Please Don’t Tell Me That Philip Has Something To Hide…

Andy Hockley (Philip Moss)

In recent weeks, I have said some quite nice things about Philip Moss and wished him and Kirsty much happiness as they plan their forthcoming marriage. And now the scriptwriters are hinting - well, more than hinting - that his business dealings are somewhat less than kosher.

The week started badly for Philip, with the contents of the fire investigation report becoming common knowledge across the village. Philip tells Alistair that people are entitled to have a go at him and he wonders if he will be prosecuted or lose his business. If only he had not taken the weekend off, then Blake and Lynda would not be in hospital - that’s what he cannot forgive himself for.

He’s concerned because the so-called engagement party invitations have gone out and he’s worried that it appears insensitive. Alistair offers his support and points out that calling the party off won’t do any good - Philip has to realise that the explosion wasn’t his fault and the only way to stop gossips is to face them down and carry on. Alistair says that a group of villagers are meeting at the pub to discuss ways of raising money for victims of the incident. Will Philip go to the meeting? “Maybe - if I can find my courage by then” the builder replies.

The meeting is held at The B@Ambridge on Wednesday and Philip does turn up. Before he does, Alistair suggests that perhaps Philip could repair Lynda’s llama shelter, which Alistair noticed is leaking. Kenton makes some cruel remarks about Philip’s competence. The newly-arrived Philip holds his hands up and apologises for the havoc that he is responsible for. He has no excuses - the Grey Gables incident was the worst moment of his working life “and I apologise to everyone affected from the bottom of my heart.” 

Many of those present are impressed by his honesty and his courage and he says that he will gladly fix the llama shelter. Earlier in the day, Philip spoke to the doctor at the hospital and was relieved when she says that she sees no reason why Blake couldn’t walk again. 

Philip is even more relieved because Lynda has come out of her coma and asked for some water. Robert is overjoyed and exclaims “Oh my darling - you’ve come back to me!” His delight is tempered when Lynda reacts badly to the news that Robert tore Oliver off a strip and held him responsible for Lynda’s current state. She makes Robert promise to persuade Oliver to come and visit her. “He’s a good employer and a very good friend” she tells Robert.

Lilian is spending a fair amount of time at the hospital. The meeting at the pub has sparked off a few ideas for raising money and the Lent Appeal is going very well. Plus, Lilian has one more surprise for Lynda - any time now, the old Bull sign is going back up. “Do you mean…?” Lynda asks. “Yes,” Lilian replies, The Bull is staying The Bull - and even more important, you’re going to get better darling!” Well, the B@Ambridge experiment was a waste of time, wasn’t it? Lots of bad feeling on all sides and money spent for nothing.

But back to Philip. He rings Gavin (they are repairing the llama shelter) and tells his son to get his backside into gear and join him asap. When they meet, he tells Gavin that he had a phone call from a lady called Moira, from the insurance company. She wanted facts about the incident and Philip is afraid that she is going to start digging and ferreting around. Gavin says that he hopes Blake will keep his mouth shut.

Philip blames Gavin for the incident - it transpires that Blake was starving; Gavin had not given him anything to eat all day, so Blake thought he could make some toast, which is why the grill was alight. Lynda opened the door and the draught blew the petrol fumes into the grill. “That’s why Blake and Lynda are in hospital” Philip tells his son, adding: “Thank God she didn’t die.”

Gavin then makes a serious error of judgement when he calls Lynda “an old bat” and he finds his father gripping him by the throat. “You’re choking me” Gavin gasps and Philip pushes him away in disgust. He tells Gavin that they both have to be careful 24/7 - they need to stick to their story and Blake will do what he’s told. “The way we run our gang might look wrong to some people” Philip adds. “They’re slaves” Gavin says. “Don’t ever use that word,” his father warns; “If you’re not careful, you’ll get us both sent down.” Oh dear; it seems that Philip isn’t the all-round good guy that we thought and is harbouring a murky secret. I for one am disappointed - surely Philip cannot be a slave driver?

Blake and Lynda are not the only ones to be affected by the explosion, as Roy isn’t looking too good - his bruises are coming out, although his cut head is healing up. He made a major slip-up when he referred to Kirsty and Philip’s ‘wedding party’ instead of the ‘engagement party’, which is what they are telling everybody it is. Phoebe notices, but Roy manages to pass it off by saying that he was momentarily confused. She is not convinced though, and starts to keep a closer eye on her father - after all he did take quite a heavy blow to the head.

Everything seems to be happening to Roy - Wednesday’s episode kicks off with Roy on the phone to Sgt Burns, as his car has been stolen from outside the house. He is incensed that such a crime could happen in broad daylight. Later on, Harrison calls in on Roy to inform him that the car has been found on the Beechwood estate. Bloody joyriders! The strange thing is, says Sgt Burns, that there are no signs of forced entry and the car is not damaged in any way.

Roy says that they had better go and get the car and, when he’s looking for his keys, he finds he has two sets. He apologises to Harrison, but Phoebe is even more worried. It appears that what happened was that Roy drove over to see Kirsty to discuss the upcoming party and, for reasons that I didn’t fully understand, she drove him back to the village and he’d forgotten that he had arrived in a car.

So far, so weird, but things get even weirder. Brian tells Jennifer that Phoebe has been calling him, worried about Roy and he is off to see Roy now. Brian finds Roy cleaning mud off his slippers - Phoebe has seen him out in the garden, dressed in pyjamas and the aforementioned slippers and called Brian for help. Brian suggests that going outside in pyjamas and slippers is not normal behaviour (well, not in the UK in March, anyway).

Brian suggests that the bang on the head could be dangerous, but Roy says it’s just a bit of a headache now and again. Has Roy seen a doctor? “Don’t need to” Roy replies, smugly. Brian resists the temptation to smack him round the head (won’t help him any) and recounts the time when Brian was knocked down by Joe Grundy’s cow and smacked his head on the ground.

Brian had seizures and had to have an operation to remove a cerebral abscess. He was terrified. Roy comes to accept that his behaviour has been a tad abnormal and, when Brian says that the doctor at A&E had told Roy to come back if he felt unwell, Roy agrees. Brian offers Roy a lift there and then and the latter accepts. I can only assume that the corona virus has not affected the local hospital (indeed, as some of our readers have commented, the pandemic seems to have bypassed Ambridge entirely - take samples of the water; there might be a cure there) as there are no queues.

Over at Home Farm, there is disagreement between Brian and Adam. Adam has a hard time, running the farm and being in the lambing shed every night. They have an argument about whether or not to hire another farmhand (Adam says ’no’, Brian says ’yes’) and whether or not to start drilling Spring Barley (see bracket above).                         

Jennifer, though is concerned that Adam is missing Xander’s childhood. He’s a farmer, woman.

There are a few loose ends to tie up; Oliver is beating himself up because he froze on the day. He tells Lynda this when he goes to see her, but she is magnanimity itself, calling him “a good, fine man”. Oliver leaves and thanks Lynda for cheering him up. Incidentally, just to show that Oliver is a nice man, he has assured the staff at Grey Gables that they will not lose any wages.

Speaking of nice people, Sunday was Ben Archer’s 18^th birthday. He was expecting a car from his parents, despite having been told more than once that there was no money and no chance. However, Jill to the rescue! Ben proudly shows Freddie the present from Jill and Leonard - I know you are way ahead of me here, but it’s a car! Apparently Leonard either knows someone, or has a relative that knows someone in the car business and they have bought him a car.

Sadly, it would appear that at least one person in this chain is colour-blind, as, when Ben shows Freddie his new vehicle it is an awful colour. We aren’t told exactly what colour, but it must be pretty horrible, as, when Ben takes Freddie and Jill for a spin, Freddie crouches down in his seat as far as he can. Jill thinks the car is striking and Ben is just happy to have a set of wheels. When they return home, Ben asks Freddie if he will go for a spin in the car. “Absolutely - as soon as you’ve had a total respray!” Freddie replies.

It looked as if Ed and Emma were moving closer together - because Emma was suffering flashbacks from the G-G explosion, Ed had been spending the nights at Ambridge View, while Susan and Neil were away on holiday abroad. The pair were getting closer, reminiscing about when they were both at school, and the children were much better behaved when Ed was there.

Things were looking good, but then Emma received a text from Susan - they were on their way back from the airport. Panic stations! Ed and Em needed to get the place cleaned up and Edward out of the way before Sue and Neil got home, so the spell was broken and the mood lost. I must admit that I was sorry that this episode was on radio and not TV, as Susan sent a video of Neil dancing the Macarena - I’d pay good money to have seen that.