Week Beginning: Sunday 22nd August, 2010
Sunday 22nd August
The honeymooners return, and Ed and Emma have a secret.
Ed, Emma, Jennifer, Alice, Chris, Lynda, George, Ruairi
- Ed wakes Emma with a surprise, breakfast in bed. George is with Will so they've time to themselves until picking George up to go to the Millennium Wood's tenth birthday party. Emma doesn't want to tell anyone about the baby, due in April, yet, so as not to jinx it. And it will be nice to have a secret.
- Alice and Chris arrive back from a fantastic time at Gray Gables. Champagne, flowers, scattered rose petals, big TV with all the sports channels, and a full-English in bed.
- Lynda is organising all the contributed food and drink. She compliments Emma on looking very well. George and Ruairi [who bizarrely hasn't lost his accent yet] have detective sheets made with Hayley; they tick off the things they see. Lynda quizzes Jill. The young couple are moving into a holiday cottage soon. Yes, Alice will return to Southampton. No, Chris will stay in Ambridge because of work. Will Chris remain in the cottage once Alice has gone? Jennifer isn't at all sure.
- Ed rushes to lift Emma off a style, Chris and Alice think he is being romantic, and what's wrong with that, asks Emma? Chris retorts if Emma is so romantic why didn't she ask Ed to marry her on Friday like he and Ed expected. "Oh Ed", says Emma, "did I let you down?" Ed lets her off, just this once.
- The Edgeley Morris Troupe finish. Emma enthuses about Jennifer's quiche. Ed learns from Jennifer about the artichokes in it. He might just give them a try.
Summarised by Ralph Corderoy
Monday 23rd August
Susan is determined to impress and Jennifer needs some answers.
Susan, Neil, Jennifer, Brian, Alice, Ed
- Susan tells Neil they are inviting Brian and Jennifer over for supper Friday evening. It's time to cement the bond between the Carters and the Aldridges. Susan's "supper" is four courses, brandy, and coffee. This is a new chapter for Susan and Neil, now they are mingling in those circles they will be thrown together on all sorts of occasions.
- Jenny is in a tizz over her new son-in-law's living arrangements once Alice leaves. Will he expect the cleaner to clean the cottage, Jennifer to cook, and to wash his clothes? Brian puts Alice in his place to answer the questions. Chris is staying in the cottage; they will need somewhere private for when Alice visits. They haven't got to the finer details on housework but Mum will be the first to know. After graduating, they'll live in the cottage, save a deposit for a bigger place, and then rent it out again. Brian thinks Alice is a chip off the old block and has grabbed a bright lad with business sense.
- Ed quizzes Alice on artichoke recipes, and Amy's midwifery skills, before failing to obtain some artichokes himself.
- Susan phones Jennifer who tries to think of a way to decline the invite for supper/dinner, but is caught on the hop. 7:30 is fine. Is it 7:00 for 7:30 or 7:30 for 8:00, Jennifer wonders later. Hopefully, it is bangers and mash and a pud and we're home by nine, jokes Brian, it's just one invitation. But Jenny knows Susan; it's the thin end of the wedge.
Summarised by Ralph Corderoy
Tuesday 24th August
Bert presents Nigel with a growing problem and Susan gets plenty of culinary advice.
Elizabeth, Lily, Nic, Mia, Helen, Susan, Pat, Bert, Nigel
- Lily wants patent leather shoes, like friend Beatrice, but Elizabeth hasn't got money to burn; they won't last. Nic is also shopping for school uniform, Mia starts next week. Elizabeth corrects Nic; the twins won't be going to Borchester Green in a year's time, but termly boarding at Clavisborne.
- Helen is all worked up about a cookery demo and book signing by Shelley Brazil and ensuring enough people attend. Pat tries to get her to take things easy, saying she looks tired. Helen insists she has never felt better.
- After Pat and Helen reminisce over Jennifer's amazing beef wellington with truffle sauce in front of Susan, Pat advises Susan to stick with tried and tested for Friday's supper, no dinner, party. Susan thinks she might do something a bit out of the ordinary, but do a dummy run first.
- Bert's runner beans secreted in Nigel's console desert lead to Nigel having the idea of leasing some of his land as allotment plots to local people, like Grant from the shop, and wife Anna. Lizzie thinks it a ridiculous idea, hair-brained, and can he please get back to work.
- Nic pays off all of the catalogue bill this month; the little bit extra from the Bull makes an amazing difference. Susan has heard Jolene's selling up, but you know how these rumours fly around when some people get hold of them.
Summarised by Ralph Corderoy
Wednesday 25th August
Ed is on a mission, and Helen is making plans.
Tony, Ed, Pat, Helen, Kathy, Jamie, Kirsty
- Tony is pleased Ed likes his new mower conditioner, his son just glanced at it and said it was a waste of money. Tony doesn't grow artichokes, and they'd be March to May anyway, but Ed is given Jaxx's veg supplier's number by Kirsty and, after hearing Helen say a pregnant mum craves the nutrients her body lacks, is determined to get artichokes somehow.
- Helen has been busy organising the book signing. Kirsty thinks she looks tired but she won't rest and ends up yawning all through their evening at the Bull. She is keen on the local birthing centre, where Amy works, but Tony thinks Felpersham would be better. It's a teaching hospital with state of the art equipment. Safety should come first. Besides, as he tells Pat, it wasn't a natural conception, so a high-tech birth seems more appropriate.
- Praise of Nic as a barmaid from Tony irks Will and he wants to know who else was in the Bull with her. He is surly when he bumps into Ed in there later on, despite Ed trying hard to be pleasant and polite.
- Kathy's pleased that Jamie is doing well at the golf club, and is delighted when he agrees to cut the lawn and does it without having to be asked again. She tells Pat he is coming out of that deep grief and being back to school will help. Kenton has promised to accompany Kathy to the golf club dinner dance, so she's doubly pleased.
Summarised by Ralph Corderoy
Thursday 26th August
Elizabeth's concerns increase and Ed cooks up a romantic surprise.
Elizabeth, Lynda, Susan, Ed, David, Ruth, Emma, Lily
- Elizabeth is pleased to spend her lunch hour helping Lynda in the memorial garden, it's relaxing. Lynda's talk of Oscar has her thinking of how quickly her children have grown up.
- Emma gives a few suggestions to Elizabeth about improving the baby changing room, Elizabeth is receptive. Lily doesn't mind boarding school next year, she tells Emma, but Freddie hates it, he doesn't want to leave all his friends.
- A couple of Brookfield cows have more glass cuts, that's the second bottle thrown over the gate in a fortnight. Eddie talks David into buying dairy event tickets for him and Ed.
- Susan is at Underwoods buying a tagine and the ingredients for a lamb and aubergine tagine. Neil is tonight's guinea pig. Ed is at Underwoods too, buying artichokes. He prepares a surprise for Emma and explains how to dip the leaves in the Hollandaise sauce and then eat the edible bits. She loves it. But is interrupted briefly by a distraught Susan. Neil is no help, what does Emma think? Eurgh! Something wrong with the spicing. What is Susan going to do? She's working tomorrow and still has starter, dessert, and the dining room to do!
Summarised by Ralph Corderoy
Friday 27th August
Things get heated at Ambridge View and Elizabeth makes a confession.
Brian, Jennifer, Susan, Neil, Elizabeth, Nigel
- Susan has lots of last minute things to fret about, and the kitchen looks like a bomb's hit it. Neil tells Susan to calm down, it's the Aldridges, not Albert Pierrepoint, and puts on the Three Tenors, as instructed.
- Brian is in good form and the meal is going fine, although Jenny is struggling to find anything to say. She insists on helping Susan clear the table, and then to load the dishwasher, so that's the blast-damaged kitchen on show. Brian, having praised the vegetable lasagne over the mediocre meals he gets on dining out, prods Neil about CAP reform. Neil, initially hesitant, gets into his stride. He'd like to see it scrapped and a level playing field without bureaucracy restored. They continue putting the world to rights.
- Elizabeth listens to Nigel's arguments for allotments, help the community, encourage local food production, etc., and relents, he can research further.
- Brian thanks the hosts for a lovely evening, and Jenny asks for the recipe for the anchovy starter, or fish pepper starter thing as she describes it later. Susan thinks it went really well and Neil was fantastic as Brian respects someone who can give as good as he got. Jennifer says it was ghastly, Brian thinks that is nonsense, he had a whale of a time trading arguments with Neil. Still, duty done, they won't have to sit through another evening like that for a very long time to come.
- Elizabeth tells Nigel she doesn't want the twins to board next year. Nigel points out they will soon settle in and will gain so much, have so many advantages, and it is a Pargetter tradition. Lizzie insists, they already don't always know what is worrying their children, so can't help, and if they send them away she and Nigel will be on the periphery of their lives, and that's not what being a parent means to her.
Summarised by Ralph Corderoy
Credited scriptwriter: Carole Simpson Solazzo
