The Archers

WRITER: Katie Hims DIRECTOR: Pip Swallow EDITOR: Jeremy Howe Brian Aldridge.... Charles Collingwood David Archer.... Timothy Bentinck Pip Archer.... Daisy Badger Ruth Archer.... Felicity Finch Tom Archer.... William Troughton Lilian Bellamy.... Sunny Ormonde Rex Fairbrother.... Nick Barber Martyn Gibson.... Jon Glover Amber Gordon.... Charlotte Jordan Chelsea Horrobin.... Madeleine Leslay Adam Macy.... Andrew Wincott Kate Madikane.... Perdita Avery Zainab Malik.... Priyasasha Kumari Stella Pryor.... Lucy Speed Lynda Snell.... Carole Boyd Oliver Sterling.... Michael Cochrane Lawrence.... Rupert Vansittart

As Stella rolls up her sleeves for another day at Brookfield, David mentions a job he’s seen advertised that might be a good fit for her. Stella admits she saw it but dismissed it as too much of an executive role. She’s more farm than strategy. David argues she has all the experience and ideas they need – she should apply. She has nothing to lose. Stella agrees to give it some thought. Later grateful Pip thanks her dad for talking Stella round – she’s filling in the application right now. Pip loves how her parents have accepted Stella into the family and are open to her ideas. Against her better judgement Chelsea’s returned to the golf club with keen Zainab. She’s worried that Lynda’s sent the email about Lawrence – what if they see him? Zainab reassures her; there’s nothing they can do about it anyway. Martyn arrives and sense something’s wrong, so they explain about the blackmail threat. He offers to meet them later to discuss it further. Chelsea unwittingly divulges to Martyn that Justin’s buying more land. Over lunch Martyn admits to finding Lawrence’s behaviour bizarre. Right on cue Lawrence appears. He protests that Chelsea and Zainab are turning Ambridge against him, and Martyn’s accusation of harassment just proves how he’s also been taken in by them. After unacceptable insult towards Zainab, Martyn demands Lawrence apologises, but Lawrence compounds the situation and Zainab throws her drink over him in response. She instantly regrets it but Chelsea and Martyn think she was brave. Zainab just feels she’s made it all worse.

Bored Stella gets stuck into the Brookfield milking with Pip. Later she suggests an overseeding scheme for the pasture. David’s non-committal, telling Ruth later that he didn’t want to shoot Stella down at the time because Pip was clearly hanging on her every word adoringly – but some of her suggestions weren’t appropriate for Brookfield. Ruth agrees they don’t really need any extra voices when it comes to the farm. David reckons Stella’s bound to get a job soon; she needs to earn a living. He admits it would annoy him if she was hanging around Brookfield all the time. Chelsea’s alarmed to hear from Lilian that Lynda’s being blackmailed by Lawrence. She doesn’t want Lynda to send the email to the Golf Association now, and she’s never going back to the golf club. Lilian points out that’s just what Lawrence wants, but Chelsea’s fine with that if it means he’ll leave Lynda alone. Lilian’s distracted by a message from Justin saying he wants to buy more land. Amber tells Chelsea she thinks Emma over-reacted about George’s help with locating Markie. George can take care of himself – it’s one of the things she loves about him. Chelsea invites Amber to her birthday celebration next week, but when Amber hears some old school friends will be there, she declines. Instead she takes Chelsea for a drink at the Bull. Chelsea questions Amber’s decision to have her teeth done, but Amber defends it. She wants to do it for herself, and her brand. If she’s fine with it, Chelsea should be too.

Lilian confides to Lynda that the current tension between Justin and Brian is making her feel uncomfortable and embarrassed; sometimes Justin seems to forget that she and Brian are related by marriage. Lynda in turn has an awkward situation of her own. Lawrence’s threat to expose her over the cricket payments is troubling her. She doesn’t want to give in to blackmail, but she’s hesitant to report his behaviour to the Golf Association. She preferred it when she had the moral high ground. Lilian counters she still has this, over a racist misogynist like Lawrence. Brian makes the radical suggestion to Adam of selling the no till seed drill; they don’t have the contracts to justify owning it. Adam thinks this is shortsighted panic thinking. Later as Kate clears some of her things in readiness for moving out, she and Brian admit they’ll miss one another. Kate observes that Brian looks stressed. He confesses he’s unable to see an obvious solution to the farm’s current economic situation. He can’t fault Adam, who’s being fantastic and patient with him – it’s Justin who’s to blame. Kate tells Adam she wishes she could help. He and Brian clearly need more support. Adam notes that farming isn’t really Kate’s thing, and there’s no-one else to ask, so they haven’t got much choice.

Brian suggests they skip servicing the maize harvester this year to save money. Adam sees it as a false economy – if it breaks down it will be costly to repair. Brian maintains he currently has the final say in Home Farm business. Adam concedes the point. Later he tells Tom he’s made a decision; rather than keep messing Bridge Farm around he’d like to hand in his notice. Tom understands – Adam’s been biding his time and now he has another shot at the running of Home Farm he should take it. Adam protests he’s loved working at Bridge Farm, but they agree it’s time for him to move on. Brian’s on the cusp of advertising for another farm manager when Adam updates him with the news. He loves Home Farm; it’s where his heart is. Brian thinks this is brilliant. Lawrence compliments Tom on his game yesterday. He asks how much he gets paid for playing. Tom assures him he doesn’t get paid and neither does anyone else. It would be against the ethos of the team. As Chelsea serves Lawrence his lunch, he insists he’s tried to apologise to her and Zainab for his recent comments. He hints that if the complaint to the golf association goes ahead he might be forced to take action. Rattled Chelsea reports this to Lynda, who tells her not to worry. Lawrence presses Rex on a decision about payment, and Rex declines. Lawrence announces to Lynda that he knows her secret, and if she reports his comments he’ll tell the whole Ambridge team.