Day 1 of Helen’s trial: Anna scores the first point.

Radio Times: Rob explains things from his point of view, and Tom is alert to the tiniest details.

Characters: Anna, Judge Loomis, Julian Bywater, Rob, Tom, Tony

• In Borsetshire it is already Monday morning and Helen is making her appearance in court. Tom and Tony are in the public gallery but of course Pat and Kirsty have to wait until they have given evidence. Bruce has been proclaiming to the assembled press that he will have justice for his son. All rise!
• The prosecution barrister, Julian Bywater, outlines the case in terms that paint Helen in a very hard light. There are two alternative charges, attempted murder and wounding with intent; if the jury are not satisfied that Helen intended to kill her husband, they could always go for the second.
• Although he has not used his stick in Ambridge for some weeks, Rob leans heavily upon it today as he enters the witness box. Anna does not capitalise on this. In a performance worthy of an Oscar he describes life with his erratic wife as being like walking on thin ice. When she announced her intention to leave him, he begged her not to. In the face of Helen’s anger and violence he might perhaps have grabbed her arm but otherwise his conduct was exemplary.
• In her cross examination, Anna paints a different picture, of a man who gets angry if things do not go as he wants; he protests that he has never lost his temper, though he is forced to admit that he slapped Helen across the face when she had wondered whether his mother might go home after being with them for a month. Anna asserts that he put the kitchen knife into her hand and dared her to kill herself. He is a bully; his wife needed to get away but he wouldn’t let her. After an angry outburst, Rob dissolves into tears: all he has ever done is love her; why did she do this to him?