Contemporary drama in a rural setting.
Contemporary drama in a rural setting.
Will hatches a plan, and Tracy suffers a mishap.
Writer: Katie Hims Director: Andy Partington Editor: Jeremy Howe
Brian 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
Ruairi struggles to process his feelings, and there's a surprise for Oliver.
David attempts to offer support, and Kate is not impressed.
Reality sets in for Alice, and Tracy makes her feelings clear.
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.
It's clash of the titans at The Bull, and Josh makes a friend.
WRITER: Shaun McKenna DIRECTOR: Marina Caldarone and David Payne EDITOR: Jeremy Howe
12-17th October
David Archer.... Timothy Bentinck Jolene Archer.... Buffy Davis Ruth Archer.... Felicity Finch Lilian Bellamy.... Sunny Ormonde Leonard Berry.... Paul Copley Clarrie Grundy.... Heather Bell Eddie Grundy.... Trevor Harrison George Grundy.... Angus Stobie Brad Horrobin.... Taylor Uttley Tracy Horrobin.... Susie Riddell Akram Malik.... Asif Khan Khalil Malik.... Krish Bassi Zainab Malik.... Priyasasha Kumari Fallon Rogers.... Joanna Van Kampen Oliver Sterling.... Michael Cochrane Esme Mulligan.... Ellie Pawsey
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 has some difficult news to impart, and a decision is reached at The Bull.
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.
Akram has walked to Brookfield to collect a birthday cake that Leonard’s made for Khalil. When the rain starts David offers to drive Akram home, with a detour to drop off a machine part to a neighbouring farmer, Mulligan. But when they get to Meadow Farm they hear the distressed sound of unmilked cows and discover Mulligan lying dead in the milking parlour, before calling the emergency services. Later, David is grateful for Akram’s company while milking the cows. They discuss what happened when the paramedics got there, waxing philosophical about the meaning of life and death. David worries that he could have prevented Mulligan’s death if he’d called earlier, lamenting he doesn’t even know the name of Mulligan’s next of kin, his daughter, to let her know what’s happened. The least David can do is keep milking the cows, until another solution presents itself. Akram offers to help and both hope Mulligan’s at peace.
At the Maliks, Zainab and Khalil banter about his 'surprise' birthday party and presents. Zainab jokes that she’s bought him socks and underpants. Khalil is suitably unimpressed. Later, Khalil complains about being kept waiting for his cake before Zainab gives him her real present: tickets to a match in the Women’s T20 cricket World Cup. Delighted Khalil answers his phone and Akram explains what’s happened to Mulligan. He’s going to help David milk and settle the cows, which means he’ll be late back. Akram apologises for the delay, but Khalil is more concerned that the cows will be looked after.
After enjoying a Sunday roast with Clarrie and Eddie, George goes to help with the turkeys. George quickly shows he hasn’t lost his touch and Eddie’s delighted to have him back. But then one of the turkeys, Houdini, flies onto the Pole Barn roof and George climbs up to bring it back down. George and the bird come crashing down, but they manage to shut Houdini in with the others. In the process George splits his trousers, which they both find hilarious. But then George is downbeat about his reception back into the village, after his poorly attended party last week. Later, Clarrie promises to mend George’s trousers. George offers to take them out for lunch at The Bull on Tuesday, grateful that they took in Amber. Eddie admires George’s confidence, thinking he’ll be fine and things will get easier, but Clarrie’s not so sure.
At The Bull Lilian and Jolene look over the details of the upcoming Pub Awards event. Lilian thinks it’ll be a great opportunity for networking with important sponsors, but they’ve only been given two tickets. Jolene tells Lilian to take one of the other staff members. Jolene then approaches Tracy and Fallon, explaining there’s only one spare ticket and they think Fallon should have it. Fallon’s uncomfortable with the idea, while Tracy’s clearly disappointed not to go. They confront Lilian about the decision being unfair and Fallon says she won’t go under these circumstances. Lilian then suggests they draw a name from a hat instead.
Writer: Sarah Hehir Director: Dave Payne Editor: Jeremy Howe
Jolene Archer.... Buffy Davis Chris Carter.... Wilf Scolding Neil Carter.... Brian Hewlett Susan Carter.... Charlotte Martin Ruairi Donovan.... Arthur Hughes Mick Fadmoor.... Martin Barrass Amber Gordon.... Charlotte Jordan Clarrie Grundy..... Heather Bell Ed Grundy..... Barry Farrimond Eddie Grundy.... Trevor Harrison Emma Grundy.... Emerald O'Hanrahan George Grundy.... Angus Stobie Will Grundy.... Philip Molloy Brad Horrobin.... Taylor Uttley Adam Macy.... Andrew Wincott Paul Mack.... Joshua Riley Lily Pargetter.... Katie Redford Fallon Rogers.... Joanna Van Kampen Prison Guard.... Janice Connolly
Emotions run high for Will, and things don't go to plan for George.
Chris makes his feelings clear, and Susan has a brainwave.
Brad sees things from another perspective, and Neil attempts to stay positive.
The Grundys face an anxious wait, and Mick smells a rat.
Ruairi observes it feels good to be walking beside a field they’ve planted. He’s never felt so fired up about going to work. Adam’s surprised to learn Ruairi was with Paul last night. He agrees to have a drink with them both later. However Paul and Adam find themselves alone in the bar as Ruairi’s called away, and conversation doesn’t flow easily. Paul admits to Jolene that he doesn’t know what to talk to Adam about. Jolene enlists the pair as guinea pigs for testing out her ‘box of chatter’. Adam thinks it sounds like hell but joins in anyway. He admits afterwards to having fun, as does Paul. Jolene exclaims that’s what makes the Bull award winning.
Emma tells Jolene that Clarrie’s perfecting George’s favourite treacle tart in readiness for his homecoming on Thursday. Jolene reiterates how much she and Kenton appreciate what George did for them. Emma still wishes they hadn’t involved him, but she can’t wait to finally hug her son again. Later George explains to her about the shank found in his bed, and that it might mean extra time in prison. Appalled Emma counsels that there’s no point thinking beyond the hearing tomorrow. George doesn’t know if he can take any more. His mum offers him her strength – they’ll get through this. She heads to the Bull and fills Jolene in. She feels like George is even more vulnerable now. Jolene goes to hug Emma but is rebuffed. Emma just wants her to pray that the hearing goes George’s way.
Writer: Keri Davies
Director: Marina Caldarone
Editor: Jeremy Howe
28th September - 3rd October
Brian Aldridge.... Charles Collingwood
Pip Archer.... Daisy Badger
Alice Carter.... Hollie Chapman
Ian Craig.... Stephen Kennedy
Ruairi Donovan.... Arthur Hughes
Justin Elliott.... Simon Williams
Amber Gordon.... Charlotte Jordan
Ed Grundy.... Barry Farrimond
Emma Grundy.... Emerald O'Hanrahan
George Grundy.... Angus Stobie
Brad Horrobin.... Taylor Uttley
Alistair Lloyd.... Michael Lumsden
Paul Mack.... Joshua Riley
Adam Macy.... Andrew Wincott
Kirsty Miller.... Annabelle Dowler
Stella Pryor.... Lucy Speed
Prison Officer.... Janice Connolly