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.

It was Neil she suggested as character witness, wasn't it, not Mike?

It was Neil yes - she said he had worked as their pig manager for years, had known her since she was a child, and was also on the parish council (makes him seem respectable pillar of the community type.)

And also Ian, and that's where it was coming out that Rob turned everyone against her or stopped her seeing them.

Well DH is just through the door because a client disclosed something material at 4.45 this afternoon. But he is,spitting tacks at the instructing solicitor.

I don't find the Pip/ Toby thing 'grubby' or think FWBs are only for sad aging prople. I recall these relationships sometimes working well way back in my younger days ( a long time ago!). But Pip
herself is such an unattractive character she gives it a bad name!

Everything you have just said polyhymnia

Pip and Trex are just so dull.

of course was Neeull not Moike.

Don't know what I was thinking

Oh. [disappointed] I thought you were being sarcastic/funny Bore.
Helen was really struggling to find someone who could say a kind word for her, she could only come up with the paid help.

The Toby/Pip thing is grubby and they know it. Why else keep it a secret?

Irrelevant to this storyline but out of interest, did Mike ever find out that Tom took the rap for Helen though, or does he still think it was Tom who ran him over?

What I found odd about last night was that certain family members (Tom in particular) now seem to have clocked on fully to the coercive control thing but I missed when it actually dawned on them. And yesterday Peggy seemed utterly shocked to hear what Tom was saying about this yet in her next sentence said "how could we not have noticed?". The pacing is really odd.

I have high hopes that Shula will come forward now though. I hope we'll hear her confide in Caroline, who will convince her to do the Right Thing.

Yes Jessie, Hellin confessed to Mike and, as usual, managed to make it all about her.

From Lowfield, Friday 12 January 2007
Helen goes to visit Mike. He's still suffering. And she confesses. He is furious with her. He's even more furious when he finds out Brenda knows. She gets hysterical and Mike tries to calm her down. She pours her heart out and he doesn't know what to say. But he tries to understand. He knows how it was to lose Betty but at least they'd had some time together. Not like Helen and Greg, or even John. He suggests she tries to contact the clinic again and tries to persuade her to tell her parents.

Does Rob know about her part in that accident?

I think he does - I have a vague memory of her confessing it to him and thinkng "Oooh noooo - she shouldn't have told him that"

Yes, she would tell him, wouldn't she. (I sort of knew that would be the answer.)

I think the only time she confided about the rape was on the phone to the WA person. She's still not willing to confront it in her own mind hence her refusal to allow that call record to be accessed.
At least Anna now knows he hit her and isolated her and also that Ursula colluded.

Who other than Neil, though? Helen lives in a village of relatives or people married to relatives, and presumably they wouldn't be seen as sufficently objective to be an impressive character witness.

And while Helen can now rationalise how Rob isolated from other friends and acquaintances , she still feels they will judge her on what she has done.

As well as the sab incident, Shula witnessed Rob answering for and making decisions about Helen in front of Helen in the shop. Surely she must think she should tell someone? It beggars belief. I wasn't too sure about Caroline's response. As someone who has been a victim in the past, I don't understand why she was offhand.

I agree the pacing is off, Jessie. I think it's sw by issue - after the stabbing we were told in RL no-one listens to the abused and so we've had everyone ignoring what they knew. The RL experience doesn't really fit a close knit, gossipy village though.

Now we are on the path to the trial so Anna will uncover stuff, but I suspect we are in for an EE type trial with lots of shocks and revelations. Sigh emoticon

Who other than Neil, though?

If Helen talked to her family she might realise that Anya is back in town: who is more perfectly placed (other than Kirsty) to big-up Helen and criticise Rob?

no-one listens to the abused

Of course they're not because she isn't saying anything!!!!! Not even when asked directly.

I just listened to last night's and at least there is SOME PROGRESS. It was almost as if the SWs have finally read these threads.

So Jill saw terrible Tobes creeping out of Pip's cottage .

We can't have pip pregnant and not knowing which brother as that was done in the last 15 years. And written a hell of a lot better than this shite

What I found odd about last night was that Tom had reinvented Helen as some sort of live wire creative genius/entrepreneur.

Re witnesses Clarrie? Emma? ( it is Emma isn't it who is George's mum?)

Helen wasn't saying anything R4 and the way they wanted the SL to proceed meant she wasn't given help. Anna spent days at the prison being rebuffed by Helen and at no point did the DV speciality barrister mention the possibility of counselling. Would Helen still be in denial without Kaz?

But no-one else was remembering anything either which was my point about pace. In the aftermath of the stabbing, WA made much of 'we will now see how DV victims are invisible in her community'. So it took Kirsty 6 weeks to remember the burner phone and helpline. And it's taken Shula over 3 months to mention the sab incident.

If I was in Helen's shoes I think a long time family friend who is chairman of the parish council might be a better character witness than Clarrie, Emma or Anya but that's just me. I can see Fallon - local business woman and relationship with a policeman or Alan or Usha as possibles too but Helen has much less to do with the last two and they probably didn't immediately spring to mind.

We can't have pip pregnant and not knowing which brother as that was done in the last 15 years. And written a hell of a lot better than this shite. Spot on, anti

I don't think Clarrie or any one else employed by Bridge Farm would be a good character witness. The prosecution would pick holes in that so Neil is possibly slightly wobbly for the same reason.
Even Ian is married to her cousin though his friendship with her goes back a long way.
She's hard pushed to find someone who isn't a family member or employed by the family.
There is Alan, Usha, Caroline & Linda but she's never been close to any of them.

Does it have to be a non relative? In a lot of small communities that must be impossible!!

Evening all
I have finally caught up on the action (!) and OH so much but not this thread.
Looking forward to a super catch up
x

I suspect it would be better to have a non relative as a character witness particularly when Rob has already asserted that the family is dysfunctional and will be feeding this line to the prosecution.

But in small communities it's not unusual to have some sort of familial link to everyone!