The Airmen De-Nicked

The Airmen De-Nicked
Production Details
Written by	David Croft & Jeremy Lloyd
Director	Martin Dennis
Transmission Details
Airdate	30 September 1989
Continuity
Previous	The Nicked Airmen
Next	The Crooked Fences

Plot

René intends to leave Nouvion, in order not to have to put up all the adventures Michelle's plans put him in. However, for the moment, he does not have enough money and even less so, when Edith takes large amount of money from the till, in order to make her own escape. The next moment, Yvette calls René into the backroom, where lieutenant Gruber is waiting for him. He tells René that the officers from Berlin, who are to collect the British airmen, will not arrive until the next day and that general Von Klinkerhoffen will be going to Calais for the day. The next day at lunchtime would therefore be an excellent opportunity for the resistance to rescue the airmen, so they will not reveal anything.

Colonel Von Strohm and Helga are sitting in his headquarters, receiving a call from the general, ordering them to really show the Gestapo off. Herr Flick is soon brought into the ante room, where Helga is appalled to find him in nothing but his underwear and with a ball chained to his ankle. Just before Von Smallhausen is also brought in (with a smaller ball), he urges her to call his godfather Heinrich Himmler in Berlin, to get him out of his predicament. The next moment, they are brought into Von Strohm's room, together with captain Bertorelli, who has shown up. While Von Strohm reads them the penalty for impersonating a German officer, Helga makes the call to Berlin, so while Von Strohm and Bertorelli tell Herrs Flick and Von Smallhausen what penalties await them, the telephone rings in the colonel's office. It is Himmler, who threatens Von Strohm that something unpleasant might happen to him, if he does not let the Gestapo officers go, which he then, of course, does.

In the café, Yvette has dressed herself up in the uniform av Nouvion grammar school and asks René to dress himself up as the headmaster, so they can pretend to be pupil and headmaster and thus elope together. René says he will not do it - for the moment, and the next moment, officer Crabtree enters the café. He gives a "secret" signal and they are soon joined by Michelle, who informs René and Edith that the German officers, who are coming to collect the airmen, will be arriving by car. The resistance will hijack the car and then, the two members who the two uniforms fit will pose as the officers, so that the resistance can collect the airmen.

Von Strohm, Gruber and Helga are discussing their situation. They decide that if a rescue attempt would be made on the British airmen, they had best look the other way, in order to preserve all of their secrets and so that the painting of the fallen Madonna will not be found. Helga is persuaded to distract captain Bertorelli, so that he will not sound the alarm.

Fanny and Ernest are sitting in her bed, making a list of people to invite to their wedding, when Edith enters the room (Ernest manages to hide, just before she comes in). Edith informs Fanny of the plan and that she will be part of it. She will be sitting in her wheel chair, which Ernest will be driving. In the middle of the road, a wheel will come off, making the Germans stop, so the resistance can capture them and hijack the car.

Later in the day, the café gang and Michelle's resistance girls are hiding by the roadside, waiting for the car. When it approaches, LeClerc pushes the wheel chair out into the road and presses a button on it. The chair explodes and a wheel falls off (Ernest and Fanny are alright). According to plan, the Germans stop the car and the resistance force them out of it, into the woods. Not unexpectedly, the officers' uniforms fit perfectly on René and Edith, who are dressed in them.

Meanwhile, Helga tries to keep captain Bertorelli with her in her luxury room, but after she has given him a few glasses of wine, he becomes a bit too close. He tosses himself over her, just as there is a knock on the balcony door. Herr Flick enters the room, with flowers in his hand, and is shocked to find Helga in the arms of captain Bertorelli. He therefore calls off their engagement and leaves.

René, Edith and Mimi go in the car, which is driven by Ernest, while Michelle and Yvette follow on a motorbike with a sidecar (they are all dressed in German uniforms). While they are on their way to the chateau, Henriette and another resistance girl shoot an arrow with a message into the airmen's prison cell, telling them that help is on the way and that they must pretend not to recognize the German officers who are coming for them. When the car enters the castle yard, Edith, who is the higher ranking officer, has no difficulty in showing the guards their papers, since they are completely authentic. When they have reached the front door, the airmen are brought out. Everyone in the car except LeClerc is attached to each other with handcuffs, to which the keys are in Berlin. Thus, it becomes somewhat difficult for them to sit in the car, but they manage and are able to leave the chateau.

As they drive away, they are spotted by the now freed Herrs Flick and Von Smallhausen. After a while of driving, the car battery goes flat and everyone, except LeClerc, have to get out, first to try to crank the car, then to give it a push start. When they have managed to get it started, LeClerc cannot stop it and drives on. However, they are soon joined by Michelle and Yvette on the motorbike. The five of them (Mimi, Fairfax, René, Carstairs and Edith) all get on the motorbike, which is now carrying seven people.