The Pilot (Not the Pilot) is a World War 2 spy thriller play produced by Cornley Drama Society. It is the second installment of The Goes Wrong Show, and was first aired in the UK on 3rd January 2020. The play has a lot of historical inaccuracies.
Synopsis[]
Note: This synopsis is the story of the "Goes Right" version; not everything in the synopsis actually happens in the "Goes Wrong" version.
It is 1961. At Caraway House, a top-secret Allied facility, a team of codebreakers including Corporal Valerie Sky, Lieutenant Rufus Heal and Camille LeClaire try to break the German code. They receive a message from Wing Commander Randolph Wycombe, who says he is coming to visit and wants answers. When he arrives, it is revealed that he and Valerie have a history which he is keen to re-kindle, though she is not interested in him any more.
The codebreaking machine cracks the code, revealing that there will be an attack on Plymouth. Valerie interrupts Camille attempting to kiss Rufus and assumes they are lovers, to her disappointment. Wycombe reminds Valerie of their time together, but she walks away from him. A telegram arrives, confirming that the Germans didn't attack Plymouth, and there must be a mole on the team. Moncreiffe, the spy catcher arrives and interrogates Rufus, who turns out to have German ancestry. Wycombe leaves as a telegram arrives saying he is the spy. A German escort plane for Wycombe is spotted overhead. Rufus flies after it in his plane and shoots the plane down.
Three days later, a telegram arrives revealing the war is over. Camille tells Valerie that there is nothing between her and Rufus, Valerie being the only one he loves. Winston Churchill arrives at Caraway and awards Rufus a medal, and also reveals Rufus is the King. Rufus invites Valerie to dinner, and she accepts. Winston Churchill invites them to dine with him, but after they have left he takes off his mask, revealing himself to be a German agent in disguise (possibly Hitler, although he is supposed to have been shot down).Content
Cornley Cast[]
- Corporal Valerie Sky/Cloud - Sandra Wilkinson
- Flight Lieutenant Rufus James Heal - Chris Bean
- Camille LeClaire/Cloud - Vanessa Wilcock-Wynn-Carroway
- Telegram Machine - Dennis Tyde
- Wing Commander Randolph Wycombe - Annie Twilloil
- Lionel Moncrieffe/Cloud - Max Bennett
- Hitler - Robert Grove
- Winston Churchill - Jonathan Harris
- Trevor Watson/Cloud - (himself)
- Raymond Bean (himself)
Trivia[]
- This episode was the first to be filmed.
- Although Chris Bean stresses that it is not the pilot episode, this episode was aired first in the USA. It was intended to be the first in the UK series as well, but the show was postponed from late 2019 to early 2020 to allow extended news broadcasts during the 2019 General Election campaign. Because of its seasonal content "The Spirit of Christmas" (intended to be the last in the series) was therefore broadcast before the rest of the series. Nevertheless, Chris introduces this episode, as he does all the others, with the words "Welcome back to Play of the Week"
- This is the only episode where Jonathan makes it into the room without difficulty.
- This is the only episode in the first series in which a male character (Wycombe) is played by a female actor (Annie). It is much more common in the second series.
- Originally, there was an actor playing Stalin who also came to ask Trevor about his trousers, but the scene was cut.
- Originally, for the first ten minutes of the episode it was just the characters telling back-to-back fish puns, but because only the writers understood the context of the joke they were forced to cut it.
- Robert wears the same boots in this episode as for The Spirit of Christmas.
- There are a lot of historical inaccuracies in the play. For example:
- The play is supposed to be set in WW2, but the date is 1961.
- However, they sometimes refer to the war as the Vietnam War.
- King Henry VIII supposedly funded the codebreaking machine.
- Winston Churchill invites the team to dine at "Number Six", not Number 10 Downing Street.
- The play is supposed to be set in WW2, but the date is 1961.
- Trevor is briefly seen powering the dials on the codebreaking machine by cycling inside the machine.
- Caraway House is evidently an RAF establishment - it has a runway, it is run by an RAF officer, the Man from HQ is also an RAF officer, and Moncrieffe is evidently a pilot as well. But Valerie Sky's uniform is that of the ATS, the women's branch of the Army, not that of the WAAF.
- Charlie Russell (Sandra) named this episode as her favourite from series 1.
Gallery[]
