Ian’s Man On The Inside

Stephen Kennedy (Ian Craig)

Oliver is minded to take Tracy’s advice and give Freddie the job of kitchen porter, and Ian has strong views on the subject: “No way” he tells his boss, adding that he hasn’t got time to discuss it at the moment - he has Sunday lunch to serve.

That evening, a well-refreshed Oliver returns to Grey Gables, where Ian is still at work. Oliver is looking for his supper (must be nice to have your meals cooked for you, but then again, he does own the place, I suppose) and once again brings up the subject of Freddie - if they won’t give him a chance, then who will? Oliver tells Ian that he would have total control and, should Freddie step out of line, or not cut the mustard, then Ian can get rid of him. 

Against his better judgement, Ian agrees to a one-shift trial, but he still harbours grave doubts. Adam tells him to trust Oliver’s judgement and he’s sure Freddie will behave himself. Incidentally, Adam tells Ian to trust Kathy’s judgement too, which begs the question where the hell has she been hiding for the past month or two? Not to mention Jamie. 

As Ian is going on paternity leave for a year, Grey Gables will need a replacement - or, as Ian calls it, a stand-in - and Oliver reveals that they have hired Hugh, the chef from Lower Loxley. Ian and Hugh are fierce rivals and Ian cannot stand the man, as he tells Freddie. Ian is giving Freddie a bollocking for getting some scones out of the freezer without being told (he has already had Freddie in his office and told him how unhappy he is to have a convicted drug dealer in his kitchen) but it turns out that Freddie has done the right thing, as the scones are needed for a breakfast meeting on the morrow and there was no time to bake any more.

Ian apologises to Freddie and thanks him for saving his back. It is here that he tells Freddie how he dislikes Hugh and Freddie admits that he has little time for the Lower Loxley chef either. Ian says that Freddie can keep working at Grey Gables and Freddie suggests that he could be Ian’s man on the inside; keeping Ian informed if Hugh makes any changes to the running of his kitchen, or if things start to go wrong. Ian will know about it right away. “Freddie - you’re on!” Ian tells him. 

A bit of a U-turn there from the Grey Gables chef, but if you think about it, Freddie is the obvious man to be Ian’s person on the inside - after all, he has had a lot of experience recently of being inside. Who said that crime doesn’t pay?

Someone else who might be questioning Oliver’s judgement is Lynda. She was very sniffy about Tracy’s suggestion of having dinner entertainment at Grey Gables, but Oliver was intrigued - so much so that he acquired two tickets for a do at a local hotel. As a reward for coming up with the idea, he invites Tracy to accompany him. The pair have a great time (Tracy got a new dress for the occasion, but it’s going back to the shop tomorrow) and Oliver says he will try and book the entertainers for an evening at Grey Gables. Lynda will be pleased.

Mind you, Lynda is something of a village heroine - on Sunday it was the last cricket match of the season, a grudge match against Darrington for the runners-up spot. It is a nail-biting finish and Ambridge’s last man is trapped lbw, with two runs needed to win. However, Lynda has been videoing the game and she points out that it should have been called a no ball and she has video proof. She persuades Bert to reverse his ‘out’ decision (I bet Darrington were pleased) and Ambridge went on to win. 

In the pub afterwards, people are falling over themselves to buy her drinks (this impromptu celebration was the reason that we described Oliver as ‘well-refreshed’ earlier) and the praise goes to Lynda’s head. Lynda has had a great idea - why doesn’t she train as an umpire? She goes off to tell Chris and SgtB of her idea and David and Oliver ponder the possible future. “Lynda Snell as an umpire?” David asks. “What have we done?” answers Oliver.

As regular readers will know, I am not one of Kate’s greatest fans, but I had to take my hat off to her last week. You may recall that she told Jakob that she is a carer for her poorly gran and, consequently, Jakob makes sure that Kate is home by 9.30 every night. Kate complains to Peggy - she’d like to spend the night with Jakob. Peggy tells her that she’s always welcome to have a friend stay over, and here Kate gets embarrassed, saying that she likes to participate fully in everything she does and the presence of her gran in the next room would only dampen her ardour. “I could always take my hearing aids out” Peggy tells her, helpfully.

Next evening, Peggy notices that Kate is all glammed up - not only that, but she has an overnight bag and is going to stay the night at Jakob‘s: what has happened to Jakob’s concern? That’s OK, says Kate - Jakob has come up with a solution and found Peg a carer, who will stay with her this evening and come round again in the morning. Peggy protests that she doesn’t want anyone in her house and accuses Kate of deliberately leaving it too late for Peggy to do anything about it. Just then, the doorbell rings and Kate goes, saying cheerily “The carer’s name is Joy Horville, by the way.”

Next day, Emma is cleaning at The Lodge (I thought that was Kate’s job?) and she remarks that Peg seems out of sorts. Peg asks if Emma knows a Joy Horville, because she just wouldn’t stop talking last night and Peggy thinks she knows more about Joy’s daughter than she does her own family. Kate then returns, humming and singing. A disgruntled Peg asks her if she had a nice evening? “Very nice” Kate replies, adding; “And this morning wasn’t bad either.” She asks Peg about her evening and Peg fills her in. When Kate says that it might be better next time, Peggy says there won’t be a next time and, next time Jakob comes round, he’ll find Peggy has made a miraculous recovery. “I take it there will be a next time?” Peggy asks. “Oh yes, definitely,” replies her granddaughter. “I really like him - really like him.”

Later that day, Kate is blundering about in the kitchen, making a lot of noise and obviously in a foul mood. What’s going on? Jakob has announced that he’s going to Sweden to see his family - and he’s going for a month. “We’ve obviously got nothing in common” Kate storms. “I don’t know dear,” replies Peggy, “You might have more in common than you realise.”

To nobody’s surprise, Lily tells Elizabeth that she is not going back to Uni. Her mother is appalled, but Lily is adamant - she’s happy the way things are; she’s making good money and she never really liked Manchester much; she and Russ had no friends and she wasn’t enjoying the course. Lizzie asks what Russ thinks and Lily replies that he will support her decision, whatever it is. Finally, Elizabeth realises that her daughter’s mind is made up and she gives her her blessing.

If Brian isn’t careful, he will be getting a reputation as a bringer of ill omens. Firstly, he listened to David’s plans for the Hassett Hills co-op to purchase Crowther’s, the local abattoir, which has gone into administration. Perhaps he could get BL interested in a partnership? ’No’ is the short answer; the Board isn’t interested, as it doesn’t have the relevant expertise. However, Brian tells David, Justin did express some personal interest. As a result, David and Justin get permission to have a look round Crowther’s and David is optimistic, despite being warned by Justin that he’s not looking for a joint venture with H-H. Back home, Justin tells Lilian that he thinks that he will submit a bid, as Crowther’s represents an investment opportunity. “What, as an abattoir?” asks a startled Lilian. “I’ve no intention of keeping it as an abattoir,” Justin replies, “It’s the perfect location for an office development.” Not a good birthday present for David’s 60^th, although he did go to see Dr Feelgood live, which I suppose some would view as a bonus. 

Brian’s next message of doom concerns Will. Eddie confides the whole story of Will and the shotgun and how Eddie believes that the only answer is for Will to give up the job, as he shouldn’t be allowed to be around firearms. He just wants to save Will from himself, as Will seems to think that he’ll be right as rain after a couple of weeks. Could Brian see his way to asking BL Chairman Martyn Gibson to give Will his cards? Brian asks, without disclosing all the details, and it turns out that Martyn thinks Will is doing a good job and won’t countenance the idea. Sorry Eddie.

It doesn’t seem to have occurred to Eddie that his eldest son is depressed and that game keeping is his life and all he has ever wanted to do, and taking that away from him is hardly likely to make him feel better, or improve his mood. Perhaps time to try and come up with a Plan B Eddie.

On Friday, David returns home to find Leonard in Brookfield’s kitchen, dressed in an apron, and in the middle of preparing a recipe. The plan is for him to practise making Jill’s Scrap Cake recipe, to be entered into the F&P show as a surprise for Jill. The omens are not good, as Leonard has never cooked on a range before and he spills a bag of flour. “It’s got four ovens - which do I use for baking?” he asks David, which is about as much use as asking Tracy to summarise Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. Despite this, the end result looks and smells fantastic and both men are impressed and delighted.

Let us return to where we started, with Freddie’s offer to be a fifth columnist for Ian at Grey Gables. As we are creeping ever nearer to Christmas, it occurs to me that, should Freddie keep his job and should he then be promoted to the processed meat section, then he could be called a mince spy. Sorry about that.