The Archers trial: Essential listening or a step too far?

The Archers trial: What will happen to Helen?

31 August

This Sunday, The Archers abused wife Helen Titchener will stand trial for the attempted murder of her husband Rob in the latest chapter of a story that has kept many radio listeners gripped - and some just wanting it to be over.

Helen (Louiza Patikas) is facing two charges - attempted murder and wounding with intent – after she stabbed Rob (Timothy Watson) earlier this year.

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The show's editor, Sean O'Connor, says viewers can expect "both a shocking and deeply moving trial".

It will act as a climax to an intense and troubling three-year storyline in which Rob's controlling and abusive behaviour towards Helen escalated and led to her stabbing him in April.

Helen's trial will follow the model of a real-life court case, giving air time to the prosecution and defence as they explore evidence as realistically and in as much depth as possible, says the Radio Times.

The show's creator's have been working with charities and legal advisors to tell Helen's story in a dramatic, but also sensitive and realistic way, O'Connor told the Radio Times.

"When I joined as an editor I did wonder, 'Was it possible in the 21st century to create a moment as dramatic and memorable as the death of Grace Archer in 1955?' It turns out that you can," he said,

Writers have been helped by Women's Aid and Refuge to create a true-to-life portrayal of the issues of coercive control and domestic violence, while Patikas met women who have experienced similar circumstances to her character.

It isn't only listeners who are intrigued. Various legal experts have debated Helen's position, including criminal barrister Olivia Potts, who told the New Statesman that "at first blush, Helen appeared to be acting in pre-emptive defence of another [her son Henry]".

But if, as seems to be the case, it is found that Rob pleaded with her and she stabbed him again, she wouldn't be able to claim "reasonable force", claim the experts. Helen's best defence then, argues Potts, may be to claim "loss of control" due to provocation.

However, some listeners just want it all to be over, says Allison Pearson in the Daily Telegraph, who argues the storyline has "sometimes felt like a life sentence for even the most devoted Archers' fan".

The journalist says has occasionally been guilty of "wanting to slap drippy Helen" for her "inability to snap out of her droning coma", something she admits is "not the ideal reaction to a victim of domestic violence".

Helen has real problems, says Pearson, but the storyline has been "drawn out far too long and sympathy for [her] has haemorrhaged".

But now, "over the course of a gripping week, the trial has the chance to show how hard it can be to prove mental cruelty and to win back those disenchanted regulars", adds Pearson, who predicts that Helen will be found "not guilty" and the nation will finally breathe "a sigh of relief".

The trial of Helen begins on the BBC Radio 4 soap on 4 September and continues for a week.