He's not a pheasant poacher, he's a pheasant poacher's grandson. Join us for trials, tribulations and tipsy tractor trips in Ambridge.

[PseudoBadger]

Will this thread see the end of The Trial? And SOC?

The reflection in the saucepan was so patently bollocks. Hope the jury could see that. V pleased she forced him to admit slapping Helen.

I hope that the shaking and snivelling act was just to establish his initial role in the process of victim/rescuer/perpetrator.

Victim to hero to villain. Prospero springs to mind but he is redeemed by freeing his demons. Or Jimmy Cagney in 'Angels with Dirty Faces'.

Maybe Rob will redeem himself. Maybe he'll cling to the radiator as he's taken down.

Regarding "never finding out" - just before 7pm I went to close a difficult window that had swung open too wide. It has great potential for catapulting a careless person out of the room and through several flights of air to the pavement. I couldn't help seeing myself being thrown out and my last thought being that I'd never get to hear what happened to Helen ...

The jury are going to fall for his act & Helen will either start dithering or will come across either as cold and shouty. Guilty.

I don't like the jump into the future either. Why can't Monday just be Monday? We could of had an episode tonight with Kaz giving Helen a last minute pep talk or something. Assuming tomorrow will still be Monday in court then.

Agree Tom and Tony were annoying!

Anna needs to explain coercive control to the jury to make sure they understand his gaslighting etc can she do that?

This is where the 13 minute format doesn't really work with a trial. In RL Rob would be in the witness box for at least half a day, and ideally we would all love to hear him being forensically cross-examined on every little incident demonstrating his coercive control, with particular reference to the phone tracker, his use of the stick, and the boarding school issue. We would also love to hear Anna needling him to the point where he makes his misogyny very clear. But there is never going to be time for all that, so I guess the best we will get is some sort of quick summary from Tom and Tony.

I fear the Greek chorus in the gallery will get considerably more annoying once Pat joins them, unless someone does something sensible like tying a gag on her.

Well he did get angry as soon as he was contradicted.
Do we get to hear more of him in the witness box or is that it, I wonder.

Gruach - reminiscent of poor Nigel's demise

We must hear more than that. As someone says she'll have to mention the phone tracker and school.

The pedant in me is insisting that I should have written "suspension of disbelief. But a bit of introspection reveals that I am suspending the belief that this is a play done on the radio, with SWs, actors, and cocoanut shells.

On balance, I found that not too bad, and better than I'd feared. But time will tell...

I haven't physically listened for ages, just keeping up by reading here & Lowfield, but I did tonight. I rather wish I hadn't, it was so ridiculously over the top, all it lacked was someone calling out " it's behind you". If the rest of the week is going to be equally pantomime like then I won't bother.
The court procedure is so inaccurate, he would get pulled up for addressing the defendant directly like that. Still no change there from the wildly inaccurate legal stuff so far.

Tbh I'm feeling a bit sorry for Tim Stimpson.

By my reckoning there must be at least ten/12 witnesses to get through. How on earth can he make each, or even half of them sound both compelling to a jury and realistic but entertaining to us?

I didn't see his BBC breakfast interview - did he seem happy? Because writing this must have been a bit of a slog.

It seems a pity that Knob - who has been excellently and subtly acted up to now (which is why we hate him so much and are so invested in the storyline) - had to give such a melodramatic performance. I suppose he has to act the part of Knob hamming it up for the benefit of the court and how do you act someone overacting without overacting? A bit hammy for me, but I love a courtroom drama in general. Agree that Anna must question him about the phone tracking and boarding school tomorrow when presumably it will still be Monday. Gruach I love your defenestration post - I laughed out loud when I read it. When my dear old dad died last year one of the things my mum was upset about (and she recognised this was fairly inconsequential in the grand scheme of things) was that he wouldn't find out what happened in The Archers.

Gruach, maybe invite Knob round for tea on a windy night. You could serve tuna bake and send him upstairs to help you by shut that window.

GypsyFloss, i find myself intrigued to know what you dad makes of it all. (I hope I'm right in thinking it was your dad who had a ahem different view of Rob?)

I wonder if tomorrow will still be Monday, with Knob in the witness box. He does require a tad more dismantling. The 'chorus' could easily be commenting afterwards in a tea room. TA does do the 'catering' to people with hearing problems very poorly. Badly done, Soc, badly done. Though on the whole tonight's episode could have been much worse. I suppose Ian will be able to say in what way Helen changed once she got involved with Knob. That would be relevant?

I was correct with my prediction about Bridge Farm doing the Greek Chorus thing. It's very annoying and very clunky.
I hope the judge throws them out of court.

officerhinrika, what were the legal clangers? I'm no expert but I didn't notice anything too blatant given the time constraints involved, and for all we know Rob did get pulled up on addressing Helen directly as it was right at the end of the episode. Mind you, what I'd like to have heard is Anna pointing out that he was still trying to gaslight Helen from the witness box.

Those of you who didn't like the time slippage should have waited for the repeat, that'll be aired just after it actually happened. Tomorrow evening will then continue with more of monday.

Keep up the pressure, Anna - a woman he cant control, who is unswayed by his manly charms.

The prosecution surely won't have much information about their relationship will they - concentrating on crime itself.

Apart from the 'I'll kill him' thing - I can't imagine Rob has pre-empted everything Helen will bring up in her defence so the prosecution will be a bit lost.

Sorry Judy I meant the legal clangs throughout the run up, re witnesses, Barristers doing Solicitors jobs etc!

Clangers, sorry

On reflection I am annoyed that Tom'n'Tone wittered on when they did, but when the slap was mentioned - nothing. A gasp from then would have been more effective.

Surely rob's statements are a matter of public record; what happened to Helen's lesbian affair? I'm amazed he's so happy to snivel in front of witnesses considering his traditional masculinise is crucial to his identity. I guess he'll do anything to get off

His statement is the crucial piece of evidence for him. Anna missed a trick by not going to town over the discrepancies.

I wonder if today's episode will carry on from yesterday's,with Rob reprimanded for talking to Helen directly. It may be from watching too many crime dramas but is it usual to bring the key witness out so early?