Series Three - Episode Ten: Nicked in Time

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C.A.B Episodes

Series One
Mystery at Ma Mossop's

Ep1: Mystery At Ma Mossop's
Ep2: Break In
Ep3: Danger
Ep4: The Sinister Messenger
Ep5: Prisoner of the Earth
Ep6: The Stranger From The Past
Ep7: A Message From The Past
Ep8: A Message From Ma
Ep9: Nine Lives in Peril
Ep10: Friend or Foe
Ep11: Who's Who?
Ep12: The Missing Links
Ep13: A World in Tatters
Series Two
The Wooden Kamel Mystery

Ep1: The Wooden Kamel Mystery
Ep2: Eel Pie and Custard
Ep3: Message From R Leeder
Ep4: Next Stop Timbuktu
Ep5: It's a Snip
Ep6: Saved By The Bull
Ep7: Ear By Gum
Ep8: Finders Keepers
Ep9: Hellman's Trick
Ep10: Hellman's Reward
Series Links:
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Series Airdates
Series Three
The Mystery Of The Queen's Beast

Ep1: A Face at the Window
Ep2: The Riddle
Ep3: The Bottle of Hastings
Ep4: Robert the Brute
Ep5: The Chamber Pot Plant
Ep6: Getting Taped
Ep7: Trapped
Ep8: The Great Escape
Ep9: Friends or Foes
Ep10: Nicked in Time
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Episode Details

UK Air Date: Tuesday 15th August 1989, 16.20pm
Copyright Year: MCMLXXXVIII (1988)
Consecutive Episode Number: 33
Fremantle Archive Ref: 37971
IMDB Link: Episode page

Cast & Crew

CastCrew
Colin Freshwater Felipe Izquierdo
Jace Freshwater Ben Felton
Tracey Barnes Tracey McDonald
Hellman Frank Gatliff
Vine Michael Bertenshaw
Robert John Vine
Eleanor Judith Paris
Written By John Kershaw
Casting Director Linda Butcher
Make Up Pearl Rashbass
Costume Designer Janet Powell
Graphic Designer Peter Lock
Stage Manager Dennis Redwood
Film Cameraman Alan Jonas
Film Sound Recordist Tom Buchanan
Film Editor Ann Leno
Production Assistant Jane Mullard
Lighting Director Chris Davies
Designer Graham Probst
Executive Producer Charles Warren
Produced and Directed By Neville Green

Images

Episode Synopsis

Things are hotting up for everyone at the Wooden Kamel. Tracey and Jace think they've conned Eleanor and Robert into believing they are about to discover the secret which will make Eleanor the Queen of England.

Episode Guide

‘Jace Freshwater, A.K.A secret agent C.A.B. reporting; have received a message yesterday from Eleanor R asking for the return of the Henry seal so we decided to make a copy of the seal but change the code on it to delay her. That’s the seal and that’s how we copied it. We put the copy with the wrong code on it through the Wooden Kamel cat flap. Eleanor said that if we go to the shop on Sunday Morning, that’s tomorrow, we can have the video she’s got of me borrowing the seal and also the shots of me with the Orb and Sceptre; then she’ll let Vine go as well. We’ve also got the fourth riddle and know what it means’

Eleanor is in the attic of The Wooden Kamel trying to decode the Henry seal (although it is the fake posted through the cat flap) and works it out to be the sixth beast, she wonders why Robert thought it was the first beast, Eleanor thinks that there is something odd about it. Robert walks in with a newspaper and reads the headline ‘The gang that took the Queen’s Beast from Hampton Court five days ago announce from it’s secret HQ in London today that the coronation of Queen Eleanor will take place in Kingston on Sunday’. Eleanor says that she is not interested as newspapers will make anything up, when Robert tells her it is true and that the nation is waiting for her. Eleanor says that something is wrong with the code. Robert reads on ‘An home office spokesperson told reporters late last night that historians, experts, university professors as well as Druids, Witches and Wizards from all over the country have all agreed that the beast taken from Hampton Court is almost certainly the one carved from the so-called Excalibur stone. It seems the spokesperson said that whoever has the beast must have a serious claim to the throne.’ Eleanor wonders that they are not fools that why have they got the wrong beast. Robert reassures Eleanor that everything is going to plan and points at the monitors showing the Police have put up barriers ready to calm the crowds. Robert admits he got the wrong beast but explains that he will go back to Hampton Court and steal the right beast so she can remove the crown and have her coronation today. Eleanor starts to smile, Robert tells her to have courage and that she will be the rightful Queen, Eleanor thanks Robert for his devotion saying they can not go wrong. Eleanor asks Robert whether Hellman is on their side and Robert tells her that he is; Eleanor tells Robert they have much to do.

Downstairs Hellman is sweeping the floor; Vine is tied up and gagged on the floor. Hellman mutters to him ‘you got yourself in this mess, pretending to be a plumber’. Vine mumbles behind his gag but Hellman tells him that he does not want to hear anything from him as he wants to get away from the place as soon as possible. Vine wriggles trying to get free but he can not move.

Colin meets up with Jace back at his den. Colin asks if he has heard anything, Jace is recording an update on his dictaphone. Tracey arrives asking if they are ready. Colin tells Jace that they have to go to the Wooden Kamel today, if they wait until tomorrow Eleanor will be gone before the police arrive. Colin knows Eleanor has the right beast but the fake seal so she will be delayed. Jace and Tracey wonders if Eleanor can not get the crown off they would not be a coronation so there would not be anything to worry about, Colin asks in reply that if she solves the fourth clue she might be able to take the crown from the beast. Colin tells them that Mr Vine said that must not happen, Jace asks when Vine said this and he replies he told him in the park yesterday. Jace is upset as Vine did not tell him as he is the secret agent but Colin assures him that Vine knows about him now and it was a mix-up with their names.

Back at the Wooden Kamel everyone is in the downstairs front shop. Eleanor asks if it is time and Robert assures her it is. Roberts asks Hellman if he is ready to play his part and Hellman asks if he can say a word. Eleanor chants and finishes ‘For god for Eleanor, England and Saint George’; Robert repeats this and after prompting from Robert Hellman says pathetically ‘Hooray’. Hellman reminds Eleanor about his reward but Eleanor tells him he owes her his life. The phone in the shop starts to ring and Eleanor shouts ‘not the international press agency again I trust’.

Jace is beside a phone box and Colin is inside and Jace records on his dictaphone that Colin is calling Hellman’s shop. Back at the Wooden Kamel Robert asks Hellman where the telephone is. Hellman pulls the phone from underneath the sink in the back room and passes it to Robert to answer. Robert answers the phone and listens to Colin; he walks through and speaks to Eleanor to say the children want to speak to her. Eleanor is getting angry and Robert tells them it is not convenient. Robert listens further and tells her that she should listen. He hangs up on Colin and explains what Colin said that they have found proof that Eleanor is the true Queen as they have found a fourth clue and that they have the correct beast and they will exchange this information for Vine once they get to the shop. Robert says they are trying to trick them.

Colin, Jace and Tracey are in the cul-de-sac outside the shop. They decide they have to find out about Eleanor first before doing anything else.

Back at the shop Robert tells Eleanor they should go to Hampton Court as the children are just delaying them, Eleanor says that they have another clue which they have solved, Robert and Hellman try to persuade her they have to go but she is adamant that she should hear what they have to say.

The children are outside the shop hiding behind the wooden cart as not to be seen from inside. Tracey asks if it will work and Colin replies saying it’s got to.

In the back of the shop Eleanor is peering through the wooden sliding panel, Robert adjusts the clock so the doors open. The children walk in and think they have already left. Robert then adjusts the clock again and the doors lock. Eleanor, Robert and Hellman then go upstairs in the lift. Jace realises they have been locked in and records a message on the dictaphone. Colin pulls the cover from the beast as they are being watched on the monitors upstairs.

Tracey points out Vine gagged in the corner, they help Vine up and pull off the gag, Eleanor murmurs that they will tell Vine the answer to the last clue. They rush to check the back door and Vine follows them asking them why they have come round today, Colin and Jace tells him it is on all the news that she is being crowned tomorrow which will give her time to steal another beast and get crowned before the army and police arrive tomorrow. Vine confirms that was what she was planning before they got his phone call, Vine says they must go before she has a chance to solve the last clue, Colin insists they should stay to see if she can remove the crown from the beast. Vine then tells them that he can not allow this to happen as he is the guardian of the beast and that if the crown is removed the beast will shatter into a thousand pieces and he must stop them. Jace says that he is not from MI5 and that he only pretended to be their friend, he retorts saying that his only friends are the beast and the other nine. Eleanor walks in followed by Hellman and Robert, she tells him he is trapped and demands to know of the fourth riddle. Colin shows her the writing on the back of the ribbon from the Henry seal. Eleanor takes it and reads it ‘For crown it be not night’. Colin explains it is ‘Four’, the fourth word is not night but ‘day’. Eleanor puts the four words of the previous clues together and says ‘Crown On The First Day’, Colin mentions it is the first day of the month, so today is the day if she is the true Queen of England she will be able to take the crown from the beast.

Eleanor asks if he decoded the Henry seal incorrectly as the magic beast is number six. Colin tells her that they altered it and the correct beast is number one, the first crowned lion of England. Jace remembers what Vine said about the beast shattering into pieces, so he stops Vine interfering by tying his shoelaces together as he thinks to himself, ‘Secret Agent C.A.B at the Wooden Kamel, about to find out if Eleanor is the queen of England or just a pretender, about to stop Vine interfering.’

The children look on as Eleanor walks towards the beast with her arms outstretched ready to take the crown from the beast. Eleanor walks forward while whispering ‘Lion of England, England’s Glory, I have gift for you, to serve you, help me now destroy those who would destroy me, the power that is mine, surrender your crown that I may wear it to your glory’. Eleanor is next to the beast, suddenly Vine jumps in the way but falls to the floor helpless. The beast reacts as we see a vision of Eleanor chasing after the crown in a palace court room. Eleanor touches the crown on the beast and her face cracks and starts to melt. Robert yells ‘If you will not be hers you’ll be no-one’s’ he races up to the beast about to strike it as he is flung backwards he tries again and again and is eventually flung towards the image of The Queen above the doorway to the back room. Tracey starts to scream and Hellman starts to have visions of himself being trapped in a casket and stretched on the rack so he runs off out the back. Robert is stuck on the image of the Queen as he disappears from view. Then the shop returns to normal and Vine says ‘she didn’t do it’, Colin tells him his beast is safe. Tracey snaps at Eleanor ‘not the Queen after all’. Vine walks towards Eleanor and says ‘Come on Miss Eleanor, time to go back where we came from’. She stands up and he escorts her towards the door. The beast then magically disappears and reappears back at Hampton Court Palace.

At Hampton Court Jace records his final report ‘Secret Agent C.A.B final report, the crown of England is safe, the Queen’s Beast is back at the palace and we’ve destroyed all the clues so no-one else may get them and Mr Vine will not get disturbed again. The children watch the beast; Vine and Eleanor walk towards the palace entrance as they fade away.

In the distance by the river Hellman is fishing out the Henry seal with a net and the episode ends.