Elizabeth misses a man about the place. Peggy, Jill and Carol talk about the men they miss.

Radio Times: Carol is concerned about Peggy and Elizabeth confides.

Characters: Carol, Elizabeth, Jill, Peggy, Shula

• Carol calls at Lower Loxley to give Elizabeth a ceramic puma from Argentina as a thank you for hosting John’s funeral party.
• Peggy, Jill and Carol are to lunch together at Grey Gables, but Peggy is in full self-pitying mode, and at first says she won’t come, being ‘not good with people’ nowadays. Jill reminds her that Carol is such an old friend, she is almost family, so Peggy agrees to come.
• Elizabeth invites Shula to stay for lunch, and the sisters talk about their own children. Elizabeth is finding Freddy’s surliness and refusal to speak trying; Shula tells her that is normal behaviour for a teenage boy, but Elizabeth seems to think the lack of a father-figure might be at the root of it. She praises PC Burns for the way he handled the brick-throwing incident. Is there just the faintest trace of longing in her voice?
• Ever a ray of sunshine, Peggy refuses a glass of wine, but grudgingly accepts half a glass. She has no appetite for anything on the menu; maybe Ian would do her a salad. Carol handles it well by chatting about the legend of the Argentinian puma, old times and widowhood, and eventually Peggy does cheer up and join in the conversation.
• Carol is surprised when Peggy tells her that she has lost heart for a fight and given in to Hazel’s idea for a headstone on Jack’s grave. It is far from what Peggy had in mind, and although Hazel never came near when Jack was ill, she is now revelling in the role of grieving daughter. Carol feels this is far from the Peggy she used to know.