Dastardly Rob may make an Archers return, hint writers

BRACE yourselves, Archers fans: Rob Titchener may be on his way back. The most loathed character in the soap’s history was written out last year after subjecting Helen, his wife, to a chilling campaign of domestic abuse that led to her stabbing him.

She was cleared of attempted murder and Rob went abroad after a failed attempt to kidnap their son.

Now, the team behind the Radio 4 soap have hinted that he will return to Ambridge, saying that it would not be true to life if he were to disappear from Helen’s life.

Tim Stimpson, the scriptwriter responsible for the storyline, said Rob was written out only because “there was a feeling the show needed a break from that story”.

He went on: “When I was doing research on the story, an anecdote that has always stuck with me is about a victim of abuse who had finally managed to escape her husband, got divorced, got him prosecuted.

“She’d built her new life but every once in a while she would get up in the morning and the windscreen wipers on her car had been put up, just so she knew he was still around. That’s always stayed with me: that this character will be there for the rest of her life.

“Read into that what you will – we’re very aware as a team that this is an ongoing issue.”

Alison Hindell, the programme’s acting editor, then added: “Note that we didn’t kill Rob...”

The pair were speaking at the Hay Festival, where audience members were invited to pose questions. One disgruntled fan asked why the show had killed off Nigel Pargetter, a muchloved character who fell from the roof of Lower Loxley Hall on New Year’s Day 2011.

Hindell said: “I know it upset a lot of people. We’re still talking about it seven years later.

“That was the 60th anniversary, and if I have my way we won’t kill anyone for the 70th.”