As the Archers threads age like a fine wine, or a cheese, come and join us - it's nearly time for the Ambridge Flower and Produce show

[PseudoBadger]

Hopefully we can go back to an ordinary tale of country folk?

Spoilers are frowned upon.... There's a thread for that.

I thought the slow hand clap was the perfect response. Also saved on expenses for unknown cricketers

Am still agog at how nasty he was.
Adam - not a man.
Johnny - brainless
Helen - vile and demented.
Team - charity case

All of which was "a storm in a tea cup". Blimey. Comeuppances can't come quickly and toughly for me.

Unless Caz and her family had moved 'up north' from London due to property prices Jasper.

Totally agree Fiderer!

Fiderer I can't remember the exact words. I think the judge made no comment at the trial but at the hearing about Henry the Judge commented that where Mr Titchener's statement differed from that of the social worker then he preferred to believe the social worker. There was another conflicting statement which the Judge said he gave more weight to than Rob's but I can't remember whose that was. Pat'n'Tone's, perhaps.

I expect the silly little hiccough in the Bull was Emma's fault though.

I think the rapid unraveling of Rob isin character. In the past when he has had a run in with anyone, he has gone looking for sympathy. What he has failed to grasp, because in his mind he hasn't done anything wrong, is that he no longer has any friends to get that sympathy from.

However desperate, he is still looking for validation.

Are there many MBUs around the country? I'd somehow have thought it wasn't unusual for mothers to be placed quite a way from home, depending on where had spaces.

Buttered - I take you point, but in the space of ONE day, he tried to get Emma to be an accomplice in breaking his court order, then just happened to meet Emma again when he'd had a lot to drink. And within TWO days of that (well one day, because Saturdays don't exist in Ambridge ), there happened to be a special cricket match giving an opportunity for Rob to have an argument with the three more men of the village that he hadn't managed to catch at the pub on Friday! Phew!

Maybe he's going to die on the operating table, so they're rushing through all this "closure" for the listeners.

As I was driving to work this morning, I was thinking (and then forgot ) - for the traditional bonfire night on the Green, the could have a Rob effigy as the guy. The whole village will cheer, except Henry, who will be traumatised, as he realises everyone is burning his Daddy because they hate him.

I'm almost hoping Rob does try (and fail) to abduct Henry - something that clearly shows him that Daddy Wob is a Wotter.

I did notice that both Roy and Kate took Phoebe to Oxford, but I felt sad that Hayley had been excluded.

I think you're right Jasper.

Interesting to contemplate the public/private thing. I might be wrong, but wasn't there some kind of public argument between Rob and Adam before? I'm sure I remember him saying something homophobic in front of others, who did the usual sort of "steady on" type noises? Maybe around the time of the sledging/cheating.

And of course the confrontations with Emma were both "private" initially. One in an empty cafe at the end of the day (probably hoped to catch her leaving), and the other in the corridor by the toilets in the pub. (You could hear what happened, she came through a door from the bar into a quiet space - obviously a corridor, and the end where the toilets were was nearer to David and Jazzer's table.) It was only Emma's courage in raising her voice that meant the others heard what was going on before he had the chance to attack her or worse. She was so brave, like a fearless terrier having a stand-off with a rottweiler. :)

But as someone said earlier, my joy in the village turning against him is totally suffused in anxiety. "I think all that ho-ho-ho bullying he is getting is going to make him worse and soon something horrible and violent will happen to someone innocent."

They have built him up almost perfectly as the kind of narcissistic man whose worth is all rolled up in his image as perfect career/family/sporting/social man. When it shatters, they're the sort of people who go on a bloody rampage/kill their wife and kids before killing themselves.

Look at this for example.

I reckon that Titch is like Kenneth Williams as Julius Ceaser being assassinated in the Carry On Up the Forum Film screaming;

"INFAMY! INFAMY! THEY'VE ALL GOT IT IN FOR ME!!"

if Kaz and her mum and children live between Ambridge and the MBU, her accent is surprising. Or else the prison is a lot further south than I imagined.

North London, and then rural Norfolk or Lincolnshire perhaps?

Sorry, ppeat, but Gap0de and I covered the infamy joke on this thread last Thursday...

Her family probably don't live nearby. One of the many problems with women's prisons is because of the small numbers of female prisoners, there are few female prisons, which are widely spaced so female prisoners are often far from home.

A quick google suggests there are 8 MBUs in the whole country.

There's been speculation about Knob turning into a family annihilator previously, Vincent. God, I sincerely hope not. If the stabbing was all too EE for regular fans, then that really would be a plot development too far. I hope it stays at this level - satisfying moments where he's taken down in public until he eventually departs in a whiff of sulphur. If the psychological assessment concludes that he must undergo some serious counselling (not sure what it can do for NPD though?) in order to maintain links with Jack, I can't see him really playing ball. I think he'd rather slink off. He can go to Canada or - more likely perhaps - Hampshire, where Arsula can nurse him and he can work on the family farm, scheming to oust Miles. That would keep him out of the way, but he could still pop up ('behind you! behind you!) from time to time to get the SL fizzing again.

Yes, I hope they won't go down that route, even a failed attempt would be too EE.

I feel like they might be setting things up for a coercive control case which results in Rob being jailed. The problem is that I think there is now an unrealistic number of third party witnesses to Robs true character.

That would be more grown up.

In reality (Archers reality that is) I think the most likely is that he violently attacks, or at least kidnaps, one person. Tony, Pat, Emma, Kirsty are all vulnerable, along with obviously Helen and the boys.

After which - whatever the outcome - he's finally carted off to prison and so ends the storyline (for now).

please will they now end this storyline. I only half-listen to the omnibus edition - turning it down when R and/or H and/or P&T are in it. The storyline (how many years has it run now?) has made its point and we all understand Rob is evil (but now becoming a caricature of evilness and stunningly one-dimensional) and Hel is so brave, so good, so protected (even though she did stab someone violently and did not call for help for some time) that the whole thing is making my teeth hurt. It would be quite easy and a relief to many of us if they would give Rob his comeuppance and remove him speedily from Ambridge.

Mollie123- YY to the Rob SL coming to an end ASAP. I hate to think they might be building towards a family annihilator conclusion ( although I can see it looks as if they might be heading that way).

There are MBUs in North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Cheshire, Gloucestershire, Peterborough and Surrey. I had the impression that Helen and Kaz were north of Borsetshire, but I don't think that this was ever explicitly stated. Probably people talked about going up to visit Helen, or something along those lines.

But Kaz's accent suggests that she is not from the north or west of England, and Helen would have been able to go from Ambridge to the MBU via Kaz's family's home, so presumably the MBU is the one in Surrey or possibly Peterborough.

Or, alternatively, Kaz's mum moved the family up North from their home in the South-East when a road was due to be built through their home, and she kept her accent.

I suppose to round it off properly and fulfil the public information brief then Rob should be prosecuted for coercive control. Also, ideally Helen and Jess would pursue a rape case against him.
I don't know if we could all stand much more though!

I suspect he will continue to lurk and disrupt Henry so, on balance, I want him gone now.