The Archers

At the Shop Jim tries a super-courteous approach to get Lilian to fill in the survey, while Jazzer adds a mocking commentary. It’s only when Jim spells out the existential threat Underwoods Local poses that Lilian agrees to answer the questions. Between them Jazzer and Lilian come up with several suggestions for improvements. Then Jazzer points out the biggest issue is friendliness – or the lack of it - and despite Jim’s denial Lilian agrees that it’s an issue. Later on Jazzer snatches Lilian’s completed survey, reading out her score for friendliness: three out of five. He tells Jim it’s not going to save the shop. Jim confesses how exhausting he finds maintaining the façade of friendliness and his relief at going to stay at his daughter’s next week. But Jazzer loves it when Jim is grumpy!

While Chris is relatively relaxed before the meeting about Martha at the nursery, Alice can’t help thinking there must be a serious problem. The manager tactfully points out that Martha has haphazard concentration levels and limited attention span. She suggests working together with the staff to get Martha to focus on tasks for longer. Chris is happy to go along with this but Alice seems more troubled. Back at the Stables Lilian pushes Alice to confess her fear that her drinking during pregnancy is now affecting Martha’s development. And if Lilian leaves Ambridge then that’s another huge plank of Alice’s support network gone, after Jennifer and Peggy. Lilian tells her she’s changed her mind and she’s not going anywhere.

Susan summons Jim and Joy to the Shop, telling them its future is at stake due to the threat from Underwoods Local. Jim proposes calling a village meeting. And making sure to emphasise the benefits of a village shop, Joy adds, such as lower prices. But Susan’s heard the introductory discounts at Underwoods Local could go on all summer. Susan then tells them to look for common threads in the few surveys that have been completed, so they can root out any issues. Reporting back later it appears unfriendliness is the big one. Susan then dismisses the comments as biased, but Joy insists they act on it by working on their customer service skills. Both Jim and Susan are highly sceptical though, leading Joy in despair to suggest they try at least to be more positive with all their customers. Jim and Susan agree, but remain unconvinced that they’re really doing anything wrong.

On the phone Helen worries to Ian about Dane not getting back to her after she suggested another date. He’s always responded so quickly before online. Ian still has his doubts, but Helen insists Ian find out what Dane thinks about her. However, when Ian tackles Dane about the meal last night and his companion, Dane cleverly avoids giving his opinion of Helen. Ian tries again later, but is embarrassed when Dane reveals he knows Ian is trying to find out what Dane thinks about Ian’s best friend, Helen. Dane thinks she’s amazing, then realises his message to Helen about the date never got sent. When he sends it again Helen excitedly tells Ian – he said yes!

When Helen turns up for her date with Dane, the new manager at Grey Gables, Ian waylays her with an escape plan, which includes Adam keeping an eye on them. Adam assures Helen he’ll intervene as soon as Helen gives a prearranged signal. Then Alice arrives, suggesting Helen could hide in the Ladies, but Helen insists a dropped napkin will suffice. When Dane appears though, both women think he looks gorgeous, before Helen goes to greet him. Dane compliments Helen, before adding a touch of self-deprecation, and they soon hit it off.

Meanwhile, awkward Adam and Alice watch from a nearby table. Ian may think Dane’s a massive phony, but Adam finds him attractive. They talk about Open Farm Sunday, before Adam mentions the nursery and Alice says they’re seeing the manager on Friday, about Martha becoming “school ready”. Despite Adam’s attempts to reassure her Alice is worried that none of the other parents have been called in, so what it’s about? Then they move on to talk about the disappointingly small inheritance Peggy has left each of them and what they would do with a more generous legacy.

Dane fills Helen in on his personal history, before asking Helen about hers, which she edits quite severely. When Ian notices Helen’s dropped her napkin he sends Adam to interrupt. But Helen insists it was an accident and Dane immediately susses what’s been going on. Helen is mortified, but Dane treats it as a great joke. Relieved Helen then suggests another date, at Harrison’s fortieth birthday party next week.

Joy reckons the Village Shop customer survey drawn up by Susan and Emma is too comprehensive and offers to cut it down. Susan won’t give way though, before explaining the survey’s purpose to Jazzer. Both him and Joy wax lyrical about a superior shopping experience at Underwoods Local, pushing Susan into agreeing to take a look for herself. Later on, after bumping into Jazzer again, Susan is gobsmacked to discover Clarrie is working there. Clarrie tells Susan most of the village have been in already - and they’re all dead impressed. Susan fears it could be the end of the Village Shop.

Chris is at The Stables trimming some of the horses' hooves. He catches up with Alice and they discuss taking Martha to Peggy’s funeral, agreeing that she should go. They arrange to meet up later over a curry to discuss preparing Martha for the day itself. At lunchtime Alice is joined by Joy at the Playground and they talk about how Alice’s family are coping with Peggy’s death, before comparing notes on the hard times both have been through recently. Joy then prompts Alice, she and Chris have cracked co-parenting, so she doesn’t have to cope with everything on her own, does she? But then Chris phones and tells Alice that Imaani, the nursery manager, has called them in for an unscheduled meeting on Friday to talk about making sure Martha’s school-ready. Chris doesn’t think it signifies much, but Alice is unsettled by it. Later she calls Chris and cancels their catch-up later; there’s things she needs to do at The Stables.

At Chris’s Forge captain Hannah gets very frustrated by Chris and Adam’s lack of competitive edge for this afternoon’s T20 cricket match against Jolene’s team. Alice joins them and promises Chris that she and Martha will be there, cheering on both sides.

Over lunch at the Dower House Justin catches Lilian scrolling through a world cruises website. Justin’s appalled as Lilian outlines her plans for their retirement, going on exotic holidays. Just the thought of the family holiday Peggy stipulated in her will is enough to make Justin quail. In any case, he enjoys working far too much to give it up, but reluctantly agrees to talk about Lilian’s proposal later.

During the cricket innings break Hannah chastises her ‘Elite’ team-mates for batting so poorly and can’t understand why Chris and Adam aren’t taking it more seriously. Jolene however is loving how well her ‘Underdog’ team performed in the field. Alice joins Justin and Lilian on the boundary edge, apologising for not being more receptive yesterday to Lilian’s idea of leaving Ambridge. She now thinks Lilian should go ahead and do whatever is best for her and Justin. Once Alice has gone though, Justin makes it clear to Lilian he’s still not keen.

The cricket ends in defeat for Hannah’s team, with everybody repairing to The Bull for drinks and a T20 photograph. Chris and Alice tentatively agree to spend more family time together with Martha, and Alice says she’ll accompany Adam to keep an eye on Helen when she goes for her date at Grey Gables on Wednesday.

Fallon chats to Susan and Joy in the Shop about the EV Charging Station opening today. Fallon wants to go over there and Joy says she’ll go too. They’re both very impressed by how modern and smart the station looks, before heading inside the posh Underwoods Local store. Clarrie greets them, also having a nosey, while Fallon contemplates getting balloons for Harrison’s fortieth birthday next week. Back in Ambridge they discuss tomorrow’s T20 Cricket match between teams led by Hannah and Jolene, before Susan joins them. Despite hearing how impressive the Charging Station looks, Susan’s confident the Shop can cope with the competition. She does though accept Joy’s suggestion of a customer survey, to see what they can improve on.

At the Stables Lilian saddles up Amir for a ride, confessing to Alice she’ll avoid going near The Laurels. Her normal coping mechanism would be to busy herself with the funeral arrangements, but Peggy has already done all that. Alice rides with her, on Aziz, reminiscing about Peggy as they go, whilst also speculating about her will and not choosing Alan to conduct the funeral service. Lilian then indulges herself with thoughts of Canada, where her first husband, “Nick”, came from. She shocks Alice with the idea that she might leave Ambridge to go and live there, before admitting she hasn’t mentioned the idea to Justin. Alice implores Lilian not to go – they’d never manage without her. All Lilian will promise though is that she won’t make any decisions until after Peggy’s funeral.

With things still frosty between Ed and Emma, they’re horrified when they get stuck in the Grey Gables lift. They manage to alert Zainab, but it’s her first day and she’s still feeling her way. Emma suggests she calls an engineer, and Zainab assures them she’s on it. Akram arrives and sees Zainab’s predicament. He also points out she’s done everything right so far and doesn’t need to stress. Meanwhile the atmosphere in the lift thaws and Emma and Ed apologise to one another. They admit it can be hard working together but it’s mostly brilliant. They pledge to move their anniversary celebration to tonight, staying in at Little Grange. When they’re finally free, relieved Zainab tells them Dane’s offered another night at Grey Gables by way of compensation. Ed reckons they’ll stay home tonight and save the offer for another time.

Naomi brings some flowers as a thankyou for Lilian, who’s tearful and caught unawares. She shares that she’s having a difficult time, and the two chat. Naomi’s kicking herself about her date, but Lilian assures her it’s not her fault. They laugh about the objectionable Darren. Naomi hopes things get brighter for Lilian. Later worried Kenton calls in on Lilian. Lilian comments it was nice to chat with Naomi, but nothing’s making her feel better. She guesses you just have to go with grief, but it’s exhausting. Her heart is broken at the loss, and she has nothing to tether her any more. Ambridge doesn’t feel like home without Peggy. Perhaps it’s time to leave.

Emma and Ed are irritable after a long day working on trees at Grey Gables. It’s their anniversary but Emma can’t be bothered to do anything special. However Oliver surprises them with the offer of an overnight stay at the hotel with spa passes and dinner, as an anniversary gift. They accept graciously, but over dinner they continue to bicker as Emma can’t let Ed’s attitude to her work go. His constant instructions to her from the ground today weren’t welcome or helpful. Oliver checks in to make sure they’re having a great evening. They assure him they are. They realise they shouldn’t be arguing – it’s the tiredness talking. Emma suggests they skip dinner and have an early night.

Kenton’s surprised David’s now going ahead with Open Farm Sunday. David explains he doesn’t feel he should cancel so he’s putting increased security in place. Lilian’s late for a pub shift and Kenton’s reluctant to push it as her mood’s so low at the moment. David volunteers to jump behind the bar to help out. Lilian arrives but soon needs a break to regroup. With Justin out at a function, she insists she’d still rather be working than sitting alone at home.

A customer approaches the bar and asks for Angela, but David misunderstands the signal and the woman goes and sits down again. Lilian spots the man she’s sitting with is behaving aggressively towards her. It becomes clear David’s made a mistake and missed the woman’s coded request for help. Lilian’s appalled at the error, and finds a subtle way of extricating the woman from the situation. Safely upstairs, the woman, Naomi, explains she’d been set up with this man by a friend, and whilst initially charming, her date became angry when she declined a second meet-up with him. Naomi’s very grateful for Lilian swooping in like a fairy godmother to rescue her. After Naomi’s gone, Lilian suggests refresher training for everyone who might be working in the bar. The incident has shaken her. She’s frustrated too that the man got away with his bad behaviour and may well just carry on with it in the future. Kenton’s worried about Lilian and checks in again with her; is she alright? Lilian admits she’s not really, but there’s nothing anyone can do.

Oliver asks Lily to help with interviews for a new receptionist at Grey Gables. Dane will be on the panel as well; Oliver comments that his style is very informal. Sure enough, Dane and Lily are soon giggling together and try to compose themselves as Oliver brings in the first candidate, Zainab Malik. As Dane excitedly engages her in conversation about her scooter, Oliver attempts to get back to the job in hand. Zainab answers some unconventional questions competently, and declares she’s enjoyed herself. Dane and Lily are impressed and convince Oliver to give her a try out despite his concerns that she didn’t have many relevant questions to answer. Lily reckons Zainab will have no problem getting her head around the hotel’s systems.

Natasha’s disappointed to hear Helen’s not keeping on top of her dating app. Helen shares her latest status and they laugh about some of the profiles that have come up. Natasha spots one of them is Martyn Gibson. She jokes she might swipe right on Helen’s behalf. They fill Ian in on the dating site, Helen insisting it’s not a big deal, she just wants to see how she feels about dating. Then she notices she’s a match with Martyn, and realises to her horror that Natasha must have swiped the wrong way earlier. She can’t ignore him, but doesn’t know how to reply to his message of condolence about Peggy. Ian suggests telling Martyn the truth but Natasha thinks this will break his heart. Helen’s at a loss. She wishes she’d never downloaded the app!