Out, damned SOC! Out I say! When will Ambridge be free? Discuss The Archers here

[PseudoBadger]

A once-great soap is going down the Beverley drain.

Hang on medics what??

I'm LA today.... What's happened? Jess??

• Oh Broooohse, you've just killed that kitten!
• So what? Think I care? Stupid kittens. I hate them. I'm going to kill another one, just for a laugh.
• Oh Brooooohse no!
• Why are you talking? Why do you think anyone would hear your voice and not instantly vomit? Stupid bloody woman.
• Oh BROOOOOHSE!
• Silence. And leave me now: you are taking up space which I require for other purposes: the killing of kittens. Mwahahaha.

Weren't Tony & Pat saying they could manage Henry for a bit more in the holidays, but not all the time? And Rob's not going to be able to cope, so he's going to end up losing his temper with Henry, and then Henry's going to end up in care, because no one can cope with him for long enough.

Surely Toby would have a stash of condoms anyway? And besides Pip, how many likely partners would there be in the Bull on a Monday night?

Also, I find Bruce a tad unbelievable, so unrelentingly bad and uncompromising. Most people are a bit more complex than that.

The actor who plays Bruce has had a long career playing mostly Nazis. I think that showed a bit this evening. It was way OTT but on the point of not being delighted that his son has taken on a stepchild conceived by donor insemination, it's not unrealistic. It always irritated me that the SWs decided to make the Archers and the rest of the village accept Helen's decision so wholeheartedly. Tony's very hesitant reservations were extremely mild compared to what might have been expected in real life, but Helen treated him very much as if he'd come out with Seek's terrific kitten-killing speech above.

This is the actor, if anybody's interested - Michael Byrne.

I nearly felt sorry for Ursula. Nearly!

The last thing I remember him in was Casualty. (I watch classy TV, you know.)

Rob was allowed to keep Henry last week because he was able to say his mother was on hand to help look after Henry. He also exaggerated how much his injuries are affecting him.
If Ursula is no longer at BHC then Pat'n'tone should be able to appeal the decision.

How can Rob be able to face home-made custard ever again? And why isn't he as fat as a pig by now on what Arsula has been feeding him?

Perhaps he is as fat as a pig and that's why he's having trouble walking. Maybe he will keel over and die from a heart attack and save us all a lot of trouble.

Bruce was prepared to pay for Henry to go to boarding school just a few months ago, yet he now resents his very existence and refuses even to meet him.

Like patntone would even think that. They would just wrong their hands and pat would whinge 'but how can he care for him properly without ursula there?' While Toby responds 'now pay we have to be reasonable and give him a chance. I'm sure he has porridge in the house'

Actually ... Did we ever hear this willingness expressed by Brute himself? I remember Ursula confidently saying "your father and I will pay" - and being vaguely curious about what he thought.

Will be completely wonderful if Rob goes cap in hand, when Henry proves too exhausting, and is sent away with a flea in his ear.

I assumed Bruce was willing to pay for the boarding school simply as a means of getting rid of Henry rather than actually giving a shit about what sort of education he gets. Presumably it was the same thinking behind Rob being packed off to boarding school.

I do think it would do some good for Rob not to have Arsula enabling him all the time. If she had any sense, for example, she could have pointed out that there was no reason whatsoever why a picnic couldn't be perfectly nutritious, but she chose to go along with the limp sandwich scenario.

Just back from a Parish Council meeting- we were talking about a blocked culvert that caused flooding in the winter. Fair made me shiver...........

My father could always go into quite a rant about people not sorting culverts out, and how it would cause flooding.

Do you think they've paid Bruce for all week? I do hope not.

Time tabling. Keri Davies tweets:

Prepping for tomorrow's #TheArchers scriptmeeting. The week I'll be writing goes out in October - sunset 6pm :o(
2:06 am - 11 Jul 2016

This must surely now be a script meeting sans SOC?

So Anna, Helen and Ursula are all the victims of coercive control? I know that it is not uncommon but this is overdoing it.

Perhaps we are building up not only to PatnTone getting Henry back but to Ursula breaking down and somehow letting slip something which could be helpful to Helen?

Would put money on Pip's pregnancy

Bruce and Arse are clearly the pattern which set Rob and Helen's relationship, but did I miss something about Anna?

Bruce always sounds to me like he's mid stroke.

I don't remember anything to do with Anna and CC either. She got too wrapped up in a case & her marriage broke down. That doesn't sound like CC to me. It sounds like normal life.

No, Anna has not experienced CC herself but has worked on other cases where emotional abusive/coercive control was a feature.

Also on Twitter, Keri Davies said (in response to a question) The recruitment process in in train, as I understand. But I'm a very low man on this particular totem pole...

Extraordinary. Why is it all taking so long?

'Tis extraordinary. And he doesn't sound overly impressed with any current candidate.

Don't understand how the BBC can't organise things better than this. Surely it should be in an editor's contract that s/he gives adequate notice to enable a smooth transition? Poor all round.

As far as I can recall, plenty of notice was given. It just seemed to take them an age to get round to advertising. Badly done, BBC, badly done.