Joe tries to secure his family’s future and Shula tries to understand Alistair’s behaviour.

Radio Times: Oliver receives an invitation and Shula starts to wonder

Characters: Alistair, Anisha, Bert, Joe, Oliver, Shula

• Joe persuades Bert to come with him to Grey Gables to offer comfort to Oliver. It’s not long before the old Flower and Produce rivalry reasserts itself, however, and here Bert scores a major point when he enquires what the Grundy family will do when Oliver moves back to Grange Farm.
• A very disgruntled Anisha tells Shula that she had to miss nets to cover for Alistair, who was not answering calls. Her rant is interrupted by the arrival of the culprit bearing flowers for Shula’s birthday. He brightly announces that he will finish his billing after morning surgery, and when Anisha asks about the reduction he allowed David, Alistair dismisses his mistake as ‘a silly mix-up.’ tenacious Anisha refuses to let matters go; where was he? Alistair claims that his phone is not working; he needs Dan to fix it. As he continues with his story, his phone rings and Alistair makes a swift exit. So where was he? asks Anisha. I’m not sure, replies Shula lamely.
• Bert and Joe assure Oliver that they know how he feels. Joe, in particular, lays on the sympathy (and accepts tea and cake as a sign of his sympathy. Then Joe plays his trump card: why doesn’t Oliver move in with them at Grange Farm? Oliver is hard put to it to contain his mirth. As Bert and Joe go home, Bert tells Joe how shameless he is. The whole sympathy thing was just a ploy to stop Oliver kicking them out of Grange Farm.
• Anisha rings Shula to tell her how angry Alistair was when she told him to get a new phone. Is something going on that she should know about? Shula can only say that he has been busy and is under stress.
• Shula goes alone to lunch with Oliver, who regales her with the tale of Joe Grundy’s blatant ploy to stay at Grange Farm. Both of them are highly amused, and think Caroline would have loved it. Memories of the friend who was always there in times of trouble suddenly reduce Shula to tears. Then Oliver gives her a present; a silver bracelet that Guy gave Caroline. Again, Shula begs Oliver to come back to the stables.
• When Shula returns she finds Alistair trying to cool a scalded hand. She asks where he was the previous evening, and begs him to talk to her. She is so worried about him. An argument develops, as Shula tells Alistair they should be supporting Oliver. Alistair retorts that he has enough to worry about without Oliver. Angry and upset, Shula storms off to ring Kenton. She needs help; it’s all happening again with Alistair.