Adams affairs: What will Ian do now?

“The only reason you’ve described the Defendant in such glowing terms is because you still hold a grudge against her husband”: The prosecution’s words to Ian as he was cross-examined during Helen’s trial.

In a week of huge revelations in The Archers, Adam’s infidelity was announced to the court. To deal with the fact that you’ve been cheated on is devastating, to have it declared in the public setting of a courtroom – the strangers in gowns, the packed public gallery, the media reporting on the trial’s every detail – is cataclysmic.

Ian had in fact already heard what was said in court. Rob told him. He complimented Ian on the freedom that he and Adam allow one another and then let slip about Adam’s flings with the fruit picker Pawel and with former Estate Manager Charlie.

Rob chose to divulge this information the night before Ian and Adam’s wedding day at the couple’s unofficial stag do in The Bull. The men were already civil partners but they decided to get married on 14 December 2015, nine years to the day that they entered their civil partnership.

It was Rob’s quiet word with Ian that put an end to Ian and Helen’s friendship in the first few days of this year. Rob had pointed out to Ian that Helen saw Adam and Charlie kissing at the 2014 New Year’s Eve Ball at Lower Loxley. Feeling betrayed, Ian told Helen he did not want to be her friend. They have since repaired their friendship but could that now be in jeopardy with this fresh humiliation for Ian?

While Rob learned of Adam and Charlie’s New Year’s Eve tryst from Helen, almost a year later at the 2015 Hunt Ball it was Jennifer who tipsily told him about Adam and Pawel. In 2012, Adam confided in his mum that he had a one night stand with Pawel after rowing with Ian. Adam felt terrible and sought Jennifer’s advice on whether he should come clean to Ian. Jennifer recommended that Adam kept the affair to himself as telling Ian could do more harm than good.

Ian has lived with the knowledge of Adam’s affairs with Pawel and Charlie for months but has yet to confront Adam about them. There has been the odd occasion when it’s sounded like Ian could have raised what he knows but his disclosure has never come. Now that Adam’s infidelity is out in the open, Ian can no longer ignore it. The question is; what will he do now?