The Archers

Tom tries recruiting George to the Bull cricket team, but George points out he’s still barred from the pub. George probably wouldn’t want to play anyway, not after the way people like Tom treated him when he was looking for work. Later, George sympathises with Esme, who’s still waiting for her landlord to give her a figure for the rent, before she can make decisions like keeping George on. George...

Tom’s feeling upbeat after the Bridge Farm audit, though Helen points out they need a conversation with Tony about getting rid of the Anguses. Helen then gets a call from Anna Tregorran, who’s abroad – her mum’s had a fall. Helen offers to go and wait with Carol for the ambulance, asking Tom to go with her. When they get there however, they have to climb in through a window before helping Carol up...

Jakob challenges Brian’s assertion that Kate is unsettled and wants to move to Scotland, given Kate’s enthusiasm for her work at Spiritual Home. Brian then wonders if Kate is just not letting on how unhappy she is, which gets Jakob wondering if Kate wants to split up. Amber arrives at Spiritual Home for a massage from Kate, who’s a bit cool with her. Amber apologises for being horrible last time a...

Rex tries talking to Chris about Alice, but Chris only agrees to a pint later in the week, claiming he’s busy tonight. Then Alice appears, wanting to share news of Martha’s star of the week award. Rex slinks off, while Alice checks with Chris that everything’s okay between him and Rex. Lily persuades Kirsty to head to the Bull for a drink instead of Grey Gables, though Kirsty’s keen to avoid gate-...

Azra’s grateful to Ben for coming into work at short notice and as he eats a late breakfast they discuss Azra’s fasting. He tells Azra about Josh’s upcoming working holiday in Patagonia and the possibility of moving back to the Stables. Ben feels ready, despite the slight memory of his breakdown. They then talk about this year’s big push on mental health awareness. Later Ben reports he’s contacted...

George’s probation officer, Reg, has bad news – someone’s made a complaint about George’s ‘public urination’ on Sunday. George protests to Amber; he was barely visible. Reg meets George and asks about his future plans, and mentions some worrying patterns of behaviour linked to drinking. There won’t be a prosecution, but Reg will recommend an alcohol tag for thirty days. George is incensed, but Amb...

Kirsty’s happy for Rex, promising she won’t tell anyone about Alice. Rex teases Kirsty over her pact with Kate not to watch TV for a week, encouraging Kirsty to break it while Kate’s out for the evening. Rex then joins Kirsty watching the next episode of her favourite TV programme. Kate arrives home unexpectedly early though and busts them, before confessing she had the same idea – she was plannin...

George helps Eddie set up the cider shed, as Eddie has invited family over to wet the baby’s head following a healthy scan. Eddie reminisces about wetting baby George’s head with Will and David. George is glad Eddie and Will have made up, and Eddie praises George – he’ll be a great dad. Later, Eddie and George walk home, joking about Eddie’s baby name ideas. They bump into Rex who shares cricketin...

Having heavily persuaded Ruairi to come round for tea at The Nest, Alice says both her and Miranda are worried about him. Ruairi admits the thought of going back to Home Farm without Jenny there feels really weird. Alice agrees, but also looks forward to sitting by the French windows and conjuring up Jennifer’s presence. Ruairi starts crying, before rejecting Alice’s offer to move into the Nest wi...

Celia Sparrow is disappointed to hear from Helen that she’s turning down the job of running Reuben’s dairy. She admires Helen’s loyalty to her family but questions whether that will be enough for Helen long term. With her talent and ambition, won’t she outgrow Bridge Farm? Helen doesn’t agree. Meanwhile, Tracy has got the dairy work under her belt, including a knack with the temperamental curd cut...

The Bridge Farm Archers discuss the results of the broadly positive audit. The veg boxes are flying and the Tea Room’s doing okay after the sewage setback. The sausages are coasting, and both Dairy and Shop are doing really well. However, to Tony’s dismay, the Angus herd isn’t profitable and Helen suggests a possible alternative: they could buy in organic beef for the shop and café, switch the her...

Cheese rival Celia Sparrow calls at Bridge Farm, where Helen underplays the audit. As they tour the farm, Celia reveals the reason for her visit. Her musician brother Reuben is opening an organic farm in Little Croxley. Staggered, Helen hears that he’d like her to be Director of Operations in his dairy. It’s an exciting project and he’s offering an incredible salary, enough to move house if Helen...

Eddie surprises George, who’s sorting out old family photos at No 1 The Green. George awkwardly reveals he’s preparing a slideshow for Eddie’s 75th birthday. The memories make Eddie emotional, bringing home how close they’ve always been as a family, and how different things are now – what would Joe say if he were alive today? George insists it’s all been his fault. He regrets what he did to Ed, an...

Tom complains that he was too tired to do paperwork last night, with the twins being at such a livewire stage. Helen reminds him that she needs his veg box figures for tomorrow’s audit and considers how Bridge Farm could become more efficient. Affronted Tom pushes back – they are doing well and he has reservations about the need for an audit. As Pat and Helen enjoy a walk, Pat reminds her that Tom...

At The Bull Chris tells Hannah he’s looking forward to making the plant supports for her step-father, but generally he feels a bit old and pointless. Hannah sympathises, her career feels stuck too – what they both need is a good work challenge to get them going. David then outlines his idea for a farrier competition at the Borchester Show, which sounds great, but Chris doesn’t want to organise it....

Helen tells Kirsty they’ll be taking Tracy on at the Dairy despite Susan not being keen on working with her sister. Helen admits she’s thinking of taking Dane to meet Finlay later, if she meets him at all. Then Finlay calls and Helen agrees straight off to meet him at the pub where he’s staying, before telling Kirsty her brain went to mush. This is so not her! Later at the pub, Helen waits with Ki...

Rex gives Brian a lift back to his car after it ran out of petrol, and stays with him to check Brian’s ok restarting it. Later, at the Rewilding, Brian’s impressed by the variety of wildflowers on one of the trails. He quizzes Rex about his life pre-Ambridge and why he went into farming, before suggesting they meet at The Bull tomorrow, when Rex can talk to Miranda about taking her walking group o...

David approaches Lilian about the Stables participating in the Borchester Show, but then has to go and deal with a calving. Later though he bumps into Lilian again at the Shop and expounds on his idea for some kind of equestrian competition at the Show, to be run by the Stables. Susan suggests a farrier competition would be good too. David leaps on this, encouraging Lilian to get the Stables fully...

Chris and Hannah are on their way to a cricket team meeting Freddie’s called. There’s still bad feeling over last season’s controversial hidden payments to some players, even before Hannah and Chris discover Freddie’s forgotten this meeting and gone to another one instead. Assuming that’s the end for the cricket team Hannah then lays into Freddie’s poor judgement for suggesting George could rejoin...

Jazzer tells Chelsea she’ll be getting more money to help pay for the horsebox she wants to convert into a hairdressing salon. But Chelsea worries whether the owner will accept weekly payments, before proposing the idea to Alice, who says she’ll check with the owner. Rex drops in at the Stables and agrees to meet Alice at The Bull on Thursday for their date, but will look for somewhere to go onto....

It’s early doors at the engagement party when Zach joins Stella, who makes him apologise to Josh for stirring things up over the pre-nup. Josh accepts he went too far having a go at Pip, but says he’s not staying for the party. Pip hopes Rex might meet a prospective girlfriend tonight, but Rex suggests that issue might already be settled, though it’s complicated and could still go badly wrong… Pip...

Akram’s happy being allocated work in the big polytunnel while Tom and Tony are busy elsewhere. Later though, when Tom calls to check progress, he realises Akram has been digging up the wrong plants. Tony is more forgiving than Tom, suggesting Akram go and fix a leaky tap instead. Tony then has it out with Tom for not taking time to give Akram proper instructions. Despite Tom’s reservations Tony s...

Ruairi worries to Brian about the effect pig farming might have on his social life. Brian’s more concerned by Ruairi turning down the stockperson training, informing him curtly that he’ll be staying at Berrow until Brian says otherwise. Ruairi knows this is about what he did to George, accepting his punishment. Brian disagrees, it’s not punishment. He’s simply doing what he should have done long a...

At Berrow, Hannah concedes Ruairi’s doing better than she expected. She’s still not convinced he’ll stay the course though, but Ruairi’s enthusiasm is very persuasive. Ruairi goes with Neil to the outdoor unit, where Neil invites him to a meeting with a feed representative before suggesting a more challenging task for Ruairi to get involved with. Later, Neil tells Ruairi they’ve been sufficiently...

Akram is delighted to be gifted a packet of seeds by birthday boy Tony, who explains he’s giving the same to everyone in the village, rather than receiving presents he doesn’t need. Tom hopes it will encourage some guerilla gardening, before sending Akram off to work in the packing shed. Later, Tom finds Akram trialling a new system for packing the veg boxes, but it ends up taking far longer than...