The Archers

Lilian tells Alice she’s spoken to Brian about breaking up with Miranda, but he wants more time to process his feelings. Alice says she’s spoken to Azra about dementia, without mentioning Brian. Lilian thinks Kate’s concerns are exaggerated, but Alice is still worried. Lilian suggests they should see how things go for now.Talking to Bert, Chelsea mentions bumping into her dad at New Year and having a nice chat. Bert warns her against trusting Den, before inviting Chelsea for a drink at The Bull. While there Chelsea irritates Bert by texting Den. Bert conced...

Alice praises Azra for her Mental Health initiative, then tells Azra she’d like to see addiction services given more prominence. Alice asks Azra for advice on helping a “friend” whose father may be showing signs of dementia. Clearly suspecting it’s Brian they’re talking about, Azra plays along, suggesting booking her friend’s father an appointment with his GP, but also offering to dig out some leaflets for Alice to give her friend. Bert phones the surgery, demanding an appointment. Lottie explains there are none available, but Bert insists he’ll turn up regardless, before shouting in pain and putti...

Lilian goes to see Brian and refuses to apologise for being concerned. Brian gets antsy with her, before confessing that he really misses Jenny at times like this. He apologises for over-reacting yesterday. Lilian mentions dementia, but Brian insists that’s not what’s going on. Up on Lakey Hill Lilian tries teasing out of Brian what the underlying issue is. She guesses it’s to do with George. Indirectly, Brian admits, before telling her that it was Ruairi who hit George with a bottle. Lilian struggles to take it in as Brian outlines what happened when George was attack...

While Adam cooks a Sunday roast, Alice tells him she’s spoken to Kate, who agrees that Brian’s break up with Miranda doesn’t make sense. Adam warns Alice off tackling Brian about the subject over lunch, before Lilian arrives. She’s soon followed by Brian, but Ruairi can’t make it. True to Adam’s word Brian tells them he won’t talk about Miranda. Alice sounds out Lilian about Brian’s erratic behaviour recently. Whatever’s going on, Alice agrees with Kate that it’s serious. Later, Brian overhears Alice expressing her concerns to Lilian and has a go at them for...

Pip informs David she’s decided to tell Ruth about the lump in her breast. She’d really like Ruth to come to her appointment too, but won’t put pressure on by asking her. Later, Ruth’s glad Pip has told her and also pleased Pip’s been checking and caught it early. Ruth shares some memories of her own experience with cancer and advises Pip to lean on family, friends and medical staff who want to help. Ruth then admits to David that, although she put on a brave face with Pip, she found it hard going...

Bumping into Adam at Grey Gables, Oliver mentions he’s helping Miranda measure up the farmhouse. However, Miranda hasn’t been cheered up by their lunch and Oliver wants to know what Brian’s playing at there. Adam can’t shed any light. With his sudden change of heart and irrational behaviour, Oliver wonders whether Brian is alright. When Adam goes to Brian and asks the same question, Brian is put out, insisting he’s fine. Adam should forget about it. While debating a couple of contrasting ideas for the farm’s future, Brian’s reminded of his earlier promise and as...

Out in the fields David waxes lyrical about Magic Day grass, but notices how distracted Pip is. It’s obvious when Pip makes mistakes that something’s wrong, and she finally admits that she’s found a lump in her breast. She reassures emotional David that she’s having it looked into. Pip doesn’t want to worry Ruth, but David feels she’d want to know. Later Pip gently berates David for tiptoeing around her, trying to encourage normality. Pip doesn’t want to stir up old memories for Ruth, but admits to feeling in limbo herself. Khalil goes...

David notes Adam’s happy mood and prises from him the good news about the Home Farm succession, agreeing to keep the news to himself. This gets them talking about inscrutable Josh, who seems to be enjoying life in Patagonia. While inspecting the rubble at St Stephens with Usha, having been inspired by the Promises Tree initiative, Oliver offers his services to Alan as liaison between Church officials and the builders, to help sort everything out. Usha then has a worrying call from Alan, which she shares with Oliver. One of the congregation has complained anonymously to th...

Robert finds Lynda following the guidelines by chatting to the budgie, then admits he cannot reconcile himself to keeping a caged bird. They’ll have to re-home it, but without hurting Khalil’s feelings. They agree to name the budgie Elgar and concoct a barely plausible story for Khalil, before quickly realising the only solution is to tell Khalil honestly that they don’t want the bird. But when Khalil calls, Robert scuppers their plan, to Lynda’s despair. Flustered by Khalil’s delight at his budgie idea, Robert changed his tune and even renamed the bird Fletcher, after the TV sit...

Alan tells Usha he found the dawn service on Lakey Hill very moving, before she updates him on what people have offered for the Easter Promises tree. Later, while Alan’s delivering his sermon at St Stephens, part of the ceiling crashes down. The church wardens evacuate everyone and no-one is hurt. Relieved Usha then helps Alan to reconvene the service – al fresco in the churchyard. When Adam mentions word is getting around about Brian and Miranda, Brian tells Adam to mind his own business. But Adam’s invested in Home Farm and gets Brian’s attention when he...

Robert’s weary with Easter Promises volunteering, while Lynda complains about criticism of her over the pub cricket team. Robert confesses he has spoken with Oliver and sorted access for them to the cricket ground. Lynda accuses Robert of being part of the ‘mutiny’ against her, but softens when he flatters her. She concludes that she’s happy to pass the baton onto Robert, while he insists that he will still need her help. Miranda joins Oliver for lunch at The Bull, where Lilian gets drawn in to their discussion about Brian and defends his actions. Brian then arr...

Oliver’s grateful to Miranda for her recent help with his near-miss with Duke. Miranda’s sorry for appearing so glum when they chatted afterwards, and gives Oliver the whole story about Brian. Oliver’s horrified to learn how Brian suddenly went back on their plans to move in together. They discuss Jennifer, and Oliver comments on Brian’s past ‘indiscretions’. Miranda seizes on this – she knows about Siobhan, but who else? When pushed, Oliver mentions Brian and Caroline. He regrets his words and tries to get Miranda to give Brian the benefit of the doubt. They discuss Caroline, with Oliver sh...

Azra gets Pat and Natasha’s input for the Surgery’s mental health initiative, and Natasha’s not impressed by Tom’s “just suck it up” attitude. Furious Tony interrupts them, demanding an explanation for the advert listing the dispersal sale of his Angus cattle. Azra’s caught in the middle before politely escaping. Pat reminds Tony that he did agree to this, but Tony reminds Tom that he was going to make the call himself when he felt ready. Tom finally confesses that Helen listed the cattle last week. Natasha joins Pat in helping Tony accept things. Later Pat and Tony r...

Lynda and Robert tick off their first Easter Promise job – the first of several, to Robert’s chagrin. Lynda’s keen to know if Robert has any requests for his birthday next week. As Lilian looks for Miranda, she gets chatting with Lynda about the cricket team. They’re clearly on different pages about the benefits of the Pub team. Robert quizzes Oliver about the cricket ground, keen to sort out the red tape preventing the new team using it. Oliver had no idea of any issues - it’s fine to use. He agrees to tell Lynda - wi...

Pip calls at Carol Tregorran’s to do some gardening as part of the Easter Promises Tree scheme – but Carol wants to keep the garden as it is, wild and beautiful. She does offer Pip a bundle of garden tools and talks about her history, including being a market gardener. Eventually Carol relents and asks Pip to prune a bit of the garden, and round the back. They chat about Carol’s daughter Anna, who’s trying to get ‘help’ in at Glebe Cottage, cleaning and caring. Carol’s full or praise for Pip the farmer as she asks about her futu...

Brian feels awful about how they left things and Miranda believes there is more going on with Ruairi than Brian has told her. If they want to stay together, she wants the truth: what is it that Brian isn’t telling her? Miranda makes to phone Ruairi, and Brian angrily stops her. As Miranda continues to challenge Brian on what he’s hiding, he can’t reveal the truth and tries to cover, leaving Miranda wondering what their relationship is. She concludes that without trust they have nothing. At Grey Gables, Tom and Natasha reflect on what it’ll...

Tracy asks Lilian if Justin’s decided about keeping the horsebox at the Dower House, before revealing the big part she played in him getting a much better offer for his BL shares. Lilian’s furious that Justin never mentioned this to her and has left Tracy hanging. Later at The Bull, Tracy listens as Helen tells Lilian she’s going to become Tracy’s neighbour. Tracy then tells Lilian she’s nervous at the prospect of living so close to her boss. Sympathetic Lilian tells Tracy she tore a strip off Justin, who’s now agreed to let the horsebox...

Ruth susses something’s up with Ben, who’s been asked by Lily about moving into Josh’s room at the Stables. He’s decided to say no, having seen how upset David and Ruth are about Josh leaving. They admit they are a bit sad, especially with the bad feelings involved. But they’ll try to put things right and hope Josh comes round. As for Ben though, he doesn’t want to abandon them after they’ve been so supportive through his darker moments. They saved his life. Ruth gets a funny message from Josh, then she and David tell...

George promises Esme he’ll be back after his dentist appointment to help with the Lady Day celebration of her tenancy – unless she’s changed her mind about wanting him there. Esme insists they’re a team, before George tells her the truth about going to his tag fitting. He then wonders to Amber if he’s done the right thing. Ed and Eddie choose cider for the celebration at Meadow Farm. Ed’s worried some of his regular work clients haven’t been in touch.Pat tells Esme it’s the forty-eighth anniversary of their tenancy at Bridge Farm...

David and Tony exchange thoughts on Esme’s Lady Day gathering and Josh’s sudden departure. David then confides his and Ruth’s doubts over their handling of the Brookfield inheritance. Tony sympathises, telling David about the Anguses and how he thinks Tom and Helen might see the future of Bridge Farm. Having your children tell you what to do is so hard, they agree. It’ll be the same with Pip before long, David thinks, before hoping he and Tony get more time for more chats like this. Brian confesses to Alice that he’s nervous about movi...