8: The Signal

CLOUD BURST

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[STORY BIT - PART ONE]   [LEARNING BIT]   [STORY BIT - PART TWO]

1st tx

Tuesday 19th November 1974

Story Bit - Part One

Number Two manhandles Ram into the van, and drives him out of the factory to a mill (Downham Market Mill, actually). When they arrive, Ram is led out of the van, into the mill, up a step-ladder and through a trap-door. He is left here in the mill room, and the trap door locked. Number One, now positioned on look-out some distance from the mill alongside Number Three, radios Number Two to check on Ram.



Dick has made his way up to the mill. He notices the van parked in front, but doesn't pay it much attention. He climbs inside the mill and starts calling for Ram or Sir Robert. Number Two is lurking behind a wall with the gas-gun ready. As Dick approaches, he has the gas-gun fired in his face and collapses on the floor.

All of the gun imagery in Cloud Burst had to be rigorously justified in order to be shown in schools, of course. Notice that everytime it is seen or referred to, we are left in no doubt that this is a gas-gun and is, of course, not lethal. Ravi later expresses an intention for the flood water to "put an end to" Ram and Dick, though this is left ambiguous, and according to the producer, Ravi should be seen as megalomaniacal rather than murderous. They also had to check whether it was alright to have an Indian as a baddie. The racial equality people (whatever organisation was in charge at the time) not only allowed it, but warmly welcomed a programme which emphasised Indians as being both very good and very bad - a balanced image rather a one-sided view.

Learning Bit

Richard comments that Dick has walked straight into a trap. He wants us to recall where all of his characters are at the moment, and goes through them all in turn - at the mill, on the way to Ram's house and in the laboratory. He finally reminds us that the control unit is in Ram's pocket.



Wordy pops up with the computer, and shows off the magic e which he has fitted to it. He allows Richard to change 'mad' to 'made'. He gives us some more magie e examples in Wordyland - pin-pine, tap-tape, plan-plane and fin-fine. An apostrophe arrives, meaning it's missing letter time, and we look at a quote from the story featuring 'do not'.



We get another crossword to fill in, containing the words 'Blain' (as in Sir Robert) and 'Plan' (as in World Food). Noticing the 'ai' in Blain - just like 'rain' - we are then treated to an animation and a song about the digraph. Out of Wordyland again, Richard decides it's time to read, and this time Dick Turner is telling the story.

As well as Wordy, accomplished voice actor Charles Collingwood provided any extra voice-overs that were needed throughout the programmes. As the MC of this crossword segment, he performs a take-off of Hughie Green.

Story Bit - Part Two

Dick comes round, to find Number Two standing over him with the gas-gun still in hand. He silently indicates that Dick is to get up, walk through the mill, and ascend the steps to the top room, where he is locked in with Ram. Ram explains that this is all Ravi's doing, so Dick finally works out that Ram has a twin brother.
Ram explains about Ravi's plan to retrieve the firing program from the house, and Dick mentions that the children are still waiting there. Which they are, sitting about close to the model plane. Ram has the idea of using the control unit, which he thinks will still work as they are only about a mile from the house. He presses the button, and the plane's rudder turns, but the kids fail to notice it.



Ravi and Number Three arrive at the gates to Ram's house. Ravi says that if the children do see him, they will think he's Ram.
In the house, Tim suddenly spots the plane's rudder twitching. Jenny realises that it can't do so by itself, and works out that Ram must be doing it.



The children hear a car drawing up outside and are at first delighted, especially when they see 'Ram' get out. But Jenny is confused by the rudder still turning, and she looks back and notices the car's registration number. RAV... 1? She realises that something's wrong and hurridly beckons Tim to hide.
Just as they dive behind one of the desks, Ravi bursts in. Tim thinks it's Ram, but Jenny holds him back. Ravi gets on his radio and says that the kids have gone, so Number Three pulls up on his motorbike and comes into the lab. Ravi presses 'Power On' on the computer, and discovers that the firing program is still in the machine.

Look and Read has always run in a 20-minute timeslot, but this episode actually runs to about 20 minutes and 40 seconds, and other episodes are almost 21 minutes long. The reason is that the timings in these days were rather informal, and it didn't really matter for programmes to fit into an exact slot. This inexactness was allowed due to the "next programme follows shortly" and individual countdowns which padded the junctions between programmes, necessary to allow classes of pupils to pile into the TV room and prepare themselves to watch the next programme live off-air. There are several website devoted to schools TV interstitials - CLICK HERE to visit the Links page for details.

Ravi berates Three for not having checked in the computer before, and the two dash out of the laboratory, shouting "let's get back to the mill!"
As soon as they've gone, the kids come out of their hiding place. "That's not Ram Pandit!" says Jenny, and she and Tim set off for the mill.





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