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.

But we don't have to believe SOC on knob front . Now he's left he has no hold over SW team and new ed so they can revise storyline. I agree about bullying nevertheless.

ibrowze l'll pass that on. It was our wedding anniversary yesterday and I thought it would be a bit churlish to listen for an hour. We'd agreed not to do gifts, but I definitely owe him one now.

I've never done jury service. Very frustrating to have reached the age of 55 and not been invited once, when other people have had to do it several times over! I was talking to a friend recently who falls into that category. She said it was a real eye opener, as most of the jury members made their mind up about the defendant's guilt or innocence right at the start of the case, without waiting to hear all the evidence. It was a sexual assault case, which I suspect is particularly likely to provoke that kind of kneejerk reaction in some people. She was pressed very hard by other jurors to say what she thought but refused on the grounds that she wanted to hear the full case first. Quite right too.

Just listened to podcast. Dreadful. Cliche central.

But she'd a tear when she got off. I though the end was good. Rob being Rob and Helen still doubting herself enough not to tell her family the truth. She's not going to get over him / it overnight.

Followed the trial and found it very convincing, but no personal experience. Just finished listening to the jury debate, again no personal experience, and found it pure Eastenders; my book club, also eleven members, conducts itself better than that. If that was a true representation, I fear for British justice.
Not entirely sure I would have found Helen not guilty, on the second count anyway. And she has already started on the same path again by not telling anyone about Rob's threats

p.s: when Helen was planning to leave Rob, was she going to take Henry with her? Wasn't he supposed to be in bed? Can't remember.

"Out, out damned SOC!" Yes, thankfully SWs don't have to follow his directives now that he has shuffled back to the dross that is EEs (obviously his spiritual home) I do think though that TA has definitely changed its focus to the younger cast members (Joe is obviously going to pop his clogs soon). The emphasis is on Pip, Trex, Josh, etc. and I don't t think that the going of SOC will change that, unfortunately. I will be ecstatic to be proved wrong, though.

Perhaps Helen should throw a Tuna Bake party to celebrate
With shop-bought custard on the side

I think the fact Helen didn't tell anyone that she had bumped into Rob was supposed to mean that he could no longer intimidate her. On reflection I wish she had whispered to him
Darling - I got away with stabbing you once tinkly little laugh

When I did jury service I was pleasantly surprised. None of the jury discussed anything at all until we were meant to. The discussion was very polite and very in depth. More importantly they wasn't any SOC stereotypes

It's hard to remember now, but when SOC first started most of us were very happy with the change in direction, weren't we? Vanessa Whitburn definitely seemed to have run out of steam latterly. We had whole months where nothing much seemed to happen except Darrell whingeing and Shula moaning about him. I'd had more than enough of that.

I'm hoping for another change in direction now, back to a good mix of old/young, rich/poor, Archers/others, farming/other and so on. Well, one can always hope.

there wasn't

I second you Gaspode.

I have to confess I haven't had chance to listen yet due to RL. Sounds quite SOC-y and will wind me up but still - he has gone and taken his EE storylines with him.

I don't think the focus will shift too much to the younger generation for a while. Theres obviously going to be a lot more of the whole Bridge Farm clan, there should be some Ian/Adam (and rob) stuff, Shula/DocLock/Lizzie, the Grundies are ever with us...

Social workers wouldn't rock the boat (in my experience) until ordered by a court or otherwise.

So glad SOC has gorn, and the fella who pays Rob was on BBC Breakfast this morning talking about the storyline.

It would be unrealistic for Rob to suddenly just disappear. Firstly there's the residency case, but also, he's going to want revenge on everyone who's ever slighted him, which is pretty much the entire village, bar Shula, till he finds out she would have shopped him, if she'd been allowed. Even Susan has shown bad judgement in being married to someone who gave a character reference for Helen.

If I were Helen, I'd be waiting to tell Kirsty about Rob's threats, rather than my overwrought family, as such news is likely to send them into hysterics and cause Tom to go and thump him, which would be a bad move when they're still at the court.

I think the really chilling thing I realised after that episode, however clunky it was, is that our little educated, tolerant, respectful bubble counts for so very little in this new age of loudly shouted opinions and overrating of personal experience. Every prejudice imaginable is allowed to proliferate at the moment, and there simply aren't enough Eileens to go around. This is certainly my experience of post-2010 education policy and latterly Brexit.

It also reminded me of my DLA hearing a few years back, where I had a panel of rather bigoted, retired people passing judgement on me, who interrogated my life in the most minute detail with no legitimate basis for asking half the questions they did (despite a DWP representative being in the room), and subsequently criticised my very experienced and knowledgable consultant for his prescribing practices, again, with no legitimate grounds and based on a basic misunderstanding of the condition and also the medication on question (even though one of those on the panel was a retired GP). Nothing I said made a difference and they had clearly decided the outcome before the hearing. I suspect they also felt as a woman with children I had no need or reason to work and the fact I did so indicated a) I did not have a disability and b) that I was rather grasping financially (never mind that my husband was under threat of redundancy at the time). Their tutting and eye-rolling was extremely distressing and specifically carried out in order to undermine and intimidate. It was highly adversarial (despite their clear announcement it was supposed to be an inquisitorial system and not adversarial) and if there is a next time I shall be sure to engage a barrister to come in with me.

This is the kind of reality a lot of people face when faced with bureaucracy and their futures are heavily influenced by such unwarranted prejudices and the prevalence of confirmation bias. Helen was bloody lucky to get off IMO.

Helen should have screamed, very loudly, for help there and then. It would have said
a) told you so, he's EAing again already
b) shown him that the law and the family would rush to her protection if he repeated
c) shown him in a bad light for custody battles
d) help her get a restraining order

I don't think he'll intimidate her any more. I was worried when she started to say 'I'm sorry...' but then she said she was sorry she hadn't realised what he was like earlier. I think she meant it when she said it was all over.

Of course the wrangling over the children isn't over by a long way.

I agree R4. Yes it would still have been her word against his as he waited until she was alone, but he would have had to explain why he was still hanging around the court at least half an hour after the end of the trial and his violent outburst at the end of the trial was witnessed by many.

I don't think he'll intimidate her anymore Couldn't disagree more - and she's already covering up for him. If she'd really meant what she said to him she would have told Pat straightaway.

Very long time listener and fairly long term lurker.... Apologies for inserting myself.
Just managed to listen to podcast after mammoth effort at avoiding all currant affairs since last night.
I am chanelling Parveen and sitting on the fence rt my assessment. Will perhaps require a few hours to sort my thoughts.
I cried! That is a first for me and definitely reflects my engagement with the storyline and the episode.
Helen, Rob, Tony and Eileen get plus points.
Pat , CT and all the noisy arguing get minuses .
The contrivances stereotypes were annoying but worked to bring the story forward . I cannot see how 15 minute episodes in the usual time-correct manner could have covered it without a lot of unnatural homilies . There certainly wouldn't have been the opportunity for our emotions to be tugged in the same way.
For the first time in ages I am looking forward to TA . I know Rob is still about but I have a feeling of having won something over him ! ( over investment or what !!!)
I too want to hear wittering re F&p show, silage etc and even more some gossip ... Susan knowing all along and reflecting Neil's glory? Justin being disquieted .
I've lost hope in Charlie/ Stefan/ hunt sab storylines , but the coercive control issue has surely still got legs. I too won't miss Kathy if she remains mute and would be quite happy ( and this is wildly out of character as I like familiarity in all things but particularly my radio dramas) if Pip were to have another metamorphosis .

Better get back to Monday morning now , but thankyou so much everyone for your diverting input!

But, R4, that's probably only something you would think about in hindsight. She hadn't expected to encounter Rob, so hadn't considered her strategy for dealing with him.

In any case, that scene was quite satisfying to listen to, because we heard that Rob's psychological hold over Helen was broken: neither threatening nor charming is going to work on Helen anymore.

Thing is, Knob is too 'good' a character and too well-acted to leave completely (although suspect actor will be offered a lot of work off the back of this, as will Louiza).

What I would like is a gradual unravelling and revealng of all his evil doings, plus some revelations - the scar, his brother, why he can't hold down a job, what he's been doing for money, Stefan etc. Culminating in his being tried and banged up for rape x 2.

Then he pops up a few years hence and intermittently therafter to wreak havoc. Battles in the future between Henwee and Gack as they take over BF - although Richjon and the offspring of Tom and Kirsty will also have a stake in that.

EBear, I hope you're right about Hellin's reason for not telling PatnTone, but I fear not.
I hated most of the jury stuff. I'm still annoyed that we heard so little of the trial. And the lack of focus on Henwee just didn't add up.
Lovely scenes with Gidyack though.
Fingers crossed for SOC's successor.

Boffin I'm sorry you had a bad experience with your tribunal panel. From my experiences your particular panel is not necessarily representative of panel members as a whole so I hope that if you do have to go through it again (and I hope you don't) that you will have a better experience.
Also, while panel members may be retired from other jobs they are not retired per se - they are doing the job of tribunal panel members. And many still do other work anyway - as solicitors/barristers/GPs/consultants and plenty are significantly below retirement age.
Not that being above retirement age is a bad thing - as Jackie demonstrated last night