WRITER: Keri Davies DIRECTOR : Kim Greengrass EDITOR: Jeremy Howe

David Archer…. Timothy Bentinck Helen Archer…. Louiza Patikas Jolene Archer…. Buffy Davis Kenton Archer…. Richard Attlee Ruth Archer…. Felicity Finch Tony Archer…. David Troughton Leonard Berry…. Paul Copley Justin Elliott…. Simon Williams Mick Fadmoor…. Martin Barrass Emma Grundy…. Emerald O’Hanrahan Jakob Hakansson…. Paul Venables Brad Horrobin…. Taylor Uttley Tracy Horrobin…. Susie Riddell Joy Horville…. Jackie Lye Azra Malik…. Yasmin Wilde Kirsty Miller…. Annabelle Dowler Fallon Rogers…. Joanna Van Kampen

Leonard is up early in the workshop and David finds him fixing up an old rusty bike. The two discuss the massive farmers’ protest about inheritance tax outside Parliament. Leonard used to be quite the long-distance cyclist and Ruth and David marvel as he zips around the yard on the restored bike. Josh says he can have it, so Leonard takes it for a spin to the shops. Kenton and Jolene are shocked awake by the noise of Mick working on his van in the pub car park, trying to bring it back to life. Kenton’s roped in to helping, and he complains about how much Brad’s doing for George. They discuss Kirsty’s house sale – Joy’s worried about Helen, Henry and Jack. Mick’s introduced to Leonard, on his bike, and Mick offers him some cycling gear care of Joy. Meanwhile, Jolene comes out to remind oil-covered Kenton that they need to open the pub. As a thank you for the bike, Leonard takes David and Josh for a drink, where Mick has stored dismantled parts from his van and jokes that they’re never getting rid of him. But Mick has been singing their praises to his mate Errol, who may book the Bull for his birthday bash. Kenton admits to David that it looks like Mick’s van is never going to run again, so Jolene is aghast at the idea of it staying outside the pub. Leonard has enjoyed a cycle but struggles now with hills. Kenton talks about getting an electric bike, but Leonard dismisses the idea. David just asks Leonard to be careful.

Azra does some shopping at Bridge Farm and chats with Helen about the Christmas event at Loxley Barrett school, and how involved Ian has been on the PTA. Azra also wonders how long that camper van is going to be on Joy’s drive. They joke about Hilda the cat faking her own death. Khalil’s scheme to put Azra off cats has worked, she admits, and she’s glad to return the cat to Tony. Khalil wants chickens and Tony warns Azra of the considerations. As Azra congratulates Tony on Henry’s venture with goats, Azra notices a strange smell. Later, Tony realises it’s from Henry’s new Buck. Helen hopes it will only be for a while, while the goat is rutting – they hope it won’t drive people away. Mick’s feeling frustrated about life and work, and has a heart to heart with Jolene – he admits he’s always had itching feet, but being with Joy has changed things. Jolene reminisces about her singing days, and opens up about her own life changes. When Mick comes to Jolene and Kenton’s aid to help take some attractive photos of the pub for a feature, they are so grateful. In fact, when they learn about Mick’s issue with his motorhome, Kenton invites Mick to park it in the Bull car park. Close by, Mick can be an unofficial bouncer at the Pub! It’s just temporary though, points out concerned Jolene.

Chelsea’s ill, so Emma takes round a home-made remedy from Clarrie. Emma struggles to get much info from Brad about how George is doing in prison - she’s so grateful to Brad for keeping in touch with George. As Brad gets ready to do a video job for George’s business, Tracy’s worried about Brad being distracted from his studies at a crucial time. Emma implores Brad to keep in touch with George – Brad’s her only connection to her son. Kirsty and Brad work together to make his promotional video at the rewilding site, and she even offers to help anxious Brad with the edit, and he’s so grateful. But later as Kirsty treats Brad to a drink at the Bull, Tracy’s concern increases, as Brad has now spent a whole day away from his studies – and the video still isn’t finished. Fallon is busy in Ruth’s kitchen getting everything ready for the big event she’s catering at Brookfield. It’s not ideal for busy Ruth, who gives Fallon strict instructions from Jill, who she has managed to make disappear with Leonard for the day. With helper Chelsea off sick, Fallon’s up against it. But Emma surprises Fallon by arriving to help. Fallon accepts the offer and Ruth thinks Emma’s a lifesaver. After a successful event, everyone’s shattered, and over a cup of tea Ruth is brutally honest with Fallon – Fallon needs to get herself properly set up before they can do business again. Fallon understand and agrees – she’s determined to get her business on to a proper footing.

Helen gives Azra a book and Azra explains that Hilda the cat is now a house guest. Azra works out that Hilda is a terror and Khalil has tricked her. Helen points out that Henry may have had some influence over Khalil. Eddie had also been round trying to sell Azra a turkey for Christmas and for a moment she wondered if it was someone suspicious, ‘til Helen explains who he is.

The cat disappears and later Azra comes across Jakob at the road side. A cat jumped out in front of his car and is now dead. Azra thinks it’s Hilda. They go to the vet surgery to check its microchip. No ID can be found, so it’s not Hilda, as she’s chipped. They’ll do their best to find the owner. Stressed Jakob admits he needs a holiday!

Kirsty needs an answer from Helen on whether she’s going to buy her house. But Helen says no, she can’t make the sums work. At least she and the boys will have some time to sort something out as the house goes on to the open market. Joy’s sad she’ll lose Helen as a neighbour and Mick reports that he’s been ordered by Oliver to move his campervan. Joy lets him park it on her drive – the only problem is that he can’t move it – the gear box has seized up. Helen gets Tony to help with his tractor, but it causes damage to Helen’s (Kirsty’s) front lawn. Kirsty’s horrified – she’ll have to put the estate agent off taking photos, and she wants the house sold asap!

Ruth gets a last minute request to use the Events Barn for a party on Tuesday, but thinks it’s too short notice, especially as they’ve already got other commitments coming up. Jolene tells Ruth not to cancel the booking just yet though, suggesting Fallon could cater the event for Brookfield. Ruth then asks Fallon, who agrees to do it, but the job quickly becomes bigger than originally briefed. Fallon’s kitchen at Woodbine is too small for the preparation needed and the Bull’s kitchen is unavailable. But Fallon reckons that if she can use the kitchen at Brookfield and get Chelsea to assist her it might be doable, so long as Ruth’s okay with that. Otherwise the whole thing’s off. Tracy thinks Fallon looks stressed , but Jolene’s positive it’s a good thing for Fallon to take on new challenges. Ruth isn’t keen on giving up her kitchen though, but Fallon manages to persuade Ruth that she can make it work without interfering too much in the farm’s routine.

At Number 6 The Green Tracy worries that Brad is becoming too distracted from his University work by George, especially now Brad’s the only person George will talk to. Brad denies it’s a problem, before he gets a call - it’s George. Meanwhile, Justin wants Brad to make a video for him, showing the suitability of Ambridge and the Rewilding Site for the introduction of beavers. Brad isn’t sure he’s up to the task, but Justin railroads him into agreeing to have it done by Friday.

Fallon’s working a shift at The Bull while Jolene laments the fact Lynda’s not putting on a Christmas show. Fallon hopes people won’t pry into why she’s working there, but Jolene reassures Fallon she made the right decision to give up the Charging Station Café. Justin is sympathetic that it didn’t work out for Fallon, cautioning her not to go back to the Tearoom, but to look forward instead. He mentions his bankruptcy, suggesting it was the making of him, having to start afresh. He offers to help Fallon if he can and she appreciates him taking her more seriously as a businesswoman than she does herself. Fallon then decides she won’t go back to her old job and Jolene agrees, she can do much better than that. At Beechwood Helen has Tom and Natasha over for dinner. They reflect on a happy day, celebrating Peggy’s 100th birthday. Seren and Nova were particularly charming. They share a moment, remembering their brother, John, then mention Emma being upset this morning after George let it be known he doesn’t ever want his family to visit him again. Helen then explains how difficult it would be for her to afford the mortgage on Kirsty’s house and Natasha tells her not to take the risk, in that case. Later, going home, Natasha suggests to Tom that if Helen doesn’t go for the Beechwood house they could buy it instead. Tom’s not keen, for several reasons, including upsetting Helen, but Natasha concludes that Helen doesn’t really want to live there, whereas she does.

On their way to Handale Prison Neil and Susan are both feeling nervous, but pleased George has agreed to see them. When they get there though George is bitter and distant, seemingly more concerned about what other prisoners will think if he’s too friendly with his grandparents. Neil and Susan struggle finding a subject George doesn’t twist into an angry response. When Neil raises how worried they are about bad influences on him, George makes it clear he only invited them out of pity and wants them to go. Neil then has a go at George about how much it has cost Susan in particular coming on this visit, but George responds by guilt tripping them over what could happen to him in prison - and it will be all their fault. On their way home Neil and Susan admit the visit was awful and George was horrible. They wonder what they’re going to tell Emma, who texts, then rings. They consider glossing over the whole experience, but in the end it might be better to just tell Emma the truth.

At Bridge Farm Pat and Tony are pleased with the handsome new buck that’s arrived, hopeful that serious Henry won’t turn out anything like George. When Pat expresses her frustration that Helen hasn’t just gone ahead and bought Kirsty’s Beechwood house Tony tells her about his idea of building an eco-house. He admits they’d have to okay everything with Helen, Tom and Natasha, but Pat thinks they’re too old to make such a big change. However, Tony isn’t giving up on his dream just yet.

At Bridge Farm, Tom and Tony talk about Neil and Susan visiting George tomorrow, plus the imminent arrival of the buck goat and how expensive it must be. Pat joins them, worrying about her promise to bake the cake for Peggy’s 100th birthday today. Pat then confesses the goat cost £750, which is why she didn’t want to tell Tony, who’s suitably appalled. Once Pat’s gone Tony tells Tom about his dream of building an eco-house, which leads onto the idea of Helen potentially moving into the farmhouse. How would Tom and Natasha feel about that? Tony worries about Tom feeling it would be unfair. Tom admits it’s not something he’s thought about, but finds it amusing Tony hasn’t even mentioned the eco-house idea to Pat yet. Tony makes the excuse that there have been so many other things to think about.

Chatting to Helen at Beechwood Kirsty bemoans her poor choice of men in her life. Her mum, Megan, keeps pushing her towards Rex, but Kirsty has never been interested in him. However it has made her look at him in a slightly different light. The conversation turns to Helen buying Kirsty’s house, but Helen says it will only be possible if Kirsty drops the price. Kirsty can’t though, as the pressure is now on for her to buy Willow Farm before Brenda sells it to someone else. Helen’s uneasy with rushing into such an important decision affecting Henry and Jack’s future happiness. But Kirsty won’t let her off the hook. The boys love the house and she desperately needs to sell, so what’s Helen waiting for?

Rex calls Kirsty to the Rewilding site to discuss their future, following Justin’s volte face over funding. What will they do now the land and money has been guaranteed for five years? Rex’s left-field idea is beavers, to encourage biodiversity and provide a natural defence against flooding. Kirsty suggests talking to Tony, their farming consultant. Later, when Rex puts the case for introducing beavers to the local environment, Tony reckons they’d need to convince the whole of Ambridge about the benefits, particularly farmers suffering poor crop yields as a result of standing water over the last year. Rex admits there would be considerable costs involved, but argues the benefits would outweigh these in the longer term. Tony is basically for it, but wants another meeting once Rex has done more research to build his case. Kirsty’s already convinced, though. Rex could sell her anything with his passion. At Ambridge View Emma tells Susan how bad she feels about Fallon, after taking her job - and about George, especially now she’s seen him in prison. Emma’s scared about the influence other prisoners could have on George, but Susan thinks George still has a good heart. Later, they both talk to Neil about how upsetting it is that George doesn’t want to see his grandparents and what they can do to protect him from bad influences while he’s inside. Neil then puts in another request to visit George, reports back later that he got a holding message in reply, but at least it wasn’t a flat refusal like last time. They’re both desperate to see him, whatever it takes.

Natasha has called Emma in to the Tearoom and offers Emma the position of part-time manager, as Natasha’s other commitments mean she can’t manage it on her own. Emma barely hesitates before accepting the offer and thanks Natasha for trusting her. Fallon tells Harrison she’s just informed Cell Charge that she’s not going ahead with the café at the Charging Station. Harrison thinks Justin should feel bad about what’s happened, but Fallon is already making other plans. Fallon then goes to see Natasha and asks for her old job back. It’s awkward and embarrassing, coming just days after her leaving do. Natasha is sympathetic when she hears Fallon’s reasons, but she’s just given the job to Emma. As she leaves, Fallon bumps into Emma but doesn’t say anything. Natasha though tells Emma and Tony what Fallon asked, but wants them to keep it to themselves. Natasha then phones Fallon to offer her shift work at the Tearoom, but Harrison doesn’t want Fallon to go back. And then guilty Emma comes round and begs Fallon to take back her old job, but Fallon is adamant - she can’t do it to Emma. Meanwhile, Tony tells distracted Natasha about his dream of building an eco house at Bridge Farm, but admits he’d more or less given up on the idea until Helen mentioned she may not buy the house on Beechwood. Natasha jokes that she and Tom could buy it instead. Tony leaps on this - if they buy Beechwood then Helen could move into the farmhouse, and he and Pat could live in the new eco house. Perfect!