The Archers

Ruth makes a controversial decision, and Emma has reservations.

Kate gives Kirsty the news that that Chris won’t require Rookery Cottage back after all, so Jakob can stay put. Kirsty asserts that’s absolutely fine with her. She’ll keep looking for a tenant. Later Kate laments there’s no sign Brian will change his mind about the harvest. He and Justin are as bad as each other. Kirsty counters that Justin’s capable of changing his mind in the blink of an eye – just take the beaver scheme for example. Kate suddenly wrongfoots Kirsty by suggesting she becomes Kirsty’s tenant. It would get her out of her dad’s hair. It’s the perfect solution; they’ll have so much fun! Oliver’s trying to track down his shooting magazine. Susan struggles to remember where it’s being stored; everyone’s magazines seem to be somewhere different. She tries Tracy’s house. Dane’s confident Leroy’s fete tug of war team will be victorious. Oliver declares Dane’s done a wonderful job. Oliver looks ahead to their autumn wedding fayre. He’s surprised to learn Dane’s advertising for a coordinator when he has Lily right there. Dane says he’ll make sure Lily applies. Later when Lily and Brad try to share some tug of war tactics with Dane he shuts them down. Lily’s unimpressed. She tells Brad she’s not applying for the wedding coordinator post, it’s not for her. She confides later that she liked Dane to start with, but he’s too keen on work – he never talks to her about anything else. She thinks they should bypass Dane and talk to Leroy directly about tactics. This way she guarantees they’ll win.

Kate informs Stella that Brian’s gone away with Miranda for the week. Stella didn’t know this, but acknowledged it was unlikely she’d have changed his mind about the stand he was taking against the harvest anyway. Jakob takes a dim view of having to view Willow Farm as a rental option, but goes along with it. He presents what at first appears to be a negative impression, with Kate attempting valiantly to turn all his downsides into positives. Relieved Kirsty’s fine with the potential outcome, but Jakob stops her in her tracks by declaring the room ideal. He’ll take it. Kate assures nonplussed Kirsty that Jakob won’t hide away in his room, but will spend lots of his time downstairs socialising. Isn’t it wonderful? Kirsty agrees that it is. It's the final week of Ben’s nursing course and he’s struggling to find a job. David asserts he can always come back to farming, but when Ben gets a soaking from a dirty water pipe he’s not impressed. David gives him an admin task instead, and asks him to gather information on the Grey Gables tug of war team when he goes to the Health Club on Wednesday. Stella arrives to enlist their support with a plan. With Brian away she intends to get the BL harvest in without his knowledge. Will David help her? David has to refuse; Brian is family and he can’t go against his wishes. Ben wonders if Stella might ask Ruth instead.

Kate’s ears prick up when she finds out Kirsty’s on the hunt for a lodger. She thinks she may know just the person. She suggests Chris Carter might need to take back Rookery Cottage while he’s out of the flat, leaving Jakob without a home. She volunteers him for a look round Willow Farm, while admitting to a crestfallen Kirsty that he can be annoyingly fussy. Brian’s determined to stick to his plan of refusing to harvest the BL wheat. Katie insists this is not a good idea – it’s bound to get messy if solicitors get involved. Brian doesn’t want to hear it. Stella also gets on Brian’s case, to no avail. She then suggests a meeting with Justin to try and iron things out, to which Brian grudgingly agrees. Having worked her persuasive magic on Justin by pointing out the awkwardness of her situation, he too accedes to her request to meet. Justin declares that Home Farm is contracted to harvest the wheat, and there’s a stalemate as Brian points out that any legal proceedings against him would take so long that the crop would be spoiled anyway. All Justin needs to do is drop his controversial plans and the harvest can start tomorrow. Despairing Stella gets them to meet on common ground – their mutual trust in her. But any hope of a rapprochement is lost when Justin brings up the poisoning of the Am, and mentions Jennifer. Brian leaves, spitting his parting shot: Justin’s wheat can rot in the dirt.

During a break in the Board meeting Brian and Annabelle rail against Justin’s duplicity and Martyn’s apparent capitulation, intimating they might even contemplate resignation. But when Justin later suggests his opponents should resign, Brian hits the roof. Martyn offers the compromise of a feasibility report, then closes the meeting. Later at The Bull, Martyn claims this as a result, brushing off Brian and Annabelle’s accusations that he has reneged on his previous position. Justin joins them, playing the innocent to their accusations of treachery, before arguing the case for his suggested food storage facility and vertical farming. When Brian lashes out Martyn suggests Brian’s in danger of losing the BL contract altogether. But Brian doesn’t give a damn – they can get someone else to do their wheat harvest! Neil and Susan pick their way through the stock piled high at Ambridge View, worried about the effect the chaos is having on Martha. Susan admits to feeling sorry for herself too, so when Chris takes them out for dinner at The Bull later, Neil explains that it’s not just the shop getting Susan down, but also the business of Amber and Nana Ivy’s ring. Chris sympathises, but when he supposes it might be better for Martha to stay with Alice, Neil is quick to say that having Martha at Ambridge View is what’s keeping Susan going. But it’s Susan who then suggests Chris and Martha could find somewhere else to stay, if they want. Chris readily agrees and heads to the bar while Susan reasons to Neil that there’ll be more space to put the stock if Chris vacates his room.