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!!

Okay. That dealt with his parents. Sort of. But what about his friends and their absence. It's just weird. Normal people have friends that stretch back to school, uni, first job, interest, etc., who have met their patents and can attest to their dysfunctionality.

DDD I'd rather not say.

But thank you for pointing that out vango. You have an awesome memory.

Grrr, I was stupid enough to look up that Erin Pizzey article. What world is she living in? I quote:

"In fact, that is precisely what most victims of domestic violence do — they leave. Male victims are less likely to leave — because there are no refuges for men — but female victims of violence almost always do.

True, they may put up with a spell of bullying behaviour or a single attack, but they tend to leave soon afterwards. Normal women don’t hang on in there like Helen Titchener has."

If female victims of violence almost always leave, how does she account for the fact that two get murdered every week?

I'm not sure the friends issue is so difficult to explain. He'd just moved to Ambridge. Starting a new job. Not long returned from Canada. Their relationship developed fairly quickly and he did make the odd return visit to Hampshire?

Way back on p27
But Augusta that was my interpretation two. She forgets knife and goes to prevent him getting Henry.
Accidentalky stavs him. I'm sorry.

But then ahe realised what she has done. And stabs him again. Twice. At which point it is not longer self defence.

More likely he received the wrist injury during second event.

That said the sws could change all of this. As they do.

I know everyone is complaining that it's all too dramatic and EE but I'm really enjoying it. Yes, it's dark and awful and tough to listen to but it's great drama. Who cares if it's far fetched? It's not like it's totally implausible. Stuff like this does happen pretty much every month. I think a few holes are worth overlooking.

Anyway. As you were.

Vango we've had our suspicions for a while that one of the SW is on MN. Are you the guilty party?

Nice Erin Pizzey - so if you suffer more than one attack and you don't leave, you're not "normal"?

Stickerrocks No I am bloody well not! And if I was right now I'd be offering myself up for a public flogging. THAT'S how cross I am!

Or perhaps you're Jane Garvey! I'm sure she's got access to the whole BBC archive.

"Normal women"?!

What's one of them then?!

Bloody hellfire. Is this Pizzey the new Hopkins?!

Bloody hell vango part of every relationship I've had is my boyfriend wanting me to meet his friends and vice versa. I'd have thought someone without long term friends very strange. It's not like Rob wasn't brought up in England. Did he go to agricultural college? Pip woukd know friends of friends I'm sure if he did.

A child on the radio tonight took great offence at being called the next Justin Beiber. I'm wondering who I can suggest next who would cause greater outrage than a SW!

Vango- that dialogue is amazing for everything it says about Rob and Helen's relationship. Thank you!

I did hear that episode, but didn't remember what was said. Amazing to read it back now.

My newly sympathetic to Helen thought is that after she accidentally stabbed Rob the first time, Rob wasn't injured enough to be incapable, and at that point had murderous intent towards Helen. So the first stab was an accident, while defending Henry, and the second two stabs were self-defence because she had good reason to believe that he would have killed her at that point. The only way she could get out was by rendering Rob incapable of fighting back. And she was already scared after the whole knife suicide thing. So while I still think the whole thing was implausible, I don't think that Helen's behaviour is quite as inexplicable as I did to start off with.

I don't really have long term friends as I moved around a lot as a child. Does that make me odd?

(Pssst, any literary types - I have a query in children's books which might take your mind off things??!!)

Erin Pizzey is just objectively wrong anyway.

From a literature review of actual evidence on domestic violence:
'When abuse becomes a more regular occurrence, women develop coping strategies to try to endure it. Many describe simply living from day to day, trying to enjoy the good times and forget about the bad (Kelly et al 1999).
They often preserve hope for relationship improvement by trying to find rational explanations for abuse (including self-blame), and endeavouring to become what their partner wants by changing their behaviour. This often involves submerging aspects of self, such as emotional responses, performing unwanted tasks, or relinquishing valued aspects of identity e.g. job, family ties or cultural membership'

That's what normally happens. That's what the script has so far been portraying.

It's just the bonkers stabby denouement that isn't 'normal'.

A woman in her late 30s, worried about missing the bus relationship wise, already with one child to support.... Well, I don't think that person is always in a good place to see people clearly.

Helen so desperately wanted Rob to be the answer to all her prayers that she wilfully ignored and explained away anything that didn't fit - the family, lack of friends, his relationship with Jess.....

It's so, so easy to do,

Beaufort but would you say you're like Helen in any way? I think there are plenty of people who, like her, just see what they want to see and take what they want without thinking it through, usually knowing that they have a strong support network to fall back on (even if they won't admit that to themselves).

Sticker I promise I'm not Jane Garvey either.

I can quote from a signed script Tim Bentinct gave me from the Nigel aftermath. Unfortunately it contains nothing pertinent to the current situation. It looked as though it had been typed on an olde fashioneddee typewriter.

Pip is a lot younger than rob and I assume there is more than one agri college in the country!!

Fallon doesn't seem to have met any of plods non work friends and they moved in together

Please can someone tell me when it goes back to details of the shepherds hut, Linda's plans for the garden and the potential of the grass-fed hen's eggs business? I can't bear to listen to it at the moment, though I'm not anti this SL im having to read the threads to keep up instead as I can't listen as I'm finding it too stressful, knowing that Rob is a knob and wanting Helen to be free of him (despite being v irritating). I was hoping he would just quietly run off with someone else in the usual archers damp squib kind of way so it could go back to 'normal' -I need my fix of irrelevant tosh.

Jasper self defence? That she had good reason he was going to kill her after she'd stabbed him once?

Who was it asking about suicides?

"In addition, approximately 400 people commit suicide each year who have attended hospital for domestic abuse injuries in the previous six months, 200 of these attend hospital on the day they go on to commit suicide". Living without abuse (lwa.org.uk)

That's deaths in addition to the 130 murders each year, shocking numbers.