I'm a celebrity -get me in The Archers! The jury's out in Ambridge.

[PseudoBadger]

New thread for the celebrity packed hour long special tonight! Welcome to regulars and newbies alike

NO SPOILERS please there's a thread for that here

Added by MNHQ: NB there will be spoilers on this thread for those who are yet to listen to the one hour special.

It's starting....again. Bad enough that Rob was so unbelievably creepy but of course the really telling thing is that Helen didn't tell her parents she's bumped into him. He'll flip between menace and charm to get what he wants. I don't think Henry will be moving back to BF any time soon.

I'm happy about the verdict but god god god the lazy stereotyping! White trash xenophobic single mum, jack the lad, posh bloke with a chip on his shoulder, judy dench type older lady oh and quick add in a Muslim character. The BBC box ticking was louder than their deliberations!

Yes - he blew it. I don't suppose he was used to women like Jackie, who could spot and challenge him turning round the correct use of 'reasonable doubt' and who would have had a lifetime of dealing with arrogant males speaking over her

( that was re coldteas post about the foreman)

Is anyone else sad that Graham Seed had to play a bigoted idiot? I don't want to hear Nigel being nasty. I just want Nigel back!

I've been doing my own deliberating since 8 PM and almost wonder what was the point of the last few months of SL. We've had some tension, yes, but mostly it's been just poor scripts with unrealistic portrayals of events, lots of lazy stereotyping, a mediocre/plain wrong portrayal of lawyers and the trial. Some v good acting too. But it feels like the real drama is only just beginning - for Helen especially. Will I give up on listening or on these threads? Nope.And thank goodness that trial is over.

BTW, were we ever told why Caz is in prison? Is she on remand too?

Swirling, no, not sad. Just accept he's an actor doing a job and they did need the bigot .... At one point I did recognise Nigel's tones though - so he was back.

To be fair, the white trash single mum was beginning to think for herself and listen to Jackie. I suspect the Kipper may have begun to get it through his skull that he couldn't be sure that Helen wasn't defending Henry, particularly given that his own reaction to hearing the story about another abusive man was that he would have gone round there and punched him. Or he may have just decided to go along with the majority so that he could go home.

I suppose we've finally reached the point we hoped we were getting to at the end of March, when it looked as if Helen was finally waking up and would escape - but goodness, it's been a long way round! We have the plus of Rob being publicly exposed as a rapist, and the massive minus of Henry being with him.

I hope Lill is now shouting at Justin that he is not going to employ a man who has repeatedly raped two women.

Topaz, I always had difficulty accepting Nigel was just an actor

DH and I were talking about Helen's run in with Rob and how she didn't mention it to P&T.

Maybe, just maybe, it's not necessarily a bad sign that she didn't tell them. Maybe his attempt to get to her just didn't work and she simply didn't want to tell P&T because she didn't want to ruin the elation her parents were feeling at that moment.

When Rob said "I still can't take my eyes off you" the tone was so sinister. Like he was saying the relationship will not end on her terms, she is his possession until he decides otherwise.

Have a horrible feeling about how Helens reunion with Henry will go. Rob will surely be telling him awful things before she gets to see him :(

I still think the changes of heart were too rapid and too unconvincing. Nor do I think the jury deliberations added anything to the drama or the story.

A tension filled 13 minute episode of Hellin, Patn'Tony and Knob waiting for the verdict would have been far more tense.

Grr so disappointed. I Agree with Errols earlier post about when Helen said its over. I was concerned that she'd really done it this time. For various reasons I realise thats unlikely, but that was my gut reaction.

Thought From the beginning that Nigel Havers sounded too like Rob, and the bloody Brexit storyline, WTAF?? The point about some peoples poor education was about as subtle as a hurricane.

What odds Knob doing a runner with Henwee or is it the infant formerly known as Gideon that he really wants?

Or is he feels he is losing, he might do much worse.

I'm just glad the trial's over.

*Sorry; I know that's the wrong word

Did anyone notice whether it was F4J guy who gave the Not Guilty verdict? I bet he would have absolutely hated doing it.

Well ...

I wonder if Henry will still love his mother.

Eileen is how I imagine Gruach to be When someone finally organizes a MN TA meet-up you are going to be so, so disappointed.

But the entire three year long story and months of incredulous frustration was worth it for the Too Rye Ay exclamation above!

Perhaps Helen should throw a Tuna Bake party to celebrate.

I thought the deliberations were actually pretty well done, apart from the stereotyping.

I think it's realistic to portray a scenario where reason and unbiased logic don't matter as much as personal prejudices. I think that was the whole point of dwelling in the jury deliberations, because it's awkward and tense and unnerving and, actually, as helpless as Helen prob felt.

I shed actual tears listening to Helen telling Anna that Rob would never be able to take away those precious moments with her boy. So truthful.

Ohhhh! Is this taking us any closer to my dearest wish?

What a waste of what could have been a brilliant one hour treat! Clunky lecture on the potential fallibility of juries dished out be a group of unconvincing stereotypes. Didn't like the pantomime villain ending either.

I am, however, awake at 3.17 worrying about Henry.

I'm in the 'brilliant' camp. I've just listened to the podcast - 7 pm UK is the middle of the night where I am.

About 10 minutes in, I was finding it unbearably tense and very nearly switched it off to look at this thread. I'm glad I didn't. I was in tears for the last 15 minutes of the episode, even before the verdict and my heart leapt when it finally came in. The final twist of the knife (pun intended) in the corridor was chilling, and I was willing H to say something. Don't go on hiding his actions, Helen! I think (hope) she was only interrupted by Tony and that she will learn to draw on protection.

I often find I'm more positive about the episodes than people on these threads, so I don't post much although I always keep up with them. For instance, a lot of people complained about us not hearing very much of the trial - I don't actually mind that. I think of their world happening around them, and we just get to pop in every now and then. I know that's how lots of people see it - hence the criticism of time-slipping. To me, though, that's why we only ever hear snapshots and that's fine to me.

There was indeed a bucketful of stereotypes, but meh to that. I found the tone and thrust of the arguments really tense and dramatic - at one point I despaired that they'd ever calm down. Jackie was the only one who seemed to care about the specific legal instructions they'd been given and thankfully she seems to have won the day. The sudden swing from discussion to verdict was dramatic rather than realistic, but I don't expect any more than that from radio drama.

All in all, I found the trial a very satisfying conclusion to what has been a varied story arc. I wasn't happy with the message that violence was the logical way out for an abused woman, and I did find myself ambivalent about some episodes. However, the trial week I've found myself listening to the daily episodes rather than wait for the omnibus, which is always a sign I'm gripped.

This is probably a very stupid question but hopefully you'll forgive me as a) I'm new here and b) I'm breastfeeding at 03:38 and therefore brain has melted.

Anyway, what does SOC stand for? Read almost the entire thread and it's still alluding me...

Sean O' Connor. Finished Editor.