Surprise surprise - Kirsty has a Mini Sausage Roll in the oven! Discuss the Archers here

[PseudoBadger]

Happy New Year to you all.

Kompromat = compromising material?

Girlwho , I'm also very envious that you got in first with kompromat. The word will run and run. But I'm afraid Stefan really will end up in a culvert this time.

Enochroot for scriptwriter! Just add into that scenario the CPS deciding to throw rape charges into the list against Rob and him being convicted of them, and there will be celebratory parties all over Radio 4-land.

It was interesting that Rob seemed to be falling apart a bit even before Stefan turned up. I really can't see how instructing his solicitor not to oppose the divorce would render him totally incapable of doing the basics of his job, and we've already had him skiving off due to allegedly being unwell. He clearly never has been able to deal with a full time job properly, but when he was at Berrow he refreshed himself by going home for lunch and bullying Helen. He hasn't even had the energy to string together any reasons for his suggestion that the contract should be taken away from Brine and Adam.

The sofa-surfing excuse was further evidence that he's falling apart. It can't take a lot of reflection to work out that if Stefan has suddenly reappeared in Rob's life he will have found out about his job and the fact that he has a perfectly good roof over his head.

Rob is work shy and has shown that a few times. Stuffing the culvert was to save himself a bigger job and negate the need for him to stay at work all night

Rather than get things right he shortcuts - and that was what charlie was about to expose when knob quit

How much land is demara getting rid of? I'm finding the new contract thingy very odd - as said upthread these things tend to be long term surely

I'm glad Stefano isn't in the culvert or the digester.

The scriptwriters have been reading this thread haven't they?

Ooh, Getta, your comment about Ian is going to bring Vango out of her den! She lurrves him!

I've decided to ignore that for now Cromwell. I'll be back.

Oh, and Geta, I think you'll find that Ed has компромат on Charlie actually 😉.

I'm very impressed at the number of posters here who actually haven't come across kompromat this week

I wish I'd missed as much infuriating news as you have

Siobhan's doctor husband and the nice vicar were adulterously in love while Siobhan was shagging Brian, although I don't think that they ever did anything other than look longingly at each other, and as far as I know they are happy together somewhere far from Ambridge.

Tim and Janet!

Ed and Emma are happy, and they started off as infidelity.

It's almost two years since The Flood so I can cope with a new steely Stefan. He tried to do the right thing and told David and Jennifer about Rob stuffing the culvert and that came to nothing so it's not altogether surprising that he's a tad bitter.
If he's seen the knifing story in the papers then he's seen an opportunity to make a bit of money out of Rob so that's fine but I hope Rob doesn't pay him hush money and make the story go away, again.
Then again, he might steal the money from Damara and be caught.......

I would still like it to unravel completely though and for Rob to be tried for rape and coercive control.
I suppose it's possible that if the culvert stuffing becomes public knowledge then Helen might go along with the public loathing and decide to bring charges herself. The village might crowd-fund her legal fees!

OK - so did I miss anything tonight ?
not place marking at all

Delurking once more. I have missed so many threads. So pleased to hear Stefan's return. I just have one question. If it wasn't Scruff or Stefan in the culvert, who - or what - was?

Knob will go to prison for murder/attempted murder of Stefan.

IF the new Editor follows the s/l that has been started by the interim person (the episodes we hear are recorded 4 - 6 weeks in advance, iirc)

I wonder if anyone in Ambridge will mention the inauguration. I can hardly get it out of my mind.

Gasp0 I seem to be redrawing my life with no America on the map. Have booked a full day conference for the terrible day, just so I can avoid any screens.

Just trying to get the whole Stefan thing clear in my mind. Stefan saw Knob blocking the culvert. He spoke to Jennifer and David to report it - under cover of darkness, terrified that his identity would be revealed to Knob. Then he disappeared. No one knew what had happened to him - Knob said he'd gone home to visit his sick family and had no forwarding details. We thought Knob had done in him in - in fact he had paid him off. Unusually for a blackmailer (which is what Stefan now appears to be) he had already blown Knob's cover - Jennifer and David did precisely nothing. Are they going to see him in Ambridge and suddenly have their memories jogged two years later? Agree with pp about Knob's general flakiness at work - he somehow (and somewhat unrealistically imo) managed to push the blame on to Charlie when he worked at Berrow Farm, but he's a lone operator now so there's nowhere to hide. Reading a fantastic book at the moment called The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson (about a test used by psychiatrists the identify psychopaths) and Knob ticks every box (more worryingly so does Donald Trump).

I think that's it, Lilian. I used to work with people who looked after/researched into psychopaths. It's a fascinating area. One reassuring thing for me was that the fact that I jump out of my skin at the slightest thing* is apparently proof positive that I am not a psychopath. All to do with the amygdala. I can't remember how or why.

*I have been known to jump and shriek like a cartoon housewife seeing a mouse just because my daughter has walked into the room and spoken to me (and I was facing the door she walked in by).

Gruach, I have nothing booked in for the dread day, but if the weather picks up it might be a good day to go for a long walk. My husband wants to scope out some half-marathon length running routes (as you do). That would do the trick.

I thought lots of high-up business people and politicians ticked lots of psychopath boxes? So Trump isn't unusual in that. (But yeah.)

But anyway - we know Stefan spilled the beans to David and Jenny about the culvert, but I wonder if he knows more about the record keeping and so on, and that was more the reason that Rob paid him to leave, than the culvert. Perhaps Stefan was keeping an eye on Rob because of the dodgy records, to see what else he could get over Rob, and that's why he happened to be in the area to witness the culvert-blocking. And then Rob made him an offer he couldn't refuse for the time being.

Does Rob know that Stefan told David, etc.

He knows that Charlie knows but don't know if Charlie let slip where he heard it from. I think knob thought stefan had told charlie maybe?

He knows there was a 'witness' because Charlie started investigating him. Stefan disappeared before Charlie could question him so C started looking at the record keeping because he couldn't prove anything about the culvert.

All we know is that Stefan saw Rob block the culvert, leading to worse flooding in Ambridge than might have been the case. He took the bribe and now wants more money.

Stefan might have no clue about the events that have unfolded since and may not know what he's dealing with now. As far as he's concerned, Rob's still a manager at Berrow.