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.

I've never seen one before! Thank you for clearing that up.

I've been wondering whether Helen can start divorce proceedings yet though, frankly, I'm surprised Rob hasn't done that.

Yes enoch I wondered that too, unless he is planning to forgive her completely and then have even more of a hold.
We still don't know his employment status, who is paying the rent on the cottage, but we do know the knife drawer is still functioning.

I didn't know about the whack-a-mole pop-up thing, so thanks for the explanation and pictures. Fortunately, I haven't actually had to picture it on the radio yet, because it's missing.

Sorry to hear about William Smethurst. Although I've been listening since I was in the womb, his era was the first where I remember storylines from.

Would an individual put charges? Aren't rape and assault cases usually regina vs when they go to court? When my friend gave evidence against her husband (some years ago, before coercive control was a crime), she was a witness for the prosecution, rather than the prosecution itself, which was the CPS. I assumed coercive control would be like that, assuming there's ever enough concrete evidence to go to trial, which, by the nature of it, and going by rape prosecutions, probably won't be so often as all that.

I loved this bit from that BBC blog

Shula & Captain on equal terms

By his own admission, Shula was Smethurst's favourite character and she would eventually marry doomed solicitor Mark Hebden in the year of the Royal Wedding (1981), her portrait taken for the Radio Times by Lord Lichfield. His second favourite character was Captain, Jack Woolley's faithful dog

I have the cassette box set of Shula & Mark's story

In answer to your question, Helen wouldn't bring charges, the police charge and find evidence and the CPS make the decision on prosecution.
Helen could report the crime to the police while in jail, and the police could then investigate. There might be some complications of procedure and evidence, potentially.

Sorry if we've already discussed this, but do we think all that 'I was named after Dorothy Dandridge' stuff was to signal Dorothy's ethnic profile?

If charges were brought and Henry was named as a witness then would he be removed from Rob's presence i.e. mirror image of Helen's situation?

Ethnic profile? Is poor Dot under arrest already?

I'd assumed the reference was a clumsy editorial protest against listeners' "friend of Dorothy" gossip. I wonder which story the SWs will prefer - Dorothy as beard or Dorothy shot to pieces in handcuffs by Harrison on the rampage.

Enochroot I think you have to be married a year before you can get divorced.

Looks like the first anniversary is imminent. Let's hope Helen realises the legal significance of that.

R4 I do civil law, not criminal, but I am 99% sure that Henry would not be removed unless there were separate family or care proceedings. So the witness part would not be the reason for the removal, but the evidence of coercive control against both Helen and Henry might go towards a change in the care arrangements for Henry. Hope that helps.

AIBU to point out on this thread that she's living in the archers???

I also want to make the re telling of Helens story compulsory in SRE education to young teens.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/2695331-To-wonder-if-DHs-reaction-was-normal?

It makes me very sad there are real women who seem so un knowing of the situation they are in, but dear Helen has showed us very clearly how it happens :(

Kingscote - it looks that way; I had no real idea who Dorothy Dandridge was (& I'm the right age to be TA Dorothy's mother) but now you mention it I've googled her and found her to have been African American. A clue rather too subtle for many listeners but it clearly worked with you!

I can't imagine Lynda approving of whack-a-mole, as it's not in the least Traditional and also requires a power supply. I think the SW really mean Smack the Rat (totally Traditional) but got it wrong again...

Well I'm sure "smack a rat" at the primary school fair went through several alterations to fit in with the "theme". I think one was even "Whack a mole". So I wouldn't blame the SW too much, that's the kind of thing the are allowed to get wrong.
Not people's whole characters.

I've heard of Dorothy Dandridge too, she was brilliant in a 'modern' film version of the opera Carmen, called Carmen Jones.

Anyone about the acting and script of the chicken killing last night, I couldn't work out who was who at all, were Josh AND Ben involved?

Just Josh, I think. (and the Fairbrothers.)

Time for a sweepstake on how long it will be before the truth comes out about who Tobes is shagging?

Sorry everyone, I've just caught up, quick irrelevant rant here:

1. the casual mention that Bartleby "kicked the head off" a plaster model: if a horse is kicking things and breaking them at head height, that's a concern, more so if the horse is about 30 years old and regularly around children.
2. Ruth and David saying "who" in unison - I don't think I even have to explain why that is awful.
3. I thought Ian and Helen "broke friends" because Ian thought Helen had betrayed him by gossiping about his affair? There wasn't much hint of that when Anna was speaking to him about it. They did mention it but Ian made it sound like that was very subsidiary.
4. Shula needs help saddling up? I regularly saddle two horses on my own. I'm 24, it isn't my job and it takes five minutes.
5. Pip's voice. Sorry. I could go on, just had to get that out of my system.

I'm wondering whether it will be Pip or Fairparent who are first on Toby's list of emergency backers.

After The Event I began imagining a whole mafia backstory in Brighton. I do hope Tobes escapes from the current crisis with all his limbs intact.

Cecile There seem to be quite a few indications that Shula is really feeling her age. Creaky knees, less flexible in the matter of of opening gates, less able to lift stuff easily. She may have to retire rather earlier than she had planned.

But here's energetic Dorothy ready to leap into her boots!

I've just had one of those "where is ..." moments.
Rob and Henry were spotted on the village green, practising cricket. Now I know this was a SW device to allow villagers to gossip about them but I wondered why they were there. It seems that either BHC's garden isn't suitable or Rob was worrying about windows. But why go to the village green? If Rob is teaching Henry the 'proper' way to do cricket then I would imagine he is the sort to go to the cricket ground. Which leads us to ... where is the cricket ground? map

Bhc lost the garden at the same time it gained a bedroom I think

I would hope that Pip will give Toby the elbow once she hears about how he allowed 50 birds to die because he was concentrating on how soon he could get to shag her. But I wouldn't like to place bets on it.