Archers thread #151: A Fête worse than death or a reverse ferret? Helen’s got the Borsetshire Blues, Tom’s talking shiitake, George is a rotten apple. Discuss The Archers here.

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

Thank you, @PseudoBadger, for kicking off this long, long series of Archers threads.

All views on The Archers welcome here! New blood welcomed, and of course we are always delighted to welcome back former or occasional listeners/posters. We don't all agree on all points, although we do mostly try to be civil about it. Most of us are posting tongue in cheek a lot of the time, so don't worry about revealing that you think Helen and Tom would do well on Dragons' Den, or other unusual views.

Spoilers: not on this thread, please! We don't wait for the omnibus to discuss the weeknight episodes, but we do try our best to avoid cross-contamination from www.mumsnet.com/talk/radio_addicts/4636789-the-archers-spoilers-thread-7-cant-wait-for-702pm-join-us-here, where spoilers are positively welcomed!

For newer listeners, lurkers or those who just have no idea what we're talking about, @DadDadDad has created this useful thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/radio_addicts/3557323-For-Archers-fans-a-guide-to-acronyms-on-the-long-running-discussion-threads-and-any-other-meta-thread-questions-you-may-have - BOOP point for him! (See thread for explanation.)

Thanks to @OverArmour for various title ideas! I would have liked to incorporate the suggestion from @Fleetress, which was

‘Do do one Ron, Ron, do do one Ron’

(Rob is Ron for many on this thread now)

Possibly a bit obscure for newer posters, though!

Anyway: we got through that last thread in no time at all. Combined effect of Rob and George, I suspect. I wonder if Rob will have made it to Ambridge by the time we need a new thread. I'm still waiting for Pat's shotgun to feature. That can't have been mentioned for the first time ever for no reason at all.

Over to you!

Now, now children, it's not nice to gang up on someone.

What, since Judy?!

Probably! Her days of voicing the child characters were before my time.

They do their best to avoid child actors for the most part, don't they? I dimly remember poor wee Ruairi after Siobhan died. Not many others.

I prefer to read digressions (linguistic or otherwise) to personal attacks.

And yes, excellent acting. I actually listened again to hear the full awfulness of Rob. "Put him on loudspeaker" [shudder].

Awful tonight 😪

Think Ian below is correct:

Oops let's try again, am finding it really tricky to attach pics these days!
Sorry

Here

Oh. I thought we were about to be led off on a tangent 😦

That was quite an episode.

Helen screaming at Henry that Rob only cares about Jack was hard. He is going to need a shedload of therapy to get through all of this.

After Rob had comprehensively rejected Henry and kidnapped only Jack, Helen was terribly terribly concerned about Henry being upset by that rejection (though she absolutely rejected the idea of getting him any therapy). But she has forgotten that now.

And the final enraged “Henry!”

I'll second that.

I'm not particularly interested in linguistics, but it's been an interesting read and I've enjoyed seeing others enjoying themselves chatting! It's not doing anyone any harm... It would be a shame if these threads became too prescribed in terms of content. It's a bit like attending a hobby group and only being allowed to talk about the hobby... it's nice to chat about others things with familiar faces (ahem, usernames).

...and admittedly I have skimmed a little, but have no complaints about ending up doing so (why spoil others harmless enjoyment?) 🙂

I know Helen was terribly distressed.... but I found her words towards Henry slightly unbelievable. It was as though she turned on him with the venom she should have reserved for Rob without even thinking, but I'm not convinced that it's in character given how much she cares about the boys and has put into trying to ensure normality... I probably would have expected her to be speechless and then brood over how to talk to Henry back at home. Poor Henry is going to end up rather traumatised by all this, isn't he.

As for Rob... what a nasty piece of work. I find myself glued to the radio, yet poised ready to shudder in horror at the next sentence that he utters.

Sorry but Rob was a bit pantomime villain towards the end. Good old Kirsty is such a dependable friend though I’m not sure that standing in the swimming pool reception was the right place to go to calm down. The one in my local leisure is very busy and super-humid - far more likely to trigger a panic attack than help anyone relax…

I expect next week we’ll be treated to a week of Pip sulking and tedious scenes between Ardil and the Snell with no mention of tonight’s drama whatsoever…

Much as I also hate it, because it brings back awful memories, but I have to take off my hat to the scriptwriters who get an abusive character oh-so absolutely spot on. Rob knows exactly how to read people, how to find their weak spots and their worst fears about themselves, and he knows how to push those buttons so that his victims stumble, doubt themselves and back down.

It’s bloody hard to listen to but well done.

I quite enjoyed tonight's episode, although it was obviously horrible events. Helen completely panicked and irrational by Rob's presence, Henry on the cusp of teenagehood, wanting more independence and frustrated to not know much about everything that happened between Helen and Rob when he was younger.

BOOPS all round?

I’m sure Annabelle Dowler must be delighted that she gets to reprise her role as Kirsty the Hero. It might have been expected that Lee would step into those shoes - this is much better.

For anyone who missed it, here’s the BBC page on events first time around (with actor photos!):

Kirsty the Hero.

It was a good episode. Pleased that the storyline seems to be moving quickly compared to the abuse storyline. (Not that I thought that storyline should or could have been faster).

Helens reaction will take some undoing on her part with Henry. With any luck he won't remember absolutely everything from the conversation and a more reasonable one can be had to start to help Henry understand. Kirsty was excellent.

Rob=Voldemort
Jack=Harry Potter
Henry=the other one, whose name I forget, that Voldemort got by accident

Never mind all that, what about Ruth ditching the B&B? Fine for Ben to do it having had a mental breakdown, but it might be a bit much for Saint Pip. Give me strength.

Yes I agree. Better to just leave it.

Surely with the B&B they'd be better off having someone like Hannah. They know her, she'll fit into farm life, less washing etc as won't need a room change every day. Plus the bonus of an ongoing income.

@Hercisback I agree. It would seem the perfect solution to me.