Christopher has a serious accident, and Ambridge is thrown into turmoil.

Radio Times: Shula acts quickly, and there’s terrible news for Alice.

Characters: Alistair, Brian, Christopher, Freddie, Jennifer, Neil, Shula, Susan

• Christopher’s heavy drinking session has caught up with him. Nursing a blinding headache he calls at the stables to shoe one of Shula’s horses and is not pleased to find that it is Windermere Spa, a horse which reacts badly to shoeing. Shula offers to ring Alistair so that he can sedate the horse, but Chris just wants to get home, so cuts corners, not waiting for his own sedative to take full effect.
• Alistair is at Home Farm, where Brian boasts about his conversion work at Valley Farm and his plans to recruit staff. Alistair asks, somewhat tentatively, about his plans for vet services; Rob apparently thinks they should retain a local practice with several partners to gain maximum range of opinion, which sounds like bad news for Alistair.
• As Chris starts to shoe the horse, it kicks out, and he collapses with serious chest injuries. Shula tells Freddie to dial 999, and soon help is on its way. Chris is taken by Air Ambulance to Felpersham, leaving a very shaken Shula to phone those who need to know.
• At the shop, Jennifer is buying Easter Eggs and telling Susan what a strain it is employing Darrell, who talks endlessly about football and cars. As she leaves, the phone rings; it is Shula, breaking the awful news. Poor Susan is almost hysterical with worry.
• Unable to reach Jennifer, Shula rings Brian, who leaps into action, looking up flights for Alice and trying in vain to contact her. Eventually Alice switches her mobile on again, and Brian tells her what has happened, though as he is on speaker phone, Jennifer chips in, only adding to Alice’s distress. Chris is on a ventilator in Intensive Care, with fluid on his lungs and abdomen, serious injuries to his rib cage and severe bruising. The next 48 hours will be critical.
• Susan is beside herself with worry. Chris came into the shop for Paracetamol earlier. She wishes she had told him to take the afternoon off. Fortunately Neil remains calm and sensible. Back at the stables, Shula, too, is very distressed, but Alistair, like Neil, is a tower of strength.