If The Archers characters were acted by dogs, Rob would be a Shih Tzu. Discuss Ambridge events here.

[PseudoBadger]

Avoided a non-sweary title.

Justin told Lillian that he had dealt with "the other little problem" or words to that effect, and that he would tell Brian the "official version of events" so I'm sure she's in the know

R4 I thought the same about Helen's reaction. She's been secretive about the times he's seen her since she got out of prison and I'm always suspicious of Helen's secretiveness.
Though, in her shoes, I wouldn't be celebrating until I knew for sure he was well gone.

I really liked that episode.
Roy was brilliant at boring Tracey.
I am not surprised Helen isn't celebrating, I wouldn't believe Rob had really gone either, especially after hearing Jess's side of the story. I very much doubt that he is further away than Hampshire yet.

But I was going through the next generation of children of the Archers. Bridge farm has 3 grandchildren and one on the way, only one born to married (or together parents) and in that case to a mother in prison.
Home farm: only Kate has children (yet) and two are several thousand miles away, and the other the result of a fling.
Brookfield has no Grandchildren yet, and neither do any of the siblings.

...in other news, have you seen what happened in Walford???
I think Ambridge has had a lucky escape!

I thought Helen left the room because she knew the wailing would start, and she didn't want poor Jack to hear it.
Roy boring Tracy to death made me laugh.

OTOH, Helen's got into enough trouble with relationships and people getting angry that she knew something and didn't tell them - Kirsty, Ian, Kirsty again. Maybe she wanted to get out of the room to avoid a similar reaction from Pat.

Loved Roy! Great job!

I too was wondering why nobody has asked Aunt Lillian what is going on. Guess Rob has gone to his parents? I'm glad that Helen has (unintentionally) warned Jess that he is about again but I wish she would tell her family that he has a bit of a habit of turning up uninvited … I took it that she'd left the room to give Tom some space although I don't think she knew the scan was that afternoon (did she?).

Tom and Kirsty did ok today and I'm quite relieved that the news is out now!

I'm sure Helen worked out that Tom was likely to want to tell Pat and Tony, given that he'd just been for the scan. If she wanted to find out more about Rob, she'd already had plenty of time without needing to do it precisely at that moment.

I would have thought Rob had paid rent on the executive house at least to the end of the month and would also have had to give notice, so the To Let sign is indeed up very quickly. But I guess he wouldn't want to hang around and have people asking inconvenient questions, or even putting two and two together given Stefan's reappearance.

I think she did know about the scan because the story she gave to Pat about Tom's whereabouts was clearly made up on the spot and not very credible.

Well, perhaps Lillian knowing and not telling Helen about Rob will lead to some horrible showdown. And then we can have a wailing storyline in which Tony berates Lillian, and Lillian's conscience is stricken. Which would be a first for Ambridge's Slack Alice, and might strain everyone's credulity.

Helen made her excuses the minute Pat asked Tom how his meeting went, which suggested to me that a) she knew where he had been and b) she was getting out of the way for him to break the news.

I also thought Helen would stumble across Tob when she went to check on the cheese... I'm absolutely certain we haven't heard the last of him.

Rob

she had a huge under-reaction to the news of him vacating the flat

She doesn't believe he's gone, and let's face it, neither do we.

WTF I thought exactly the same - that Rob would be lurking behind the Borsetshire Blue.

I'm sure he'll make some sort of last gasp appearance.

And I don't watch EE so have no idea what is happening in Walford. Is he using TA storylines there?

I only know about EE as I read something in the paper. Some disaster involving the death of a main character but I've forgotten the details already. So par for the course with SOC.

I think a real Helen in similar circs would be very very uneasy. Not knowing where the dangerous eejit is, and having no idea where and when he could reappear. Another possibility for leaving the kitchen at BF would be having to see to her two children - presumably both around and needing things.

A bus has just crashed into the market in eastenders. They are getting some criticism that it mirrors recent real life events.

De lurking to say how tense I am waiting for Rob to pop up like a malevolent jack in the box.

I don't think Helen's conflicted. I'm sure every time she thinks of Rob now she shudders. To me, it sounds as though the scales have well and truly fallen from her eyes and that she can't believe she ever fell for him in the first place. She had a long time in prison to do nothing but think back on events and analyse everything that happened to her. I believe that she's a changed woman, I really do. Right now she's afraid to believe that he really is gone. She knows him better than any of them and is right to be scared.

Mmm ...

I thought she sounded the teeniest bit bereft and bewildered at the news of Rob's disappearance.

Rex wants to become a taxi driver now. Those boys don't seem to have any idea of what they want to do with their lives

So am I correct that jazzer has lived near ambridge since he was a child?

Did someone take the 'stereotypical Scot' out of the library or something?

Bloody hell Anisha - still going on about flushing the horse's joint two days ago. My vet did it regularly - never a conversation piece.