Brookfield Christmas arrangements are sorted out but, at the Grundys’, brotherly love is strained.

Radio Times: Eddie is an old china.

Characters: Clarrie, David, Ed, Eddie, Ruth, William

• Although talk at Brookfield is mostly of feed and yield and matters silage, Phil has a different topic on his mind. Jill is fretting about Christmas. David confirms that Ruth talks of little else; she does not think she will be up to cooking Christmas dinner for them all. Jill has been doing it for 30 years and would love to do it again but she doesn’t feel she can offer; Ruth feels she cannot ask. So they both want the same thing but the first move will have to come from Ruth.
• Ed is ready for his tea but, please, let it not be out of a tin. Life at the canning factory is not getting any better; he hates it, and the community service too. Eddie has been out to Heydon Wood to look for clues about the mysterious horseman they heard; he thinks he has found evidence that Ed made the galloping sounds but Clarrie confirms that he did not. They are interrupted by the arrival of William, with new car.
• David explains the position about Christmas and Ruth is overjoyed; it is a huge weight off her mind and she will ring Jill straight away. There is one condition: Jill insists that Pip and Josh stir the pudding at the weekend.
• The car is a beauty but Ed is not keen to see it until Clarrie commands. A van arrives with a Chinese take-away which Eddie has organised to celebrate their China anniversary; he also has a shepherdess ornament which Susan helped him to choose. Left alone with William, Ed reveals the depth of his resentment. It was his accident. He has the nightmares. He pulled Emma out. What does he get for it: community service and a crummy job. Whereas William, jammy beggar, gets a better car than before, better indeed than the Grundy’s have ever had, and he gets a girlfriend.