Matt lays his cards on the table

Radio Times: Elizabeth has a brain wave.

Characters: Brian, David, Kathy, Lillian, Lizzie, Matt Crawford, Phil, Rosemary, Ruth

• An exasperated Brian is still trying to hold a conversation with Matt Crawford – on a very bad line. He tries to get Matt to agree to a meeting – today, but is being put off. He is almost apoplectic.
• Kathy and Lizzie are talking over the outside expansion of the café for when the business picks up again. Kathy is obviously looking tired and Lizzie remarks on this, and the fact that being a single mother with a full time job must be very difficult. To Kathy’s consternation, she promises to “sort something out with Nigel”. Rosemary calls and they talk of their memories, and legacies, of Nelson. Lizzie has been left a gold filigree brooch. Rosemary will get the residue of his estate of course, but also two china figurines that were Walter’s grandfather’s. She feels they are a real link to her own past and that of her family.
• Ruth is passing on what she knows ( not much!) of the Lynda / Robert debâcle to David. Phil arrives and asks if they’ve decided when they’re going to put the heifers out. The answer – not yet, it’s just not worth the risk. He agrees. It’s Ruth’s turn to have a ‘down’ moment and to wonder if they’ll get through this. It’s David’s turn to do the reassuring.
• Nigel and Lizzie have been entertaining Lillian – a hard task in itself. She asks for news of the family and learns of Phil and Jill’s retirement with amusement. According to her they should have been off on cruises years ago. An awkward moment ensues when she makes an unfortunate remark about the system of handing down the farm father to son, she feels its archaic. Nigel’s relief is palpable when Jack’s car turns up to get her.
• Ruth is back on the Robert/ Lynda story. Susan Carter has been spreading it around the village – Robert is in Cardiff by all accounts. David remarks that if it were him, he would have gone to Australia!
• Brian finally gets into Matt’s office demanding to know what’s going on. Matt is at his most irritating, and least sympathetic. He tells Brian exactly what the proposals are – 30 four and five bedroomed homes to be built on the land behind the church. Also – the sweetener – eight low cost housing units plus benefits for the village hall and village school. Matt’s attitude is peremptory – he dismisses Brian’s fears out of hand. It’s all politics, and once people know what’s in it for them there’ll be no problem. He suggests that Brian really could have got a piece of the action for himself long before now. Whose side is he really on?