Joe’s spirits rise; Caroline’s fall.

Radio Times: Oliver’s reassuring, and there’s a nice surprise for Joe.

Characters: Caroline, Ed, Jamie, Joe, Oliver, Rosa

• It’s an uphill struggle keeping Caroline’s spirits up as the restaurant cancellations come in, after The Echo’s vitriol; Oliver is doing his best. The local authority was satisfied; Oliver is sure that normality will be restored. Now he must go and milk Ed’s cows; at least one Grundy is talking to them.
• Jamie unloads on Rosa his worries over mum as she shares her lunch with him at Grange Farm. He tells her that he saw her dad in a bit of a mess. She doesn’t want to know initially but she later asks about how bad his eye was and whether he is otherwise ok. He would never pick a fight with anyone; perhaps she will call at The Elms to tell them about it. Ed leaves the farm deliberately early, before Oliver comes to do the milking!
• Joe is still struggling. Ed feeds him news of the cows but he shows little interest. Joe is worrying about Bartleby not getting any attention so Ed promises to take George after school.
• Later, Joe is lured grumpily outside to see a visitor: Ed and George have brought Bartleby, all spruced up. That’s as good as a tonic to Joe.
• Oliver was impressed with the state of Ed’s cows but was quite glad that Ed wasn’t there when he did the milking. Caroline has been told by the local authority that they intend to do a fuller investigation and there may be a prosecution. More uncertainty.