The Archers

Writer: Katie Hims Director: Andy Partington Editor: Jeremy HoweBrian Aldridge…. Charles Collingwood David Archer.... Timothy Bentinck Josh Archer.... Angus Imrie Jolene Archer.... Buffy Davies Ruth Archer.... Felicity Finch Lilian Bellamy.... Sunny Ormonde Alice Carter.... Hollie Chapman Ruairi Donavan.... Arthur Hughes Amber Gordon.... Charlotte Jordan George Grundy.... Angus Stobie Tracy Horrorbin.... Susie Riddell Adam Macy.... Andrew Wincott Kate Madikane.... Perdita Avery Esme Mulligan.... Ellie Pawsey Oliver Sterling…. Michael Cochrane Carly…. Louise Brearley

Tracy badgers Oliver into meeting her for lunch at The Bull. But when he gets there Oliver finds that Carly, one of his foster children, is joining him instead. Carly praises Oliver and Caroline for turning her life around, before filling Oliver in on her life since they last met. She mentions two other foster children, before spilling the beans about the original plan for a party. Carly apologises to Tracy, but Oliver thinks his birthday surprise has worked out perfectly. Adam and Ruairi give Brian a cool reception when he walks into the Eco Office, back from his holiday. Adam is particularly scathing about Ruairi’s lack of experience regarding the management succession issue, while his own impressive qualities have been overlooked. Ruairi objects to this, while Brian claims he was simply trying to cover all bases and make the best decision over who will end up in charge at Home Farm. Adam points out he gave up his job to rescue Brian when he was in crisis, before adding bitterly that he’s never been Brian’s kind of farmer. Ruairi switches subject to the holiday – he needs a decision from Brian by tomorrow. Adam is still against it and says Alice is too. At which point Brian decides he needs to call Alice, but doesn’t get an answer. Later, Brian tells Ruairi that Miranda’s put in an offer for the house at Home Farm. The plan is that he’d move in with her and Ruairi, if that’s what Ruairi wants. But honestly, Ruairi can’t answer that right now.

Adam and Ruairi discuss Brian’s imminent return, before Ruairi breaks off with news about the castle he sourced for Peggy’s legacy holiday: there’s a huge discount if they bring forward their booking to three-and-a-half weeks’ time. Adam’s clear, he’s not taking Xander out of school and he’s pretty sure others will feel the same way. Kate though is all for it when she phones Alice, only for Alice to rebuff her as Adam predicted. Kate then reminds Alice she’s coming to dinner tonight, with Adam and Ruairi. At dinner Ruairi’s bullish about the holiday going ahead, before bringing up Brian’s promises to him and Alice. Kate assumed Adam and Ruairi were in charge now, with Alice admitting her disappointment about that. Adam regards Ruairi as just an apprentice, while Kate wants to be considered for a management role too, believing Brian should talk to all of them. Join the back of the queue, Adam suggests.Esme tells David she still hasn’t cracked her dad’s computer, and without a Will she’s struggling to make progress. David thinks one of the cows needs a vet, suggesting Alistair could do it as a favour. At least Esme’s cleaned the kitchen and organised her father’s papers, though. To David’s surprise Esme praises Josh for being nice the other day, when she was upset. She then suggests solving her financial problems by selling the cows to David, but he lets her down gently. Esme still doesn’t know how she’ll pay for the funeral, suggesting bleakly that it feels like she’s on a boat that’s sinking.

Lying in bed with Amber, George complains that she’s always on her phone. Amber defends herself, that’s how influencing works, but suggests taking George for a drink in Felpersham. George doesn’t want her driving him everywhere though, paying for everything. He thinks they should move away from Ambridge and start afresh. Amber isn’t keen, pointing out that living rent-free with George’s dad is a big reason to stay, comparing Will favourably to her own father. George is luckier than he thinks he is. But when George sees Tracy later he reckons being barred from The Bull is cruel and unnecessary. Tracy corrects him: what he did to Alice was cruel and unnecessary. At the Stables Alice is distracted, still thinking about the conversation yesterday with Ruairi and Adam. Lilian’s surprised to hear she’s interested in managing Home Farm. She’d expected Alice to take over at the Stables one day. However, Alice is more concerned about Brian’s promises which don’t mean anything. Oliver turns up for a ride, explaining his reason for the last-minute trip to see his daughter. He was inspired by Tracy’s suggestion to celebrate his birthday. Estranged from his two other children Oliver envies how close Brian is to his offspring, especially Alice. Alice suggests wryly that after all the mistakes Brian’s made he’s lucky his children still talk to him. Later, at The Bull, Lilian suggests to Alice that Brian’s duplicity should come as no surprise and Alice has to agree. Lilian continues that Brian will always do what serves him best.

At Home Farm Adam and Ruairi are confident everything’s going well in Brian’s absence, when Adam gets a call from Xander’s school saying he may have broken his wrist. Then Ruairi calls Alice in a panic, telling her his tractor’s on fire. Unimpressed Alice heads to Home Farm and has a dig at him over his lack of farming experience. Confident Ruairi is undaunted, claiming he will be ready to take over as manager within a couple of years. Alice reckons he’s mad to think Adam will just retire gracefully when it suits Ruairi, who then reveals Brian has promised him the running of the farm one day. Alice counters that she’s been promised the same thing. Back at the Office Alice and Ruairi tell Adam about the promises Brian has made. Adam’s put out, maintaining he’s best qualified to run Home Farm but hasn’t been promised anything. What the hell is Brian playing at? Tracy tells Jolene that Brad and Zainab have tracked down three of Oliver’s foster children to invite to his surprise birthday buffet. She’ll check with Oliver that he hasn’t made any other arrangements. Talk turns to George and Tracy offers to deal with Emma if she complains about him being barred. Later Oliver returns Tracy’s call saying he can’t face doing anything for his birthday, but Tracy quickly informs him that he’s coming to The Bull on Saturday for a whisky with her. Later though, Oliver rings back to cancel that plan – he’s booked a flight to New York to see his daughter instead.

Ruth brings Josh to Meadow Farm and introduces him to Esme. Josh then asks Ruth how long they’re going to be helping out, before Ruth gets a call and rushes back to Brookfield, leaving Josh to do the milking on his own. After he’s finished, Josh chats to Esme over tea and biscuits, listening sympathetically to her distracted ramblings about the mess her dad’s left behind and having to organise his funeral. However, Esme doesn’t know the password for his computer to find his will and is running out of ideas, before she breaks down in tears, realising she’s never going to see her dad again.Jolene tells George he won’t be working at The Bull - and he’s barred from the pub as well. Angry George reckons he’s done his time, said sorry and risked his life saving Fallon - plus helped put Markie back in prison. What was the point of doing all that? Lilian intervenes, offering to take George on in a fight, if he wants. When George accidentally smashes a glass, Lilian threatens to call the police before he agrees to leave. Later, Lilian comes across George on the Green, explaining it wasn’t Jolene who wanted to bar him, it was her. George isn’t surprised but says he’s done his time. When George asks when he’ll be forgiven, Lilian retorts when he understands what he’s done. George then takes a cheap shot at Alice for being an alcoholic. Lilian responds by spelling out just how close he came to destroying both Alice and Martha. She really can’t forgive him for that!

Zainab tells Brad that shadowing Oliver was unbelievably boring. Brad admits that shadowing Mick went a bit wrong after he was accused of stalking Paul. When Zainab then talks about organising something for Oliver’s birthday Brad’s keen to hear more. Back at Number 6 The Green they’re joined by Tracy, as Zainab explains her idea of contacting Oliver and Caroline’s foster children to organise a reunion. Tracy suggests starting with Carly, who was one of them; she knows they stayed close. She’ll ask Susan if she knows how to get in touch with Carly.Joy and Tracy are mystified at being called in for a staff meeting. Tracy’s more bothered than Tracy about Lilian’s subterfuge over the Awards ceremony, before Lilian admits her guilt. After Fallon joins them Jolene tells everyone she’s consulted Kenton about getting in a temporary replacement: George Grundy. Lilian walks straight out and it quickly becomes clear that no-one else wants George there either. Jolene agrees to tell him it’s a no, but first finds Lilian, who’s incensed the idea was even considered in the first place, given what he did to Fallon and put Alice through. Jolene feels they have to look forward and find a way of living together with George, in the village. Lilian then accuses George of blackmail, after helping them find Markie. Jolene still thinks he deserves a chance, but Lilian’s defiant and wants Jolene to bar George from The Bull. And if Jolene doesn’t agree then Lilian will take her money out of the pub, leaving Jolene on her own.

George tells Jolene he’s trying to get his life back together, but knows he has to earn people’s trust. He offers to help out at The Bull while Kenton’s away. George then plays the sympathy card, mentioning how he put himself in danger helping them locate Markie. Jolene can’t promise anything but says she’ll think about it.Leonard’s concerned about Ruth taking on extra duties while David helps at Meadow Farm. Ruth knows David feels really shaken by Mulligan’s death. But she agrees they can’t stand by and watch cows being neglected. So, for now they’ll keep going like this. When Esme turns up at Brookfield she apologises for putting David and Ruth out. She still hasn’t found her Dad’s will or accessed his accounts, but gives Ruth a bottle of whisky for David. Esme then becomes emotional and Ruth invites her in. Over tea and biscuits Esme confesses to Ruth and Leonard that her passions are website design and marketing, not farming. Her Dad turned increasingly inward in the last year, refusing to get help and hardly talking when she visited. She stopped coming so often, but now wishes she’d made more effort, blaming herself for not being on top of things. Ruth offers help with the feed supply, while David and Akram can carry on milking and Leonard will keep making tea. After Esme’s gone Ruth admits she likes her, despite Ruth’s misgivings about being stretched too thin. Besides, Esme’s need is greater than theirs - at least for now.

Akram continues helping David with the milking at Meadow Farm. David admits the whole farm is a shambles and they still haven’t managed to get in touch with Mulligan’s daughter. He wishes he’d checked in on Mulligan more often, instead of assuming everything was okay. Akram asks about Brookfield and David admits how big a challenge it is keeping the farm going. Then Mulligan’s daughter, Esme, arrives, expecting to see her dad. Awkward David and Akram tell her that he’s died. Over a cup of tea Esme explains that she missed her last couple of regular visits and is shocked by the state everything’s in. Not being a farmer herself she’s incredibly grateful for everything that’s been done just to keep the farm going. David assures her they’re happy to help out in any way they can.Having just found out about George’s visit yesterday Lilian takes Jolene to task for not telling her. Lilian then conducts the draw for the second ticket to the Awards do and Fallon’s the winner, although Lilian is suspiciously quick in disposing of the pieces of paper. Later, Tracy tells Lilian she knows she was cheating and shows her Fallon’s name on all the pieces of paper that were used in the draw. Unrepentant Lilian tries justifying her actions, but Jolene insists on another draw, only this time they’ll use a random generator app on her phone. When the draw is made excited Tracy is declared the winner. Lilian congratulates her grudgingly.

At Grey Gables Zainab is shadowing Oliver, who thinks it will be good for her to see the frustrating realities of his job. Zainab thanks Oliver for his support over her complaint about Lawrence and the golf club. Zainab gets on with one of Oliver’s more mundane tasks, before spotting on a personnel file he’s shared that his eightieth birthday is coming up. He’d rather forget all about it, but Zainab thinks Oliver should celebrate such a momentous event. Later, Zainab reports an error she’s spotted and how she corrected it. Oliver suggests she’d make a good manager, but Zainab is more interested in organising a party for Oliver’s birthday. Once again Oliver demurs. Eddie, Clarrie and George arrive for lunch at The Bull, taking a table in the corner. Jolene assures them everything’s fine, but after some ill-advised comments by George the atmosphere becomes awkward. Clarrie apologises and Jolene reassures her there’ll be no trouble, so long as George doesn’t go looking for it. Fallon then tells Jolene she won’t hide and will be completely professional with them, before serving their meal. George makes a point of apologising for what happened to Fallon after the crash, while Fallon thanks him for helping Jolene and Kenton with Markie, then goes. Despite the awkwardness Clarrie and Eddie reassure George that it went well. But after they’ve gone Fallon confesses how hard it was seeing George again and Jolene reckons the Grundys are being optimistic if they think the village is ready to kiss and make up.