Archers thread #157: How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless clan! Discuss The Grundys here. Bicker about The Archers as well if you like.

[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, 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 the idea of making it clear in the title many of us are inveterate bickerers!

Now over to you, as we are about to eat and I won't hear tonight's offering till later ....

Timothy Watson was excellent tonight I have to say.

Agreed his acting was spot on

but the card being forgotten to enable this was clunky and the ‘your daughter is lucky’ is a clunky signal to a new sl for joy

it’s all a bit paint by numbers at the mo

I was just waiting for him to sit up and grab her by the throat. It would have been the perfect end to the most unconvincing story line I have heard in my over 50 years of listening. And there have been some very poor ones over that time.

yes, I was worried Pat might have been armed and dangerous

I wonder how he worked out she was no longer with Lee.

Bloody hell what a miserable episode. I don't know, I know I shouldn't, but I ended up feeling a lot of sadness for Rob. His childhood was so unhappy and he became a product of an abusive father. He didn't know love or how to love. I suppose the story showed quite well how people usually become like this due to their own trauma. History repeating itself. And that in itself is deeply sad.

Rob's father will die alone next, except perhaps for Miles dutifully sitting on by and, one day, likely Miles will die a lonely man too. (Although I'm never sure if he has a family?) At least for the Titchener family, the cycle of abuse can end.

To me it felt like Pat might go back and finish him off - when she asked what room he was in.
I admit I was a little disappointed that H didn’t dispatch him.
But I also felt a definite compassion for the bastard.

Oh goodness yes Bore ISWYM re only Helen knowing what happened inbetween the last bit of conversation we heard and the her emerging from the flats sounding quite bright and breezy (and we pretty much know he's going to be announced dead on Monday somehow)......

Will she need to give some kind of statement (to who?) as the last one to see him alive?

Yes I did feel sorry for him when he was remembering his attempts to protect Miles. A very damaged man.

Yes I wondered that too. Because he knew Lee wouldn't have let her bring Jack and then come again? That's all I can think.

Dean I think "challenging" because of the abuse depicted, also a kind of deathbed scene?

JanglyBeads
Yes I did feel sorry for him when he was remembering his attempts to protect Miles.

I might have if I had not been reasonably certain that was pure invention. You see, I remember the reason Miles is going to inherit the Titchener family farm, the episode of 3rd July, 2014, as recorded in Lowfield:
"Rob turns to describing his relationship with his father and elder brother, Miles."

Why would Little Robbie be protecting his older brother?

I found that very unpleasant to listen to. I don’t think we need to hear someone dying horribly - the slurred speech and hopelessness at not being able to move and end their own suffering.

But I am probably biased, given a friend died of this same kind of tumour (young, in her early thirties, a few years ago).

For what it’s worth, her end was nothing like Rob’s - she died suddenly and unexpectedly as a result of complications linked to the tumour, and was able to speak and move and communicate fine right up to her death, although she was in discomfort all the time. So I don’t know if Rob’s ending is realistic. But I’m glad my friend didn’t go like that.

I’ve been at the deathbed of two people who have gone slowly and in pain and confusion, like Rob is portrayed, and I could have done without listening to it. Is it to show he’s getting his come uppance?

I hope those who have recently lost loved ones did not find it triggering / upsetting.

Oh that is interesting Asking.

I mean I can see that there might be a family dynamic where a younger child was favoured but sought to protect an older sibling from an abusive parent but it's not very likely.

He's made that claim a couple of times now. As the younger brother that's very odd then

I hope those who have recently lost loved ones did not find it triggering / upsetting.

My Mum died in May after being on end of life care, and I just thought the whole episode was totally unbelievable. That could be because I thought the whole storyline leading up to it was ridiculous and just wanted it to be over though.

Oh goodness yes Bore ISWYM re only Helen knowing what happened inbetween the last bit of conversation we heard and the her emerging from the flats sounding quite bright and breezy (and we pretty much know he's going to be announced dead on Monday somehow)......

I don't think anything happened other than Helen going downstairs and letting herself out of the building. We heard her say goodbye to Rob and opening and closing his door, and a minute later going out of the front door.

I wonder if he has made a will and if there is some cruel twist in it.
so he went with a whimper and not a bang ( from Pat's shotgun LOL). It was a miserable listen, but it seemed Helen was shaking the dust from her feet, relief all round. But the announcers definitely over egged it.

I hope it was not the SW intentions to chose aggressive cancer to give Rob a horrible death in a sort of he got what he deserved ending. Suppose they just wanted something that would be relatively swift and definitive.

I have been wondering about a will too @FizzingAda. Would have thought it would not be an insignificant amount. All left to Jack surely?🤔

I don't think anything happened other than Helen going downstairs and letting herself out of the building. We heard her say goodbye to Rob and opening and closing his door, and a minute later going out of the front door.

Yes, but no one else knows what happened. Only Helen and us listeners.

Alternative Plotline: Ron's found dead the next day, apparently asphyxiated by fish fingers rammed down his throat and up both nostrils (there's more to Joy than meets the eye and she knows which flat he was in).

I didn't understand Pats comment to Joy re Rochelle ?

I agree. I think a few of us have lost someone on here to glioblastoma or similar. It was a hard listen. Although I think the actor that plays Rob is really good. I’m wondering why a hospice wasn’t mentioned though, it would seem to be the obvious place for him at that point. But I suppose that wouldn’t have assisted with the story. But seeing as all medical care is normally exemplary in Ambridge, it seems a bit of a plot hole.

Arr how lovely is Joy. I was thinking of changing my user name to Fish finger butty but im not that keen on them to be honest. I laughed at Rob dying with fishfingers rammed up his nose. I too hate deathbed scenes for personal reasons but it was good to think Rob was let wallowing in self pity.
I hope we find out what happened to Joy and Rochelle, hope it doesn't taint my view of lovely Joy.
Why does Pat say Tony to her daughter? Surely she should say your Father or Dad.

I think there was an episode where Miles said he was refusing the hospice ? The Jesus by the roadside episode ? And then this week the hospice had called to offer over night care at home ... I think

I thought the episode was miserable but hope it's the end of it now. Shock at rob saying bitch on radio 4 😂

Thanks, I missed that, I think I might be zoning out a little bit during these bits!

I was a bit puzzled that a man as weak as Rob (presumably catheterised if he couldn't move at all) was left alone for hours. I'd have expected him to be on a morphine pump and under supervision at this stage - also to have a pressure relieving mattress - airflo or some such - rumbling away in the background (not great for radio I know, but standard end-of-life kit). It added up to a hard to believe scene.

Presumably we're supposed to accept some backstory about either him, or Miles, or whoever the official next of kin is, refusing any help of any kind. In which case wasn't Miles there? Had the carer who was there and who left been told some lie about Helen's status? Why do I even care?

Yes Miles definitely said Rob had refused to go to a hospice.

Re. Lee, I think Helen gave the game away the first time she visited Rob. I think he mentioned Lee and she either started to say something or her face made it obvious. Rob’s always been able to read Helen like a book.