As doors slam shut in Rob's face and behind SOC, a new door opens for the next Archers editor. Are we expecting some New Tricks, or just Archenders?

[PseudoBadger]

Welcome one and all. No spoilers please!

Adam does know about Knob and was not very happy about it. In view of how the trial panned out for him and Ian he's going to be even less happy about it. I found him getting the job in the first place extremely unconvincing - if Justin is such a great businessman how come he was so clueless about what was going on at Berrow? I find it even less convincing now we've had to listen to new Justin trying to curry favour with the locals on Lillian's arm. Knob's job is a dramatic device to keep him in Ambridge a bit longer - I can't believe for a moment he was the only applicant.

Adam 'n' Ian will need a whole other set of counselling sessions to deal with Rob getting the job.

If Justin is not plotting a big reveal as a gift to Lillian, what about Charlie doing it in order to rescue and win over Adam?

Re Pat's comments on Helen's driving:-

Also, instead of blaming Pat for her over protective old ways, why not blame Helen for being back to her old stubborn "I know what's best for me" ways?

So then Helen can't really win - she's either too stubbornly independent or not independent enough. Rob stopped her driving not because she's a bad driver, but because he wanted to control her, and removing the car from someone living in a village cuts them off pretty effectively ( certainly in my village there might be 3 buses a week if you're lucky). I know that Pat will feel protective towards Helen, but at the same time she should be encouraging Helen's determination to return to her old self. Reminding Helen of the last time she drove seems very undermining to me.

Tbf on rob - he would probably say he was doing it out of love! Doing something out of love is not a good reason however well intentioned.

If Pat was more emotionally intelligent she would have said "I'm so pleased you want to get driving again. Why don't you and I do a trip into Borchester, and you can drive, get used to it again, and we can do a bit of shopping then go and collect Henry?"

.Imbroglio YY to your comments made at 7.07. Maybe Pat and Tony are a bit controlling of her. Or maybe Im becoming over invested in this

"Vango is right, but just because Helen wasn't responsible for Tony's accident doesn't mean she has no record of causing injury to older men because of her erratic driving "

Why "older men"?

It wasn't even advertised! Justin told Charlie to move to Scotland. The megadairy was shut down. Months and months went by with nobody talking about who was doing Charlie's job. The only logical explanation for that was that Damara had made other arrangements. Clearly the work had to be done and an experienced businessman like Justin would have ensured it was getting done.

But a few weeks ago right out of the blue Justin said he needed somebody to manage the estates, and instead of advertising or ringing a recruitment consultant, he rang Rob. All of which does seem to suggest either Justin is clueless or (possibly more credibly) the SWs are clueless.

If Justin is not plotting a big reveal as a gift to Lillian, what about Charlie doing it in order to rescue and win over Adam?

Well if Charlie comes back, and ends up with Adam, then I can only hope that he then has an affair with the equally loathsome Kate (and is caught by Adam) before leaving the village again. And in the meantime, a lovely new character will have arrived to woo Ian and help him recover from the heartache.

Am I the only one who doesn't like Charlie?

Gasp0de it was Rob who initiated contact with Justin, not vice versa. We heard him
polishing his CV and telling Ursula he was sending it to Justin. I imagine that Justin was then prompted to think about his staffing needs and more or less create the post for Rob.

What annoys me is that Rob was a
Megadairy manager yet this supposedly equips him for arable estate management? I imagine that's like a family lawyer being said to be a top candidate to do a corporate law job. Actual farmers/estate management listeners must be quite annoyed about this.

Bert, I only said older men because I was struck by the parallel between the accident Errol thought she remembered and the one with Mike. No ageist intent! I am a good deal nearer the age of Helen's parents than Helen's.

I wonder if Brine will kick up at all about Rob's employment? He did break out the champagne at Helen's acquittal, so presumably isn't too keen on working with the person who raped her repeatedly, and he may also be concerned on Adam's behalf.

Maybe Pip should bring a sex discrimination claim, on the basis that Justin should have advertised the post properly whereupon she would have applied and, of course, got it due to her genius farming skills.

Jenny has had at least one fling whilst married to Brian, I think (she had Adam out of wedlock when she was quite young, what's his name Paddy the red-headed ploughman was Adam's father, I think?). She definitely had a torrid time with Rogers Travers-Macey (who was possibly her first husband and Debbie's father) long after she had divorced him and married Brian, I think Alice was already a teenager by then, but I could be wrong.
I'm cross with Justin and Pat. More so Justin than Pat. Surely if Rob goes back to work for Justin, Justin will never discover Rob's cooking of the cow books and stuffing of the culvert? Bad times ahead for Adam, I'm afraid. I think Pat was being more protective of Helen and the driving, than controlling, for the good reasons someone mentioned above.
Agree with everything that's been said about the scrounging Grundys and Clarrie's and Caroline's personality changes.

I was rather nervous when I heard that Helen was going to do the school run to be honest. I don't think that she's been out of the house since she got home. Rob managed to corner her, on her own, immediately after the verdict and was very creepy and stalkerish, "Helen, darling, I still can't take my eyes off you." It sent shivers down my spine. We didn't hear everything that Rob said to her and, rather worryingly, she doesn't seem to have told anyone that he's been threatening to her. (I know that there was no specific threat - very Rob - but I do feel that one was implied.)

Rob has also come to the house when dropping off Henry. I'm so glad Helen stayed inside and that Pat refused to let him in or let him see Jack.

I'm concerned that Rob is now at a loose end until the beginning of November (aside from a brief spell in hospital) and that he won't be able to resist just happening to walk past Henry's school at drop off and pick up times. Cue cries of, "Daddy, Daddy" from Henry and the opportunity to unnerve Helen. I suspect that the separation and divorce will be very bitter and that she will need to get an injunction to keep Rob away from her and the boys except during his access visits to Jack.

On the bright side young Charlotte must by now have escaped Rob's clutches as he can't need a nanny for 4 hours access a week.

I laughed when I read your comment Gasp0. Could just visualise H driving round the lanes, hunched over the steering wheel, looking for likely candidates 😁.

Could explain what's happened to Jim, Vango!

Jessie, you're right, I'd got that the wrong way round. I think my general point still stands, though, and so does yours. Why should he suddenly be good at managing arable land when his entire career has been in dairy farming?

Good point Gasp0. And where, for that matter, is Mike?

And Baggy and Snatch?

Birmingham, sadly. One of the potentially interesting long-term storylines that SOC ditched was how the Tuckers would cope with bringing up a child with a disability. With a stroke of a pen he sent them off to Birmingham, which for someone like Mike is not really credible at all.

Baggy was at the BBQ the other night, I think, or was that Fat Paul?

But I thought Mike was spending time in Ambridge recently? Wasn't he looking for work at the mega dairy before it shut down (even though Vicky and Bethany were still in Birmingham)?

I admit that now she's free I'm reverting to my original dislike of Helen!
My memory of the Otto incident is that Henry ran out when she arrived in the car and Otto broke free then but it's long ago now.

Baggy was offering to take over the BBQ from Neil. Susan wasn't impressed. Fat Paul was talking to Oliver. Susan remarked that Neville Boothe had "really come out of his shell this afternoon". I absolutely adore the silent characters 😁😁😁.

enoch Johnny was looking after Henry indoors while Ed and Tony brought in the cows. Henry was behaving badly so Johnny took him outside to watch.