Rob gets his feet under another table – the hunt. Eddie feels the competition for Christmas poultry.

Radio Times: Rob gets into character, and Jill is just unable to settle.

Characters: Carol, Eddie, Helen, Jill, Joe, Rob

• Eddie and Joe are doing some preparatory work for rabbiting, clearing brambles and blocking escape routes; one assumes he has the landowner’s permission, though when Rob rides by in his tweeds, he clearly suspects not. In Oliver’s absence, Rob is doing a PR job for the hunt. He mentions to Eddie that he and Helen are thinking of having goose for Christmas, like Peggy and Christine!
• That some of his regular customers are going for geese was not what Eddie wanted to hear. The Fairbrothers had better watch out: he will not let them have it easy.
• Rob is keen to report on his morning’s efforts to a reclining Helen (as per instructions). He thinks they should get Henry involved in the hunt but Helen is not so keen and stops him from calling Henry in to the conversation. He is not best pleased to learn that Helen and Henry went to Bridge Farm earlier – they had “agreed” she would take it easy.
• Jill explains to Carol why she can’t mark her birthday. It’s Dan’s 21^st next month; that will be celebrated with a family party in a marquee at Lower Loxley. Jill is wishing she had never agreed to having Julia’s room: it is so big and the furnishings so dark and heavy. At Brookfield, though Ruth is not trying to make her uncomfortable, her presence seems to remind Ruth of her mum.
• Helen will ring tomorrow to make a doctor’s appointment; Rob immediately makes it clear that he intends to come too though Helen insists she can go on her own. Oh no; he wants to be with her every step of the way.