Episode 3 SS-GB

This programme contains some scenes

which some viewers may find upsetting.

He may be Resistance, so draw a pistol,

and keep your wits about you.

He doesn't have the experience to handle a case like this.

It is too dangerous for him.

Why was I invited here this evening?

We need nothing of you, except loyalty to your country.

Have you heard the rumours that the King is unwell?

You can't be thinking of trying to free him?

I'm telling you, don't go back there and say, "No deal."

What if I did?

Then they'd kill you.

Gallant British patriots.

-Are you proud of them?

-Jimmy!

This is your doing.

HE BREATHES HEAVILY

BAND PLAYS SOMBRE MUSIC

-Archer!

-General Kellermann.

Ah - Molotov, Von Ribbentrop and Goebbels. What a trio.

Putting all your eggs in the basket, yes?

But after the Mall incident,

I am sure the Army will be keeping a tighter watch.

MEN CHANT: "SIEG HEIL!"

Hauptsturmfuehrer Schroder.

Ich finde es ganz wunderbar,

dass Sie jetzt die Reichsleitung der NSDAP hier vertreten.

Ich habe Ihre Rede gehoert, anfang des Monats.

Ausgezeichnet. Klar und...

..visionaer.

Weiter so.

Do you think Marx's corpse will prefer the mausoleum in Moscow?

The Russians think so.

Isn't that what's important?

Take a seat.

Thank you, sir.

Are you an angler, Superintendent?

No, sir.

Pity.

I caught that fellow, Superintendent.

Really, sir?

Standartenfuehrer Huth, on the other hand, is a ski champion.

He went to Garmisch for the 1936 Olympics.

For the combined downhill and slalom event.

He won no medals.

But it is a distinction to compete, hmm?

Of course, sir.

The sport a man chooses tells you a lot about his personality.

Standartenfuehrer Huth is always in a hurry.

HE TUTS

I am never in a hurry.

Do you understand, Superintendent?

It takes patience...

..to make a lure that works...

..that the fish will swallow without even knowing it.

Are you sure you won't have cream?

The Reichsfuehrer-SS, Heinrich Himmler,

was asking me about developments on this murder you're working on,

the one in Shepherd Market.

Developments?

Yes, sir.

The death of a good policeman.

Investigating what?

A photograph of a Professor Frick and his colleagues

was found in the suspect's house.

Well...

what do you think this all means? Who is this Professor Frick?

An atomic expert.

Like Dr Spode was.

So this explains Standartenfuehrer Huth's arrival, do you think -

the atomic business?

I suspect so, yes.

I'd like to be kept up-to-date on all this, Superintendent.

You are doing a fine job assisting Herr Dr Huth,

but please don't exclude the leader of your police force, hmm?

Good fellow.

-Here he is.

-Yeah.

Go on, then - say it.

I went over.

Told his mother.

Jimmy was her last boy left.

-Whoever did this...

-No, it's you, Doug.

You did this.

Right.

Cos I should have stuck with you.

They'd have left you alone.

Cos you're one of them.

Get me the fingerprinting kit.

Even I know it takes all sorts to make up the Resistance, Harry.

There are those that put sugar in German petrol tanks,

and those that scrawl anti-Nazi slogans on walls. Fine.

But then there are those that are willing to kill boys like Jimmy,

just to get a point across to their own bloody people.

Can you not understand people's anger? Hmm? They feel helpless.

They see us working with the Germans and they lash out,

and can you really blame them?

Yes, I bloody can!

Then you're a fool.

And you're out of touch, and that will ruin you as a copper.

For Christ's sakes, Harry.

What they did is no better than the bloody Nazis.

So what do you believe in, Dougie? Huh?

Justice.

Was this justice for Jimmy?

I don't know these people.

Well, they're bloody animals.

Who DO you know?

It's too dangerous for you, too, isn't it?

Maybe it's time to quit.

I'd understand.

Not on your life.

There are no prints on this.

They've wiped it clean.

So much for the heat of anger.

Like I said...

..I do not know these people.

Well, that's a shame.

Cos I'd like to think...

..you'd have helped me try and get them.

There's nothing I can do.

These people will turn on anyone they start to doubt.

Yeah, well, don't you worry about me.

-Like I said...

-I'm not worried about you.

You know where she is.

Tell Sylvia she should get out.

Join that cousin of yours in the unoccupied zone.

She won't listen to me.

Let me try and persuade her.

Where is she?

You won't like it.

KNOCK AT DOOR

Hello?

It's all right.

I'm alone.

What do you want?

Help.

Not going to kick me out, then?

I don't see any harm in you being here.

It's not a crime scene any more.

I was the one who helped you get away, remember?

Who killed Jimmy Dunn?

-I don't know anything.

-You know too much.

And if the Germans catch you, they'll make sure they know it, too.

Hmm.

And take great pleasure in it, I'm sure.

Don't stay here, Sylvia.

Leave the controlled zone - go to the Lakes.

You sound like Harry.

He's worried about you.

And these people you think are your friends...

Shut up about it, OK?

If you were going to visit...

..you could have brought some food.

Goodbye, Sylvia.

No! No!

Let him go!

Let him go!

THEY GRUNT

We know what we're doing.

SHE GAGS

SHE COUGHS

Let him go!

SHE GASPS FOR BREATH

SHE COUGHS

Scotland Yard duty officer, please.

Is that the duty officer?

This is Detective Superintendent Douglas Archer.

Something might be coming for me in the second post.

It's very important - can you look out for it for me?

Mm-hmm.

Yes.

Thank you.

TRAIN RUMBLES

THEY GRUNT

MAN GRUNTS

MAN SCREAMS

ARCHER PANTS

HE GASPS

HE GASPS

FOOTSTEPS APPROACH

You all right?

Call Scotland Yard,

tell them to collect a body,

and cut the power!

POWER SHUTS OFF WITH A CLANK

ARCHER PANTS

HE THUMPS ON CAR

HE PANTS

LIQUID SPLASHES

MUSIC: Key To The Highway by Big Bill Broonzy

Some of the teachers haven't come back to the school yet.

Any idea where they are?

No.

Ow!

That smart, does it?

I'll live.

It's a nasty one, all right.

Why did he attack you?

You know why.

Some people think police are helping the Germans.

If your Tom hadn't signed up with the army reservists,

he'd be in the same position.

Why didn't you sign up, Mr Archer?

I wasn't allowed -

reserved occupation.

Well, I'd rather have Tom here than him being a hero.

Not that, I mean...

I know what you mean.

Thank you, Mrs Sheenan.

No, well...

HARMONICA SOLO PLAYS

I like this record.

I first heard it with my wife.

We were at the Old Florida Club, in Bruton Mews.

Snakehips Johnson played that night.

It went on till five in the morning.

I thought the Germans had banned this music.

They have.

They label it degenerate,

but secretly they love it.

I got this from a Feldwebel.

I swapped it, like a kid in school.

You're lucky you still have something to hear it with.

-Got any more for upstairs?

-Thank you.

Any post for me?

Yes, sir.

-All right?

-Right you are.

DOOR BANGS

Anything interesting in the second post?

Dunn was looking for leads on Frick.

It seems the Professor's been written out of history.

But why use the mail?

Jimmy must have seen that he was being followed -

wanted to make sure this didn't fall into the wrong hands.

A caution, no doubt, instilled by you.

It might be a bitter pill to swallow,

but you're very much like us, Superintendent.

Excellent. Have some "wanted" posters made from that.

We'll put every name on that photograph

on a primary arrest sheet.

For the murder of Dr Spode?

For questioning in connection with the murder.

But aren't we assuming they're under the protection of the German Army?

That will force the Army to actually admit it.

What's that?

Oh, that's just an index from the photo library.

Do you have anything else?

Nothing.

Time is a sickle, Archer.

This fellow must be caught.

Of course.

Papers.

Guten tag.

GUARD SPEAKS GERMAN

Guten tag.

Hello.

Superintendent Douglas Archer.

Captain Hesse.

You wish to visit the issuing department, that's correct?

DOG BARKING If I could.

Do you have a willing workforce here, Captain?

We have British and Allied officers

of the rank of brigadier and upwards -

making artificial limbs provides work for them.

Ah, and I wish to meet one of their customers.

HEAVY DOOR SLAMS

Who gets limbs here?

British ex-servicemen who live in the southeastern control zone.

And what documentation do they need to get through that door?

No-one gets past even the outer gate without a pay-book,

proving discharge from the British Army.

When was the last time you sent someone to try and gain access

without those papers?

Do you want me to alert the sentries?

No, that's the last thing I want.

I want my man to get through.

Where do you keep your elbow-joints and pivots?

Is that a joke?

No. When I make jokes, I waggle my ears.

There should be an elbow-pivot here for John Spode.

I'm hoping to make an arrest, Captain.

I hope not here.

This is an army establishment -

it's nothing to do with the Civil Police or the SS.

But I'm investigating a murder.

The British Army always allowed the Civil Police...

I'm not interested in ancient history.

This camp, it's under German Army jurisdiction,

and you have no powers here.

Fine.

Then I'll wait outside the gate and arrest him off army property.

You would be in grave danger of being shot down by my sentries.

Why?

I won't be using a gun.

Herr Archer...

there's no need for this.

These walls are secure.

Much safer to arrest your man here.

I will make an exception.

ENGINE RUMBLES

DISTANT YELLING

CAR DOOR OPENS

You must be hungry.

Danke.

SIREN WAILS

IN GERMAN:

HESSE TAKES A DEEP BREATH

ENGINE RUMBLES

How long do you plan on keeping up this vigil?

Why not let us take over?

You go back and, if he comes, we will apprehend him.

Well, that's not your job.

And he will come.

ENGINE RUMBLES

FOOTSTEPS APPROACH

-Ow!

-Listen to me. Listen to me!

We don't have much time. I can help you, Spode.

I know you burned the plans. Did you make copies? Photographs?

You know who I am. I can help you.

You?

Ah, you fool.

ARCHER PANTS

John Spode, you're under arrest.

For what?

Murder.

I warn you, anything you say may be taken down and used

in evidence against you.

Come on.

Are you John Spode, and is your brother William?

Yes, yes...

How did you get on to me?

The pivot for your false arm.

I found it at the flat at Shepherd's Market.

You must have been in quite a hurry, to leave that behind.

You're the great detective.

Do you deny killing your brother?

How could I?

I wouldn't have hurt your son.

I just needed a way to get you to listen,

so you'd help us.

And all everyone told me was that you were incorruptible.

For the purposes of this interview,

we're only concerned with the killing of your brother.

Has anyone got a cigarette?

I have some.

What do you prefer, Superintendent?

I have French, Turkish, American...

It's been a long time since I tasted a French cigarette.

I'll need you to make your confession in writing.

Do you permit the prisoner to smoke?

LIGHTER CLICKS

Why did you do it?

You have your confession - isn't that enough?

This is the best cigarette I've tasted in an age.

Won't find anything like this in prison, I expect.

It's not my job to chase Resistance fighters.

You lost your arm taking on a Panzer -

a friend of mine told me.

Were you in the fighting too?

No.

You didn't miss anything.

It was all over before it began.

Only a bloody fool tries to jam the sprocket wheel of a Mark IV

with a tyre lever.

He went past me without even noticing...

and took my arm with him.

You being there wouldn't have made much difference, Superintendent,

believe me.

Is it a confession you wanted, or absolution?

Understanding.

Your brother had his corneas burned by radiation.

Was he dying?

So, you put him out of his misery.

But why did you leave the pivot from your elbow behind?

Erm, d-do you have it with you?

PIVOT CLANKS ON TABLE

You found this in the room?

Yes.

SPODE SPLUTTERS

Spode. SPODE GAGS

Spode?

Jesus.

Get him some water! Your medical section!

He needs cardiac stimulants.

HESSE SPEAKS GERMAN

Cyanide capsules.

I have seen it on a man straight after Armistice.

I should have searched him.

What do you care?

HESSE SIGHS

Like he said, you have got your confession.

You can close the file now, can't you?

You just stood there and watched him, you stupid pig.

And this half-witted army officer, Hesse, watched too?

Yes.

Any chance that he passed him the capsule?

No, sir.

So from the moment you arrested Spode,

was there even the briefest opportunity for this damned

army officer, Hesse, to pass him anything at all?

No chance at all, sir.

If we get this one wrong, Superintendent Archer,

you'll find yourself in Dachau.

Do you know what Dachau is?

I've heard the rumours, sir.

They are all true, believe me.

PHONE HANGS UP

PHONE DIAL WHIRS AND CLICKS

Canonbury 7946.

Harry...

'Look, Dougie, I heard about the Tube attack.'

-Yeah?

-'I should've...'

Don't worry, it wasn't your fault. I'm fine.

Look, I want you to check on an army artillery officer,

Captain Hesse.

Find out all you can.

Call me back in 15 minutes.

'Right you are. At Wittenham?'

All right.

ENGINE RUMBLES

DISTANT YELLING

MARCHING FOOTSTEPS APPROACH

PHONE RINGS

Yeah?

Yeah, I checked with the boys at Hendon -

Hesse is Army Intelligence.

But why would they want to keep a man down there?

I don't know, but I'm going to find out.

All right, thanks.

DOGS BARKING

ENGINE RUMBLES AND METAL CREAKS

METAL CREAKING

ENGINE PURRS

BRAKES SQUEAK

ENGINE PURRS

IN GERMAN:

Hello, handsome.

BELL CHIMES

I want to speak with Captain Hesse.

Superintendent Archer, you'd better come in.

It's all right, he's one of mine.

Colonel Mayhew, what a surprise!

How the devil did you find this place?

Captain Hesse here doesn't check his rear-view mirror quite as often

as one would imagine a man who just committed murder might.

He gave Spode a cyanide cigarette.

What's this?

You're imagining things.

I have the cigarette.

It seems it was more important to the Army that Spode be silenced

than let him to fall into the hands of the SS.

What were you afraid he'd tell them?

Archer. Archer!

We have more important matters at hand here.

More important than murder?

What exactly are you doing here?

DOOR OPENS

Hesse...

Well?

These men are all German Army Intelligence, yes?

What the hell's going on?

Miss Barga tells me that I should trust you,

but I'm not sure that I can.

LIQUID TRICKLES

You haven't answered my question.

What the hell are you doing here with German Army Intelligence?

We're in talks.

Talks?

About His Majesty.

The fact is that some of them feel it's incompatible with

the honour of the German Army that the King of England should be

in custody, guarded by SS units.

I know, old-fashioned buggers, aren't they?

More's our luck.

Remember our conversation about Rear Admiral Connolly,

over there in Washington?

If the King were free, and able to confirm publicly Connolly's rank

and position, it would transform Britain's position in the world.

You're not seriously suggesting that the German Army are

going to try and help free the King?

A certain few will do everything they can to help,

save getting into a fight.

What do they get out of it?

The escape of the King from SS custody would disgrace the SS

and consolidate the Army's Commander-in-Chief

in his position of power here,

and not just here -

the repercussions would be felt all the way to Berlin.

We have the support of the general staff in this business.

What's the catch?

DOOR OPENS

The General will see you both now.

So, the younger Spode is dead too?

As I understand it, yes.

And your police officer followed Captain Hesse here?

That's right.

I will come to you later.

Now, you listen to me, Major.

If you want my co-operation,

you're going to have to woo me,

and I'm very difficult to please.

You have the impertinent manner of the revolutionary.

It will get you nowhere.

Let me remind you of your position...

No. Let me remind you of your position.

IN GERMAN:

If there's any explaining to be done,

then you'll do it.

You're playing a dangerous game, Superintendent.

Not nearly as dangerous as the one you're playing.

If I submit a full report about young Spode's murder this afternoon,

the German C-in-C of Great Britain will likely

find it very healthy to distance himself from you,

as will your colleagues in Berlin.

You're not out of here yet.

My car is equipped with a radio telegraph.

I wouldn't come into a notorious district like this,

late at night, without taking precautions.

CORK SQUEAKS AND BOTTLE CLINKS

What have you said?

Nothing that can't be unsaid.

Congratulations on apprehending Dr Spode's killer, Superintendent.

Well, he was denied a trial,

so we'll never really know, will we?

Did he make a copy of the calculations his brother

stole from Bringle Sands?

I asked him.

He denied it.

Did you believe him?

In that case, I will hold you personally responsible if

a copy falls into the wrong hands.

I had a feeling you'd say something like that.

Captain Hesse must not be included in any reports to your authorities,

or the King has no chance of freedom.

Well, Archer?

Very well.

Good.

I'll need to know how you would dispose of His Majesty.

Our honour requires that his safety be assured.

We'll fly him out of a disused airfield.

Your staff are advising us on which one to choose, sir.

Will you go too?

I've no orders as yet, sir.

If we do decide to proceed, be ready to move fast.

Gute nacht.

ARCHER EXHALES

An aeroplane flying out of a disused airfield?

Now, was that just for the Huns, or is that really the best way

we've got of getting the King out of the country?

Have you got a better idea?

Ship him out as diplomatic mail.

HE CHUCKLES

You're a political innocent, Archer.

Forged documents, then -

ones that would make the Germans think he was

a diplomatic consignment.

Worse.

The escape of the King will be in every history book ever written.

Do you want it recorded that the only way we could get him out

of the country was by forging the signature of a foreigner?

The same reason we can't have him do anything ridiculous,

like dress up as a chambermaid,

or pretend to be a German lavatory attendant.

ARCHER SCOFFS

You operate in a very strange world, Colonel.

You have no idea.

Goodnight, Archer.

DOGS BARKING

CONTAINER CLICKS

A swordstick? It's so British.

It was worse than that - it was an umbrella-stick.

I'm glad you didn't die that way.

Me too.

And thanks for nursing my ear.

-SHE LAUGHS

-It's the least I could do.

No feeling, sadly.

You won't get me that way.

Isn't the way to an Englishman's heart through his lobes?

SHE LAUGHS

Ow.

Ow!

Do you think he killed his own brother?

I didn't know him long enough to really decide.

Both brothers dead...

You knew the Spodes, didn't you?

LIGHTER CLICKS

You met them before the war,

when you were writing an article on Professor Frick and his work,

and I assume one of them contacted you with the plan to get

the atomic calculations into American hands,

and that's what you were doing, coming to collect the film that day.

You're very clever,

though you seemed to have confused interrogation with seduction.

I hope you're not saying I had anything to do with the murder?

Oh, I'd still like to seduce you...

..but I want to know.

Yes. You're right.

I interviewed the older one for the piece on Frick.

He remembered me.

I'm not surprised.

I asked Bernard Staines about the Spodes before I came out here.

Suddenly, I'm up to my neck in the Resistance.

Yeah, things have been going pretty fast for the two of us.

In the last 48 hours, I've lost one man, killed another...

Made love to me for the first time.

How can I forget?

You seem different.

Maybe I am.

I like you more.

Is the interrogation over?

Just one last thing.

You know, someone on that inaugural flight from New York

did a bit of smuggling.

Oh, really?

Now, a hatbox like this would be perfect for hiding away a newsreel.

You seem to be more interested in false bottoms than real ones.

Well...

we can't have that, can we?

SHE GIGGLES

This ceremony tomorrow is going to be bloody tedious.

Apparently, the Russians are even more long-winded than the Jerries.

I assume you're a guest of honour, darling.

SHE LAUGHS

Disinterring Karl Marx and mailing him back to Moscow

is quite the story,

but I'm sick of peddling their propaganda.

Let's find excuses.

We could have a morning together.

I can't.

So you were all ready to pass on the atomic plans to somebody

at the American Embassy?

Does it matter?

Yes, it does.

The guy I knew and trusted at the embassy just moved back home,

so I was going to have to play it by ear.

Ha! You have an answer for everything, don't you?

It only seems that way because you never stop asking me questions.

I'm not a spy, Douglas.

I hear people lie to me all the time.

So you can tell when I'm telling the truth?

You are cleverer than most.

Mm-hmm.

And that's why you like me.

Well, that's one of the reasons.

Have you heard anything about a plot to free the King

and take him to America?

Maybe I have,

but I don't give it much credence.

Or, at least, the American part.

Why not?

Because your King would be a liability to America.

Do you think Roosevelt wants to go into the schoolbooks as the man

who invited the King of England back to the US of A?

Don't go thinking Roosevelt is some kind of fanatical Anglophile.

He's a politician, and back home, that means a wily bird.

Well, of course, it's politically sensitive.

Politically, it's suicide.

Every politician is promising he won't get American boys

into a foreign war.

Do you think anyone's going to invite your King there,

when he's the focal point of the whole European wrangle?

Wrangle?

Over here, we call it war.

You can call it anything you like,

but for most people back home, it's in the past tense.

And the Germans - they changed the tense.

Sorry, Doug.

I needed to know where you stood.

Did it work?

I wasn't just joking around.

It's not going to be easy to draw America into the war.

No.

But with those calculations...

..they might have woken them up.

I guess we'll never know.

ENGINE RUMBLES

BELL CHIMES

Hello, Arthur.

Hello, Superintendent.

Any special instructions?

Over or under development?

The only special instruction is keep your mouth shut about it.

Righto.

Good man. Thanks.

BRASS BAND PLAYS

-Archer!

-General Kellermann.

Ah, Molotov, Von Ribbentrop and Goebbels. What a trio!

Putting all your eggs in the basket, yes?

But after the Mall incident,

I am sure the army will be keeping a tighter watch.

MEN CHANT: "SIEG HEIL!"

Hauptsturmfuhrer Schroder.

IN GERMAN:

BRASS BAND CONTINUES PLAYING

-MEN:

-Sieg Heil! Sieg Heil!

EXPLOSION

SCREAMING

YELLING IN GERMAN

SCREAMING

You're going to go to the unoccupied zone.

You'll be safer there.

GUNSHOTS

-It's starting.

-What is?

GUNSHOTS

The crackdown.

Do you want to stay with me, Archer, on my personal staff?

You can come all the way to the top.

KNOCK AT DOOR

Harry Woods didn't turn up for a meeting with the Crime Super.

You don't think he could've been picked up?

They're arresting thousands

and drafting in interrogators from everywhere.

The Germans seem damn close to producing an atomic bomb.

We have no option but to go in and raid Bringle Sands.

Still, we can sabotage the rest.

You want me to get the King to Bringle Sands?