Alistair is feeling the strain without Anisha. Emma is feeling happier after a talk with Jim.

Radio Times: Emma gets help from an unexpected source

Characters: Alistair, Emma, Jim, Lynda, Robert, Shula

• Lynda urges Robert to submit his application for the vacancy on the Parish Council. Her time is taken up with reading, it seems, and the possibility of another Ambridge Christmas production seems somewhat remote, though Robert suggests Sleeping Beauty. As he departs to buy Oscar a birthday present, Lynda warns him to be careful where he parks. Grey Gables has had an outbreak of vandalism- just the sort of thing the Parish Council (plus Robert) should be tackling.
• While Anisha is away, Shula steps in to help Alistair with some cattle testing. Her mind is on the Hunt Ball, however, and the need to please all age groups where music is concerned. Alistair suggests Fallon as a likely source of information. Meanwhile he is under strict instructions to buy a new dinner jacket, preferably tailor-made. Alistair is more preoccupied with how to replace Anisha while she is in Scotland. At least a retired colleague has indicated that he might be able to help out.
• In Borchester, Robert encounters a very surly Emma, and the situation is not improved by his thinking that Poppy is Keira. Emma’s mood may be partly down to the fact that Nic is at The Bull, to see if she can return to work there, but is mainly attributable to the fact that Robert is also standing for the Parish Council.
• Looking for Fallon, Shula calls at the tea room where she, too, encounters an ungracious and decidedly resentful Emma. Then Jim appears, and makes it clear that he wants to speak to Emma in private. In his role as Clerk to the Parish Council, he has to maintain a neutral stance, but he reveals to Emma that were she to find 10 people willing to request an election for the vacancy, one would have to be called. They would need forms, of course, which Jim just happens to have on him… Emma’s mood lightens noticeably.
• Robert returns to find an ecstatic Lynda; James and Leonie want to come for Christmas. A whole week of dear little Mungo. That would mean no Christmas show, of course. Recalling the last visit from the ghastly duo, Robert wonders if they will still be together by Christmas.
• Jim arrives for dinner at The Stables, but when Alistair returns from work, Shula can see that all is not well. She hastily packs Jim off to lay the table while she asks Alistair what is wrong. He has received a letter from the RCVS to say that Mrs Ramsay, owner of the dead horse, has made a formal complaint against the practice. having to put a response together to that is all Alistair needs.