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

[PseudoBadger]

Happy New Year to you all.

I agree with those above who are saying that henry needs more of an explanation in general and to know that Rob is not to be trusted in particular. Given that Rob is still around the village it needs to be dripped in to Henry that Rob is to be avoided. Helen isn't giving Henry any knowledge or tools to keep himself safe. And by him slipping off to post the Christmas card, it is clear they can't keep an eye on Henry the whole time. Helen is being too nice and too reasonable. She needs to fight fire with fire.

re Toby and Brighton. Presumably if he had a wife and child Rex would be likely to know in which case I can't believe he wouldn't have told Pip. So either it is a hidden child to girlfriend or something financial that Rex is unaware of the seriousness of? (Or the SW don't have a clue either).

When is Rob due to see Jack ? I don't know the procedure for contact centres but I don't see Helen turning up and just dropping Jack off with 2 strangers.

I must say the last few episodes have been good. And thanks to Pseudo for the new thread. I do agree with LillianG that Helen has to sort the way Henry thinks about Knob as soon as possible.

I like to think of Roy being more of a really good friend/landlord to Kirsty. They really don't need to go down the lover route. He'd be helpful regarding early baby care too. I imagine at the outset there will be local gossip (Radio Carter and Emmur at their worst no doubt) about Roy being the father. In fact there is at present good scope for Junior MillerArcher's arrival to be a very positive SL of early parenthood - with the parents living separately but in friendly fashion. Clearly Kirsty is still attracted to Tom but knows she's been let down by him too often. She needs to be shown to keep control of the whole situation. Tom appears to have realised he still loves K, but he shouldn't get another chance to muck her about IMO. The portrayal has to be of a different kind of parenting in Ambridge - in spite of pressure from various quarters to do things a bit more conventionally. Please do not screw it up, SWs.

And congratulations from me too to the new generation of listeners. I made the happy discovery over the holidays that ds1 tuned in for trial week though he tells me he hates TA.

Off now to seek a bed in Lincoln for next month.

I think Henry is 6. Is that right?

Yes, he's 6. By an odd coincidence he was born on the 60th anniversary of the first broadcast of TA. Same day as Nigel took his [ great leap.]]

Let's try that again.

Henry is in yr1 so must be 6

My 6.5 yr old can sound babyish compared to her peers but not as bad as Henry. She has much better vocab and would be much more aware of what had happened and would probably be asking questions like 'can I not see daddy because he did xyz' and reference an example. She is very astute but even so, I think Henry is old enough to be showing more awareness than he is. I think the sw need to go into a yr 1 class and actually speak to some kids

Congrats Turnips

I thought maybe the Buttons wrote 'Psycho' on Rob's windscreen. A bit politically incorrect maybe, but has a nice graffiti-ish ring to it and is reasonably accurate from the point of view psychopathic personality rather than mental illness. BOOP to them whatever it was.

And agree Roy was fantastic with Kirsty and vehemently hoping they do not get together. Just friends helping each other out would be great.

I think they write 'RAPIST' in slightly wobbly, bright red capitals. Or else 'RAPIST!'.

I wish they wouldn't keep using the estate contract as some sort of sword of Damocles. In any given area there isn't a huge pool of contractors that will bid and the estate has recently used two. Home Farm re-won the tender and the contract would have been for a set time. Maybe they think Rob will cite non performance as a reason to break it early, but Home Farm are doing exactly what was agreed by the board, so no reason there. Home Farm should/would run the threat past their Solicitors and wait for formal notice. Of course the way Brian does business, working out the figures on a fag packet, taking advice from Rhuari and ripping up Adams profit share agreement, it's a wonder they're not bankrupt already.

I thought it was quite obviously 'RAPIST!' - due to Rob's conversation with Kirsty afterwards -'that's libel, if people believe that why haven't charges been pressed' (paraphrasing, obvs)

Ah, I've found you all [happy sigh]. I'm the only Archers addict in our home although I make DH discuss it with me. Or rather, listen while I rant/hypothesise.

I reckon Toby had a one night stand and got the woman pregnant which would be easy to keep from his brother I guess.

And I think Roy sounds like a breath of fresh air compared to Tom. How stifling is he? Kirsty's got five more months of this - I bet her and Roy do get it together. He seems to be after something more than just sex and this way there's loads of SL potential with Tom getting jealous. Even if they don't, I think Tom will be envious of the time Roy will be spending with Kirsty and then the baby once it's born - all those firsts Tom will miss but not his mate.

It's shaping up to be an interesting year!

I think that there has to be great care when talking to Henry about Rob., he;s quite immature and seems to have wiped his memory of the negative side of his "Daddy.'

He must have subconsciously felt how much Hell wanted him to have a Daddy and can't see what the problem is.. I would wait till he was older to explain the details of his real paternity. He 's not likely to understand at all. The real danger would be to somehow create a rebelliousness in him. It should be done by a counsellor not family IMO.

I am amazed Henry hasn't already seen a counsellor

Rex knows about whatever happened and Brighton and it was mentioned when they first moved so any girl he impregnated must have a bouncing any by now. It doesn't make any sense and I agree that the Bbc link suggests that the sw are desperately trying to find a solution

I reckon drugs and debt. Moving to ambridge was to pull Toby away from the bad influences. I support this idea with the fact that soc likes a stereotype and we have the stereotype of city types and coke

Now why this involves sudden dashes is beyond me. But he definitely doesn't visit enough to give a wife/gf enough time.

Theory 2 is that he caused a terrible accident which injured a friend who he tries to support/get out of trouble etc

I can't think of anything that would put pip off though

Anti I did suggest near the end of the last thread that his wife might be in a coma, after an accident where Toby was drink driving.

I've always assumed Henry does know that Rob isn't his Birth Dad. If he doesn't know or has forgotten he certainly needs to be told. In the world of adoption we are told to drip feed from a very young age so there is no 'big reveal'. I guess that's why I think Henry needs to be told something of Rob's real nature now, otherwise he will keep idolising Rob and wondering why he has been abandoned.

He wouldn't visit anyone in hospital or a friend in need - he's far too selfish and self-absorbed. It has to be something that affects him directly.

And if him disappearing off always coincides with him coming into money (does it?) then debts would fit. Although dodgy loan sharks don't generally hang around waiting for you to come into a couple of grand before they hassle you.

I suspect once they fabricate a reason, it won't make any sense of the odd last minute disappearances - like many TA storylines :)

Listening to Louiza Patikas's review of the year highlighted how much poison that Rob dripped into Henwee's ear about Helen, all of which also appears to have been forgotten. I mean I know she wouldn't know what he'd said but surely Henry would have told her that Daddy said she was very ill etc?

Why doesn't Kenton bar odious Rob from the pub? Which is what would happen in real life. And why doesn't anybody ( Elizabeth ) ask him why he doesn't bar him?

Go Susan!

And why did him let him in when he is so rude and obnoxious.

I meant to say Jim not "him".

Ooooh!

Interesting CA comment afterwards too.

Eeek! I'm scared for Susan now!!

On a separate note, I was reminded tonight that the last couple of days have been great because they've been Brookfield free. Hate Pip.

Who writes this crap? (I do know who.) Do women truly go weak at the knees when their useless boyfriend offers them flowers and a weekend away - all of which the woman will be paying for.