This month has been all about Ed and Emma and their lack of funds. They’ve both been trying to find extra work but it is not easy to find. Expensive things keep happening - broken cars, trips to London, vet bills - and there’s only so many times Susan and Neil can reach into their pockets. What this is really building up to is yet another battle between Ed and Will, however. Will gave his boy a surprise guinea pig as a pet and a present. That just landed them with another expense they weren’t hoping for.

It’s also exposed a bit of a hole in the relationship between Ed and Emma. He was so rude about her food, and the fact she didn’t tell him about spending some extra money, but he feels bad about not being able to provide for them.

It’s a very interesting story, twisting and turning, but it could go any number of ways in the future. They’re the best kind.

The other bubbling storyline this month has been the return of Paul. Lillian and Matt were already arguing, and then he was completely awful and ignored her desperate plea to come to the hospital. I’m sorry, but if the person you love calls you in absolute shreds of tears saying something has happened to a family member, you go to them. You can later find out it’s not too serious and sort out leaving again, but to just refuse to even go is awful. No wonder Lillian phoned Paul - this man recognised her from a choked sob when they haven’t even spoken for months. Beautiful.

The return of Paul coincides with the return of James who is a complete nightmare. Spoilt, childish, a brat and a prat.

Things I particularly enjoyed this month include the new housemates of Jim and Jazzer. Jim was clearly just doing Christine a favour by offering Jazzer a place to stay that wasn’t her spare room. Then it turns out that they both have quite a liking for each other - Jazzer likes to learn about the Romans, and Jim likes to teach the diamond in the rough. This could be a great pairing to watch in the future.

The job swap between Fallon and Kenton also provided a few days of entertainment but in the end, it feels a bit like Fallon is being shoved out the way. We didn’t used to visit Kenton at Jaxx very often, I can’t see why we would do more just because Fallon is there. It’s also stifled the relationship between her and Rhys that was developing in a bizarre love/hate way. Or perhaps it has freed it, now they are not working together, they might feel more able to give it a go.

Other snippets:

• Tom found himself a kitchen, but the meatballs were far too salty. He also showed Brenda a place he’d like to build them a house. As ever, she did not sound keen. Tom must really be oblivious not to notice how ambivalent Brenda is about their future together.
• Elizabeth hired a business consultant to come in and look at every inch of how they run. Hayley was super duper worried because both she and Roy have all their eggs in the Lower Loxley basket. We’ve not heard any conclusions yet though.
• Kathy finally relented and considered that college may not be the way forward for Jamie. He’s to go off and find alternative tree surgeon style career options. At last!

What with all of that, and Lynda getting herself ready for another village production, it should be an interesting couple of months in Ambridge as we head towards Christmas!