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!

Johnny really is the nicest descendant of Pat and Tony.

Did the question of money come up as part of the trial? I remember Rob hiding the chequebook to confuse Helen. I'm surprised no-one has mentioned the cost of lawyers or Rob spending Peggy's wedding gift. Also is the shop doing ok without Rob's brilliant retail input? Presumably someone has looked at the books now?

I enjoyed last nights episode - allowing for the GF SL it was a nice mix of Brookfield and GF. I can cope with far fetched narrative of it's delivered competently.

superfluous of

Not that we know of Gumpendorf. Plenty of material for a future storyline I would think. Maybe they've saved it all for Helen's prosecution of Rob under the new CC law?

Hopefully any financial misdeeds will come to light when Rob takes up his new post at Damara. Charlie should be aware by now that the cat is out of the bag so he has nothing to fear from speaking up.

Of course ironically it was her special snowflake status that meant her family didn't dare express or pursue their misgivings about Knob - it was one of the most frustrating but also believable aspects of the plot.

I agree and when the warning signs were there and Helen began acting erratically as Rob took hold, people saw it as 'Helen being Helen' and in keeping with her being 'highly strung'.

Johnny really is the nicest descendant of Pat and Tony.

Yes and I don't think it is coincidental that he had nowt to do with him growing up. Funny to think that the supposedly dreadful Sharon whom the Bridge Farm Archers all looked down their noses at should raise the most likeable of the clan, far away from the plague farm.

He was known as Rich at first, how and when did he morph into Johnny?

Singing Avocdo at Butlers in the Buff.

To continue with the coarseness, Pip and Tobes have been 'banging like shithouse door' for maybe over a month now, I'm not quite sure.

Delurking to ask: do we know what evidence the social worker has that could clinch custody for Helen? And where that evidence was when Pat and Tony were hoping for guardianship?

Nice ppeafruit So how's all that going to play out then? He'll turn out to be the complete arse that everyone (except Pip) already knows him to be, and she'll need a shoulder to cry on. Cue Rex....? Of course before all that Rex will have stumbled upon them in flagrante

Well didn't he get all jealous about Pip taking a call from Mathew? he seems quite needy and may fall deeply for her, she still fancies him though so maybe they'll settle down. That'll end badly of course. xmadsads

Thanks Vango. I sort of hope it isn't forgotten and then I think maybe the SL needs to move on quite a bit.

I think that Rich became Johnny between visiting Bridge Farm and learning more about his Dad and deciding to go into farming. His birth name was always John of course so presumably he was known as John by teachers etc and Rich was just a nickname amongst friends. It was obviously a device by the SW for when there was uncertainty over whether he was John's son, leading up to the Big Reveal from Sharon that she had registered him as John. Once that had been done there was no need to stick with Rich so they wrote in that he had decided to go by Johnny. It was very plausible as a tribute to his Dad, of whom he now had a more rounded idea, and coming at a time in life when he was moving on and reinventing himself in other ways.

Didn't Anya return to run the shop. Because of course the only reason Rob caused her to be given the shove was that she was perfectly competent and he wanted Helen's business to fail at that point, to demolish her independence.

Jessie thanks for that! I'd forgotten Sharon was Sharon Richards, so it was a nick name from his surname, just like people whose surname is Lewis often get called Lou Lewis, he was Rich Richards.

Makes perfect sense now.

Jonny seems to be a bit of a star. I look forward to him getting a girlfriend, it'll be so cute.

Didn't the Joe, Eddie and Oliver scene sound like something out of a TV adaptation of Dickens?

The Grundies are sometimes treated as real people but too often they're like Shakespeare's supposedly comic low characters.

It has just occurred to me that if Knob really was manipulating/ buggering up the figures at Berrow he'd be mad to offer to go back and work for Justin again as it would possibly open him up to a lot of shit if his past was revisited. Red herring, or just so arrogant he thinks nothing will stick and Charlie has already taken the rap?

If he is In charge of shutting Berrow he can make sure none of this comes out

do we know what evidence the social worker has that could clinch custody for Helen? And where that evidence was when Pat and Tony were hoping for guardianship?

I don't think we do know of anything else the SW knows except of course the rape allegations on which s/he must have some sort of view. I take it that s/he also knew of the slapping incident, though not whether Rob admitted to it - I thought it was interesting that in the criminal trial he didn't try to say he did it in self defence.

Thanks, Judy, that's what I thought. Very frustrating they won't spell it out! Maybe the SW expressed an opinion/judgment rather than evidence - or in fact maybe it's evidence in favour of Helen and her family rather than against Rob.

That would make more sense as I assume the courts would favour the actual parent over someone with "only" parental responsibilities, if there is no evidence it would be a bad thing. They might even feel it's important to promote a strong relationship between Henry and his baby brother.

Jessie my fears are that all Rob's prior misdemeanours are akin to Red Herrings and will never be revisited. I'd like to think there may be some multi-facteted fall from grace where all the villagers gather around, publicly declaring his many misdeeds but sadly I think they'll all be brushed under the carpet and serve no further purpose whatsoever, never to be mentioned again.
As far as Joe Grundy is concerned, can anyone else sense the apparition of The Grim Reaper come Sunday...?

Rob thinks that he is Teflon and nothing will ever stick as he is so charming and can get out of anything hence being happy to work for Justin (although I'm hoping Justin has second thoughts even if it's just around the bad publicity it will bring)

I can't stand the thought of all of Rob's misdemeanours going undiscovered because:

A) it's not FAIR
B) it means that Charlie is gone forever. I miss him so.

Jessie & Grumpy - I agree it is very likely that Rob's past crimes - and it's a long list as we all know- are now Red Herrings. I was convinced at one point that he would be exposed as causing the flood ( it would have been great hearing Susan's reaction to that piece of news) but my hopes have been dashed by complete silence from SOC on this SL.

Just hope that Hoo/Who is reading this in search of inspiration 🤔🤔

I miss Charlie too Binkybix😢

I miss Charlie too, except that I didn't like him persistently chasing after Adam because I like Ian even more.