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

[PseudoBadger]

Will it still be Sunday tonight?

Yes Peggy, I expect Clintons has a card for that

"So sorry my granddaughter stabbed your wonderful son"

That female detective or whatever she is irritates me. She's such a (crap) stereotype. Amongst other things, who in their right mind would just accept that because the mother may/may not cope with 2 children the first port of call would be boarding school? If nothing else did, surely that would make you look twice at the relationship?

I lové the idea of Christine's scones going to the gruesome pair. Perhaps one to Rob, too, when he comes round, to choke him so that he can't help the case against Helen?

I now can't recall, was Henry in the room when Knob gave Helen the knife and told her to use it on herself?

I do wonder how many women who are in abusive relationships are listening to the end of current episodes. There can't be many actually hearing the support message. it must be an utterly terrifying SL esp the bias of so many police officers. Even if it's fiction. Gah.

Another question, for the experts. How soon IRL is a case like this likely to come to trial? Presumably now she'd be advised to plead not guilty to attempted murder as she did not intend it to happen. Maybe in the longer term that's a better charge for Helen as the Crown will need to prove guilt of intent, no, so more evidence has to be heard????? and a jury is more likely to find it 'not proven'? Is that a finding in English law? (I am in northern provinces)

Checking in! Listened in the car when I should have been buying fish and chips. And had a little weep afterwards. Just seems so hopeless which I guess is exactly how they want us to feel.

If the jury were unable to reach a verdict it would be considered a mistrial and a new trial date would need to be set.

I think it's three mistrials which would ultimately result in an acquittal. So two or three years down the line.

This is what Women's aid are saying about it now..

link{https://www.womensaid.org.uk/the-drama-of-domestic-abuse-womens-aid-the-archers/here}

Sorry link didn't work as on phone...

www.womensaid.org.uk/the-drama-of-domestic-abuse-womens-aid-the-archers/

No 'not proven' in E&W law, Topaz - it's guilty or not guilty only.

But it doesn't matter if she is believed or not - she still committed a crime

That's what's so ruddy awful about the whole thing

Re. the storyline, dreame summed it up earlier when she posted

But really this is infuriating. What I've learned so far from TA public service on this storyline.
1) EA and CC can be conveyed on radio and people listen
2) Women are driven to kill their abusive partners
3) mental health problems - real or imagined - can and will be used against you
4) If you're in an abusive relationship there's no way out other than killing yourself or spending a significant amount of time in a cell.

So, were I in an abusive relationship now, I'd be staying right put. Better the abusive partner than being separated from my kid(s).

And Pat confirmed it tonight when she said "It doesn't seem real....it can't be".

So with that it in mind. The phone. Rob tracking Helen would explain the way he was able to turn up at the school on the morning of Roy's birthday train trip and stopped her from taking Henry out of school. To be fair, Helen DID tell Henry not to tell anyone where they were going, and WAS about to lie to the school.

I guess R could argue that he couldn't trust Helen. Which she kindly demonstrated that day.

If they kill Helen off, I will blow my beeping top.

Maybe the harsh female detectives is to avoid MRAs going all "but what about the men, why are they presumed to be rapists/abusers etc."

shiny, I did think that after I'd typed!! So, with a charge of attempted murder, a sympathetic jury could find Helen not guilty of intent to murder her bastard husband. That's how it will go then. No need to listen any further. Stuff will come out about the abuse and on it will proceed. Helen will get the PA thingy reversed, and she doesn't give a shit about the baby anyway.

I doubt if she can be forced to go into a unit with the baby. Seriously, this is something I do know about (prev professional trailing, not own experience). But she has better chance of mental recovery form the whole sorry ordeal if she does not have to raise the baby she has not bonded with which was the result of rape.in an abusive marriage. And Rob's parents are too old to adopt too. Yay!

I think it's gone completely surreal. I think even if you weren't familiar with a lot of the signs of DV any detective worth their salt would smell a huge rat if a fairly normal 34 wk PG woman went for a bloke with a knife. Either she is psychotic or there is something else going wrong. AFAIK they haven't assessed her properly to see if she is psychotic, which I would have thought would have been a top priority. And the DS is absolutely unbelievable - she is coming up against a brick wall the whole time with her snide questioning style and clearly any sensible person would have changed tack to get a better result. Honestly, it's like Tom and Jerry were suddenly running Ambridge. If this is all we are going to get every night I think I'll give up on it. It's depressing and unrealistic.

Henwee is going to find it very hard going back to school. Everyone is going to know he's the kid whose mum tried to kill his dad. I wonder if a move to boarding school might help?

pasbeaucoup that's bugging me too - there's talk of abuse, she has no other motivation, why would the police think it would NOT enrage her to find that Knob planned on sending Henwee away; he was tracking her phone; she's clearly an absolute wreck not a cool calm killer; I just don't understand why they wouldn't probe more deeply into that.

On the other hand I agree with those saying that she has committed a crime. From what we heard she stabbed first to get him away from Henry; then there was a pause and he said in a fairly calm voice 'put the knife down Helen' - THEN she went for him again. At that point I think she did intend, if not to kill him then near as dammit. Plus the "he can't be!" when Kirsty said he was alive.

I really hate this whole turn of events. I know we've all said it but it should not have been done like this. Why why why did she have to be the one in jail.

Just read the link - no, she'd have to apply for place in M & B unit. She won't apply or someone surely will notice her lack of interest.

To get a murder conviction the Crown has to prove intent to kill or intent to cause serious harm - I assume its the same test for attempted murder.

Ooh I've just caught up! Yes attempted murder the CPS have to prove intent to kill.

They must feel confident...

Lorek - "So sorry my granddaughter stabbed your wonderful son"

Blenheim - so is intent to do serious harm not enough for a conviction on attempt? If that's the case then I think the CPS is aiming too high (possibly as a tactical move, they can always reduce the charge later on?)
I'm wondering if this is the SW's 'get out of jail' card? (pun only partially intended.) She'll go to trial for attempted murder, it will be clear to the jury there was no intent to kill, so she'll get off completely, and TA can go back to fluffy bunnies and home-made pies.

Yes, she committed a crime. But whilst under intolerable pressure. And the bastard who ended up stabbed gave her the tool to do so. In Topaz Towers there was a bit of dispute as to whether Knob was calm or terrified when told her to put the knife down. i thought calm; others thought scared. I dunno. I don't suppose Henry noticed the nuance!

Re Helen being furious at the prospect of BS. Ursula and Rob have not admitted that they were contemplating BS. Their story is that they were talking about Rob's BS, and about sending H to a private school, and that H had obviously got confused that they were sending him away.
Although when Helen made her "threat" she believed H's story about BS

First they did it to Coronation Street, which was once a good programme. And I stopped watching.

Then they did it to EastEnders, which had been good for the first few years. I stopped watching.

I didn't think they'd do it to the Archers. But they have. I don't see how I can ever listen again. None of the people whose lives I have followed, often since their "birth," are present in Ambridge anymore, just strange clones that "look" the same and have nothing inside their heads.

Yes, the intention must be to kill