Archers domestic abuse storyline

[Hope]

Was in two minds as to whether to put this here or in the 'Entertainment' section.  I hope folk are happy with it here.

Was listening to Woman's Hour in the car on the way home from the Job Centre earlier, and they were discussing the current Archers' story line about domestic abuse.  I was struck by one tweet/email that was read out suggesting that, if anything, this has been a 'handbook' on how to abuse a partner.  Clearly that hasn't been the intention of the writer(s), but would folk agree that covering issues of this importance in this way could become counter-productive?

[Shaker]

I doubt if anybody that way inclined who isn't already abusing a partner is going to start because formerly they didn't know how but now The Archers has taught them.

[Leonard James]

Was in two minds as to whether to put this here or in the 'Entertainment' section.  I hope folk are happy with it here.

Was listening to Woman's Hour in the car on the way home from the Job Centre earlier, and they were discussing the current Archers' story line about domestic abuse.  I was struck by one tweet/email that was read out suggesting that, if anything, this has been a 'handbook' on how to abuse a partner.  Clearly that hasn't been the intention of the writer(s), but would folk agree that covering issues of this importance in this way could become counter-productive?

I think that learning about any kind of abusive behaviour can appeal to some people who had not hitherto been aware of it. That is why I think censorship is a very delicate problem. It has to be done in a way to make people wary of the abuse, but not to promote it.

[floo]

I have given up The Archers after listening to it since it started in 1951, when I was a baby. The storyline was doing my head in.

[L.A.]

I have given up The Archers after listening to it since it started in 1951, when I was a baby. The storyline was doing my head in.

It's been a downward spiral ever since Walter Gabriel died.

[floo]

It's been a downward spiral ever since Walter Gabriel died.

Yep! Maybe they should resurrect him, or bring him back as a ghost!

[Rhiannon]

Great. The producers of the Archers have ended this storyline by having Helen stab her husband, thus reinforcing the stereotype of victims of domestic abuse as being left unstable and even dangerous, and giving little hope to those listening who are trying to find a way out of their own emotionally abusive situation. So much for their claim that they were trying to 'raise awareness.'

Funnily enough most abuse victims don't have to resort to murder to get free.

[floo]

Great. The producers of the Archers have ended this storyline by having Helen stab her husband, thus reinforcing the stereotype of victims of domestic abuse as being left unstable and even dangerous, and giving little hope to those listening who are trying to find a way out of their own emotionally abusive situation. So much for their claim that they were trying to 'raise awareness.'

Funnily enough most abuse victims don't have to resort to murder to get free.

Maybe I will start listening again if they have dumped that storyline.

[Rhiannon]

No, it's going to run with whether Helen gets done for murder or not.

It's not that I find the storyline implausible - sadly I don't - but that the producers had other options that they didn't take. It gives the lie to the claim that this was ever anything other than a bit of titilating drama.

[Nearly Sane]

Apologies for ignoring the serious points being made, but I couldn't resist posting the following from Pan Ayres

'Gut-wrenching scenes to make you stagger
Helen stabbed him with a dagger
Lying in his blood stained shirt
Rob got his pie and his dessert'

[Rhiannon]

Occurred to me I should apologise for the spoiler. 

[L.A.]

Lets face it, it wouldn't really matter if ISIS exploded a nuclear device in Ambridge wiping out all inhabitants - IT'S NOT REAL 

[floo]

Lets face it, it wouldn't really matter if ISIS exploded a nuclear device in Ambridge wiping out all inhabitants - IT'S NOT REAL 

I thought it was REAL!

[jeremyp]

No, it's going to run with whether Helen gets done for murder or not.

It's not that I find the storyline implausible - sadly I don't - but that the producers had other options that they didn't take. It gives the lie to the claim that this was ever anything other than a bit of titilating drama.

This is  the main reason I stopped listening to The Archers. It was obvious to me that the new producer was heading down the road towards East Endersville. One of the attractions to me was that things like cheating in the cake competition where major deals in the old days.

I also feel a bit sorry for Helen. That character seems to have been the whipping girl of social unrealism.

[L.A.]

This is  the main reason I stopped listening to The Archers. It was obvious to me that the new producer was heading down the road towards East Endersville. One of the attractions to me was that things like cheating in the cake competition where major deals in the old days.

I also feel a bit sorry for Helen. That character seems to have been the whipping girl of social unrealism.

I think the program started taking itself far too seriously when we lost all those humorous stereotypes.

[Nearly Sane]

I stopped listening to it around thirty seconds after I first listened to it. The music will occasionally make me break a radio.

[L.A.]

All this sacrificed in the name of social realism:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGIGYSSUOmA