The Archers

Writer: Tim Stimpson Director: Mel Ward Editor: Jeremy HoweBen Archer…. Ben Norris Pat Archer…. Pat Gallimore Pip Archer…. Daisy Badger Tom Archer…. William Troughton Lilian Bellamy…. Sunny Ormonde Neil Carter…. Brian Hewlett Susan Carter…. Charlotte Martin Vince Casey…. Tony Turner Ed Grundy…. Barry Farrimond Emma Grundy…. Emerald O’Hanrahan George Grundy…. Angus Stobie Alistair Lloyd…. Michael Lumsden Paul Mack…. Joshua Riley Denise Metcalf…. Clare Perkins Elizabeth Pargetter…. Alison Dowling Lily Pargetter…. Katie Redford Fallon Rogers…. Joanna Van Kampen Lynda Snell…. Carole Boyd

Alistair needs Paul to help him work out what to say to Head Office since Paul isn’t turning up for work. But Paul reveals he has written his resignation. Lilian comes in with Hilda who has a nasty tick bite and Paul’s sense of duty makes him stay to help. Later at the Bull, Lilian’s full of praise for the whole Vet team. Alistair implores Paul not to resign. Paul tells Alistair to enjoy his free drink from Lilian. Meanwhile, Lilian and Lynda lock horns over their clashing community events. Neil convinces George to join him for a pint and catchup at the Bull, where Lynda complains about the clash of the fete and the Stables’ ‘Cantering On’ event in August – how can the fete compete? Neil startles George with news that Alice is coming home from rehab next week, and Neil speculates on Martha’s future if Alice goes to jail. With a sudden thirst on him, away from Neil George orders a whiskey from Lilian, and then another. He makes to buy Neil another drink, but Neil slows George down so they can chat. He’s a good lad and Neil is proud. Guilty George protests – rambling that he’s not a hero, and he has to stand up in court, and it’ll be his fault if Alice goes to prison. He knocks his special glass over and it smashes. George continues, pointing out to Paul that Alistair and Denise are the heroes. Neil learns that George has been drinking shots and takes George off, as George continues spouting about how Neil shouldn’t be proud of him.

At the tearoom, Elizabeth teases old-school Vince who’s pleased with how the mediation chat went. But Vince carelessly mentions Freddie, and Elizabeth is horrified to realise he was the bullying victim. Lynda talks about the village fête – it has a cost-of-living theme and Lynda insists that Joy and the committee need her expertise, not least working with local business leaders such as Vince. Annoyed, Elizabeth leaves Vince to talk with Lynda and he agrees to supply meat for Ian’s budget cookery demos, and to liaise with Ian about it. When Vince checks the date of the fête – 25 August - horrified Lynda learns that it clashes with the Stables’ ‘Cantering On’ event. Why did no one tell her?!Elizabeth spots something on Hilda’s face – ticks, says Emma. Elizabeth grills Vince to explain himself – now she knows it was Freddie being bullied, she presses for more serious action. Vince assures Elizabeth that the problem has now been dealt with. News of Alistair and Denise’s affair has spread and Emma and Fallon gossip. Pip’s worried about how Natasha is ploughing on with purchasing things for the hen party and Fallon’s persuaded to phone Natasha, managing to negotiate the ‘extras’ as freebies in return for some written testimonials. Pip’s chuffed, and is really keen she is to support Fallon’s enterprise. Not mine, Natasha’s, corrects Fallon. Emma spots that Fallon is a bit flat and Fallon opens up about how she feels she’s going nowhere professionally. Emma mentions the EV charging station, where they are looking for someone to run the new cafe. Fallon doesn’t have to stay here.

Ben is surprised about Alistair and Denise, but Lily is more defensive. Ben also learns that Freddie has been bullied at work and grills Lily for more info, quickly realising that it was Lily who influenced Vince to act – but she insists that Freddie is not to know. At the shop, Neil and Susan chat about how well Ed and Emma are doing with the tree surgery business. Meanwhile, Ed’s looking for ideas for Emma’s upcoming 40th birthday. Susan encourages Neil to take George for a pint and chance to bond. Neil makes small talk with Alistair about the under 16s’ cricket training and the Cantering On event – Susan is keen to ensure that Alice isn’t blamed for Strangles at the Stables. Unsympathetic Alistair’s drawn into talking about the night of the crash into the Am, and talk of Alistair and Denise that night prompts Paul to make a revealing comment about the pair in front of Neil and Susan. Paul storms home and opens up to Lily about how he’s been left questioning everything. As Paul defends his broken Dad, Lily tries to get him to see things from Denise and Alistair’s perspective, drawing on her own experience falling for Russ. Life is messy. Ben pops his head in – Alistair is at the door.Alistair tries to explain himself – it’s genuine, not a tawdry affair, but he never intended to come between Paul’s parents. Paul finds Alistair disgusting – he took advantage of his mum when she was vulnerable. Paul has no intention of working with Alistair – he can take his job and shove it!

George reluctantly helps Ed use a tub of offal designed to attract and kill flies and prevent fly strike. Ed reckons with a healthy flock they can do well at agricultural shows this Summer. Emma mentions covering Fallon at the tea room so Fallon can work the hen party, and raves about George’s latest video of the discovered kittens. Ed gets an urgent call from Stella – a tree has fallen across a lane, blocking a combine – they need to get the barley in before the weather turns. Ed, Emma and George spring into action. They make a great team and Ed passes on a cash tip from grateful Brian to George, but George seems reluctant to accept it. Emma admits she can’t keep up with George’s moods lately. Ed and Emma are happy about work picking up - and today won’t have hurt. The best thing is they’re working as a family. Paul tells Denise all about the pig snout incident and she agrees Vince needs to act for Freddie. Paul’s disappointed when Denise turns down his offer of a night out on Friday, and he confides in Alistair that his Mum isn’t being open with him. Alistair offers advice and Paul’s pleased Denise has Alistair to confide in. Alistair feels awkward and tells Denise about their conversation. Enough is enough, says Denise – she needs to tell Paul about them. As Alistair comforts upset Denise, Paul comes in having overheard them. He knows what’s going on. He feels sick and runs away. Denise is left sobbing and wondering what she is going to do.

Fallon has to bear Tom’s gushing praise for Natasha as they mark World Ice Cream Day at the Tea room. Tom’s also confident the Tea room will make Pip’s friend’s hen party special. Pip also chats with Tom about the good weather prompting Stella to get out on the combine – Tom prays for a dry harvest. Pip confides in Fallon – she’s worried that they don’t have the budget for all the things Natasha is organising for the hen party. Can Fallon talk to Natasha? Hilda the cat is covered in ticks and giving Tom and Pat the runaround. Tom also reports back from chatting with Roy online – he’s loving life with Lexi and her girls in Bulgaria. Pat encourages Tom to take the family out to see Roy. As they discuss plans for Seren and Nova’s birthday party, Pat deflects Tom’s attention from the garden, but can’t hide the surprise anymore - they’ve put together an organic veg patch for Seren and Nova, complete with cute little named boiler suits for the pair. Tom promises not to tell Natasha until the birthday party.Elizabeth is concerned about a falling out between Freddie and Lily, based on the atmosphere between them last Friday at dinner. Elizabeth finds Vince reading up on Bullying and Harassment policy and wonders what’s going on. Vince is cagey – just some horseplay at work. Elizabeth playfully reprimands Vince on his lack of seriousness about the issue and he asks her advice about handling it – he only reveals there’s a lad being bullied, and settles on the idea of having an informal chat with both parties.

Pip’s intrigued as Lottie practices her tarot card skills on her, pointing out a card that says someone won’t change how they are to fit with her desires. Pip thinks of Stella, and there’s even a card about cats. They talk about the hen party planning and how the budget is stretched. Natasha pops by to speak with Pip and explains how the Tea Room will now be involved in the hen party, tempting them with suggestions of special things they can source, especially to appeal to the Ukrainian bride. Pip worries about costs, but intrigued Lottie points out one of the cards showed sunflowers – there must be something in that!Lily catches up with evasive Freddie and pins him down about Vince, who Freddie admits has done nothing about Freddie’s bullying troubles. Lily insists that he pursue it, and she has been looking into employment law. But Freddie complains, showing his insecurity – he has a criminal record, and no one trusts him to look after Lower Loxley which he’s due to inherit. But Vince, at least, has some faith in him. Vince catches them chatting and invites them to join him and Elizabeth for dinner. As they talk about Milo Haywood, Freddie squirms as Lily drops pointed comments about bullying. Things become tense as Vince talks of his own experience and the importance of having a thick skin. Away from Elizabeth and Freddie, Lily confronts Vince about his lack of action for Freddie. He brushes it off, until Lily starts quoting employment law and demands that a rather staggered Vince meet his obligations towards his employee.

Pip is in hen party planning mode, and Ruth’s pleased Fallon is involved - Stella feels more comfortable chatting with Ruth about farming and the harvest. Stella’s frustrated with the BL Board, and Ruth chuckles as Stella vows to wrench their heads out of the sand!Fallon is excited to sneak off from work to chat with Pip about the hen party, but Natasha surprises her to mention an important appointment at the Tea Room in two weeks today – she’ll need Fallon. Fallon points out that she has something on then – not mentioning the hen event – and Natasha isn’t keen on releasing her, until Chelsea tries to help Fallon by suggesting that Fallon’s appointment is private. Natasha immediately backtracks, apologising for not being more sensitive. Fallon gets planning with Pip, agreeing a downpayment to cover Fallon’s costs. They also talk about the cute kittens recently discovered and Stella can tell Pip is still smitten on one. After a slightly awkward chat about marriage, and Pip and Stella’s very different views about the hen party, Stella tells Pip she’s happy for them to adopt a kitten. Ruth mentions to Natasha that Pip’s delighted the Tea Room is helping with the hen party. Confused Natasha asks when it is. Two weeks today, says Ruth, wondering whether she has made a mistake.Natasha confronts Fallon in front of Chelsea, and as Fallon expects the worst, Natasha shocks them by suggesting she’d like to support Fallon’s passion - the Tea Room can take the lead. Chelsea’s delighted, and Fallon agrees it sounds great, not sharing her slight disappointment.

Neil, Susan, Tracy and Jazzer prepare for dinner as Neil proudly displays his foraging haul from Leader’s Wood. Jazzer complains as he’s stung by nettles and Neil knows that Susan would rather be seeing Milo Haywood himself, but she plays her disappointment down. With Milo’s cookbook in hand, Susan takes Tracy off to do some foraging of their own, as Susan admits to Tracy she’s hoping she might run into Milo. Oliver spots them and teases them about asking for the land-owner’s permission to go rooting around like this. But he grants it. As Oliver starts to realise that they are fans of Milo, he invites them to come back to Grey Gables to meet him. Jazzer asks after Chris and Neil tells him the latest with Alice and Martha. When Susan and Tracy return home, Susan’s mood is transformed, as Tracy shows off the cookbook – with Milo’s autograph!At the abattoir, Vince can’t see why Freddie is mending another employee’s faulty equipment and encourages him to pull Antonio into line. Freddie avoids this, faking to Vince that he has sorted it with Antonio, and tentatively tries to bring up the bullying he’s facing. But Vince doesn’t seem to be listening, and when he does hear about what’s happened with the pig’s snout, Vince assumes Freddie’s colleagues are just trying it on - and Freddie simply needs to show them who’s boss. If Vince comes down hard on the lads, Freddie won’t have their respect. Vince is convinced Freddie can handle things on his own.

At the Vets, Denise admits to wishful Paul there’s no chance of her working things out with John. Denise attempts to explain that they just grew apart, not revealing anything about Alistair. Paul feels guilty for not noticing any problems and doesn’t want to leave Denise on her own. But as Alistair appears, offering to look after her, Paul takes heart and goes. Alistair comforts Denise and advises taking her time to tell her children – and he’ll be there with her. They agree, this is no tawdry office affair - they love each other. Oliver’s keen to ensure celeb chef Milo Haywood is well looked after, but Lily wonders why Milo's doing a foraging recce when he’s supposed to be spontaneous and in touch with nature. Oliver looks forward to good publicity before the masterclass at Grey Gables tomorrow, but Lily suspects real life Haywood is less cuddly than his TV persona. Later when a chef has an injury, Lily reckons it was in part due to Milo’s picking on him and making him nervous. Lily grills Freddie about his own difficult work situation – what’s happening? Freddie insists he isn’t being bullied and doesn’t want to talk about it. Over dinner with Freddie and Paul, Lily continues to berate Milo Haywood, making it clear she has no time for bullies. And when a shocked Freddie discovers a pig’s snout in his coat pocket, he’s forced by Lily to take action and speak to Vince – he’ll put a stop to the bullying, Lily is sure.

Chelsea approaches Fallon, who’s wary about catering for the hen party, and worried about Natasha and moonlighting. Chelsea tempts Fallon with pictures of the party venue and kitchen space, and mentioning the hen, Alina, who’s from Ukraine, with her family still over there. But it’s on 1st of August, and Fallon’s working – Chelsea insists she’ll get Emma to cover her. Fallon agrees to help. Susan makes sure Neil’s available on Wednesday as she’s keen to go and see celebrity chef Milo Haywood who’s doing a foraging and cookery masterclass at Grey Gables. But Neil’s aghast at the cost of tickets and puts Susan off forking out for it. Neil admits to Jazzer he feels bad, as he and Susan should do something nice together. As Neil gives Jazzer an impromptu introduction to foraging, he realises he can give Milo a run for his money and take Susan foraging before cooking a slap-up meal for her. Jazzer’s certain it’ll make up for not going to the event on Wednesday.Susan and Tracy chat about how recent upheaval is affecting Martha, and also the latest gossip via Joy about Denise and her husband. But Jazzer has warned Tracy to stay out of it. Meanwhile, Susan clutches her Milo Haywood cookbook and supposes she’ll have to make do with it rather than getting to meet the man himself. Neil and Jazzer return, as Tracy and Susan turn out to have had a similar idea – so they’ll put together a foraged dinner for four. It’ll be a laugh, says Tracy, and Susan politely agrees, a little disappointed.

On their final day at the music festival, Paul and Lily speculate on what Josh got up to last night with his crush Nina from band The Straw Crows. Paul teases Lily that celebrity chef Milo Haywood will treat her to a meal as she’s assigned to look after him at Grey Gables. Lily points out how grouchy Freddie has been, as Paul realises Josh isn’t in his tent. Lily checks in with Paul – is he coping ok about his parents? They explained to Paul that it’s not working, but Denise seemed to do all the explaining as John just sat there. Paul just wants to make the most of today’s festivities. Paul gets the drinks in, but Freddie gets barged by abattoir co-worker Antonio, and plays it down to worried Lily. Freddie’s forced to admit what’s going on at work, although he insists he’s not bothering Vince about it.Stella waxes lyrical about her desire to shake up the Borchester Land Board with her sustainability plans, and Pip asks Chelsea about the kittens that need homes – Stella can tell Pip’s smitten and wants one, and whilst Stella is more of a dog person, she won’t stop Pip if she wants to adopt a kitten. They get chatting about the hen party Pip’s helping Lottie organise for her friend Alina. Stella asks Chelsea about whether the Tea room does events. The chat develops into looking at a package deal with pampering from Chelsea and catering from the Tea Room. Chelsea promises to speak to Fallon, sure she’ll convince her to come on board.

When Pip and David discuss Stella’s pitch for the Borchester Land board, David points out that he’s not a fan of theirs. He’s surprised Stella even went for the role; they’re obviously green-washing something. Stella turns up and says that despite her qualms about the role, she does think that Justin believes that the environment, nature and sustainability should be at the core of modern business. Later, David apologises to Stella if she overhead his views about it, but she’s fine and reckons Justin’s sincere in taking her on. And there’s a lot of good work that could come from the role. She’s in a position to make positive change. David admires her fighting talk.Paul mentions to Denise that his dad’s visiting him tonight and Paul says Denise is welcome too. When Paul heads off Denise wonders to Alistair about the reasons for John’s visit. Later she rings John who explains he’s going to tell Paul that their marriage is over, but it’s up to Denise to let Paul know about her affair with Alistair. John’s willing to try again with Denise, but she confirms it’s too late; they’ve had years to try to fix their marriage. She decides to go to Paul’s with John so they can tell him the news together. Later when John turns up at the surgery to meet Paul, things are frosty between him and Alistair. After John and Paul leave, Alistair wonders whether Denise will tell Paul about their relationship – or whether John will - but Denise really doesn’t have any idea.

Whilst stacking bales, George mentions that Tilly’s coming to see the stray kittens. Ben wonders if that’s like when she was ‘definitely’ coming to see George haymaking. Presumably that’s why he’s topless again? Ben and Neil continue to tease George and when Neil tells him to cover up his sunburned body, George admits his back’s too sore for that. Chat turns to the Winkley Music Festival this weekend - Paul, Lily, Freddie and Josh are going as well as Tilly and Aiden. When George wonders what the big deal is, Ben points out that in Josh’s case, the Straw Crows are playing, and he’s still very much into band-member Nina.Neil and Ben relax with some beer, but George is paranoid when he discovers he’s got a fruit cider rather than a beer. He angrily heads off, leaving Neil and Ben to wonder what that was all about. Stella nervously waits to share her pitch with the Borchester Land board, boosted by a good luck call from Pip. Afterwards frustrated Stella reckons the board think that it’s just a green-washing exercise, but Justin points out she did leave with an agreement for her ecological survey of BL land. Stella’s persuaded to go for post drinks with the board; sometimes more work gets done at after-meeting drinks than in the meeting itself. After, Stella heads home to bed, too tired to have a take-away with Pip. Stella admits that whilst it went ok, she feels like she’s sold her soul to the devil. Pip says goodnight and Stella’s left doubting herself.

Justin and Lilian are delighted when Jakob reports negative results for strangles tests all round and there are no new cases. It looks like the re-opening event will go ahead if things continue as they are. Justin’s surprised when Lilian says she’s been working with Carlotta on the event plans - Lilian seems more relaxed. Lilian confirms it’s down to Carlotta, but she has also heard from Alice, from her rehab centre – Alice is sorry for everything she’s put Lilian through. Lilian didn’t need an apology – she’d do anything for Jennifer’s children. Embracing her, Justin reckons that Alice, Ruairi, Adam and Debbie are lucky to have Lilian.Joy’s on board when Jazzer tells her about his idea for the village fete – guessing the weight of a piglet. They’re interrupted by Denise who’s a bit taken aback when Jazzer privately mentions to Denise how happy he is for her and Alistair. John comes into the shop, for a stop-off in the middle of a cycle ride before seeing Paul tonight. When John goes, distracted Denise heads after him. She broaches the subject of their relationship as Joy and Jazzer peer at them through the shop window, wondering what’s going on. John gets the message that it’s too late to make their marriage work, but wonders whether there’s someone else. When Denise admits there is, John guesses it’s Alistair. Upset John walks off saying he won’t be visiting Paul tonight after all. When Denise wonders what reason she should give, John retorts that she should make something up – she seems to be good at it.

Stella’s got the day off and is working on her pitch for Borchester Land. She hopes to reason them into a green package to be proud of for the coming decades. Pip invites her to get some fresh air when she goes over to Grange Farm to see if there are any extra bales from haymaking. They find Neil and Ben relaxing in the sun while the tedder’s being fixed. George is sunburnt from taking his shirt off to pose for videos of himself posted for Tilly Button’s eyes. She keeps saying she’ll come over but hasn’t turned up yet. Neil comes across a stray cat and kittens in the stackyard and they all go over to look at them. When Ben wonders what to do with them, Neil counsels just keeping an eye on them for now. Eddie can probably find homes for the kittens. Stella’s surprised when Pip can’t get over how cute they are.Paul tells Alistair that he’s finished with Etienne – they wanted different things. Talk turns to Denise who’s always been such a support for Paul. He had a great heart-to-heart with his dad on Sunday too. It made Paul realise that although he enjoys partying, what he really craves are cosy nights in with a special someone. He reckons his parents’ relationship is such a great role model – he just wishes they’d stop worrying about him. Paul wonders if they’re the reason why he can’t find ‘the one’. Perhaps he’s aiming too high because his parents have such a great marriage. He goes, leaving Alistair feeling awkward.

Neil checks in on Grange Farm’s haymaking, where Ben tells him George is filming everything by drone for his social media accounts. George is shirtless, presumably for his followers. George keeps checking his phone to see if Tilly’s coming, but Ben reckons he’s got competition from Aiden Belshaw. George wants to ask her to the Winkley Music Festival at the weekend. The tedder looks like it’s on its last legs, and Neil warns George to go slowly on it. They’re stopped in their tracks by the tedder grinding to a halt. They ring Neil who knows someone who could fix it.It's Lilian’s birthday but she wants to keep it low profile, though she’s slightly disappointed when Justin says he thought so and hasn’t done anything special for it. They talk about Carlotta who seems to be doing alright as a temporary Stables manager. Lilian wonders what they might do for their big-reopening event once they’re out of lockdown. When Justin suggests that Carlotta could come up with some new ideas, Lilian’s hesitant. Later Lilian reports back that Carlotta seems to be doing ok, although she keeps mixing up staff names and shortening them. Lilian admits that because it was Alice’s idea to have an event it feels such a shame she can’t plan it herself; she feels like she’s betraying Alice. Justin reassures Lilian and apologises for approaching Alice in the wrong way last week. If Alice comes back, it should be to a place that’s thriving. Lilian thinks that Alice will get better and Justin politely agrees, saying it’s what everyone’s hoping for.

Alistair and Denise have a romantic day out at a Borsetshire lake, enjoying a picnic on a boat. They chat about Paul who’s coming to terms with splitting up with Etienne. Alistair and Denise marvel at their luck, all the years they’ve know each other and now they’re here in each other’s arms. Feeling they’ve now turned a corner, Denise knows she has to tell John about Alistair sooner rather than later, but it will impact on her family. Alistair’s understanding when she says she can’t face doing it yet. She’ll know when it’s the right time.Emma and George chat about the haymaking at Grange Farm which George will have to do this year as Ed and Emma will be on a tree surgery job. They’ll ask for Ben’s help. Chris pops by on his way to cricket, but when Emma comments that he’s managing well with Martha considering he’s on his own, Chris retorts that she has two parents. They’re surprised to hear Alice is in rehab and Emma wonders whether Alice will change her plea once she gets herself sober.Later Neil asks Emma about Chris and whether he mentioned the mystery about the cider bottle that was in Alice’s car. George asks Emma what Neil was saying and anxiously wonders why Chris is obsessing about it. Chris isn’t interested when Neil points out that he thinks Hannah fancies him - it’s time Chris started thinking about meeting someone else. But Chris is more interested in working out why Alice pleaded not guilty, if she’d caused the crash.

Paul is off to Borchester for his couple’s therapy with Etienne. Josh suggests he come to the pub instead. But Paul wants to see it through. Later in Borchester, he bumps into his dad. John has just been to the dentist. Paul breaks down - he thinks it’s over with Etienne. He walked out of couple’s therapy. John offers to drive him back to Ambridge and buy him a drink. He tells John about Etienne’s desire for an open relationship. He’d tried to be fine about it but he couldn’t cope with the fear of losing him. The couple’s therapy had been a disaster – Etienne said Paul tried to stifle him and that he wasn’t enough for him. John thinks Paul is worth ten of Etienne. Josh arrives and Paul says he’s seen the light. Hallelujah, says Josh. Adam picks Alice up to drive her to rehab. En route she sees Susan and asks him to stop. Alice thanks her for what she said about Martha. It prompted her to call the treatment centre. Susan’s glad. Alice knows Susan thinks she’s an entitled brat, but she has to try to get better. Susan is reassuring and promises to tell Chris. As they continue to rehab Alice worries about whether she can stay on the wagon afterwards. Adam asks her whether she has thought about changing her plea. She says she knows she should plead guilty, it’s the right thing to do after all the trouble she’s caused. He tells her she’ll be all right. She doesn’t know if she will – but she’s going to try.

Adam checks in with a grumpy Alice on the phone. He tells her Brian has been trying to contact her. They’re both worried about her. He presses her on how she is. ‘I’m in hell,’ she snaps. And she doesn’t want to see anyone or go to rehab – she can’t face it. She tells Adam Justin came around yesterday and asked her to resign. There’s a knock at the door. It’s Harry and he wants to help her. But she shuts the door in his face. After a while she chases after him. He tells her Chris confronted him. Harry stresses her addiction put her where she is now and it’s a disease. He thanks her for saving him, for encouraging him to go for treatment. He tells her she can come back from this. He knows she can. But she rushes away.Later Adam confronts Lilian and criticises her for letting Justin go round to try to force Alice to resign. They both admit they are scared – Alice is getting worse. They discuss how Brian is going out of his mind and Lilian promises she’ll have words with Justin. Adam concedes they have to face facts. No-one knows what will happen when the case comes to court. But there’s not much any of them can do. She really could lose everything. Lilian says when Jennifer died she swore she’d be there for the children but she doesn’t feel like she has been.