The Archers - It's so much more than just a soap. It's a bloody drama!

[PseudoBadger]

Will it still be Sunday tonight?

The only way the boarding school is going to become an issue is if Ursula gives a statement to the police (which she has), and they ask Pat about it.

Pat will say that Helen got the wrong end of the stick as Rob and Ursula told her they had just mentioned it in passing. Then they will discover that they had toured the school so both Rob and Ursula had lied to Helen and Pat to make Helen appear more irrational than she was.

Thanks Babybarrister - I never knew that.

BertrandRussell--I'm trying to work out a suitable acronym for "It doesn't matter what Rob did in the past- it won't get her off having stabbed him 3 times........"

It might not matter IRL but this isn't RL.

but if Rob had a criminal record surely Jess would have told Helen? Besides it's Helen who is on trial not Rob.

Have to say I listened to last night's episode and I didn't take from that that Bruce was abusive in the same way Rob was. He just sounded as if Ursula got on his nerves - I imagine the two of them to be a couple who bicker constantly, much as e.g. My grandparents and many others of that generation did before splitting up was considered an acceptable thing to do.

And his outburst at Pat and Tony's could be understandable. Remember he has never met these people before. And the first meeting is after having to visit his son in hospital who has been stabbed to the point of almost death, certainly with life changing implications, by their daughter. As his parent I wouldn't have expected him to be happy to meet them, much less believe their sincerity towards Rob.

Wouldn't damara have done proper background checks and followed up references?

Unless the job involves children or vulnerable adults (there might be other criteria, but running a mega dairy wouldn't include them) they wouldn't do a criminal record check though, and there's no reason why his Canadian employers could be ignorant of something he did there. Or he didn't put them as a reference.

That's very interesting BB - I didn't realise that.

Bertrand - best acronym I could come up with:
Helen Isn't Found Innocent By Uncovering Rob's Past = HIFIBURP

first attempt was
Rob's Earlier Evil Doesn't Cancel Out Multiple Stabbings = REEDCOMS

I think there's a scenario where the stab wounds could still be consistent with self defence. Helen stabs him once, he keeps coming at her so she stabs him again. In one of those blows she also catches his wrist, i.e. it is one stab producing two injuries.

Or, she hits his wrist by accident, going to grab his arm when he's attacking Henry, forgetting she has a knife in her hand. Knob turns on her, she stabs to defend herself, he keeps coming at her, she stabs again for the same reason.

The thing that seemed to horrify Bruce most about the situation was the stoma. It did sound like there was an element of his being appalled at the prospect of having a son who wasn't physically perfect, particularly one with a disability that involves nasty things like bowels and faeces.

Brusula wasn't exactly going to be greeting the parents of the person who stabbed their son with glad cries of joy, were they?

On a lighter note I love that Fallon's tea shop is doing so well out of the journalists camped out at Bridge Farm. How long before the businessman in Tom reasserts himself and he persuades Tony and Pat that they might as well flog them a few scotch eggs, if only to fund the private investigator they need to do some digging into Rob's murky past.

I'd have thought that the police would have rather a lot to say about the victim's family turning up to harrass the family of the alleged perpetrator. Intimidating witnesses and all that. Regardless of what they may think, Brursula had no business doorstepping Pat and Tony like that and I hope they report it.

Again though, learning that your child is going to have a stoma which for him will be life altering isn't going to be something which most wouldn't be upset about in the beginning. Things like loss of bodily functions are very very intimate and personal and while people do adjust to having a stoma it is an adjustment process.

I think anyone being told that kind of news would react negatively in the beginning. That doesn't mean they wouldn't be accepting in the long term.

My favourite last night was Fallon's blatant disdain for Susan and the gossip doing the rounds.

There's a difference between bumping into Pat and Tony at the hospital or police station and deliberately driving to their farm to harangue them though, Bertrand.

Not sure how I'd react in such circumstances, but I think I'd keep my distance. In case of in any way muddying the police investigation, apart from anything else.

Response to Brusula "the shite had to leave". Not really "we are awfully sorry you are upset. Here's the lawyers number"

I think it was Ursula who wanted to drive to the farm though. To tell Pat, in the hopes of keeping up the agreement that Helen is unstable. She had to be sure that once she had told the police Pat would corroborate her story.

She already has a relationship with Pat but she's an outsider, she needs to be sure that she has support.

As of the stabbing, had Helen met Rob's father? I think she'd met Ursula before she came to stay before Easter?

No Helen hadn't met Bruce before. She'd only met Ursula once before she came to stay at Easter, and Ursula had been pretty weird. I think she called while Rob was out, though Rob came back while she was there and wasn't very happy about it.

Thanks for (another!) new thread! Marking place, now off to catch up.

AWFUL AWFUL Bruce. What a frightening hateful man.

Some Lyndy and Robert tonight for some light relief, please!

lottiegarbanzo very intersting analysis of Helen. I think that is very much the way she thinks. She doesn't seem at all sorry (yet). That too, will surely count against her.

Also interesting recycling about it being aimed at gvmt (still think its mostly aimed at making SOC look clever).

I was trying to articulate last night on twitter what pisses me off about it to someone who said but it 'raises awareness'. As if being aware will fix it.

I feel almost like (based on their smug tweets and PR) they assume DV could happen to anyone except of course TA listeners. So we had better inform TA listeners that DA happens because otherwise how will they ever know about it.

Then the TA listeners can all feel sorry for the poor DV victims now they have had their awareness raised. Job done.
DV victims are 'other' As if they were whales or the hole in the ozone layer.

I had hoped they would not just highlight the problem but show a solution for the victim and a consequence for the abuser. (That isn't violent retribution)

But it seems the aim was to point at the victims like creatures in a zoo. Feel sorry for them. Listen, nod wisely, Hand over some money. Job done. Bit like saving the whale.

It's all a bit patronising and exploitative and self congratulatory of the Beeb.

I get the point that if the system was shown as working then there is no incentive to change it. (although they could have shown that by having her try to get a refuge place and it being full)

A meta change rather than a micro one.

But for actual DV victims past and present its pretty horrifyingly bleak and unhelpful. I have been far more traumatised and upset by how this story is panning out than by hearing an echo of my past on the radio. hearing the abuse I could handle. How this turn of events has made me feel, not so much.

But I think SOC thought he didn't have to worry about actual DV victims as they won't be listening anyway and its for their own good in the long run. (You do see that don't you? darlings)

Robert and Bruce.
Oh what a tangled web

^Robert and Bruce.
Oh what a tangled web grin^

Just seen Gherkin's youtube link -Hilarious! It almost makes this SL worthwhile. Almost...