Will Lashes Out - At Everybody

Edward Kelsey (Joe Grundy)

I suppose we should forgive Will for being miserable and angry in equal measures; after all, his wife has just passed away. Having said that, it is depressing to see him revert to the old, unlovable Will, with not a good word to say about anyone.

To be fair, he is equally hard on himself, continually going on about how he was not there when Nic died and blaming himself for leaving his wife with Joe instead. This mood of self-flagellation doesn’t last long, however, and he is looking around for people to blame, albeit subconsciously. First of all, he is fed up with people expressing their sympathies and, as he describes it, “fussing around after me.” This includes practically everyone in Ambridge and it is a brave person who approaches Will and offers condolences.

Eventually, Will picks on Joe as the chief offender and, on Thursday, accuses his grandfather of letting him down. Once again he talks about Joe “fussing around” him and says that it’s too late now and Joe cannot make amends “You had one thing to do for me and you never did it” Will rants. Joe is mystified - what is Will talking about? “Why didn’t you come and get me when you knew Nic was dying?” Will demands. A startled Joe protests that he didn’t know how ill Nic was, but Will is in no mood to listen, saying that Joe made Will leave his wife to look after Poppy. “She died and I weren’t there for her and I can‘t never put it right” Will says. “She weren’t alone, William” Joe reminds him and Will agrees, snarling “No, she had a thoughtless, selfish old man fussing round her instead of me and I can never forget.”

Brother Ed is at Will’s, fixing a broken down pipe for him and he comes in as Will is having a go at Joe and asks what’s going on? Will then has a go at Ed and again accuses him and the rest of the family of “fussing round him” and he storms out, shouting “I’ve got to go out and clear my head - before it explodes!” That could be a good solution, Will, thinking about it.

The following day, Clarrie mentions that Joe was very upset yesterday and does Will have any idea why? A sneering Will immediately asks if Ed has been talking out of turn and Clarrie says she hasn’t spoken to Ed and what is Will talking about? He tells her about the row with Joe, but he is not contrite; even when Clarrie tells him sorrowfully that Joe is really suffering.

Brian turns up to offer his condolences and he hopes that Will isn’t worrying about work. Don’t worry, Brian, he isn’t and, when Brian says that he wishes he had never invited Will to meet potential new guns on the day that Nic died, Will interrupts him, saying: “But you didn’t invite me, did you? You made me go, even though I’d asked for the day off.” He adds that, had he had the day off, he could have noticed how ill Nic was earlier and could have taken her to hospital earlier and she might have been saved. Brian says he’s sorry but Will is in no mood for what he regards as platitudes and tells his boss: “It’s too late now. If that’s all you’ve got to say, you’d better go. I had one chance to save Nic’s life and you took it away from me.”

There you go, Brian - take the mantle of guilt off Joe and put it on. It seems an unreasonable accusation - how was Brian supposed to know that Nic had a life-threatening disease? Will also declared that the day had been a waste of time and he and the guns had spent the time watching Brian get drunk. All in all, not the way that a boss expects to be spoken to by an employee - Brian might remember Will‘s words, come his next appraisal.

So far, all Will’s accusations seem unreasonable and, deep down, you know that he is beating himself up for not being with Nic at the end. However, there is one instance where his anger is justified and that is against the packing case and the rusty nail on which Nic scratched herself and which gave her the sepsis. Will attacks the case maniacally and tells his family that he wants to destroy every atom of it and, using saw and petrol, he does just that.

It hasn’t been an especially good week for Brian - apart from the tongue-lashing from Will, Annabelle intimated to him that, with all the fuss over the contamination at Low Mead, the BL contract with Home Farm might be up for review. Brian is alarmed - the farm is spending money hand over fist on the contamination clear up, plus one of Adam’s major customers has cancelled his soft fruit-buying order and the loss of the BL contract would be catastrophic. Brian asks Justin if he knows anything? He doesn’t, but promises to make inquiries.

As it turns out, the contract is safe from review for the foreseeable future and Brian is relieved. Daughter Alice has more bad news for him - Pryce Baumann (the firm for whom she works) has decided not to proceed with the trial of technology on Home Farm’s machinery, due to the bad publicity over the contamination. “I could kill whoever dumped poison on our land” says a seething Alice.

Brian confessed to Jenny that he knew about the contamination, as he turned a blind eye to it 40 years ago. He would have done better to keep his mouth shut, as Jenny has an attack of conscience, claiming that she feels complicit and perhaps they should tell the children the truth? Brian isn’t keen - not surprising really, as, following Alice’s remark, he would be a prime candidate for a spot of patricide - but Jenny has another idea; don’t tell Kate and Alice, but doesn’t he think that Adam and Debbie ought to know, given their involvement in the working of the farm? Brian points out that, if he takes this course then, when Kate and Alice do find out, they will realise that they had been kept in the dark and would think that Brian and Jenny didn’t trust them. “It has to be all, or nothing” he tells his wife. In the end, they decide to keep quiet.

Mind you, I’m surprised that Jennifer has time to worry about moral problems, as she is hell-bent on force feeding Lexi, who moans to Roy about being inundated with cakes, stews and all things culinary. If this wasn’t enough, Roy and Lexi are invited to dinner at Home Farm, where the small talk is a bit forced, to say the least. Roy’s mood is not improved by the fact that Lexi has told him that sex is off the menu until she is carrying Adam and Ian’s child.

Brian remarks that it’s unusual to have fish for a starter and a main course and Jennifer replies that fish is very good for you, leaving the words ‘when you are expecting’ hanging in the air. She also bangs on about the importance of exercise in pregnancy. However, her piece de resistance comes when she talks about Adam’s good news. He is horribly embarrassed and tries to get her to shut up, but to no avail, as she tells the room in general that the fertility clinic had contacted Adam and said that his sperm sample has been passed as A-OK. I suppose we are lucky that she didn’t produce the sample to show everyone. At the end of the meal, Roy and Lexi can’t wait to escape and a perplexed Jennifer says “they didn’t linger, did they?” “A touch too much procreation in the conversation” Brian remarks, dryly. It’s all water off a duck’s back for Jenny, as, when she and Brian discuss whether or not to tell the children about the contamination (which happened the day after the Home Farm dinner) she reveals that she is in the process of making pies and flans for Lexi, who has probably put on four or five stone since agreeing to be a surrogate.

Over at Brookfield, Pip is still having mixed feelings about her pregnancy - she is worried that, because she cannot do much round the farm at the moment, and won’t be able to do much after having the baby, she might forget all about farming. Rooooth pooh-poohs this, telling Pip that farming is in her genes. Pip has been thinking about the new milking parlour - she favours the open-sided format, while Rooooth prefers the herringbone. Rooooth has put Pip in charge of managing the project, but Pip has had second thoughts, as she realises that, for the near future at least, it is Rooooth who will be doing the majority of the milking, so it makes sense that she has the major input into the choice of parlour. In the end, the two women agree to project manage the new milking parlour together.

Neil, as we know, is on the verge of taking over as pig unit manager at Berrow Farm, but he is worried - what if he decides that the job isn’t for him? Due to bio-security, it would be impossible for him to maintain his pig herd and work at Berrow, but what if he sells the herd and then gives up Berrow? The ideal solution, he tells Tom, would be for Tom to take on the pigs, as Neil supplies Bridge Farm with weaners. Then, if things don’t work out for Neil, he could take them back. A good idea, but Tom rejects it, as he’s got enough on his plate already. A disappointed Neil tells Tom that he’ll just have to keep trying to find someone.

Neil mentions his dilemma to Toby, remarking that it could be a good profit-sharing opportunity for the right person. A light bulb goes off in Toby’s head and he sets off to find brother Rex, who is collecting eggs. Toby tells Rex that he’s got fantastic news - Toby doesn’t want to have to move the still from Hollowtree, but, since Rex is giving up the geese business, David has realised that the land at Hollowtree is not realising its full potential and is threatening not to renew the Fairbrothers’ lease when it expires in August.

What they need, Toby tells Rex, is another farming business to demonstrate that they can utilise the land properly. When Toby says “we” he really means “you” and Rex points out that he already has three jobs. Toby derides these jobs as ‘egg collector’, ‘Josh’s gofer’ and ‘part-time driver’ and he has a great opportunity for his brother. “The answer is ‘no’” Rex says, before Toby can even tell him what he has in mind. Rex adds that, if it’s one of Toby’s ideas, it will be impractical, wrongly costed, under-funded and a complete waste of time and money. Toby is not happy and stalks off in a mood. Well, they say that the truth often hurts, don’t they?