The Archers

Foxygloves

Forewarned by BBC News I’ll be giving it a miss for a day or two.

“Hearing” greyhound Weaver being PTS. is more than I can handle.
And dont tell me it’s only acting, not real 🐕😢

Completely unnecessary and didn’t they do something similar with Peggy and her cat (the one before hissy Hilda) a few years ago?

Forewarned by BBC News I’ll be giving it a miss for a day or two.

“Hearing” greyhound Weaver being PTS. is more than I can handle.
And dont tell me it’s only acting, not real 🐕😢

No sign of Rob or Henry in next week’s cast. The fete planning this late is so not what happens! Tiring of it all,……..but still listening!

I still follow it, but find the Rob/Helen story all too painful as it happened to me. (Not as bad as Rob, but bad enough). I just want the story to be over. Starting to involve Henry is awful. I'd have been banging at solicitors and SSD doors and told Henry but dont see Helen as "bad" but just trying to do the best in awful circs..

Still addicted to TA. (DH even more than I am!) But we are both fed up with George - a charmless oik who appears to have very few redeeeming qualities. I think he resents both of his sisters (Poppy & Keira) and I wonder whether that will come out soon. (Poor Poppy, stuck with George - and dim Will - in the cottage.) I just hope he gets his comeuppance: sooner rather than later.

The Archers was a daily feature in my life when the children were small - 'never missed an episode, as it was always convenient to listen in the afternoon. When the DC grew up and I returned to work The Archers left my life - I have listened once or twice in the past thirty years but have no idea who anyone is, or what is going on!

I would say the answer is both yes and no Delila.

We heard it with a lot if prior knowledge so we knew how cruel it was.

The Doctor needed to get Rob to listen and, if I remember rightly, Helen's name was in the paper work. Even with a lack of in-depth knowledge, the doctor could see Rob was difficult. But, as they say, no one really knows what happens in a marriage and the doctor could not even guess. Life is full of people not grasping the depth of other people's challenges.

It was certainly hard to hear but, I would say, well written.

Wasn’t the situation involving Helen having to “be there” for Rob at the hospital when he was told how seriously ill he was stretching credulity too far?

Without that the story couldn’t have developed in the way it has, but I found it an extremely unlikely scenario.

I’m sure she would in RL DamaskRose but as I mentioned up thread (and was roundly admonished for it 😮) TA are getting as much mileage out of the story line as possible.

It’s easy to forget it’s entertainment, not just a public information broadcast, although it may have started as that.

Farzanah

^is he just a bad boy?^
Can a person be innately bad? A topic for a different thread perhaps?

That was tongue in cheek and probably should have read “the bad boy” as there always has to be one.
As far as the George/Henry, Rob/Henry thing goes I don’t really trust Helen to handle it well. As someone said unthread I wish she would get professional help.

What a mess!!

Poor Henry.

How long before Henry caves in and tells Helen? ‘Our little secret’ is far to big for a twelve year old.

I have a feeling I am about to miss the early "bad boy" characters. At least Nelson Gabriel was charming. George, on the other hand ...

Yes and I hope she soon finds out about the latest lies from George.

Are we all cheering Hannah on?

Thank you Welbeck.

I have listened on and off since childhood. I stopped listening when the Rob and Helen story came to a head - when his controlling behaviour got really bad - and also stopped for quite a while when the modern slavery story was the main theme. I found that very distressing. There are so many characters now that for several weeks there is a main storyline with just a few scenes with other characters. One storyline I did stick with, though, was Alice’s battle with alcoholism.

Archers scriptwriters have been seeking expert advice from charities such as Women’s Aid and Refuge to make the story as convincing as possible and Louiza Patikas, who plays Helen, has also met women who have suffered the same kind of abuse as her character.

The Archers has always been able to take stories and run either them long term. No other series can do that.

I don't, for one moment, believe the are using it for "emotional milage".

The unraveling of current story line shows us that someone in Helen's position is damned if they do and damned if they don't. I hope the writers allow Helen some peace at the end of this but this often not way in real cases like this. Knowing, as we do, the amount of research and liasing with with relevant organisation that has gone on, to understand the lived experience, one thing we can be sure of is that it will, sadly, relate to the truth, difficult though that maybe to hear.

I hope they would in RL Iam but TA is getting as much emotional mileage out of the storyline as possible.
The development with Henry and George is interesting too.

That’s my concern Merlot, telling a 7 year old the father he doesn’t know is dying so he’s to meet him. Neither his mother or her extended family are in a calm enough place to support him even if anyone believed it was the right thing to do.

If only Helen , with Pat’s support would see a child psychologist/psychotherapist to get proper support and advice

Helen gets on my nerves. I think you are right absolutely right Iam64. It’s easy to prioritise the needs of parents/adults in difficult family situations but it is the child’s best interests that should be paramount.

Children of Jack’s age are given professional support to help them deal with the impending death of a parent if it’s needed. Nobody really knows how a seven year old is going to cope.

We don’t know how much if anything Jack knows about Rob. Even Helen talks as though she hasn’t really got a clue. She is always so wrapped up in her own feelings. Imagine being a seven year old and suddenly being told you’re going to meet your father because he’s dying. Will there be preparation and support from somebody other than Helen?

Something needs to be decided soon though before Henry takes George’s advice and throws a spanner in the works.

Any decision about Jack has to be in his best interests. Making decisions in the height of emotion is rarely a good thing.
Ron’s needs don’t need to be considered. Is it in Jack’s interest now to be told your biological father is dying. You haven’t seen him because the family court said he’s a risk but now he’s dying you’re going to see him once
I don’t think so. Much more important to see if Rob can write something about his family send a message saying he always loved Jack and was sorry his behaviour meant they couldn’t see each other
Written in a hurry but can be done better

Never really listened to it, but will now. Seems like an interesting program

Thanks for informing me