The Archers BBC Radio 4

Emotions run high for Tom, and Vince finds himself cornered.

Lily finalises the catering with Fallon for tonight’s barn dance, advising extra delivery time because of the Heydon Bridge diversion. Joy tells Fallon she’d been looking forward to the barn dance, but because of her sling she can’t go. Later at Joy’s they both agree they’re lucky to have made it through the crash. Fallon opens up about Harrison; she feels like she’s treading on eggshells. He’s obsessed about her miscarriage, but they can’t talk about it because they’re on such different pages. Ben turns up, offering to drive Joy to the barn dance, mentioning a special job Lily’s found for her. Later at the barn dance everyone’s delighted when Joy calls out the dance instructions.
When Inspector Norris checks how Harrison’s doing, he asks if Alice’s blood tests are back, but Norris can’t talk about it. Seeing that Harrison isn’t himself, Norris invites him into her office for a chat. Harrison asks how sentencing would be affected by the crash being the cause of Fallon’s miscarriage. Norris sympathetically explains that it doesn’t count in law. Harrison becomes distraught and Norris sends him home. When Fallon gets back from the barn dance, Harrison tells her the reasons for being told to leave work. He’s going to write an impact statement for consideration in sentencing Alice. Harrison’s surprised when Fallon says that if it’s going to make things worse for Alice, then she won’t be doing one. Distraught Harrison can’t believe there’ll be no consequences for losing their baby. Fallon thinks he should do what he thinks is right, but so will she.

Neil checks in on George because Emma mentioned he seemed a bit down and wasn’t keen on being the vice-captain of the cricket team. George admits Harrison’s made things awkward with Tracy and he was behaving weirdly at the cricket match on Sunday, particularly when he was rude to Pat. Neil tells George he’s really proud of him for his part in the crash rescue and offers to be there for his Borchester Echo interview. But George says it’s fine - he’s cancelled the interview as he wasn’t in the mood.
Lily waits with Kirsty for George to help inject one of Rex's boars with anti-inflammatories. Lily mentions that Mick hasn’t got hold of Rochelle yet for Joy’s surprise birthday party. Kirsty’s confused when Lily talks about Rochelle’s local address – Kirsty’s sure she lives up north. With George’s help, Kirsty successfully injects the boar. George offers to help any time but cringes when Kirsty tells him he’s already a hero around Ambridge and now he’s saving Rex and Kirsty.
Neil bumps into Harrison at St Stephens. Harrison promises to sort it when Neil explains that George doesn’t want to be vice-captain. Neil adds that he heard that Harrison was disrespectful to Pat on Sunday and checks if he’s alright. Harrison shares his feelings about Fallon’s miscarriage and Alice’s part in it. Neil thinks Alice's behaviour isn’t deliberate; she self-sabotages and with alcoholics a relapse is sadly all too common. Neil’s faith and forgiving Alice has bought him enormous relief. Harrison’s understanding but it’s all a bit much at the moment. Neil says he’s there if Harrison needs him.

Lily notices a distressed cow stuck in a ditch on her way back from visiting Ruth and calls Ben. Whilst waiting for David to arrive with hoisting equipment, they ring Alistair. They discuss the chaos on the roads caused by the crash on Heydon Bridge. Alistair’s going to have to reach them via the ford. As Alistair starts to wade through it, he feels panicky but succeeds in crossing it. The cow’s successfully rescued and treated, but Ben notices that Alistair’s white as a sheet. Alistair admits he had a minor panic attack in the ford because of the river rescue. Ben’s supportive and offers to drive him back to his car.
When Freddie praises George about his part in the crash rescue, George is dismissive. Freddie remembers how he felt after the Grey Gables explosion and rescuing Lynda - Robert tried to give him his dad’s war medal. George shares he had the same sort of experience with Kenton with the engraved pint glass. They both agree that they didn’t do anything special – most people would have done the same. George wonders whether if he’d been quicker rescuing Fallon, she’d still be pregnant, but Freddie counters that the crash may not be the reason for Fallon’s miscarriage. Anyway, if anyone’s to blame, it’s Alice who may end up in prison. She wouldn’t survive very well there, as Freddie knows from his brutal experience in Young Offenders. George states that he wouldn’t cope in prison either. Freddie surmises that as Alice did the crime, she should do the time.

Fallon and Harrison both agree that it’s great that Fallon’s back at Woodbine Cottage after her stay at The Bull. Harrison’s relieved Alice has gone to London – at least he won’t bump into her.
Ambridge is playing Layton Cross at cricket and Kirsty pops by to wish the team luck on her way to an appointment with Rex’s pigs – she’s looking after them while Rex is away. George and Pat are mildly concerned when Kirsty reckons it’ll be a breeze. They chat about Mick inviting Joy’s daughter Rochelle to her surprise birthday tea on Friday – that’s if Mick can get hold of Rochelle. Later Kirsty rings Jazzer for some advice about Rex’s pigs, but when she asks about a limping boar, Jazzer says she needs to treat him herself and Kirsty wonders what on earth she’s doing!
Everyone’s surprised when Harrison turns up to play cricket. Pat’s not impressed when he rides rough-shod over Tracy’s batting order, reminding them that he is the captain and then starts sledging the opposing team. George mentions that Harrison’s asked him to be vice-captain, but he agrees when Pat says that Tracy would’ve been the obvious choice. Ambridge win the match and Harrison’s celebratory but Pat asks for a quick word. She didn’t think Harrison’s attitude towards Layton Cross was appropriate and thinks Harrison shouldn’t have overlooked Tracy for vice-captain. Harrison retorts that before getting into the bigger decisions, perhaps Pat should look at her bowling. She needs to earn her spot on the team.

Chelsea thinks George is living his best life – what with the free family meal at The Bull tonight as well as Oliver’s magnum of champagne. When George says he hopes things will die down soon, Chelsea doubts it and shows George Fallon ’s post telling the world he’s superman. George spots a comment from the Borchester Echo wanting to do a feature on him, but George isn’t sure.
Alice gets cold feet as she packs to leave for London with Ruairi tomorrow. She doesn’t want to leave Martha, but she doesn’t want Martha to see her in this state. Alice checks if she can still drink when she’s in London and Ruairi agrees, but with some rules including only drinking in Ruairi’s company. In the meantime they decide to get some fresh air and walk Martha’s Shetland pony, Champion.
Chris admits to Tracy that he’s struggling to cope with not only his job and Martha, but also with wondering whether Alice has had a drink or not. When Tracy calls Alice a piece of work, Chris reminds her that alcoholism is an illness. Later Tracy bumps into Ruairi and Alice on their walk, telling Alice that Chris, Martha and everyone else would be better off if she didn’t come back from London.
Later while Alice is reading Martha’s bedtime story, Chris explains to Ruairi that he’d hoped that Alice would go back to rehab – it would be one good thing to come from the accident. When it’s time for Alice to go, Chris says he’ll miss her, and Alice says she’ll miss Martha – and Chris too.