The Archers.

[patsyann]

Is it just me thinking that Rob is dishing out cups of tea to Helen laced with some kind of sedative ?He seems very keen to keep making sure she drinks them up. Would account for her exhaustion .

[Bordeaux]

You may be on to something, the editor was on radio some time ago and
decided to run the story about wife abuse Rob is a wrong urn do you
recall he got Helen to drink a lot of wine and then she was in the club.?
I wonder about Pip and her night away antics ?
Good listening

[mikey4444]

I would be surprised if Rob wa doing this !

Nasty piece of work altogether.

[jourdain2]

I don't think he's doing that. I tried to feed my ex - became physically abusive - some of his calmers; but they don't dissolve very well and if Rob saw granules floating on the top of his coffee he would go really bonkers.

Exhaustion could be 2nd pregnancy (they are all different and she didn't want this one) combined with growing worries about her relationship with Rob. Don't forget that the less you are in the world - the more introspective you get until you start to hug the 'certaincies'.

[jourdain2]

Sorry foor not being clear, Helen would probably see said granules.

[mikey4444]

What Rob did last might was unbelievable, even for him !

I don't want to spoil things for our Sunday Omnibus fans. so I will say no more, but he is a ruddy psychopath !

[bookbinder]

Am I alone in becoming a bit tired of the Rob/Helen storyline?

[melv16]

Same here BB. I understand that the script editor came from the Eastenders team. So I think this story line will go on and on.

[bookbinder]

groan! ...but my wife's a fan!

[mikey4444]

Saw this in my Guardian yesterday !

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/feb/04/justgiving-page-archers-helen-raises-thousands-domestic-violence-charity

I am not in a bit fed up with the story line. It is one of the strongest for years. It appears to be very realistic, if the response to the charity is anything to go by.

[zebo]

She'll have the baby and he'll have her declared unfit and take the baby away, possibly even Henry too. We still don't know what the Doctor knows, I'm not convinced about his divorce, that could be a way out, bigamy.

[hellywelly4]

I think the amount raised is over £30,000 now. At my previous W.I. We donated items for the local women's refuge: toiletries, new underwear, toys, bedding in fact just about everything that would be useful. We laughed and said we would donate large knickers as they would be fat (don't ask me why we thought this, I don't know). The reply was that the size they needed was the smallest as these women are so thin, almost skeletal. They are so abused they don't eat, they leave home with just the clothes they (and their children) are standing up in. It was certainly a wake-up call for me. Personally I haven't had any experience of abuse, but my intelligent, outgoing, fun-loving daughter became quiet, felt she had no opinion on anything and sooo thin. She admitted later that she had been controlled mentally (never physically, he was too clever for that) and had even decided the clothes she wore. Yet I never knew. She's pretty well back to how she was, but it has taken its toll on her.

[bookbinder]

What's been done for the charity is very praiseworthy, of course, but I still wish that Helen would pour her heart out to some character in the soap who could blow Rob out of the water!

[hellywelly4]

My daughter never breathed a word to me until she was desperate.

[zebo]

Talking to someone would be admitting she had made a mistake and for many, pride is more important to them. I'm still pinning my hopes on a dodgy divorce to get rid of him.

[mikey4444]

A cheese knife between the shoulder blades would be much more preferable!

[bookbinder]

A dagger inserted between two ribs and then twisted was all that it took when I served Queen and country!

[jourdain2]

hellywelly's right - you feel a failure and don't breathe a word. The mental control is horrible- to be honest, I was relieved when he turned violent and I could get a doctor's statement and call the police. Even then, I was so unsure of my ground that I waited until the third time he tried to strangle me. Well, it's all in the past and I'm sure your daughter will recover and find happiness as I did, hellywelly.

If my dear OH these days says almost anything corrective, I am still inclined to turn on him and I know I am over-sensitive to anything that could possibly smack of criticism. Poor lamb, he has his own moods - as does everyone - so I try harder to understand him in my turn. :)

[hellywelly4]

Thank you jourdain, she has a lovely partner now (I hope!!) and I just keep everything crossed that she will continue to be happy.

[jourdain2]

hellywelly :) xx

[horselady]

I worked with a woman who has a partner like this. We watched her go from a fun-loving person to someone so controlled she thought she was worthless, it was heartbreaking and nothing we tried to do helped because she simply loved him and believed he was looking after her, although he sneered at her clothes and her weight, in front of other people. I've retired now but apparently her situation has got worse. Until she accepts that she is being ill-treated she won't ask for help.