The Archers

Kirsty leads the way, and Akram is pleasantly surprised.

While doing some gardening at the Dower House Lilian and Justin agree it was a clever plan of Peggy’s to get Natasha and Fallon working together for her funeral. They were at Harrison’s party last night too, which was a great success, despite his absence. Lilian then gets a message from Christine at the Laurels: they want to talk to her about Peggy. Intrigued, Justin goes with Lilian, joking that they’re about to find out what Peggy did with her money. A regular visitor to The Laurels, Arthur, introduces himself as a good friend of Peggy’s. He tells Lilian that the charity where he volunteers, a local dementia support network, is very grateful for Peggy’s generous donation. Arthur suffers from dementia himself, although it isn’t obvious, and impresses Justin with his Savile Row background. Justin and Lilian agree, he’s an inspiring example and that Peggy made absolutely the right decision. And of course Arthur should come to Peggy’s funeral. Ruth asks Ben to tidy up the Events Barn – Fallon will be setting up there from tomorrow to serve teas on Sunday. Ruth then asks Ben what he knows about catastrophising. She thinks it’s what David’s doing about Sunday - only she knows David would hate her even mentioning it. Later, David finds Ben and asks him to put everything back that he’s just cleared out of the Barn. Ben broaches the subject of how David’s feeling, but David shuts down the conversation. Later though he tells Ben he appreciates his support, but actually he’s okay now and excited about Sunday. They’re both really glad it wasn’t cancelled.

Having decided to go ahead with Open Farm Sunday, David and Ruth have been working hard to get things ready at Brookfield and are still checking up with each other about the various events booked for the day. Jill wants David to look over the eulogy she’s written for Peggy’s funeral and Ruth wonders what happened to all Peggy’s money. Jill then asks David if he will read the eulogy during the service, before he reads it out loud. Jill has written that after arriving in Ambridge in 1957 she and Peggy were friends for sixty-eight years. And it was Peggy who helped make her feel that one day she might belong in Ambridge. She valued Peggy’s honesty and straight talking and will miss her more than she can say. When David finishes Ruth proposes a toast to Peggy. Alice and Chris meet on the way to Harrison’s surprise party at Woodbine Cottage, neither of them in the mood for it. When they get there Fallon quickly has them helping with last-minute preparations. Kirsty is there too, while Dane, on his second date with Helen, is reportedly looking forward to some karaoke, with Fallon having bought Harrison a karaoke machine. Kirsty thinks Chris and Alice are a bit on edge, while Fallon frets over Harrison not being there yet. And then she tells everyone that Harrison’s had to turn around and go back to Yorkshire! Fallon despairs. How can she have a fortieth birthday party for Harrison without him?

At Brookfield, David’s talking through the events they’ve planned for Open Farm Sunday. Ruth senses how concerned he is about security, even though they’ve got Rex, Ed and Will keeping an eye on things. While Ruth mulls over the details of the day and possibly having more “fun” events, David suggests a bag search on the gate, then admits he’s having flashbacks to what happened in the boardroom at Casey Meats and can’t help projecting his fears onto Open Farm Sunday. He wishes he'd been more proactive, despite everyone saying how fantastic he was, keeping people calm. Ruth sits David down with a coffee and does her best to reassure him, before suggesting it might be better to cancel Open Farm Sunday if it’s causing him so much anxiety. Alice’s self-laceration continues at the doctor’s surgery. Both she and Chris cover when Fallon appears. Fallon checks they’re coming to Harrison’s party tomorrow night and still providing the salads and playlist they promised. After Fallon’s gone, Chris and Alice confess they’d completely forgotten. When they see Azra she doesn’t think there’s anything obviously delayed about Martha’s development, but noting Alice’s concern she suggests referring Martha to a paediatrician. Later, after dropping Martha at nursery, Chris is relieved they’ve got the referral. But Alice can’t help worrying about the possibility of a delayed onset and there’s nothing Chris can do to help. Fallon calls with more stress about Harrison’s party, before Alice admits to Chris what she really wanted Azra to say was that Alice didn’t hurt Martha and everything’s alright.

Joy gives Susan the latest batch of Shop surveys, while Ben is asked what he’d like them to change. Joy suggests letting dogs in, but Susan’s not keen, preferring Azra’s idea of introducing a hardware section. Later, Ben catches up with Joy, grateful to her for remembering when he broke down at the Shop over Bess, knowing that’s why she suggested allowing dogs. Joy admits the guilt she feels over Rochelle turning out the way she has, but Ben reminds Joy of the role she played in his recovery – their conversation on the Green that day was a turning point for him. He’s certain something similar could happen to Rochelle. Alice has brought Martha to Chris’s flat, where he’s planned a day in and around Ambridge, inviting Alice to join them at the playground. Alice wants to talk about the effect her drinking during pregnancy had on Martha’s development. Chris thinks it’s a massive leap, but Alice has been dreading the thought of foetal alcohol syndrome for years and the nursery visit on Friday hasn't helped. At the playground later Chris tries convincing Alice there’s nothing wrong with Martha, but she wants to see a doctor as soon as possible. Chris worries she’s torturing herself unnecessarily, while Alice suggests he’s more worried she’ll start drinking again. When Susan approaches they’re happy to talk about letting dogs in the shop instead. Afterwards Chris says he’ll go to the doctors with Alice, who’s really grateful. She wouldn’t blame Chris for hating her after what she’s done to Martha.