The Archers BBC Radio 4

When Alice turns up at The Stables, Lilian thanks her for dropping by, it can’t have been easy. She offers to go to the court hearing with Alice tomorrow, but Alice declines. Justin checks if Lilian’s told Alice about recent developments, while Lilian’s encouraging Alice to leave so that she doesn’t see Carlotta arriving for her interview. Lilian’s saved by Jakob appearing to discuss Duke’s emergency treatment and Alice is keen to see the horse. Later Justin reckons they should be honest with Alice, but Lilian thinks she’s still too fragile. Justin agrees to wait to see how things go with Carlotta.
Alice thanks Jakob for covering for Alice when he discovered her drinking – he’s a good friend. But when Jakob tries to reciprocate, saying Alice is a good stables manager and her replacement will have big shoes to fill, Alice is shocked by the news.
Fallon’s trying out Kirsty’s Bushcraft event at the Rewilding site. Fallon admits she nearly didn’t come because of how things are with Harrison. Her birthday was awful because she discovered he’d had a prayer meeting with Alan but hadn’t told her. Joy arrives and they start by making a shelter before learning how to make a fire. Chat turns to Roy and whether love is in the air again with Lexi. At the end Fallon and Joy have had a great time – it feels like they’ve been on holiday. It’s made Joy think of fresh start; things are good with Mick, but she could be more open with him. Fallon agrees – she really needs to sort things out with Harrison.

It’s Fallon’s birthday and she and Harrison look forward to their takeaway later. The atmosphere’s broken by a text from Alan to Harrison about the memorial prayers last week. Fallon’s furious but Harrison can’t understand why. They were private prayers with Alan. But Fallon thinks it’s another example of Harrison not respecting her feelings.
Adam drives Alice to her GP appointment with Azra. In the car park Adam and Alice chat about Friday’s court hearing. Alice is terrified about the outcome and really needs a drink, but Adam’s reassuring. If Azra can prescribe something that helps Alice stop drinking, then maybe she could chat to Lilian tomorrow about her Stables job. But Alice doesn’t think she can face Lilian after all she’s done. Alice suddenly gets cold feet about seeing Azra, so Adam’s left to convince Azra to come to the car. If Alice can keep off alcohol, Azra will prescribe a short course of medication to reduce the effects of withdrawal. Alice agrees, but Azra warns it’s only a short-term fix.
Mick’s delighted that Joy’s come to his rescue by ironing his work clothes. She’ll do his laundry once a week and he can use her bathroom as the motorhome’s so compact. In return Mick offers to do Joy’s garden. Later Mick can’t thank Joy enough for saving his job by helping with his appearance. To show his gratitude he takes her up on to the Grey Gable’s roof to watch the setting sun. Mick apologises about messing up over Rochelle. If Joy is ever ready to talk about it, he’ll be there to listen.

Joy wakes up in Mick’s motorhome and they chat about last night’s after-hours venture into the Grey Gables Spa. Joy hopes Oliver doesn’t check the CCTV as the spa is out of bounds at night. Unfortunately they’re interrupted by Oliver ringing - a guest’s ring has been stolen and he needs to review the CCTV footage. Mick needs to get to his office asap.
At The Stables, Lilian’s shocked when Justin explains he’s interviewing Carlotta Mayfield. Lilian thought they were going to discreetly sound people out, not start a formal recruitment process. Justin clarifies that they don’t know if or when Alice will be in a fit state to return to work. In the meantime, Carlotta, or whoever they appoint, can be a stand-in temporary manager. Then if Alice doesn’t come back, someone’s already trained up.
Jakob successfully carries out an emergency procedure on Oliver’s horse. Justin passes on the news to Oliver, but they’re interrupted by Mick who’s found the missing ring. Oliver criticises Mick’s rumpled appearance, reminding Mick that he’s still on probation.
Later Oliver turns up at Mick’s motorhome explaining that he’s discovered that the Health Club CCTV has a blind spot and wants Mick to sort it. Afterwards Joy and Mick agree that they’ve had a narrow escape.
Jakob let’s Lilian know that Duke is responding well to treatment and along with no new cases of Strangles, it looks like The Stables outbreak has been contained. But Jakob wonders whether with Alice off, Lilian might share the management workload. Lilian says he’s not the first to mention that.

Tony’s irritated when George is late for his farm shift. George says it’s because he couldn’t sleep last night and fudges that it’s because the family’s selling Bartleby. Whilst Tony is sympathetic, he needs George to be focused at work. Later he discovers George napping against a bale and is furious.
At a GP appointment with Azra, Paul explains about feeling itchy recently and how he now has spots in an embarrassing place. He’s worried that Etienne’s open relationship may be the cause. He’s relieved when it turns out to be insect bites, but Azra advises that Paul and Etienne might need to revisit safe sex in light of the open relationship.
Adam’s surprised when Alice appears unexpectedly at Bridge Farm when he thought she was still in London. She needs to go to Borchester Police Station to be formally charged and wants Adam to go with her. Alice is glad to be back from Ruairi’s, though there’s lots of people she wants to avoid. At the police station Adam checks whether Alice had a drink when she went to the toilet, and she’s forced to admit she did. Later Alice is charged with dangerous driving and driving while unfit through drink or drugs - the hearing’s on Friday. Alice is scared she’ll end up in prison. It makes her want to drink even more. Adam decides to make a GP appointment to see if Alice can be prescribed a short-term fix and Alice realising there’s no choice, agrees to it.

At the Tearoom, Paul’s surprised to see Fallon looking so well after her drunken night out last week. That is until Fallon explains that she spent most of yesterday in bed at Kirsty’s. But now she feels like a reset button has been pressed and is feeling much better about everything. When Fallon notices Paul looking a bit uncomfortable, he says he’s fine. But later when Kirsty asks him if he’s got fleas or something, he brushes it off as sunburn. Later, Fallon starts to get flashbacks from her night out – and Kirsty’s forced to remind her of rapping and being thrown out of the club. Although Fallon’s embarrassed, it was also just what she needed, and she now feels she’s drawn a bit of a line. And Harrison seems much happier in himself too. Fallon was dreading her birthday, but now she’s looking forward to it with Harrison.
Justin mentions to Fallon that there’s been no further cases of Strangles at The Stables. Things are still fraught there though with Oliver’s horse still struggling. Justin’s worried about Lilian which is why he’s insisted she take a lunch break. When Lilian talks about how stressed she is, Justin broaches finding a replacement for Alice. Lilian’s defensive, pointing out that alcoholism is a disease. And anyway Alice didn’t do anything wrong, any horse can get Strangles. Justin concedes that they do at least need to look at the practicalities. He’ll compromise by sounding out a few potential replacements on a no obligation basis, just so they’re prepared for the worst. Lilian agrees as long as Justin’s discreet.

Alan and Harrison meet in the church for private prayers and meditation for Harrison to think about his loss. Before they start Alan checks that this time Fallon knows what he’s doing, but Harrison hasn’t told her because it always leads to a row. He wants these prayers to be unspoiled. Afterwards Harrison feels more at peace with everything, and Alan says he’ll remember both Harrison and Fallon in his prayers. But he reminds Harrison that he ought to let Fallon know what he was doing and why.
Fallon’s out on the town with Kirsty, celebrating her birthday early. She’s told Harrison that she’s staying at Kirsty’s and watching a film. Fallon just wants a night away from all the recent angst with Harrison. They agree not to talk about anything work or man-related. As the evening goes on Fallon gets tipsy and tells Kirsty she bumped into Lily, Paul and Josh in the bar. Paul’s there trying to take his mind off his relationship troubles with Etienne. Fallon’s agreed to go on to a club with them afterwards, commenting that it’s good to have mates – she’s glad she’s got Kirsty. As the evening progresses Fallon gets drunker, but Kirsty stays with her. When Fallon opens up about how she feels that people are trying to control her personal life, Kirsty counsels that sometimes it’s not about control. There are people out there who love her. Fallon adds that there’s also fun out there as well as worries, so she’s going to dance the night away!