The Archers

Writer: Tim Stimpson

Ben Archer…. Ben Norris

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.