06/08/2025

Ruth makes a controversial decision, and Emma has reservations.

Kate gives Kirsty the news that that Chris won’t require Rookery Cottage back after all, so Jakob can stay put. Kirsty asserts that’s absolutely fine with her. She’ll keep looking for a tenant. Later Kate laments there’s no sign Brian will change his mind about the harvest. He and Justin are as bad as each other. Kirsty counters that Justin’s capable of changing his mind in the blink of an eye – just take the beaver scheme for example. Kate suddenly wrongfoots Kirsty by suggesting she becomes Kirsty’s tenant. It would get her out of her dad’s hair. It’s the perfect solution; they’ll have so much fun!Oliver’s trying to track down his shooting magazine. Susan struggles to remember where it’s being stored; everyone’s magazines seem to be somewhere different. She tries Tracy’s house.Dane’s confident Leroy’s fete tug of war team will be victorious. Oliver declares Dane’s done a wonderful job. Oliver looks ahead to their autumn wedding fayre. He’s surprised to learn Dane’s advertising for a coordinator when he has Lily right there. Dane says he’ll make sure Lily applies. Later when Lily and Brad try to share some tug of war tactics with Dane he shuts them down. Lily’s unimpressed. She tells Brad she’s not applying for the wedding coordinator post, it’s not for her. She confides later that she liked Dane to start with, but he’s too keen on work – he never talks to her about anything else. She thinks they should bypass Dane and talk to Leroy directly about tactics. This way she guarantees they’ll win.

Kate informs Stella that Brian’s gone away with Miranda for the week. Stella didn’t know this, but acknowledged it was unlikely she’d have changed his mind about the stand he was taking against the harvest anyway.Jakob takes a dim view of having to view Willow Farm as a rental option, but goes along with it. He presents what at first appears to be a negative impression, with Kate attempting valiantly to turn all his downsides into positives. Relieved Kirsty’s fine with the potential outcome, but Jakob stops her in her tracks by declaring the room ideal. He’ll take it. Kate assures nonplussed Kirsty that Jakob won’t hide away in his room, but will spend lots of his time downstairs socialising. Isn’t it wonderful? Kirsty agrees that it is.It's the final week of Ben’s nursing course and he’s struggling to find a job. David asserts he can always come back to farming, but when Ben gets a soaking from a dirty water pipe he’s not impressed. David gives him an admin task instead, and asks him to gather information on the Grey Gables tug of war team when he goes to the Health Club on Wednesday. Stella arrives to enlist their support with a plan. With Brian away she intends to get the BL harvest in without his knowledge. Will David help her? David has to refuse; Brian is family and he can’t go against his wishes. Ben wonders if Stella might ask Ruth instead.

Kate’s ears prick up when she finds out Kirsty’s on the hunt for a lodger. She thinks she may know just the person. She suggests Chris Carter might need to take back Rookery Cottage while he’s out of the flat, leaving Jakob without a home. She volunteers him for a look round Willow Farm, while admitting to a crestfallen Kirsty that he can be annoyingly fussy. Brian’s determined to stick to his plan of refusing to harvest the BL wheat. Katie insists this is not a good idea – it’s bound to get messy if solicitors get involved. Brian doesn’t want to hear it. Stella also gets on Brian’s case, to no avail. She then suggests a meeting with Justin to try and iron things out, to which Brian grudgingly agrees. Having worked her persuasive magic on Justin by pointing out the awkwardness of her situation, he too accedes to her request to meet. Justin declares that Home Farm is contracted to harvest the wheat, and there’s a stalemate as Brian points out that any legal proceedings against him would take so long that the crop would be spoiled anyway. All Justin needs to do is drop his controversial plans and the harvest can start tomorrow. Despairing Stella gets them to meet on common ground – their mutual trust in her. But any hope of a rapprochement is lost when Justin brings up the poisoning of the Am, and mentions Jennifer. Brian leaves, spitting his parting shot: Justin’s wheat can rot in the dirt.

During a break in the Board meeting Brian and Annabelle rail against Justin’s duplicity and Martyn’s apparent capitulation, intimating they might even contemplate resignation. But when Justin later suggests his opponents should resign, Brian hits the roof. Martyn offers the compromise of a feasibility report, then closes the meeting. Later at The Bull, Martyn claims this as a result, brushing off Brian and Annabelle’s accusations that he has reneged on his previous position. Justin joins them, playing the innocent to their accusations of treachery, before arguing the case for his suggested food storage facility and vertical farming. When Brian lashes out Martyn suggests Brian’s in danger of losing the BL contract altogether. But Brian doesn’t give a damn – they can get someone else to do their wheat harvest!Neil and Susan pick their way through the stock piled high at Ambridge View, worried about the effect the chaos is having on Martha. Susan admits to feeling sorry for herself too, so when Chris takes them out for dinner at The Bull later, Neil explains that it’s not just the shop getting Susan down, but also the business of Amber and Nana Ivy’s ring. Chris sympathises, but when he supposes it might be better for Martha to stay with Alice, Neil is quick to say that having Martha at Ambridge View is what’s keeping Susan going. But it’s Susan who then suggests Chris and Martha could find somewhere else to stay, if they want. Chris readily agrees and heads to the bar while Susan reasons to Neil that there’ll be more space to put the stock if Chris vacates his room.

On a prison visit George tells Brad he’s worried about Chelsea upsetting Amber. Brad says Chelsea feels awful and wants to put it right, but Amber won’t let her. Brad then persuades George to try and get Amber to accept Chelsea’s apologies. When George asks about Mia he can’t believe she told Brad on his birthday that she’s seeing someone else. Brad is embarrassed by how upset it’s made him. George’s attempts to console Brad fall on stony ground, until George drops in that he wants Brad to be his best man and Brad is thrilled to accept.At the hospital Alice doesn’t want Chris to tell anyone about Brian’s suggestion that she take over running Home Farm. Right now Alice is focused on finding out what’s going on with Martha. Chris insists there’s nothing wrong, but Alice has a list of Martha’s behaviours that could show she has Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. After seeing the paediatrician though Alice is disappointed that nothing was confirmed or denied. Chris interprets the doctor’s words as meaning there isn’t any cause for concern. It was only because Alice kept pushing that she suggested waiting until Martha is six before definitively ruling it out. Alice is shocked when Chris then reveals that he too researched the condition and prayed for Martha’s survival. But Alice has to stop, because he can’t take any more of her obsessive concern. Chris delivers some home truths about getting things in perspective and when Martha completes an impressive manoeuvre on some playground monkey bars they agree she’s doing fine.

David finds Stella taking time out from stewing over Justin’s plans for the Estate land. Stella admits she feels the whole mess is at least partly her fault. Despite David’s reassurance that things won’t turn out as badly as she thinks, Stella’s not convinced. Stella then confides how hard she finds being a parent to Rosie. David tells Stella she can always talk to him and Ruth whenever she finds things are getting on top of her, especially with Brian and Justin. He sympathises with Stella’s view that she just wants to be left to get on with farming. Whatever happens at the Board meeting on Friday, David tells Stella, she should keep her focus on that.Jolene has invited Ed, Mia and the family for a free meal at The Bull, though only Emma is with them. When Mia keeps getting messages she blurts out that she’s seeing someone at University, Jesse. But they’re not rushing into anything like moving in together. Ed and Emma are the first people in Ambridge she’s told about Jesse. But after what Amber told Mia last week, about Brad still liking her, Mia decides she has to tell Brad straight away. Then, when Jolene mentions it’s Brad’s birthday, Ed and Emma wish they’d stopped her going, but it’s too late. Emma compares Mia’s uncomplicated and carefree life with George’s, stuck in prison and planning to marry someone he barely knows. It could still all go well, Ed thinks, but Emma reckons it’s just as likely to all come crashing down.

Mia turns up at Little Grange and asks Ed to teach her the basics of filming with George’s drone for a University project she’s doing. They tread carefully around the subject of Amber, hoping she’ll be good for George, before discovering that Ed accidentally shot footage of someone setting fire to the Bull’s sign last Friday – and they can read the perpetrator’s number plate. At the Shop Joy tells Jolene they’ve got to move all the boxes of stock to Susan’s tonight. Mick, Neil and Chris will help shift the fridges and freezers, Susan adds. Helen’s storing frozen stuff at Bridge Farm, while perishables are going to charities. But they’re still really up against it. Later at The Bull, Jolene laments to Stella they have nothing to prove Markie is targeting them, when Ed and Mia turn up with their new evidence. Stella suggests to Kirsty that they go and help shift stock at the Shop. Jolene then reports the police believe Ed’s footage shows clear evidence of Markie’s involvement. It should be enough to put him and his gang back behind bars. Ed admits the recording was a lucky accident, before Mia drags him off to help at the Shop. Susan feels overwhelmed at first, what with the George and Amber business too. But then the cavalry arrives, first in the form of Akram with his car, then Kirsty and Stella, and finally Mia and Ed. Joy’s convinced all this support shows the Shop is too well loved to go under. Susan hopes she’s right

There are boxes everywhere as Joy and Susan reflect on how well sales have been going at the Shop since they restocked. Then Terry, the builder, arrives to inspect a spongy corner in the Shop flat, before he gives them the bad news: there’s dry rot in the floor above. If it’s spread into the joists it’ll mean Chris and Martha having to move out. Later, he shows Susan photographs: the rot is everywhere. It will take weeks to cut out, replace the joists and treat the affected area. If they clear the building by the end of tomorrow Terry can start work on Wednesday. Susan realises with horror this means they will have to close the shop too – and once people go elsewhere they might never come back. It’s an absolute disaster!Brian drops by at The Nest, where Alice tells him Martha’s got an appointment at the hospital on Thursday to see the paediatrician. Alice then confirms Brian’s suspicions about yesterday’s emergency family meeting without him. Brian confesses his concern over losing half the BL contract and how difficult it will be replacing that income. He’s tried reasoning with Justin, but so far Justin’s ignoring all his calls. Alice assumes that if all the Board members make the case for continued food production at Friday’s meeting that would stop Justin, but Brian reckons he might just go ahead anyway. Brian then surprises Alice, asking if she’d consider returning to farming and taking over Home Farm one day. Hesitant Alice says she’ll think about it.

Despite his relaxed appearance Akram confesses to David that he’s worried about the Ambridge versus Grey Gables team event Lynda’s asked him to come up with for the fete. Kirsty commiserates, before they all agree a tug of war would fit the bill nicely. Later, Akram tells Kirsty that Lynda loves the idea, so he’s started asking round for potential team members. But then Dane messages with a photo of the Grey Gables team he’s put together – they’re all gym regulars and look scarily good.Brian tells Adam he’s heard the Gills are selling the house at Home Farm, but he’s in no position to buy it now. Adam’s worried that Justin’s rewilding scheme stands to cost Home Farm thousands in revenue at a time when food production should be their highest priority. He urges Brian to take action, suggesting he should already have done so, thereby raising Brian’s hackles. Brian retorts that he doesn’t need Adam’s advice. Adam then calls Alice and Kate for an emergency meeting on Home Farm’s future. He feels Stella hasn’t done enough to protect their interests and Lilian won’t stop Justin either. Kate thinks Justin’s rewilding initiative is a good thing environmentally, but Adam reckons Debbie’s on his side, while Alice says Ruairi will support continued food production. Kate supposes they need to come up with a plan, especially if there’s doubt over Brian’s ability to take the farm forward. Brian then turns up and is immediately suspicious, suggesting a walk so they can tell him just what they’ve been gossiping about.