Alice has fallen off the wagon. Jakob knew first and didn't tell anyone else at Alice's request. He didn't know Alice before when she was drinking so was naive enough to accept that she had had one lapse but was OK again. Alice then went to The Bull with the rest of the family for the quiz night and was steaming drunk. Brian told her that her mother would be ashamed of her.
A week ago today Alice slipped away from the family and bought a large bottle of vodka in the village shop. She drove to a quiet spot to drink it. George found her passed out in the car as he walked home from a party with the cheap cider he'd purchased in the village shop and not drunk. He got in and moved her out of the driving seat, then set off for her house near Home Farm. We think he left the cider in the car.
As they got near Haydon Bridge, she said she was going to be sick and opened the door while they were moving. George lost control of the car. Another car was coming towards them. George clipped the other car and it went over the bridge and into the Am (or possibly the Hayden Brook, or the junction of the two, we're not sure). In the car were Mick (driving), Joy and Fallon. Shortly after this Alistair and Denise arrived on the scene, on the way to a hotel where they were going to spend the night together for the first time. They abandoned that plan and helped George to rescue the others. Once everybody was out, George nipped back to Alice and moved her back into the driver's seat. His story is that he was walking back from a party and came across the accident. He has been acclaimed as a hero. Alice is a pariah. Nobody knows that George was the driver, but Chris is puzzled by the whole thing, so is Fallon, so is Alice herself.
Joy, Mick and Fallon are all OK, with relatively minor injuries, but Fallon found out at the hospital that she was pregnant. Harrison was overcome with joy. He told Alan the vicar. The next day Fallon had a scan and there was no heartbeat. On Friday Alice attempted to see Fallon. Harrison turned up and told her to get out and that Fallon had had a miscarriage because of the accident. He bellowed this in the street outside the house, so everybody in the village knows now. Fallon had just told him she didn't want anyone else to know. 
On this thread we are pretty sure she would have miscarried anyway, as she had a coil and it was extremely early, but also she didn't want to have children so might have wanted to terminate the pregnancy, which was not planned. We therefore think that this is sowing the seeds for a pretty major upset between Harrison and Fallon.
Epic row amongst the Aldridges on Friday when Kate told Brian some home truths. Alice has asked Chris to take Martha full-time for the foreseeable future.
Hope that helps!