25/12/2023

Paul, Lily and Denise are preparing Christmas lunch at The Stables, when Josh texts Paul saying the oven at Brookfield has packed up. They agree the only course of action is to squeeze the Brookfield Archers in with them for lunch. Later, Ruth has joined them in the kitchen, while Lily sees to the drinks. She reports on how well David, Joy, Jill, Stella, Ben, Pip, Rosie, Leonard and John, Denise’s husband, are getting on. Then Alistair calls Paul – he’s got to perform an emergency operation on a dog. Denise offers to help him, even if it means missing the meal and leaving Lily to finish making the gravy. In a field in Ambridge Chris and Alice have introduced Martha to Champion, the Shetland pony. Alice can’t help criticising Chris for buying Martha such a big present without mentioning it to her. She doesn’t know what’s going on in Chris’s head. Chris apologises for keeping it a secret, before Alice softens a little, agreeing that Champion is an amazing present. It just threw her, that’s all.Post-prandial Paul, Ruth and Lily reflect on a very successful meal. But now it’s the others’ turn to do the clearing up, while they collapse in an overfed heap. Post-op Alistair tells Denise to get back to The Stables, but she insists on staying. They pull a cracker together before Denise reveals that she and John are now living very separate lives. Alistair says Denise looks beautiful in her paper hat, only for oblivious Paul to interrupt, saying they’ve missed a fabulous Christmas Day.