Orange Is The New Black in Ambridge. Just ask Helen. But will anyone in The Archers ever ask her WHY?

[PseudoBadger]

I reckon this thread will see us through the Euros, both footy and referendum. Await the clunky topical inserts here.

Paul died in a car accident didn't he? On his way to run off with Lil?

I agree the obvious next conversation with Henry is "what's up?". At least Pat has cottoned on a bit, although Tony is just coming across as a total Tim Nice But Dim.

BOOP for Helens new hair. I thought it was so sad when she said "this is how I had my hair when I just had to please myself" and it STILL didn't seem to register with her that the only person you ever have to please with your own hair is yourself....

Paul died of a heart attack after being warned off somewhat aggressively be Matt.

Oh evidently my brain is mush!

Didn't Paul have the heart attack in his\their flat after being warned off Lil by a hired henchman of Matt's?

Yes Lilian definitely knew and was upset by Paul's increasing CC tendencies.

Oh god I'm finding the token working class prisoner so cringy

Oh I quite like her. It's good that Hell has a proper friend. She has tried to get through to her too.

Yes it's the accent (fake) and the 'signalling' names (Jayden and Courtney?) that is making me cringe. Surely they could have found an actor with a real regional accent (not that regional = working class but whatev) or just written a character without having to wave giant flags that she's different and more down to earth Than flighty, posh Helen

Has no one involved with the Archers met a real child of the age Henwee is supposed to be?

Tony - what a waste of space

"'Henry sweetheart, you seem really sad and cross: what's up?'

HOW HARD WOULD IT BE?"

Well, for the people who have signally failed to say "Helen, you got a bit stabby- could you tell us why?" ......................pretty bloody impossible!

What are listener figures looking like?

CAFCASS sounded sympathetic but Helen was a dick again.
I've worked with lots of women victims of abuse and when it comes to their kids, they are all to a woman fierce in defending their kids. It's the only thing that motivates them to talk in many cases. Helen is being so bloody wet.
CAFCASS will also talk to henwee. I'm hoping that all this tuff about mummy not letting them see Gideon will come out there but I expect the social worker will be as ineffective at finding out his experiences as every other fucker

quick request here please

Rooth once again showing her total naivety regarding the prospects for her business post-referendum and Dave sounding reliably worried. So all in all a BOOP for consistency of character. Agree with Sticker it will probably never be mentioned again, but I would imagine that farmers will be talking about it a lot, as they are among the most likely to suffer as we "take back our country" (boak).

Actually, I don't think Helen is being wet. From all I hear, her behaviour is very typical of women who have been the victims of coercive control. She really won't recover overnight from years of being belittled and being convinced that she's confused, can't take a sensible decision, can't look after her child properly, is mentally unwell etc etc.

It's the others around her who are so unconvincing. It's ludicrous that Kirsty didn't even think about the Women's Aid issue for weeks, and that no-one took the chance to find out gently from Henry at an early stage what he saw, and it's even more ludicrous that people in Ambridge are all buying the wounded hero line when so many of them have cause to realise exactly what a knob Rob is. In fact, do we know whether anyone actually followed up on the Women's Aid inquiry?

I think Helen's description of her mind going all slippery was good.

It wasn't really years of bullying though. He was a jerk and then it escalated very quickly after the wedding.

It was well under way before the wedding, but yes, it did escalate after that. I hope the BBC is almost ready to announce the new Editor. Having said that, remember how hopeful we all were about having someone to replace Vanessa Whitburn?

Any bets on whether we get another topical insert tonight? It all feels so cataclysmic I feel TA should have a topical insert every night this week, but OTOH listening to TA and watching episode 10 of GOT are my only hope of shutting Brexit out of my mind for the foreseeable future...

Lordy. Timothy Wayson is being just as gaslighty on R3. "Words & Music" on the subject of Infidelity.

Every passage he reads is self-justification, woman-shaming, martyrdom ... He's scarily convincing at painting a picture of the various women whose characters are being delicately destroyed.

Oh come on. There would only have been one subject of conversation between Brian and Adam, and probably between Brian and Jennifer. No big decisions for the foreseeale future on new kit at present, for starters.

I keep falling asleep...what is the deal.with Alice's job?

Out of the blue, she's developed an interest in engineering for agriculture. She is planning to apply for a job in an ag tech firm in Borchester but it would be maternity cover. So in the current climate she would be leaving a secure permanent job for a maternity cover job, just at the time when she and Chris might reasonably be thinking of starting a family and would therefore want her to be in a post with good maternity leave and pay.

I'm a week behind but did find it rather weird that Alice turned up at that agricultural event on her day off!!

Whilst I don't want to hear loads of talk of the real world. It would be nice if the characters behaved as if they lived in it

I think I listened to Sunday's episode but can't remember anything about it.