Written by N.J. Crisp.
*Opening nine minutes of episode were trimmed for copyright reasons*
Dialogue preceding this video's start:
I suppose you are a navigator.
Romsey: Well, yes, an observer, before they debased the trade.
I'm a bit off navigators at the moment. The fool we had got us well and truly lost.
Then flak got us.
Romsey: Bad luck.
What happened to you?
Romsey: Flak knocked out one engine over the target. My pilot thought he could get back
and then the wing caught fire.
My Dad told me never to volunteer for anything. I wish I'd listened to him and stuck to me trade.
Romsey: Well, what was that?
- Chef. Well, trainee chef, but could be a Corporal cook by now. Could have got rich on the black market instead of getting the trots every time someone says we're off. And I'm not halfway through the first tour yet. How about you?
Three more? And I'll finish my second.
- 57 out. It's not many like you still living.
Our squadron leader was doing well and he bought it on his 24th.
Now at least we have some leave when we get back.
- I gather we're all going down the line together.
When? Soon?
- It can't be early enough.
Apparently they take their time. Run a sort of course, so that we don't stick out like sore thumbs on the way.
Me, I can't wait. I've got a very willing little W.R.A.F. waiting for me.
How about you?
- I'm married.
Really?
- Six months ago.
I thought about it once, but that "till death us do part" stuff put me off. I mean, whoever heard of an old air gunner?
My wife is expecting a baby. She's on her own. No family. I've got to stay alive.
Flight Lieutenant Peter Romsey is an RAF navigator, involved with developing the Oboe navigation system. London urgently requires his safe return. Romsey is accompanied by Natalie down the line with other servicemen, but he is parted from them and catches the wrong train. He is lost in rural France, and Lifeline tries to track him down. Romsey finds the house of Hugh Neville and his wife Dorothy. Neville is an expatriate English author with a pessimistic attitude about the war. He is a friend of the local police inspector, who organizes a search of the novelist's home. Romsey is then hidden in a motorcycle sidecar by Victor, who is the Nevilles' handyman and the local Lifeline contact, but they are betrayed upon escaping. Victor is killed and Romsey captured.
Featuring Christopher Neame, Christopher Guard, Bernard Hepton, Jan Francis, Peter Barkworth, Joanna Van Gyseghem, Bruce Montague, Michael Culver.
*The video's end is not cut off, but occasionally the video trim that YouTube requires just cuts the video at the precise finish, which is what happens here. I have, at the beginning of the description for each episode, noted when dialog is cut off at the end and reproduced that, which is usually just one line. That's due to the theme song's beginning being cut off, which is part of the entire Secret Army series being copyright protected, hence not able to be completely downloaded, on YouTube.
