Week Beginning: Sunday 21st February, 2010
Sunday 21st February
Tony gives Helen a lesson in family values.
Jill, Nic, Mike, Tony, Brenda
- Mike is being rather abstemious in The Bull; he is keeping a clear head for drumming up new milk-round customers this afternoon. Brenda will be helping. They are looking for 350 new customers. Tony is heading for a chat with Helen.
- Among Jill's many visitors is Nic, who brings biscuits that the children have baked, to cheer her up. Nic recalls how welcoming Jill was when she moved in with Will.
- Neither Tony nor Helen has changed their position: he thinks it is irresponsible deliberately to bring a child into the world with no known father; she is undaunted by the responsibilities, indeed positively prefers the idea of bringing a child up on her own, without having to compromise. She has given up guys and will rely on herself. Tony would like her to wait, for a year perhaps, but Helen can see no good reason to wait.
Summarised by Brian Maskell
Monday 22nd February
Tensions run high for David and Elizabeth.
David, Pip, Nigel, Elizabeth, Kenton, Heather
- Pip's help with the lambing is much appreciated; her father's gratitude does not extend to allowing Jude to attend her grandfather's funeral tomorrow: it is a celebration of his life by friends and family who knew him. Pip clearly didn't really expect otherwise. David gets a crisis call to go to Lower Loxley, then he will go to the station to meet granny Heather.
- The crisis is a misprint in the order of service, which David could live with but Elizabeth can't, though she didn't want to make a decision on her own. When Kenton arrives, on the same mission, a row is growing surrounding the fact that Freddie and Lily are not coming to the funeral. Kenton fulfils his role as head of the family and calms the situation and they part on good terms. Elizabeth is beginning to worry about reading in church tomorrow.
- Pip confides to her granny that new boyfriend, Jude, helped her get through the last week. Heather thinks he sounds like a caring young man.
- His various errands completed, David relieves Eddie in the lambing shed; he will back tomorrow to cover during the funeral. Kenton turns up with a bottle of malt; he thought that the lambing shed would be a good place to toast the old man. Actually Phil only tolerated sheep; he preferred pigs. They reminisce about their father; David has lots of memories about working with him. They agree that tomorrow will be a difficult day and hope it will bring them all some peace.
Summarised by Brian Maskell
Tuesday 23rd February
Ambridge says goodbye to Phil.
Ruth, Heather, David, Shula, Kenton, Christine, Jill, Alan, Elizabeth
- At Brookfield and at Glebe Cottage, the Archers prepare themselves for Phil's funeral. Eddie will hold the fort at Brookfield but the rest of his family will be there. Josh threatens to go against his father's seating plan to sit with Jamie but probably won't.
- Of course, his children all support each other as they say goodbye to their father; there is no hint of conflict today. Elizabeth overcomes her nerves and executes her reading without a hitch.
- Afterwards in The Bull, there are plenty of laughs as the assembled mourners recall memories of Phil. Jill slips away, almost unnoticed. Ruth observes that Pip was very upset and doesn't share David's criticism of Pip's frequent calls to Jude; David sees a sinister motive in Jude's attention but Ruth would be more worried if he didn't care.
- Ruth finds Jill in the churchyard. She is fine; she just didn't like to think of Phil all on his own. But of course she cannot bring him in to join the company; life without Phil starts here.
Summarised by Brian Maskell
Wednesday 24th February
Kenton looks at the ghosts of his past.
Alan, Joe, Peggy, Jack, Ted, Jill, Kenton
- According to Joe, Alan should have spotted the perpetrators of the latest graffiti on the village green, since he is camping there. He plans to move into the churchyard tonight but Joe invites him to the lawn of Keeper's Cottage instead; the invitation came just after mention of the sausages that Alan has bought from the shop!
- Peggy is having a hard time with Jack: he won't eat and wants to go home. This is a problem that Ted has experienced with his wife, Violet. He has a simple solution: pretend to take and eat the food himself. It works a treat for which Peggy is very grateful; she admits to having been on a short fuse, having just buried her brother-in-law.
- Jill needs to be doing something and doesn't feel like facing Phil's wardrobe yet, so the kitchen cupboards are getting some attention, with Kenton's help. Of course, the loss of his father has affected Kenton too. He wants to know whether his dad was proud of him; he feels like the black sheep, having little in common with dad. Jill recounts the highlights of their Golden Wedding trip to Australia, when Phil would regale anyone who would listen with tales of how his son lived here or sailed here. Kenton had opened his horizons; when Kenton came home it meant everything to his dad.
- The exact moment when Alan's supper became Alan and Joe's supper was lost on Alan; when neighbour Kenton comes home, suddenly eight sausages have to go three ways. But there is no such thing as a free supper: Kenton gladly contributes to Alan's charity; Joe is more reluctant but he really can't refuse - and bring some brown sauce with you, Joe.
Summarised by Brian Maskell
Thursday 25th February
Bridge Farm finds a new recruit.
Pat, Susan, Kirsty, Neil, Tony
- Can it be? Is it possible that Susan is lost for words? Well almost, when Pat visits the shop and offers her a part-time job in the dairy. Pat explains that she needs someone reliable. Susan would soon pick up the work and Clarrie would show her the ropes. Susan agrees to think about it.
- Meanwhile Susan's better half is delivering a batch of weaners to Bridge Farm. Tony is waiting for the team who are going to plant willows in the new wetland, though they have diplomatically declined his offer to help with the work. Tony compliments Neil on Tuesday's bell-ringing; it was done with feeling: Phil taught Neil most of what he knows about animal husbandry.
- On her day off, Kirsty has been bittern-spotting at Arkwright Lake - on her own this time, and in vain - so Pat has invited her for lunch. It seems that BL have granted quite a long lease on the lake to Borchester Wildlife Trust, enough to do some worthwhile conservation. Good green PR!
- Pat is not known for taking 'no' for an answer: over lunch she has persuaded the willow-planting team to let her plant one end of one swale - a token involvement in the project and enough to make her happy. It's something for the grand-children, though this thought leads Tony back onto the subject of Helen's proposed baby. He is fearful that she will not cope but Pat is resolved to get behind her; she can't wait to become a grand-parent.
- Susan and Neil celebrate their wedding anniversary with a take-away, the one they didn't get last year! Susan is minded to take up Pat's offer; dairy work may turn out to be more secure than the Community Shop.
Summarised by Brian Maskell
Friday 26th February
Grief comes hard for Jill.
Lynda, Vicky, Eddie, Mike, Shula, Jill
- Lynda encounters Vicky en route to Grange Farm, bent on interfering in the interviews of two candidates for the new milk round. Together they discover some new graffiti. Something must be done!
- Jill was hoping for a cup of tea with Shula but a group of clients are waiting for her to lead a two hour ride. Jill has some apple pie to donate; she defrosted it and there is only so much apple pie that one person can eat.
- New milk-round customers are coming but slowly; Ed is concerned that they should not cold-call too late because the older folk in particular are reluctant to answer the door. Vicky turns up with the first candidate, Harry, but is deputed to hang about looking for the second candidate, Veronica. She does manage to get in a couple of questions to Harry before the cold drives her away.
- Shula could well do without meeting Lynda; she is not prepared to commit to helping with Lynda's graffiti clean-up. She excuses herself on the grounds of having to call on mum.
- When Vicky returns, she is not best pleased to learn that the boys have just offered the job to Harry. She thought he was rather full of himself; Veronica was more approachable with more small talk. Well, they liked him and thought he was the stronger candidate. They were not impressed with the fact that Veronica was half an hour late.
- Jill is on another cleaning frenzy and quite short-tempered when Shula calls. She comes across her shoes, which Phil had promised to repair - and he did. Shula tries to comfort her but the tears flow; so many people have come through the door this week but the one she most wants to see will never come again.
Summarised by Brian Maskell
Credited scriptwriter: Nawal Gadalla
