His imminent appearance in court weighs heavily on David. Alice and Amy are friends again.

Radio Times: Lynda tries to drum up support.

Characters: Alice, Amy, David, Jill, Kathy, Phil, Ruth

• In the Brookfield kitchen, Ruth is cooking a meal for Phil and Jill, while David brings in the last load of potatoes. She’s temporarily distracted by a phone call from a difficult beef customer, and her white sauce sets off the smoke alarm. Luckily Phil is around to take charge and make a new batch.
• Jill’s helping out, too, by taking Josh and Pip to the swings. She tries to engage Amy in conversation, but doesn’t seem to make much progress and her musings on the difficulties of sibling rivalry, seem only to drive Amy away.
• Despite Ruth’s problem with the white sauce, the meal – of Hereford beef, naturally, – goes down well with her in-laws. Jill suggests a beef-tasting evening to promote their product. Ruth is interested, but David is, as usual, pessimistic, not to say downright grumpy. The badger case is on his mind, and Phil’s comment that David knew what he was doing when he shot the badger doesn’t exactly help.
• As a lonely Alice grooms Spearmint, Amy appears. Jill’s comments seem to have had an impact, and she is anxious to make up with Alice. They both apologise for what they said, Alice gives Amy her old mobile phone, and they end up in girly giggles as they plan a footie-watching session at the Vicarage.
• Ruth decides to tackle David over the beef idea, and where better than the bath. She wins him round, and he grudgingly says it would be something new to worry about now that the Brian and Siobhán problem is out of the way. But he’s still sore about having to say sorry in court!