Series One - Episode Six: The Stranger From The Past
C.A.B Episodes | Episode Details | Cast & Crew | Images | Secret Agent Notes | Episode Synopsis | Episode Guide
C.A.B Episodes
Episode Details
UK Air Date: Tuesday 28th October 1986, 16.20pm
Copyright Year: MCMLXXXVI (1986)
Consecutive Episode Number: 6
Fremantle Archive Ref: 33204
IMDB Link: Episode page
Cast & Crew
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Images
Secret Agent Notes
This is the only episode of C.A.B which doesn't feature Mr Hellman (Frank Gatliff).
Episode Synopsis
Franny hears an SOS being tapped out and discovers Colin trapped in the cellar. Then they find a postcard written in hieroglyphics on the floor. Suddenly a stranger appears as if from nowhere and confronts Franny and Colin. Then strange things begin to happen in the shop and a further chapter in the mystery unfolds...
Episode Guide
'This is Secret Agent C.A.B. That's the call sign for Colin Freshwater. I'm Franny Barnes - Franny the Brill. I chose C.A.B 'cause that is what's written on the window of Ma Mossop's shop, it used to be a Citizens Advice Bureau anyway, we're looking after the shop and Tatters the cat while Ma's away. There's a secret in the shop which many strangers are after. Mr Hellman was here again and Jo came to play but I'd gone shopping. Jo said that Mr Hellman has sold the teapot to a lady - with hairy arms. But the envelope was in that teapot. No it isn't the man says throw it away so I chucked it in the bin. So the secret's still here, but where's Colin? I've fallen into an old cellar, thought I'd never be found.'
Franny walks back into the shop, having forgotten her Mum's shopping, as she is about to leave she hears Colin's S.O.S call. She calls out to Colin and Colin calls back. Franny finds him in the cellar and she tells him that help is on its way.
Franny passes a ladder down into the cellar and Colin climbs up.
Back inside Franny leaves some food for Tatters and says she has to go. Colin tells her about the strange calling, as if someone was helping him. Franny says the same happened to her when she found the code to Ma's secret box. Colin hears a plane landing and says he has the feeling like someone is arriving. Colin asks what was in the envelope; Franny passes it to him so Colin opens it and finds a key and a letter with hieroglyphics on it. Colin suddenly thinks that it is the key to the cupboard but it does not open. He then tries the table drawer and he opens it... but it turns out to be empty. Franny suggests it could be a red herring. Colin thinks that the key must be used to open something else. They look at the hieroglyphics and think that Ma Mossop must have written them. Franny says that she thinks she has a book from the library to decode it. Colin insists that he is the secret agent so Franny tells him 'you're the secret agent and I'm the code expert.' They both leave the shop saying goodnight to Tatters.
All is quiet in the shop as someone peers through the window in the front door, the stranger puts a postcard through the letterbox.
At Smith's hideout he answers the phone, telling the caller that no-one has been near the shop. He then gets told what he has to do in the morning to get rid of the children.
Colin and Franny walk into the shop, Franny goes through and calls for Tatters but Colin finds the postcard and picks it up. Colin shows Franny the postcard, it is a picture of Cairo and it has more hieroglyphics on the back.
Franny takes a page of the hieroglyphics book which has been torn (probably by the dog she says). She points to the symbol which is the letter E. Franny writes down the message with blanks and letter E's. Franny points out that Hellman has not been and Colin says the same about the man with all the disguises. Franny says that she does not like it - it's too quiet!
Smith is trying on several beards and moustaches in the mirror. He sticks one on as his music stops playing.
Colin is reading the message - something, something, E.... he continues but says it is not much help and Franny says at least it is a start. Tatters then purrs and Franny says that she can not be hungry but Colin thinks she is trying to tell them something. The doorbell rings and someone enters the shop, Colin and Franny turn around to look.
Franny walks into the front shop and a man walks in, Colin also joins Franny. Them greets them 'Good morning', Franny asks if they can help him. He tells them 'My name is Anwar, how do you do?' Franny tells him she's alright. Anwar figures that they are friends of Madame Mossop. Franny then explains 'well sort of' and tells him that they are looking after things for Ma Mossop. Anwar tells them that Ma Mossop is a great lady and she is renowned as an Egyptologist in his country. Colin asks him if he is from Egypt, he says that he is, Colin asks him if he has just arrived and Anwar tells him that he has.
Smith is speaking to the mysterious man on the phone, whilst wearing a construction worker helmet, saying that he would be round there in ten minutes.
Anwar tells the children he is from deep in the heart of the desert, Franny asks him what he wants, he asks them their names so they can speak as friend. Colin introduces himself, Franny and Tatters the cat. Anwar strokes Tatters and says the cat is sad as the lady is sick. Colin and Franny look shocked but Anwar reassures them that he can tell what the cat is thinking as she chooses to tell him, it is called telepathy he says. Franny says that it would be handy for exams and Anwar agrees. Anwar then says he needs to know where Madame Mossop is, Franny tells him that she is in hospital but no-one will let them talk to her and that she has been in hospital for three days. Colin asks why Anwar wants to see her.
Anwar tells them the legend of the king who was two men:
'It came to pass that there were two brothers born within the hour. It was the fate of one to become a great king and of the other to become his hidden shadow, locked away in the remote and far away place in the forgotten desert. He was to take his brother, the kings, place when the time came for the last dark journey into the other world.' Franny asks what for and Anwar continues 'to defeat the robbers who steal from the valley of the Kings, no tomb had ever been safe from the greed of the robbers, secret tunnels, false doorways, nothing could keep the human scavengers out. When the day dawns that the King will die then his brother must be prepared to take his place in the tomb that was his fate to be buried in the riches and the ceremony of the funeral of a king. This brother lived locked away for his young years in the desert fortress, with no company but an old servant and his faithful cat, he was very happy because he knew no other life. Then one day he heard a sound coming from the other side of the high wall of the fortress - Oh sun in sky, oh birds that fly, look down on me, tell me what you see. When the hidden boy heard that he cried out in a loud voice Hey who are you? I am I, I am I too, then the shepherd boy fell from the tree into the courtyard and the old servant who was in fact a priest of the great God Ra kept him to be a companion to the hidden boy. And he made him swear a solemn and secret promise, a promise that has been kept for four thousand years through time and through space. That shepherd boy was my ancestor, I know the secret told me by my father and told him by his, passed down in whisper through the centuries and now you Franny and you Colin, you shall be the first people in the world to hear it, hear then oh young friends the secret of Anwar and Amdad, that which is in the future, the past and the present, the secret is...'
As Anwar is about to tell them the secret of Anwar and Amdad a whistle blows and Smith (in disguise again) tells everyone to get out. Colin and Franny go through to the front shop and Franny asks him what he wants. Franny says that it is him again so Colin asks him what has happened to the laughing milkman. Franny asks him who he really is. He tells them that he is 'authority' and that the building has to go as it is unsafe.
Anwar walks through asking him for his authority document. Franny snatches it from Smith and Anwar asks if the man is from authority. Franny looks at the document and says 'he's from Pinner' and Colin remarks that it is a bus pass. Anwar says he is an impostor and tells Franny to call the Police, 'no problem' she jests but Smith leaves quickly. Colin says that it is the fourth time he has come to the shop in disguise. Anwar asks them what everything means.
