Is Phoebe A Dark Horse?

Lucy Morris (Phoebe Aldridge)

I wish Phoebe would lighten up a little - here she is, back home from Oxford, and she seemingly is discontented because she wants to change the world and “make things happen”, as she tells Kirsty. Phoebe is also suffering because she finds Ambridge “a let down” after her time at Oxford. For heaven’s sake, woman, just relax and chill for a while - after all those months studying, you deserve a little R&R and some ‘me time’.

However, things look set to change, as, on Sunday, Lilian is summoned to The Lodge by Peggy, who has had a brilliant idea for her Ambridge Conservation Trust project (hereafter referred to as ACT). Lilian has been appointed Trust Administrator and she is not happy, as she is falling behind with her AmSide work, as well as getting under Kenton’s feet in The Bull while Jolene is away on tour. Never mind, as the ACT prize is only on offer to family members, Lilian reckons that there will only be three or four entrants into the competition, so how much work can there be for her to do?

Wrong! Peggy reveals that she is opening up the competition so that anyone who lives in Ambridge can submit a scheme to try and win the £500,000 on offer for the best idea. Lilian is appalled - moving the goalposts this radically could mean that the Trust is inundated with entries. Peggy hopes for exactly that and tells Lilian that she is finding it all very exciting. Of course, Peggy realises that it could mean extra work for Lilian and, as such, Peggy proposes a change in Lilian’s job title, from ‘Trust Administrator’ to ‘Chief Operating Officer’. Undoubtedly. Lilian would have preferred a couple of staff to handle what she suspects will be an avalanche of applications, but Peggy just steamrollers any objections and tells Lilian to make sure the decision is widely publicised.

On her way home from Peggy’s. Lilian runs into Adam and tells him of he mother’s change of heart. Adam is worried - what had been a three-horse race will obviously now attract a wider field. Not to worry, Lilian tells him; she will send the press release and advert to the classified pages, where nobody will notice it among the small ads. Wrong again, Lilian! Kirsty is browsing the Echo’s website when she comes across the announcement, including a photo of Peggy.

Kirsty is in a very good mood, as she has received an e-mail, telling her that she has got her dream job with the Conservation Trust (nothing to do with Peggy’s Trust, incidentally). She comes across Eddie and congratulates him on the condition of his hay meadow, saying that the competition is now open to all and this could be just the sort of thing that Peggy is looking for.

For someone who always has an eye out for the main chance, Eddie can be a bit slow sometimes and he tells Kirsty that the horsey ladies will pay top dollar for proper hay and his wild flower meadow is usually a nice little earner. Patiently, she points out that the ACT prize money is £500k, which is a lot of fodder. Full credit to Eddie; he is away down The Bull post-haste to pick Lilian’s brains about the competition. She is still under the misapprehension that nobody knows about the opening up of the competition and tells him that she desperately needs to make a phone call.

All this leaves Eddie in a bit of a dilemma - he has been trying to ingratiate himself with Natasha and Tom as a consultant to their Orchard Village project, hoping to get his hands on some of the money if they won it, but now it could all be his. For their part, Tom and Natasha are wondering how they can politely tell Eddie to get lost, as (as Tom puts it) if Peggy sees the Grundy name on their application, it will be dead in the water. A meeting is arranged and Tom is trying to let Eddie down gently, when Eddie stops him - he is going to have to resign as ’orchard consultant’ as he wants to submit his own proposal. Tom feigns disappointment and Eddie generously says that he will waive his ’consultant’s fee’ (’this is what a tree looks like, Tom’) for a few pints. Tom agrees with alacrity, telling Natasha (who failed to get Eddie to stand down as a consultant) that “You just need to know how to handle these Grundys.”

As news of the opening up of the competition spreads, all kinds emerge from the woodwork, which brings us back to Phoebe. When she and Kirsty are celebrating the latter’s new job, Phoebe reveals that she has an idea for the competition, but she is keeping her cards close to her chest. On Thursday, it is the night of the latest in the series of the meaningless challenges for Adam and Ian’s bucket list, involving a night out at a gay bar. Chris and Alice Archer also attend and Chris is getting steadily slaughtered, while at the same time attracting admiring glances from the clientele.

Adam and Ian sneak out and Chris is helped out, after being sick. Rex is the lucky cab driver who picks up Alice, Chris and Phoebe and talk turns to Peggy’s challenge - does Phoebe have a plan? Alice scathingly says that Phoebe “has even less idea about farming than Kate has” but Phoebe remains tight-lipped about her intentions. However (and here we get to the point of this week’s blog title), I think that you underestimate Phoebe at your peril and she could well be a dark horse. Of course, the downside could be that, if Phoebe wins, then Kate might get her hands on some of the money.

Whatever happens, Peggy has really put the cat among the pigeons and I suspect there will be rivalry and ill-feeling to follow. But what else has happened in our favourite village? Alistair eventually convinces Jim that Fiona needs to know what Jim went through in his youth. Jim, however, cannot bring himself to tell his daughter the gory details, so Alistair breaks the news. The three of them then spend a day at Stratford-upon-Avon and, after a difficult start, they have an enjoyable day, reminiscing about previous visits as a family.

Fiona has to return to work and, before she drives off, she exhorts Alistair to keep working on Jim - he needs more help than they alone can provide. Jim flatly refuses to seek counselling, so Alistair phones a helpline. To do this, he rings from The Stables, with Shula’s encouragement, and he is impressed with their reactions - if only he could get his dad to seek help. Shula warns her ex-husband that he cannot fix Jim - it’s something he has to do himself, and Alistair says that it feels like a very long road. Nevertheless, he is very grateful for the help that Shula has given, saying: “I don’t know what I’d have done without you the last few weeks - you really are a Godsend.”

Jim, who it seems is gradually coming to his senses, invites Shula round for tea. He realises that she has guessed what happened to him in the past, even though she might not know the details, and he apologises for his recent behaviour. Shula says that she has wanted to pray for Jim and it might help him to realise that other people care for him. She is immediately embarrassed at talking this way to a confirmed atheist and apologises for asking him. Surprisingly, Jim says she can go ahead and he’d appreciate it if she wanted to pray for him. At this rate, he’ll be playing the organ at St. Stephen’s before much longer.

What have we missed out on? Ben passed his driving test at the second attempt. He was worried about the hill start, but he, Ruairi and Leonard hit on a cunning scheme - if a car should be parked on the hill, where this manoeuvre is carried out, then it would have to be done elsewhere. Personally, I cannot believe that there is only one hill in Felpersham and it would seem that I’m right, as Ruairi and Leonard dutifully parked on the hill (with Leonard having to talk his way out of a parking ticket) without seeing Ben. It turned out that they had picked the wrong hill and the pair are mortified, until Ben says “your faces!” and reveals that he has passed. Len thought that Ben had failed and that Len was a jinx, as he passed on his fourth attempt. As it was, Len felt so guilty because he thought that he’d screwed up, that he offered to buy the lads a burger. When Ben revealed the truth, I’d have gone off and left him.

Earlier on, Lilian was moaning about how much work she had on, so it was surprising that she decided that The Bull needed ‘refreshing’. Much to Kenton’s surprise, this involved getting Philip in to quote for tearing the plaster off the walls, installing fairy lights and touching up the paintwork. Kenton is adamant, saying that they can’t spend money they don’t have and he’s the boss. Philip says “OK” but Lilian interjects with “don’t be silly, darling” and urges Philip to get on with the measuring up, adding “I’m the boss.”

This could go on for ever, but eventually Philip suggests that he could come back another time, when they know what they want. And Kenton agrees, treating him to a pint for his trouble. With the prices that builders/decorators charge, I submit that a pint (what - £3-50 to £4?) is a good deal for Kenton - and his walls are intact.

There is a bit of a crisis in the Grundy household, when William turns up, seeking babysitting duties from his mum and dad. Unfortunately this coincides with Eddie taking Clarrie out to an outdoor cinema evening, so they can’t oblige. Why not ask Bev to babysit, asks Clarrie? Will says yeah, OK, and leaves. Clarrie, however, isn’t happy and she and Eddie leave early (actually, just as the opening credits are rolling). Even worse, Eddie leaves a half pint of cider, never mind having paid for the tickets.

Eddie goes off to discuss the orchard village with Natasha and Clarrie waits for William to return home. She has rung Bev to ask if Poppy is OK, only to be told that Will never rang Bev to babysit. He admits that he took Poppy to work with him (Clarrie was waiting three hours for him to come home) because he was afraid that Bev would think he wasn’t coping and that she would get Poppy taken away from him.

Clarrie secretly organises a lunch next day with her, Bev and Will and they try to sort something out. At first, Will is aggressive, saying that Bev will never have Poppy, to which she responds that she doesn’t want to take Poppy away - it would be nice to see a bit more of her every now and then and she’d love to have her granddaughter over. It all ends amicably enough and just goes to show what can happen when a brain-dead, deluded person gets hold of the wrong end of the stick. And yes; I am talking about you, Will.