Problem solved! Luke can stay and Amy can come home now that Grandma Mabel is on hand.

Radio Times: Alan faces a dilemma.

Characters: Alan, Alistair, Amy, Jill, Mabel, Ruth, Shula

• It’s a bad day for Alistair: there’s no clean white coat, no bread for breakfast and he thinks he is coming down with a cold – Lynda’s fault!
• Amy is not happy either, when she calls in at home to pick up some books. She likes staying at Home Farm when Alice invites her but doesn’t feel quite so welcome when she is dumped there. Shula arrives in the middle of a fairly heated exchange; Alan explains but she already knows, the whole village does after yesterday’s phone call. Alan’s dilemma is that Luke is relying on him but he cannot have the boy in the house with Amy. Shula has the idea that maybe there is an aunt who could come to stay; no, but there is a grandmother!
• Shula is at Brookfield for lunch and relays the conversation with Alan. He needs to be careful. Ruth saw Alistair earlier looking awful and Shula describes his mood this morning but is at a loss to explain it.
• Alan bumps into Jill and asks if she remembers some B&B guests from 6-7 years ago, the Simmons family. Jill does indeed remember Luke as a sweet little boy who did wonderful drawings of the cows. That’s tragic; they were such a nice family.
• As Shula is explaining the problems with the Mystery plays, Alistair drops in. He is sorry and is forgiven. The trouble is that he has lost two more customers to the new animal practice and fears about the business had given him a sleepless night.
• Alan surprises Amy by meeting her from school and look who is in the car, just picked up from Hollerton station; it’s Grandma Mabel, come to stay for Christmas. Mabel feels they need someone with a bit of common sense to keep an eye on things.