The Archers

The Battling Bulls are playing The Trout, who are two players down. Brad suggests loaning them a player and Tom agrees, so the match can go ahead - but not Zainab, who’s too good. Brad offers himself, really enjoys playing and ends up on the winning side: The Trout. Lynda’s come to appreciate the lightness of pub cricket. She’s looking forward to the Women’s T20 World Cup.
Surprised that Clive actually turned up, Brad and Tracy discuss Bert’s departure with him, hoping that Bert will be alright.
Returning from Scotland, Kate finds Brian embarked on a new project: re-reading all his Dick Francis novels. Brian accuses her of stabbing him in the back, but Kate assures him their only plan at the partnership meeting was to try and reduce his stress levels. She hadn’t known about Adam and Debbie’s intentions. Kate then asks how Spiritual Home will be affected by the Partnership ending. Although he says it’s safe, Brian reminds her that if it wasn’t for Spiritual Home, they’d still have the farmhouse. Offended, Kate refuses to take responsibility for the house being sold, insisting that was down to Brian poisoning the Am. Later, Kate accuses Brian of bullying, before he finally apologises. Kate tells Brian that his children’s actions come from a place of love and care for him. Brian though can’t understand why they’ve stopped trusting him. Because he’s been behaving weirdly, Kate says, especially the way he’s mistreated Miranda. Brian retorts that everyone makes mistakes. It doesn’t mean he’s losing the plot, just that he’s human.

Just as the partnership meeting begins, Debbie walks in, to everyone’s amazement. Delighted Brian claims he hasn’t lost his touch, highlighting the farm’s financial resilience. Adam begs to differ: he’s been running things and any recent increase in profits is down to him. Uncomfortable Alice supports Adam, but Brian claims it’s been under his supervision, with Ruairi’s help. Adam reckons Ruairi’s been a liability, then outlines his vision. He proposes being left to run the farm his own way, but also suggests Brian leaves the land to him. Debbie has another suggestion: leave the land to her and Adam. Heatedly, they argue that otherwise, when Brian dies, it will be chaos. Alice isn’t on board with this – all she wants is to persuade Brian to retire properly and relax.
Horrified, Brian then hears their concerns about his stress levels and mental health. Brian retorts that his recent stresses have nothing to do with his mental health, but won’t admit any more. Adam pushes for a decision on leaving the land to him and Debbie, but Brian points out they’re not even his own children. Alice is shocked, but Brian reasons that Adam doesn’t have the skills to run a business and Debbie has no right, having been away so long. Debbie’s furious, angrily listing Brian’s failings. She declares she’s done, she can’t fight Brian anymore. She doesn’t want the partnership, the land, or a relationship with him. Brian retaliates: he’ll withdraw the land from the partnership altogether. There will be no business with them anymore. He’ll go it alone.

When Anna comes to check on her mum, she can’t find the new security camera, which is supposed to be in the hall. Carol confirms that Leonard fitted it in the loft because Carol wanted it somewhere she could watch her bats. And besides, what good would it do in the hall if she fell in the living room again? Frustrated Anna spots that Carol is still not wearing her pendant alarm either and Carol accuses her of ranting and raving. When Alan calls in, Anna notices that the living room rug has moved, before the truth emerges that Alan moved it and covered up Carol’s near miss earlier in the week. To keep the peace Carol suggests gin and tonics all round while promising to wear her pendant, as long as she can keep the camera trained on her bats.
Tracy’s rushing from job to job while caring for Bert in between. Keen to help, Brad offers to cook his grandad’s tea, but Bert wants fried egg and chips, not the turkey stir fry Tracy’s prepared. Bert reflects that Clive wouldn’t insist on exercise and all these healthy meal choices, before revealing that Clive has invited him to move in. Shocked, Tracy tries unsuccessfully to ring her brother to investigate. She can’t believe Clive will have everything set up suitably for Bert, reckoning he’ll be after his pension money. Tracy also thinks Bert will be lonely and Clive won’t have a clue how to care for him properly – it’ll be a disaster.

Akram tells Azra he’s frustrated Tom hasn’t got back to him about his care farm idea, despite promising he would. Akram then finds Helen, who confirms Tom and her decided against it. There’s no way they have the capacity, what with family and farm commitments, plus developing the farm generally. Akram pushes that it would be just one day per week and he’d manage it, but Helen reminds him they’re a working farm, not a care facility. However, Helen asks later if he’d be interested in working in the dairy, should Tracy not want the extra hours. Akram declines, saying he wants to be outside, growing things. For him, farming’s just not about cheese.
Den takes Brad on a surprise trip to see Worcestershire play cricket. He’s organised lunch and they’ll look inside the score box. Den questions Brad about his future plans, suggesting he could use his skills in sports performance analysis. Brad’s not sure – he’s hoping to study up to PhD level. Den encourages him to think bigger - having a maths degree could be lucrative, Brad could be a banker! Meanwhile, Den suggests moving away from portering at Grey Gables and using his maths brain right now, maybe as a croupier? Brad doesn’t need to be poor all his life. Later, Brad finds himself confiding in Ben that his dad’s sudden interest in his life is confusing. Is he being nice or is he after something? Brad admits the attention is weird but really nice. Ben advises him to keep low expectations, but enjoy spending time together.

Leonard asks Ben if Ruth has decided whether to be tested for the BRCA gene variant. Ben’s still annoyed with Josh for not wanting to know, an attitude he thinks is typically selfish. Following yesterday’s chat with Alan, Leonard considers how lucky he is being retired, and that life seems more stressful these days. Ben agrees - the surgery has so many people saying they’re struggling. He hopes the mental health initiatives he’s trying to set up with Azra will help address these pressures.
Adam has spoken to Ruairi, who agrees that Brian must be made to let go of the business. Ian’s surprised Ruairi agreed, considering the George attack cover–up, but Adam insists it’s for Brian’s own good. Brian’s out of his depth, plus his dinosaur attitudes and lack of futureproofing are no good for Home Farm. It needs to be addressed at the partnership meeting. Kate’s horrified by the idea of caravan storage and agrees with Adam. Ian is concerned that the family are being misled by inaccurate dementia speculation, but Adam feels he has no choice. Having invited Alice to dinner, Adam pleads with her to help form a united front against Brian. Alice wants more time though - Brian really doesn’t think he’s got dementia. Instead of rocking the boat, can’t they just persuade him to get some kind of cognitive fitness test? Frustrated, Adam insists the clock is ticking – he sees Brian floundering badly and if they don’t act quickly, Home Farm is going to fail.