Roy is up in arms and there is a disappointment for Josh.

Radio Times: Roy is up in arms and there is a disappointment for Josh.

Characters: David, George, Hayley, Josh, Kate, Roy, Ruth

• There! All done. Phoebe’s room is ready for her return. There’s just one little problem. It appears in the form of a phone call from Kate: Phoebe is not coming home for six more weeks. Hayley protests but Kate is adamant that it all came from Phoebe herself.
• The plan was that Josh and Ben would be brought home by Lewis from a visit to Lower Loxley; it would be too much to expect Elizabeth to do it. But no! Elizabeth does indeed bring them – expressly to tell David that he is mad to give evidence – another wrong decision from the brother who can get nothing right.
• Phoebe’s news is spreading. Josh can see his summer degenerating – gated on the farm and no Phoebe. To make matters worse, Phoebe seems to have a boy in tow. David is sure that Roy and Hayley won’t go along with the extended stay. He lifts Josh’s spirits with the promise of tractor-driving and the responsibility for one of the cows that is about to calve.
• Hayley fears that Phoebe is not coming home at all. Roy puts in a call to Kate which he feels is a little odd, though he cannot put his finger on why; she seems distracted. This does nothing to reassure Hayley, who doesn’t trust Kate and fully expects her to pull some other delaying stunt at the end of August. He insists on talking to Phoebe. She is full of it; there is a whole crowd going on a trip to the Cape; it will be so cool. Please, please, dad. It’s only a few more weeks and then she will be coming home. Roy is even less happy when he learns that there are boys involved in the trip – older boys too – but he wouldn’t be the first dad to allow his daughter to twist him round her finger.