On the 50th anniversary of the programme, there will still be Archers in Brookfield for a while yet.

Radio Times: Events mar the anniversary.

Characters: David, Elizabeth, Hayley, Jennifer, Jill, Kate, Peggy, Phil, Roy, Ruth, Shula

• Still no sign of David and Ruth is distraught. If he’s just somewhere sleeping off a hangover, where did he get it as he wasn’t in the Bull last night. Phil takes Jet and heads off to look again.
• At Home Farm, Jennifer’s doing some last minute preperations, while Kate is fretting about her relationship with Phoebe – she doesn’t want to mess up again.
• On his searches Phil discovers David – trapped under a heffer. With the ambulance on its way, Phil apologises for last night and David admits that he would never have wanted to leave Brookfield.
• At the party, there’s relief at the news that David’s alright and Peggy thanks everyone for coming and Jack for the last ten happy years. Roy and Kate, though, are less civil and Hayley can’t take any more and storms out. Roy chases after her and reiterates his proposal – which, this time, she accepts.
• With David back from hospital, the family toast his health – and Phil reveals his decision. He’s opted to leave the farm to David and Ruth and, while the move into quality beef is not the easy route, it’s the one that the last year of turmoil and harsh thinking leads him to believe to be the right one. They’re turning Brookfield into a limited company so that the others might profit if the farm is ever sold. Ruth and David are happy, although Elizabeth seems much less so – Phil and Jill are certainly relieved as they wish each other new year.