Original subtitles

It's 4 .30.

Yeah, I know.

You sure they're going to come back this way?

Got to.

Got to park the car here.

Look.

Miss Miranda Loxton and her appointed bodyguard left here last night at 9 o

'clock. They were going to a party.

And they're due back any moment now.

They'll come through that door over there.

And they will drive over there.

And they will park their car.

And she will get out to the door of her car.

And then we shall kill Miss Lockham.

Suppose the bodyguard drops her off at the main entrance?

Leaves her alone?

They'll be coming here.

Tara. Hello, how are...

Mother?

Tara.

Mother away from headquarters?

You checking a gun? It must be very important.

Very.

Oh, well, of course. If it's such a big secret that you can't even tell me what

it is.

It is. Well, almost.

Have you heard of Miranda Lockton?

Who hasn't?

Lovely Miranda's the key witness against murder international.

When she gives her evidence next week... If she gives her evidence.

Her car was attacked early this morning. Her bodyguard was murdered.

She's gone into hiding, refuses to come out until we guarantee her safety.

And can we?

We can do our very best.

Put her under the wing of a top executive.

He can take her to a hiding place known only to him.

You? Me.

The two of you?

Simple but safe.

Ready, Bobby? Ready.

Meet Tara King. This is Bobby Cleaver. Hi. By the way, you can take my car.

a little too conspicuous for me. And I'll give you three rings as soon as I'm

installed at Fort Steed.

Very cosy, too.

I must say, I do enjoy my visits here.

Fort Steed.

And just exactly where is he meeting Miranda?

Oh, in a car park on the other side of town.

You ready?

Yeah.

How do things look?

Possible radar astern.

Stand by all systems. All right.

How do you do?

My name's Steve, John Steve.

We should have a nice, quiet journey.

When do you expect him to call?

Who?

Steve.

I've no idea. Whenever he reaches safety.

Well, I've got things to do.

Mother, you will tell me, won't you? I mean, if anything should go wrong.

Wrong?

Miss King, if anything should go wrong, the whole department will know about it.

Just keep driving, don't turn around, and don't do anything.

No need to be frightened now, Miss Lobster.

Look, why don't you make yourself comfortable?

Take off your nose.

That's better.

Now that is much better.

There's no need to worry. Whoever was chasing us is miles away by now.

Get out

Well, so far.

It better be.

What's the plan?

Booby trap.

It's already underway.

Where's it planted?

In Steve's apartment.

We may have lost Steve, but we'll finish Mother.

It's poetic, too. You'll like that.

How poetic?

Mother's waiting for the telephone to ring three times.

I don't see the poetry in that.

The third ring detonates the booby trap.

On the third ring, the bomb explodes.

Nice surprise package, eh?

Nice. It was my idea.

Both fell for it immediately.

Three rings on a phone.

One, two, three.

Third time, unlucky.

Poor old mother.

The peloton to ring three times.

Three times. Three times. On the third ring. Steve's apartment. Steve's

apartment. One, two, three.

Third time.

Unlucky.

Mother! Mother!

Miss King.

Miss King.

Don't try to move.

You've been injured.

We'll get you to hospital as soon as we can.

I'll try to warm.

Are you all right?

Don't talk now. Now you mustn't exert yourself. You've been hurt.

Badly hurt.

How badly?

I don't know for sure yet.

Are you in pain?

No.

My legs.

My legs are numb.

I'm sorry.

I can warm her.

Let's give her a shot. Put her out for a warm.

Don't worry.

We'll take good care of you.

We can move her now.

But we must hurry.

Doctor.

Major.

How are you feeling?

I don't know.

My legs.

You're a very lucky girl.

Lucky? At least according to the doctor here. Is that right, Dr. Wells?

There is no permanent spinal damage.

Spine? At least, not as far as we can see.

What about the rest?

Easy now, please.

You have sustained multiple fractures of both legs and severe latherations, so

you must rest.

Both legs broken?

Both legs?

Broken, but fortunately not crushed.

That's what I meant by lucky.

In a couple of months, you'll be walking about again.

Mother, I must warn Mother.

Easy now, easy.

Go ahead.

But try not to tire too much.

Perhaps I'd better introduce myself.

My name is Firth.

Major Firth.

We haven't met before, but of course I know all about you from the fire.

Do you feel like answering a few questions?

You've been in delirium for some time.

Talking about two men who grabbed you.

Kidnapped you.

That's right.

Two men.

Any idea who these men were?

Or where they took you?

No.

Yes, I should have.

I left there in Steve's car.

It was a house.

A house with grounds.

Well, I must know where the house is.

Don't force her to remember too much too soon.

All right.

All right. We'll skip that for a moment.

Now, you arrived at Steed's apartment.

Yes.

I don't remember how I got there. I was just suddenly there.

A booby trap.

Three rings on the telephone. And Mother was there.

Is that all?

Oh, I don't know. My mind's in such a muddle.

Tara, listen to me.

You're kidnapping.

The booby trap.

None of it seems to link up in any way. We don't know why you were grabbed, why

the bomb was planted. It's all so inexplicable.

The only one who can help us is Teed.

But we... Where is he?

He's away. He's on a secret assignment.

Yeah, that much I do know. But where?

I don't know. He didn't even tell me.

Ask Mother.

Why not ask Mother? He should.

I can't ask Mother.

Why not?

Mother is dead.

Thank you.

Port Steve.

Are we staying?

I can't think of anywhere safer.

To my certain knowledge, there are only two people who know of its existence.

And they won't talk?

Talk?

Stinks Wilkins and Valley the Gorgia talk.

They're sworn to the utmost secrecy on the solemn oath of last one in the

Besides, if they ever did talk, I wouldn't let them holler down my rain

Not ever.

I used to play here as a kid.

It's not exactly the Savoy, but... Well, why don't we observe the niceties

anyway? Thank you.

How long do you think I'll have to stay?

Oh, not long.

Just until it's time for you to give up.

There we are.

But that's a week away.

Oh, time will fly, don't you worry.

Always sit here in the old days.

This place reeks of grand old British military history.

Does?

The most glorious battles were fought here.

Carana, Waterloo, Balaclava.

Wellington's run after Napoleon.

General de Clare's ignominious retreat.

There was nothing ignominious about that.

De Clare was forced into impossible terrain.

When de Clare led his troops into Corby's reach... Oh, he was doing

right thing. Taking into account the fact that he was outflanked on the

He shouldn't have been outflanked if his third division had got through, as they

were supposed to. Supposed to, my dear young lady.

It was an open and shut... Would you like to reconstruct the battle?

You can be general and declare.

I'd be delighted.

Good.

Forth deed.

That's all it had.

No.

Forth deed.

It means nothing to you.

I don't think so. You don't think so?

You're not sure?

I don't know. You're not absolutely sure?

I don't know. Ford Steed.

Think, Tara. Think. Ford Steed. Gently.

Yes, of course.

I'm sorry.

Tara.

I'm sorry. I don't mean to press you like this.

But don't you see how vital it is that we locate Steed? He's the key to this

whole thing.

If we don't find him, he's... Major Perth. Yes?

This. You should see this, sir.

What is it?

Planned for another booby -trap bomb.

We found it near Mother's body.

Obviously dropped by the person who wired the phone.

The explosive charge is put in here and wired to a gold pencil.

When the button is pressed... What's the matter?

The pencil.

The same as the one I gave Steed for Christmas.

Are you sure?

Of course I'm sure. Look at the crown insignia there. It's the same. It's the

same pencil.

And he's walking around with a bomb in his pocket.

Tano, you must think.

Help us to find out what he meant by Fort Steed. Help us to find him before

goes up.

Ready?

Right. You keep score for you, and I'll keep score for me.

All right.

Let's take it step by step.

Deed has gone to Earth.

He'd choose a hiding place he was familiar with. He'd know every approach,

exit. That's good training. Good sense.

It'd be someplace he'd used before.

Exactly. So somewhere, sometime along the line, he must have given you some

of hint, given you some kind of clue.

A hunting lodge, perhaps.

An apartment by the sea.

A friend's house.

No, I don't know.

Listen, surely records is the place to look for that kind of information. Why

don't you look in Steve's file? That's the very first... Sorry, sir.

It's all my time.

Oh, yes.

But with you in a moment.

I shan't be gone long.

An hour at most.

Keep thinking.

Major Firth?

Mother?

Yes. Take me with you.

Are you sure you're fit enough?

Steed or me, one of us ought to be there.

Please take me.

That's up to you, Doctor.

Please.

Very well.

But I'll have to give you a sedative.

Two sedatives.

One to get you there, and one to bring you back.

You all right?

So thank you for coming.

I had to come.

All right, we'd better go back.

Bobby.

What?

Bobby Cleaver. He was on the assignment with Steed.

He might know where he is.

Cleaver. You know his address?

25 Cranbrook Road.

HQ?

Major Firth here.

I'm on my way to 25 Cranbrook Road to see Mr.

Bobby... Cleaver.

Cleaver. He was on assignment with Steed.

He may have something important to tell us.

Have you got that?

He may have something important to tell us. Message understood.

Over.

25 Cranbrook Road.

Well, let's hope your friend Cleaver's at home.

He could put an end to this business in one go.

Mr. Cleaver, my name is Major Firth. I would...

You still have half a battalion left.

The wise general always tempers strategy with humanity.

There's been enough bloodshed already. I capitulate. I offer you my sword.

And I accept.

Don't look too despondent. I cut my teeth on deployed strategy.

Pincer movements, outflanking manoeuvres.

My father was a military historian.

Military historian, eh?

Recorded everything from the Battle of Hastings on.

Then he wouldn't know much about naval battles, eh?

No.

So how about fighting...

The Battle of Trafalgar.

A sea battle?

Be a nice change for you.

Of course, if you don't feel capable.

Oh, I'm willing to learn.

You're the French fleet.

That's the ship of the line.

Ships? He's on a ship?

No. It's a conversation we had once about ships on the river.

Steed said boats go on the river, ships go on the sea. I don't understand. Boats

and ships. No, no, no, it's the river. The river's important.

It's a conversation we had once about Steed's childhood.

Some place he used to play, a place on the river. What river?

Oh, I don't know. He didn't mention it, but I'm sure he meant the Thames.

The Thames? Yes. Any idea how far it stretches, the Thames? How many houses

there are on it?

Henley.

Henley, that's where it is.

He was to steal his father's binoculars and then go across the field and watch

the regatta.

Well, that's where they hold the regatta, isn't it, at Henley?

Yes, yes, at Henley.

It's a big area to cover.

Well, it's something.

I mean, it's a start.

We knew what kind of house we were looking for.

Well, it'd be a big one.

Stede's childhood is simply littered with grand and stately houses.

Plenty of those are on Henley, too.

But...

Did he ever tell you about it in any way?

Describe it to you. Oh, he may have.

The only thing I know for sure is that it's on the river.

And what do you think you're doing?

My rear admiral.

Up the front of the line, I think.

But you can't do that.

Why not?

It's simply not done, Rear Admiral. He stays at the rear.

That's why he's called Rear Admiral.

But I think all the other boats turn round.

Well, then he's at the front of the line, isn't he?

All right.

But you'll regret it.

Oh, and it shifts, by the way.

The correct vernacular.

Shifts, not boats.

What are you doing with that?

Covering myself against a surprise attack.

From those.

Oh, and what leads you to believe that they're going to make a surprise attack?

Feminine intuition.

Poor Nelson, what he had to put up with.

Oh, and what have you got in mind for those?

Oh, I don't know.

Rather a pretty pattern, don't you think?

Pretty patterns?

Captain Clegghorn and his foghorn.

He's a local eccentric. He's retired from the sea now, lives by the river,

tooting his horn at passing ducks.

Be close to the river, then.

It's about a quarter of a mile away across the fields.

A house on the river near Hindley.

A big house.

Almost certainly an old one. It's a kind of progress, but it's not enough. There

must be something else.

I'm sorry.

Steed told you that much. He must have told you something else.

A casual remark.

A snippet of conversation.

Think, Tara. I am thinking.

Oh, wait a minute.

Steed once took me to a house in the country.

And he said it reminded him of a similar house.

A house he used to live in. Describe it. Well, I...

It was surrounded by a wall with urns along the top.

Urns? Yes, you know, urns, fathers in stone, set at intervals along the wall.

A kind of Rococo, Grecian style, many of the Victorians affected.

Quite. Yeah, well, now we know what type of house it is, Victorian. I'd say only

Victorian.

Listen,

we're only guessing anyway.

The house might not look anything like Steve's and...

He might not even be there.

What about an association of ideas?

What?

You know, the psychiatric trick for making people remember.

Associate one thing with another.

What are you driving at?

Steed's apartment.

If you were to take me there, well, it might trigger something off. It's worth

try.

What do you think, Doctor?

Another journey.

All this strain and excitement.

It is worth a try. She's still a very sick girl. And Steve's a very dead man

unless we get to him in time.

Can you make her fit the travel?

Can I take her there?

Very well.

But I must insist on the same conditions as before.

Two sedatives.

One to get me there and one to get me back.

Tara.

Tara.

Are you all right?

Are you sure you want to go through with this?

Yes.

Their contents were taken to forensics.

You can see them later, if you wish.

Does that mean anything?

Model of ship's cannon, 1672.

Well?

Is there anything else, then, that assists your process of association?

Look!

Roses!

They're carnations.

No, no, no. I mean roses.

Roses. Steed said there were roses around the front door of the house.

A house set in its own ground.

Gates. He used to swing on the gates.

Iron gates with faces in them. One laughing and one crying.

Two faces.

That's good.

Good.

Anything else?

I don't think so.

Well, that's something.

Now, I think it's time we were getting her back to hospital.

I'll have my men start looking for those gates.

It's progress in the right direction.

The British can't lose the Battle of Trafalgar. Sorry, I think they have.

Unless you'd care to take on my warships with this.

That is a wash with survivors.

I don't understand.

Mine was a copybook attack.

How you managed to... It was my uncle.

My uncle Charlie.

He was a naval historian.

Oh.

Oh. I think I've been afflicted with what I know best.

My uncle was a Czech Grand Master.

Any luck?

I've got two teams combing the Henley area, but a pair of iron gates, however

distinctive,

It's like looking for a needle in a haystack.

I've got to try something else.

Tara. Tara.

Let her rest. There isn't time.

Tara.

Tara, that house.

You've got to remember it.

The name of it, for instance. The road at Studion.

I can't remember.

You've got to ask. You stay out of it. I'm a doctor, remember?

Talk outside.

What are you trying to do? Sabotage the whole thing? She really does need rest.

She hasn't time to rest. If we don't find Steed... You'll get nothing out of

this way, I promise you.

Let her sleep for a while.

And when her mind's a bit fresher... Look, I told you... She genuinely does

to rest.

How long?

An hour or so. No longer.

Very well. An hour. That's all.

What do you think the chances are?

Depends on your night.

No, I meant about me.

Or us.

Is this place really safe?

I can't think of anywhere safer.

No one knows at the department.

No one?

Haven't breathed a word to anyone except the...

Whoa. She doesn't know enough to find a place. Anyway, why should she talk about

it? Oh, but surely... You go on, Sean.

Making a game of it, eh?

Comfortable?

Yes, thank you.

I'm very thirsty.

Yes, I thought you might be.

What's the matter?

Nothing. I thought you were thirsty.

I am.

Oh!

Clumsy.

I'll mix you another.

You wanted something?

Yes, I want to tell you something.

That man standing behind you, he's one of the two men who grabbed me.

Are you sure? Yes.

Don't worry, Mr. King.

We'll arrange something.

Thank you, Mr. King.

One of the men who grabbed her.

She recognized him.

He didn't have to hit him so hard.

Didn't I?

Intrude him. Have him searched.

Find out who he is and how he got in here.

Sorry about that.

When I find out the man who left him in... Oh, don't worry.

It's all over now. Don't think about it. A gun.

A cannon. That's what I've been trying to think of.

A cannon -shaped weathervane. It's on top of the house.

It's like a landmark. You can see it for miles. That's just what we've been

waiting for. Now we'll find that house.

Your uncle was a chess grandmaster?

I think I ought to warn you.

I had an aunt who was a chess...

Hold it.

Better divide the area up. Go through it piece by piece.

Go that way.

Steed! Doctor, come to congratulate me on my miraculous recovery?

I think you're about to have a relapse.

A fake.

The whole thing was a fake to get me talking.

And Steed's pen, it doesn't have a bomb in it.

Nevertheless, he will die.

Now that you've helped us to find him.

Steed and the witness he's protecting.

Booby trap.

Steed had no one and nothing to fear.

Nothing except my stupidity.

I wouldn't reproach yourself too much.

The situation we created helped by drugs, of course.

How about taking me on a... ...reflex?

Oh, any time!

No

urns,

Major. No weather rain either.

Keep going.

What a fantastic story.

Dastardly planned fiendish.

And another thing?

It worked? Quite.

Well, what are we going to do about it? I mean, Firth and his men will be

looking for... Looking he may be, but he hasn't found him yet.

Steed's hourly signal to say that all is well. For the time being.

Special services.

Now, we have a bigger organisation than them if we can use it in time.

I want a prominent house.

One that they can't easily overlook.

Special services, Mother. I have a number one priority job for you at

-Thames immediately.

Yes. I require... What do I require?

Oh, Grecian urns, roses, the gates, the weather vane.

Yes.

Now, I require one dozen Grecian urns.

Two iron faces, one laughing, one crying.

One crate with plastic roses for the door you thought.

And one cannon -shaped weather bay.

Ah, one, two, three, four, five, six. I knew I'd hit upon your

Achilles' heel somewhere along the line. It's in the blood, of course.

You had an uncle who was world Ludo champion?

An aunt?

Cousin Desmond.

Not Demon Desmond, the world Ludo champion.

Desmond the Demon Dice Loader.

Groovy, baby.

Look at it, see?

See?

The weather vane.

Come on.

Ah, gentlemen.

I'm afraid you've come to the wrong address.

Game, death, and match.

All that's needed now to complete the tournament is for Tara to find the real

house.

And a bishop.

I haven't the faintest idea.

Do you know, that's what's so marvellous.

Come in, the door's open.

Good morning.

Morning. Help yourself to coffee.

Thank you.

What are you doing? Planning the western defences?

More important than that.

What Operation Overkill?

Tracing my lineage.

That's my family tree. The mighty oak of the Steeds that has bestowed this green

and pleasant land for... well, for a long time. Come and have a look.

Mm -hm. Have a look at him.

Who's he?

Steed the Ready.

He dominated three shires in the Dark Ages.

And there.

Sir Steedalot.

One of the knights of the round table.

He invented the round table.

He did?

Unintentionally. You see, originally the round table was square.

But Sir Steedalot had a bad habit. He couldn't resist whittling away with his

sword at any piece of wood that came to hand.

I knew it. I knew it. I knew it.

Eureka. What did... I proved what I've always suspected.

Come and have a look.

Yes, wasn't it? Now, going back on my great -grandfather's side, my great

-cousin, twice removed, through my great -uncle's cousin's aunt's sister, on my

mother's side, that is, and taking into account my father's father's father's

brother, who was four times removed from my uncle's cousin's sister's brother's

nephew, I had an ancestor who was related by marriage to the brother of

father of the sister of King Noffin of the Fens.

Is that how it was invented?

am of royal blood.

Your Majesty.

You're knighted.