

Scenes with the police made me feel ill. Is that really what it would be like? It was just so un-neutral (for want of a better word).

Anyway. Felt like a filler episode. The beginning of ducks starting to get in a row. Bottom line is that this SL has to end with Helen getting off and Rob getting his comeuppance in some way. I can't imagine the writers planning anything else. Whether they take the story in the right direction to get it to this endpoint is another matter entirely of course...

So either way the SWs can't have Helen doing time for this.

So how will she get off?

Hadn't rob just slapped Helen. I can understand that she thought he was going to hurt Henry and would be justified in thinking that given what he was saying and he was clearly angry

X post Limelight

Did anyone else hear a voice that sounded like Dorothy's at the police station? (Not suggesting that character was there - just that they might have used the same actor.)

I'm disgusted with the way the police were portrayed tonight. One of the first things that the OIC would be considering would be "is this suspect actually a victim of DV".

A family cannot appoint a lawyer for an adult that has capacity

An officer would not "strongly recommend" that a detainee get a lawyer - that would be a breach of PACE.

I'm actually so affronted with the negative way that they portrayed the officers that I am not sure I want to continue listening

SOC can FOTTFSOFAFOSM

Sausages- even if he's not with the other actors, he'd have to talk about shouting and stabbing in a witness statement. And he can't do that if they are protecting him.

I think child actor Henry was a mistake as they've ended up with an unbelievably unemotional child who can't say the lines he needs to stay for the story they have created.