Even if you wouldn’t usually touch it with a cattle prod, The Archers (Radio 4) has dished up a week of episodes to whet the appetite for a binge of its back catalogue.
One tuna bake and one plot twist sees the nation hit peak opinion-giving over whether Helen should have stabbed Rob or not. Accusations that it brings Ambridge into Walford territory are flying around, but they are wrong. The understated acting of Louiza Patikas and Timothy Watson, plus the fact that the format forces the mind to fill in the blanks, makes for a unique 15 minutes of radio.
It has been a week that challenges all the things you think you know about the gentle, rural drama – that it’s gentle, for a start. For the diehard fan club who have heard Rob’s abuse bubbling away for months, there is a smug feeling that the rest of the world is playing catch-up with the quiet brilliance they know all too well.
Helen’s exasperated voice telling Kirsty she was leaving “after supper”; the panic as Rob caught her talking to her ally, and the rush to explain why she was in possession of a pie makes your fists clench. Rob plays the bully to a tee. Custard must be homemade, not shop-bought. Clothes must be modest. “You did used to rather flaunt yourself, darling,” he says.
The details are perfect, with a supercharged soundtrack playing in the background, including The Eagles’ Lyin’ Eyes and You Know I’m No Good by Amy Winehouse. And the very mention of a knife brings fear that Rob’s going to do some serious damage, but, of course, it’s Helen who does.
Even more horrific than the moment of silence when Helen “killed” Rob is the one where she realises he’s still breathing. Rob is no Trevor Jordache from Brookside, buried under the patio and able to haunt his victim for ever, but a tormentor who is still around.
Pregnant and separated from her little boy, Helen’s in custody, in grey tracksuit bottoms, while fans old and new root for her and demand to know what happens next.
