02 August 1998

Characters: Alistair, David, Neil, Richard, Ruth, Sean, Shula

• After a pitiful performance against Darrington, their captain has said he’ll be popping into the Cat to talk to Sean. Thinking it’s about the number of ringers he’s fielding, Sean’s asked his senior players to be around to back him up. Neil and David turn up, but in the face of recriminations over his absent-minded performance, Alistair stomps off within a minute of arriving. Far from having a go at the him, the Darrington skipper wants Sean, Neil and David to switch to Darrington for the remainder of the season to boost their title ambitions ….
• Shula’s at Richard’s where they’re still playing like love’s middle-aged dream. She tells him that she’s split from Alistair, he’s glad and admits that he would only leave for Manchester if she went with him. She can’t even contemplate leaving Ambridge, but neither of them fancy telling Usha and Alistair, or the General Medical Council (or anyone else) about their new relationship.
• Richard and Alistair bump into each other and Alistair tells of the split. Indeed, he tells Richard about there being another man and Richard does a reasonable job of feigning ignorance and his bedside manor kicks in with a fair impression of sympathy.

Summarised by: Chris Harrison