Will Lynda agree that the Grundys are fungis? And is Peggy finally realising that Helen is faaahmly? Await the Ambridge Fairy on The Archers thread.

[PseudoBadger]

"Get outta my village" screams Peggy Mitchell

Given she was under the care of a mental health team before the stabbing you would assume this would continue. Especially as it was so serious knob had to mover her appointment forward

I was under the impression Anna would be helping as a favour to her godmother Jill. What I didn't expect was that she would be useless on the professional front and become Hellin's therapist.

If I was Anna I'd be looking to get very busy elsewhere for a bit. At least until Hellin stops wittering on about stolen sweets and other nonsense.

If the SW must go with the cliched traumatised woman schtick and associated dialogue then we need to have a more realistic person drawing it out of her. In prison dramas this would usually be the hardened, yet kindly old lag the young protagonist ends up sharing a cell with. Although she is hard as nails, looks a fright and is a convicted murdered she will have a heart of gold underneath and will take the vulnerable young woman (Hellin) under her wing. There will be plenty of time for talking as they are locked up together 23 hours a day and Kindly Old Lag (KOL) will gradually draw the sorry tale and The Truth from the emotionally battered Hellin. Then at the end it turns out KOL was in a similar situation to Hellin but wasn't saved and that's why she wants to help and is so determined to do so despite only having City and Guilds in basic computer skills and a prison library card.

Obviously to save on actor's pay the majority of this will be relayed by Tom to Kirsty over a "perfect cup of tea" that leads to Tom realising "What a fool I've been!" and they marry quietly at Felpersham Register Office.

Or something.

Mine have only actually broken twice, two kids were born in a caul and with the other two, one oozed a bit all day and the other oozed for two days and I had time to decorate the downstairs loo while I was waiting for it all to kick off.

WRT Hellin, yes, there most certainly would have been a proper MH assessment before letting a potentially violent criminal loose in a Mother and Baby Unit and also that barrister is just pathetic at questioning. On the other hand I don't think the legal profession in general are terribly good at eliciting information to do with abuse - I realise my second solicitor spotted it straight off, with hindsight, but even though she was well known in the field as understanding women's issues, looking back there were many more questions she could have asked without being too leading that would have uncovered a massive can of worms and helped me a lot. Perhaps it is time for better and more systematic training amongst solicitors and barristers so that these front line people can do a proper job of defending women as necessary.

I want to know about the real Ambridge criminal - when will somebody realise that George stole the money from the church.

Given the enduring stupidity of Hellin, Pat, Tone & Tom, I'm beginning to think that Henwee and SOK might be better off being brought up by ArsuKnob. After all, they'll be largely living at boarding school anyway.

It's been so utterly ludicrous this week - topped off by the lovely blossom/breaking waters episode - that I'm almost persuaded there's been a fundamental and catastrophic misunderstanding somewhere down the line and Anna is, in fact, a barista rather than a barrister. Could do a beautiful leaf pattern in your cappuccino foam, but putting together a convincing defence.....? Errrrrm, not so much.

Have listened.

Have nothing to say ...

at Halsal's barista theory.

I believe that diminished responsibility is a possible defence to voluntary manslaughter or murder but, in England & Wales, there is no such crime as attempted manslaughter, which is why Helinn is charged with wounding as a back up if they can't make attempted murder stick.

Boffinmum .

If I'd been painting the bog ceiling I could have flushed automatically at least three times when mine went. Anna would have known mine had broken - she'd have needed to row out of prison.

me too Beau

Halsall that made me laugh out loud . And barista is also an anagram of birth partner.

Delurking to say with ds my waters went during a episode of the Archers. I still managed to finish listening. Lynda was on about something - her dulcet tones are forever associated with that labour for me.

I think SOC has abandoned ship so he can say, Now look what happens when I've gone. I am needed....

If I were Anna I'd expect the solicitor to be doing the dog work. Is Anna doing this as a favour because there's a family connection?

It could well be because SOC either hasn't been told by the alleged legal advisers that this is now how it would normally happen, or has chosen to ignore them because he thinks it's more interesting having Anna do all the running around what with being a woman and a Tregorran. I must say, if it's a favour it's a pretty massive favour because she must have spent days on these pointless visits, and if that means she's turning other work away she must be losing a hell of a lot of money.

Diminished responsibility is only a defence to murder, not manslaughter, not least because it is only a partial defence and reduces murder to manslaughter - partly because it affects the accused's ability to form the intention to murder. Since the prosecution has to prove intent if the allegation is intent to murder, and you can't intend to manslaughter someone, it's not available for attempted murder.

I've just realised what is really bugging me (or more specifically another thing that is bugging me) about all this Anna stuff. There is no indication of any other work being done behind the scenes - no joining of the myriad bloody dots. There's no indication that they have explored her mental health and the medication, hospital stay when she collapsed and the scales started to lift at the corners from her eye. Given they (unrealistically) gave the impression the stabbing was national news why haven't Charlie and Jess come crawling out of the woodwork. Why haven't they looked at the family finances and picked up on the financial abuse indicators etc etc etc.

Instead we've got Anna as an unrealistic and shitty dramatic device trying to push the story along and it's just not working.

Halsall - of course. Anna is a barista, that's why she was annoyed about the tea, all she wanted was a nice cup of coffee

Polly Neate explains exasperating storyline

I get what they are trying to do: I still don't think it's good drama, fits the Archers structure and is being done well.

I get it that that explains Helen. However, it does not explain either her lawyers' or her family's and friends' uselessness.

Nice try Polly but I'm not convinced. Helen may be uncoopertive and The System doesn't understand. But that doesn't explain everyone else; Pat and Tony and Tom and Kirsty's non-action. For example, why did it take Kirsty six weeks to tell Tom about the secret mobile? It's patent nonsense. And I can't see how patent nonsense helps Women's Aid.

Hi fives gussie

Boffin, I remember the nest-cleaning hormonal urges that I experienced immediately before each birth, but if you were painting the loo ceiling, you were obviously getting a huge dose!

We know that many Archers’ listeners have now developed a good understanding of coercive control – the heart of domestic abuse – thanks to the brilliant work of its scriptwriters

Think a lot of TA listeners had a pretty good handle on it before TA 'raised our awareness' which is why it was recognised so quickly.
I don't like PNs insinuation that if we are pissed off with piss poor script writing we are letting down victims of DV. Hardly.

PN os absolutely right about police may not understand when faced with a calm perp and a hysterical victim what has happened and that would have made sense of there had been some sense that Helen feared she'd never escape but she was actually pretty confident she could have a chat, wake up her sleeping child and walk away. because the denoument was written in a way that does not make sense and everything that has gollowed has been similarly nonsensical including the Barista, her faaaaamly, kirsty, the blossom talk the made up sweetie story. All of it.

I saw Taming of the Shrew at the Globe tonight, and my enjoyment of it was marred by the Helen- Rob storyline.

EBearhug maybe you could sue? We could launch some kind of class action for the misery they have caused us.

Do we think she'll have the baby tonight? Or will they drag it out over a week??

I keep thinking Peggy is going to cark it right as the baby emerges into the world....