But How Is It All Going To End? (Bonus Posting)

Dear readers, Neil and I welcome all your comments, so please keep them coming. Recently we have noticed a growing trend, with people making remarks along the lines of “thank you for the blog - it means I don’t have to listen to the programme to be kept aware of what’s going on.”

All part of the service and we’ll try to cope with the heavy responsibility! But what is the reason for people stopping listening to the radio on a daily basis? It’s no secret that the subject that is hacking off most people is the on-grinding saga of Helen, Rob, Henry and, now, Jack/Gideon. First of all we had Rob taking over Helen’s life, isolating her from friends and family and driving her to the brink of madness and despair. This part of the story dragged on for years and, when Helen finally lost control and stuck the knife in, I’m sure I wasn’t the only person who thought “good, I’m glad that’s over”. With Rob out of the way, Helen would probably get a reduced sentence, assuming she had a good lawyer, then she could come back and live with Henry.

No such luck! Not only didn’t Rob have the decency to die, but he seems to have made a remarkably swift recovery, although I’m no doctor. And now we have another, potentially mind-numbingly drawn-out story as he, Helen and the Bridge Farm Archers battle for custody of Henry and Jack. Far be it for me to risk driving away yet more listeners, but this is a storyline that has the potential to run for years, if not decades.

Consider the possibilities: first of all, Rob gets custody of both. Is Helen likely to say “oh well, fair enough - I had a good time with Henry for a few years, but the Courts have spoken”? No, I don’t think so either. Plus there is the issue that, should Rob prove victorious, this flies in the face of Archers morality, where wrongdoers are almost invariably punished. Equally, should Helen get custody, will Rob give up without a fight? I suppose that Helen could have Henry and Rob Gideon, but that doesn’t seem a likely outcome. Whatever happens, the ensuing dispute could drag on until the boys are 18 and old enough to make up their own minds.

I can’t believe that the writers would let anything as awful as this to occur, so what do we think will happen? As the title of this posting asks, how is it all going to end?

As one of the good guys, and a long-serving character to boot, surely Helen has to come off best? If so, to stop Rob making re-appearances in coming years, he’ll have to go - permanently. But how can this be achieved? I suppose it’s too much to ask that, at her trial, Helen is asked exactly what happened on the night of the stabbing and she replies “Well, if you’d just hand me that knife and bring Rob a little closer…” Unlikely, I grant you.

So, what do our readers think is going to happen - will Rob be history and, if so, how? Maybe there are one or two pointers - will Helen remember (and remember to tell Anna) that Rob’s ex-wife Jess knows what a controlling, manipulative creep he is? Alternatively, Dr Locke seemed to find Rob’s face familiar when they first met - could there be some dark secret lurking there which gets Rob banged up for a few years (or, preferably, forever)?

Of course, it could be something more prosaic, such as being hit by a car, or, bearing in mind Rob’s actions in damming the culvert before the flood, perhaps there would be poetic justice if he fell into the Am and perished. We would love to hear any theories or solutions that our readers might have - the more imaginative the better.

Whatever is going to happen, let’s hope that it does it soon, as listeners appear to be turning off in droves. Having said that, it’s nice to know that this blog is a lifeline to the Archers for some and we just hope that, when and if Rob gets what’s coming to him, these same Archers fans will continue to read the blog and send in comments.

On that subject, the last time I checked our ‘number of hits’ counter, it stood at a shade under 215,000, so thanks to each and every one of you!