Foot & Mouth hits Ambridge and Roy gets some legal help

Radio Times: Christine makes an offer.

Characters: Christine, Clarrie, David, Pat, Roy, Ruth, Shula, Usha

• Christine finally catches up with Shula at the stables and breaks the news of her plans for retirement. Shula knew it was coming but is still caught a little off-guard. Chris would obviously like Shula to buy out her half and Shula herself is not keen to take on a partner. The second bombshell is that Chris also intends to sell the house. Shula will have to talk to Alistair – the business and the house would be a huge financial commitment.
• Roy is with Usha in her office. He outlines his fears that Kate may be planning to ‘snatch’ Phoebe … he has not been able to get any concrete proof that she is going to bring Phoebe back as agreed. Usha explains what they can do – apply to the court for an order banning Kate from taking Phoebe out of the country, and in the meantime, send a solicitor’s letter to Kate clearly setting out Roy’s position. Time is of the essence.
• In the dairy Clarrie is despondent; there are very few positive contributions to Eddie’s birthday book. There is Snatch Foster’s of course! Clarrie will just have to fill the book with photographs, there’s precious little else.
• At the lambing sheds a tired David is worried and cross and vents his frustration on Ruth who is back late from Borchester. He explodes when he finds that Ruth only managed to get ten litres of disinfectant. The farmers co-op was running low. Ruth however has a more difficult piece of news – there’s a suspected case of Foot and Mouth at Little Croxley. David becomes very pessimistic – will it all be worth it? He finally agrees with Ruth that they’ll get through it – or go under – together.
• Cleaning up in the dairy, Pat and Clarrie again discuss the crisis and how its affecting everyone in the area. Clarrie will drop some school protest leaflets around the village – education is crucial after all. Betty will put some out in the shop, too. Jack won’t mind, he’s too busy worrying about his golf – the Country Park is closed. Caroline also has a lot on her plate, they have had cancellation after cancellation at Grey Gables. Pat feels that the sooner everyone goes back to locally produced food and small local abattoirs, the better. Maybe they should cancel the party. But then – they are all in desperate need of some fun!