Rob and Helen storyline research help please

[Miranda20]

Did anyone like the Rob and Helen storyline? And if so, why?
Many thanks for any help listeners of the Archers can give me.....

It wasn't a SL I liked but it raised awareness, so that's good.
The two characters were well acted, but neither Rob or Helen were particularly likeable.

Hi Miranda. I see that you've posted this question in Peet's Place, too, though with slightly different wording.

Would you mind explaining what your interest is?

Took way too long for her to grow a spine. Now she has a remarkable lack of PTSD. On balance I probably prefer him to her. Great acting by Tom Watson.

*Tim!

I loathe Helen. Her decision to have Henry alone was selfish as she relied far too heavily on her family support network to become a successful single Mother.
Helen basically was ripe for picking by Rob. I liked the slow reveal of his true self and thought the relationship with his parents was illuminating if predictable.
Helen had an interesting mate in prison who I would have liked to have stayed in the storyline.
Anyway, only a story and I have no real opinion however

I’m not sure ‘like’ is the word I’d choose. I’m really glad it was done but it made for extremely painful listening. I started listening to the omnibus rather than individual episodes when it was at its peak (before the stabbing) because I couldn’t bear an entire episode of just Rob and Helen as it sometimes was.

I didn’t like the storyline at all. I stopped listening about then. Agree that Helen is a bit of a bleugh character, I didn’t care enough about her.

It was too slow. And I HATE the predictability that occurs in nearly all domestic violence storylines that the woman will finally lash out and go to prison before everyone works out the man was the abuser.

I did quite enjoy the storyline. I didn't like Helen as a character though, so wasn't particularly bothered about her.

There's a long running MN Archers thread that has several thousand comments (over several threads) on this subject.

But what's Peets Place?

I thought it was great (most of the time) think they both played it brilliantly until near the end. I didn’t like the stabbing - I know this does happen occasionally but most women don’t do that. A longer game divorce/harassment would have been more realistic (but terrible for us)

I hated it.
Start of the end of me listening to be honest.

The storyline(s) around Nic's death were far better. Moving, good job by the actors. Also timely & good for raising awareness, you could say.

I often thought that Helen was chosen for the EA storyline b/c she is so unlikeable that we would start out shrugging the relationship off with "Oh well, that's Helen, she makes bad choices." There would have been national uproar if someone nice like Kirsty had that happen (but then again, K too feisty to put up with shit).

I suppose the current storyline with fragile Elizabeth is a good one. Even Elizabeth is a lot more likeable than Helen!

OP, have a trawl down this board and you'll be able to find the old Archers threads from the time of that storyline. If you want to know what MNetters thought of it, it's all there.

That's not the same as 'who liked it' (did anyone 'like' it? What an odd question) but it does show how fascinated people were by it.

Peet's Place is Mustardland, set up originally as an alternative to the BBC Archers messageboard. When that closed a lot of the regulars migrated across to Mustardland. There was another one too on proboards, but I believe that's closed now. Peet was a long-standing regular contributor to the BBC board who had worked in IT. Sadly, I understand he died last year, but the board continues.

I don't post there but I did register a long time ago, so still have the link. A lot of the discussion there is probably unrelated to TA, as was certainly the case on the old BBC board from shortly after it started nearly 20 years ago (gulp).

www.paranormal.org.uk/mustardland/index.php

It was an okay storyline, but far too dramatic at the end. And where was the counselling that various characters needed especially Henry.

I don't agree that it was too slow - if anything, it was resolved much more quickly than would be the case in real life, but I can see they had to compromise on that. It certainly made TA interesting, but I wouldn't want heavy duty storylines like the routinely, and the fact that it came to a head with Helen stabbing Rob was a bit unlikely and therefore annoying. It was however deeply satisfying when it finally resolved itself with Rob being defeated on all counts and disgraced.

Agree, 'like' isn't the word.

A brilliant storyline, bringing the issue of DV to the R4 listeners who often wouldn't have had need to think about such issues before.

I had to stop listening for a while as it was too intense and stressful.

I found the story interesting, gripping even, but listening was certainly not fun. It’s never been clear to me whether Helen as a character is meant to annoy listeners so much. She’s played by a very good actress, as was Rob played by a good actor. I feel the actress certainly has had to make the best of some of the scripts. But Helen is also a victim of events earlier in her life. Her brother‘s death by tractor, her mother‘s depression, Greg‘s suicide. And before everyone says it was all her own fault, no, her partner‘s suicide was not Helen‘s fault and we‘d hesitate (I hope!) to suggest that about any real person. So the long and the short is I feel a little sorry for Helen even though she’s quite annoying.