Jess presses ahead with the party; Rob is at his most uncooperative.

Radio Times: Jennifer tries to help, and Helen needs cheering up.

Characters: Helen, Jennifer, Jess, Kirsty, Rob, Tom

• Party preparations are in full swing at Blossom Hill Cottage, with Jennifer casting an approving eye over Jess’s plans and offering other recipe ideas. Jess confides that she has fallen in love with the village and hopes the party will generate some new connections. Rob calls to pick up some papers but after Jennifer departs his tone is markedly sharper: his wife may have got her way over the party but don’t expect him to want it to happen or help in any way.
• At Ambridge Organics Tom is admonished by Kirsty for parading his happiness in front of Helen. Kirsty senses the need to take Helen out on the town; Jess’s party is weighing heavily on her. Tom arranges to pick Kirsty up later; before then he has a mission about which he is noticeably quiet.
• Jess admires Jennifer’s kitchen, her family, her marriage, pretty well everything. She wishes for a relationship just like Jennifer and Brian’s. Be careful what you wish for, Jess! Jennifer wisely makes no comment.
• When Tom returns, he is told that Helen has agreed to a night out and that Uncle Tom has been volunteered to put Henry to bed. Any opposition is quickly quashed; Kirsty reminds him that it’s in a good cause, though in Tom’s view Helen should stay well away from the party.
• There are good smells coming from the kitchen but when Jess explains that she is trying things out for the party, Rob descends to sarcasm: for a moment he thought she was cooking for him. He understands that the party is designed to strengthen the case for living in the village, but he doesn’t want to live in ‘bloody Ambridge’.