Series Two - Episode One: The Wooden Kamel Mystery
C.A.B Episodes | Episode Details | Cast & Crew | Images | Episode Synopsis | Episode Guide
C.A.B Episodes
Episode Details
UK Air Date: Wednesday 20th January 1988, 16.45pm
Copyright Year: MCMLXXXVII (1987)
Consecutive Episode Number: 14
Fremantle Archive Ref: 37191
IMDB Link: Episode page
Cast & Crew
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Images
More images can be found in the image galleries
Episode Synopsis
Colin and Franny return to Ma Mossop's shop after receiving a strange message telling them to go there. They find the shop has moved and is now a travel agents called The Wooden Kamel. Inside the shop they discover a mysterious toy train, which moves of its own accord, an Egyptian Mummy case that opens and closes, a cat statue with eyes that glow and many other strange things...
Episode Guide
Colin walks down some stairs at the outside of a tower block recording into his dictaphone: ‘This is Secret Agent C.A.B. C.A.B is the call sign for Colin Freshwater.’ When he reaches the bottom he waits and continues his message ‘Secret Agent C.A.B, nothing to report, assistant Franny Barnes has not made contact, everything seems quite normal, but remember nothing is what it seems’.
Colin walks over to the newsagents whilst a Policeman is looking at him from a distance with some binoculars. Colin sees a postcard in the window of the newsagent. The postcard has a silhouette of a camel and the following writing:
Welcome to the Wooden Kamel
The Mysterious Travel Company welcomes old friends to its new premises, previously known as Ma Mossops.
Colin thinks back on his previous experience with Ma Mossop and Mr Hellman. A woman interrupts Colin and passes his book back to him after he drops it on the pavement. Colin calls out to Franny who is in the distance, she sees the postcard and Colin says they should go and look, the runs to Ma Mossop’s old shop where they see a man scraping off the Citizens Advice Bureau logo from the window. Franny says he is too late but Colin picks up a torn piece of paper that was stuck on the window. Colin still wants to find The Wooden Kamel but Franny tells him she has to collect something for her Mum. The piece of paper Colin has reads ‘The Wooden Kamel has moved’. Colin wonders where it has moved to. The Policeman looks through his binoculars once more from behind a wall. Colin walks further and sees The Wooden Kamel, The Policeman notices this, smiles and walks away.
Colin looks over the front of The Wooden Kamel and notices it is padlocked, as he peers through the window the door swings open and Colin falls into the shop, he stands up and records his new discovery on his dictaphone ‘Secret Agent C.A.B reporting, the time 16:30, don’t know the date, latest info - top priority, have found The Wooden Kamel’. He looks around and continues his message ‘It really is mysterious, there’s this great padlock all locked up and suddenly the door opened on the wrong side.
The Policeman catches up to Franny who is carrying a large dustbin, passes her a message saying he thought she had dropped it. The Policeman goes and Franny reads the message ‘Have found The Wooden Kamel, near the Zebra, see you there.’ Franny goes across the Zebra crossing and sees the shop.
Colin is in the shop looking around; he notices that someone must have been there recently as the cat statue is smoking and still hot. Franny enters the shop saying she got his message, she notices the door is odd and asks Colin what he wants. He records into his dictaphone again saying Franny has made contact. She retorts ‘Franny The Brill’, she jokes that he is still playing secret agents and puts the dustbin down on Colin’s book, she picks it up and reads the title of the book ‘Jim Glue Super Spy’. Colin asks what message and she tells him the message from the Policeman.
Upstairs in an attic room, the Policeman is listening in on the conversation in the shop whilst playing a game on a computer. The Policeman continues to listen and we see Colin and Franny downstairs in the shop talking about the map and photo. Colin says he took a copy of the map and said he took the map and photo to the Police but they told him to go away and keep the map and photo as mementoes. Colin says he has heard nothing since until he say the notice in the window. Franny asks if he still has the map and photo, Colin says yes but could not say where, Franny guesses correctly that there in his bag. The door suddenly locks and Colin sees the curtain separating the front and back of the shop moving. Colin looks but no-one is there. Franny sits down and asks why the shop is called The Wooden Kamel, Colin thinks it must be a code being spelt wrong as Camel is spelt with a C. Colin points out the cat statue that is still burning some perfume. Franny asks if he lit them and he says they were like that when he came in and the door was locked from the outside. Franny asks him how he got in and he tells he that he just fell in. Then the cat’s eyes start to glow blue.
Back upstairs the Policeman is on an old-fashioned telephone speaking to someone saying that they are in the shop now, he explains that he passed a message to the girl and that Colin had encountered the Timbuktu lady in the street but did not hear what they said. He explains that the shop is bugged but for some reason he can not hear what they are saying except when he plays his recorder. He guesses that there is a problem in the RCU (Radio Control Unit), he then ends his message. He then continues to play the driving game on the computer.
Downstairs Franny asks if Colin has looked in the back, Colin says yes but Franny insists he has not looked properly; she peers though the curtain and sees that the back shop has no-one there either. They both go in and Colin notices the teapot is still warm, Colin reasons that someone must be in the back yard, Franny tries the door but it is locked shut.
The Policeman steps outside onto the rooftop and adjusts the aerial outside.
Downstairs Franny is trying to leave but the door is still locked, Colin tries also but on the other side of the door but the door fails to open. Colin records another message on his dictaphone. The Policeman listens in from upstairs and begins to phone someone.
Colin continues his report to reason why he thinks The Wooden Kamel is not a Travel Agent's saying there is no-one there, no magazines or posters and that there are funny things going on such as the hot teapot. The Woman Colin met outside the newsagent walks in from the back asking what is so funny about a hot teapot. She tells them the shop is shut, Franny replies by saying the door is locked, The lady replies with ‘when one door shuts another opens’, she continues saying odd things and laughs then walks into the back shop. Colin and Franny follow her and asks if she can unlock the door, she offers them a cup of tea. Franny mentions that she was not there a minute ago; she says she must have been upstairs or downstairs but Colin and Franny are more confused. She then tells them that she must have been outside cleaning his bicycle. Colin asks who ‘he’ is, she answers ‘the man I do for’. The lady asks them if they are going to introduce themselves so Franny does. The lady introduces herself as Umma. Colin asks her if she works there which she says she does, then Umma asks them what they are doing in the shop; Colin replies that they were just looking. Franny asks Umma who does the shop belong to. Umma replies with the enigmatic ‘The Man I Do For’ but she could not name names as ‘Too much chatter makes the teeth fall out’. Umma then walks through to the front shop. Franny calls her back but does not get any response, after a moment she walks through to the front shop to speak to Umma but Umma seems to have disappeared, Franny checks the front door which is still locked, she calls Colin. Colin tells her to try the door but she says she has, Colin reasons that there must be an explanation. Colin checks the door thinking there must be a switch which locks all the doors, as he checks the door he notices a cable running from it, he traces where the cable leads to, the cable goes into the back shop and goes into the cupboard. Franny tells him that she is not coming back but Colin says that he will have to ‘if Control sends me’. Colin says he must find Umma and that she must have gone to vacuum somewhere as she must have used the cupboard last. Franny thinks they should phone someone, maybe the Police, so they start to look for a phone, in the front shop they look around, Colin checks the floor for a secret door. They decide to call out Umma’s name, they call out her name ‘Umma, Umma, Umma’ and suddenly a stuffed parrot comes out from in-between the curtain and someone says ‘Argh Jim lad, pieces of eight, pieces of eight.’
