The Archers

Officially finished work to concentrate on Sunday’s wedding, Pip and Stella visit Lower Loxley to hear Elizabeth’s wet weather contingency plans. The brides-to-be are upbeat and confident. They’re determined to make the most of it, whatever the weather.
Stella reveals to Pip that she and David have possibly fallen out over her comments about Josh. David joins them with an apology about his outburst. He does actually agree with what Stella said about Josh on Wednesday and realises he’s been a hypocrite. David asks if he can still walk Stella down the aisle after all, and she happily accepts.
Following a frosty encounter with Freddie at breakfast, Vince sends him a voice message outlining some more responsible tasks he has for him to build his skills. Meanwhile, Freddie has a word with his mum, outlining his frustrations with her and Vince, who he thought would have shown him more support. He’s particularly disappointed in Elizabeth’s lack of belief in him to run Lower Loxley. Furious that Vince has seemingly misrepresented her, she and Vince argue. How dare he demotivate her son, someone who already struggles with self-esteem? Vince defends himself, arguing that he shouldn’t always be the bad guy when both of them have reservations about Freddie’s capabilities. Vince wants to build Freddie’s skills, but Elizabeth doesn’t think his hard man tactics are the solution for Freddie. Vince retorts that in that case she shouldn’t come crying to him next time her future livelihood is threatened.

After two days of being ignored by Khalil, Keira has had enough and confronts him on the bus to school. He thinks she should know why he’s not talking to her, but she is adamant that she hasn’t got a clue. Later, Khalil reveals to Henry that Keira broke her promise, telling Henry about Khalil’s childhood cancer. Henry reveals that he actually found out online via a fundraising page featuring an old picture of Khalil. Henry suggests Khalil should apologise to Keira in person. She says this fallout could have been avoided by speaking to her directly instead of blanking her for days. But to make it up to her, he could help collect apples in the community orchard.
Freddie and Rosie have decided on a decorated tractor as the surprise transport for Pip and Stella’s wedding as an alternative to the cancelled ‘unicorn’ horse and carriage.
Vince calls Freddie in to talk about his future. Freddie is buoyant with the knowledge of the trustees having faith in him and wanting him back at Lower Loxley in a year or so. Vince doesn’t want Freddie to take this the wrong way, but in his and Elizabeth’s opinion, he still has a way to go and things to learn before he’s ready. Freddie is blindsided by the comments and petulantly reacts. He suggests that Vince never really believed in him and only took him on at Casey Meats to get into his mum’s good books. All the positivity the trustee news had brought Freddie is gone, leaving Vince frustrated.

At Berrow Farm, Martyn Gibson is concerned about costs in their challenging pig industry and warns Jazzer that they’ll need to make hefty savings. Jazzer fishes for information – does he mean job losses? Martyn assures him that Jazzer's job at least is safe. Jazzer is worried. Hannah’s put an offer in for her first house – and what about Neil?
After talking about the stormy forecast for the wedding, David shares with Brian that he feels Josh has been alienated from Brookfield, and now they’ve lost him. Brian argues that David and Ruth are doing much better than he is with his family.
Alistair’s missing his dad Jim and just wants to meet Jazzer for a friendly pint. But on getting to the bar he’s accosted by Martyn who feels Alistair’s vet invoice was a bit steep. Brian joins in the criticism, suggesting that in the future, with all the welfare monitoring tech available to farms, vets might find themselves redundant.
In The Bull, Brian insists on buying Stella a drink, and she’s joined by Hannah as they’re celebrating Hannah’s new house offer being accepted. Stella loudly vents her frustration with Josh cancelling his wedding plans apparently for a new girl he’s met in Patagonia. She’s appalled when Brian points out that David has overheard. Outside the pub David says he understands her frustration but is really disappointed with her. She shouldn’t have voiced it so clearly to their community. He’s so hurt that he no longer wants to walk her down the aisle.

Keira and Henry wish Khalil a happy 16th birthday and promise him a treat at the school shop. Keira is looking forward to dancing and celebrating with the boys at the wedding, however she’s less impressed at having to go to school over half term for catch up lessons. Waiting in the shop queue, Henry almost lets slip that he knows about Khalil’s childhood cancer and covers himself, however Khalil isn’t fooled. When Keira arrives, Khalil’s sharp with them both, saying he doesn’t want them to buy him anything.
Freddie is annoyed that the ‘Unicorn’ he’s ordered for the wedding has cancelled because of the weather forecast. Elizabeth reminds him that horses don’t like storms. Freddie reveals to his mum that he’d applied to be General Manager of a stately home in dire straits, but the application had not got any further. He’s frustrated that he’ll never get the experience needed to manage Lower Loxley. Elizabeth thinks the struggling hall would have been too much of a challenge, but on a positive note, the trustees have had a shift in attitude towards Freddie. Because of his responsibilities at Casey Meats, he may even be able to take over at Lower Loxley in a year. Later, Vince shares his reservations with Elizabeth. Freddie is doing well but he still has a long way to go. He didn’t ask Elizabeth for help with his stately home application for example – he doesn’t yet have the wisdom to ask for advice when he needs it.

Pip and David discuss AI in farming, which they think can’t be ignored. Pip tells David that Stella’s mum is still coming to the wedding but won’t be walking Stella down the aisle. David offers his services instead of Stella’s mum. The weather forecast still isn’t good for the wedding and Josh messages to say he won’t be back from Patagonia in time.
Ruth wonders to David and Pip if Azra will keep up the hostilities forever, after a frosty meeting in the shop. David encourages Ruth not to give up, and to take Azra for lunch, which she does. Ruth apologizes again for showing Khalil the photos of the sheep. Although Azra is still annoyed with Ruth, she misses her friend and remembers how welcome Ruth made her feel when she first came to Ambridge. Reunited, they discuss the upcoming wedding.
Ruth asks Usha about Anna’s whereabouts, as she called round to Carol’s cottage over the weekend and Anna didn’t answer. Usha is keen to speak to Anna. Anna is still very angry with Alan, but agrees to a visit from Usha. Alan returning the money won’t be enough for Anna. Every time she tries to convince herself that Alan isn’t a bad person, the facts keep crashing back. Anna can’t believe that in her final days, Carol was betrayed by Alan. Anna’s stunned that Alan would have got involved in Carol’s banking when she’d specifically asked him not to. Usha defends Alan and says he’s not trying to hide anything. Later, Usha tells Ruth that the funeral upset was just a misunderstanding between Anna and Alan.