Twelve Hours

DVD, The Champions (Twelve Hours)

The premise is sound, and far from it feeling like being stuck in a sub for twelve hours, it bobs along nicely, and as the first of several submarine episodes it has the element of novelty. The cramped confines aren't confining, but neither is enough pressure built up to make for barely contained explosive drama. The surly skeleton crew of shipyard engineers (which you'd have thought would be Scottish, but aren't), from Loch Tranith, look a bit miffed at their predicament and Richard's jump to taking charge when the Captain's killed, but it's really only bad apple Raven, senior engineer, who causes trouble or plots to kill the champions' charge, President Drobnic, whom they're charged with escorting on his diplomatic tour. I thought Raven had some kind of redemption by the end, but he was always difficult and never helpful. The other man, Hayley, was even worse, taking the initiative for his survival into his own hands and using the escape hatch even though the depth means he'll be dead from the dreaded bends, too deep for divers to reach, or for those trapped to use the hatch safely. And Jackson, a young man who loses the dealing of the cards, getting the black ace which means he'll have to be the one to kill Drobnic, whose recovery is holding up the essential pumping of water out of the hull. The balance between Drobnic's emergency surgery by Sharron's hand, and the need to pump which will mean the sub lists and shudders, putting delicate Drobnic in danger, is well handled, but it could have been a better use of rising tension all the same.

One thing is sure, and that's the confidence and single-mindedness of Sharron and Richard - they know their duties, and even though those they deal with are older and more experienced in this environment (or in the case of Madame Drobnic, used to being in a position of power), they keep calm and hold their own in the face of opposition, always knowing what to do and doing it to the best of their ability. While the trope of one or more of the main characters being kidnapped doesn't hold true, they're still essentially trapped thanks to the devious plan of one Martin Vedel whose plan is to kill off Drobnic by setting some piece of naval equipment to explode when the sub is underwater during Drobnic's tour of the loch. Why he wanted a tour of some loch, I don't know, but I suppose it was more to see what a British naval submarine could do. And why the navy didn't check the stolen stores to make sure nothing was amiss, I don't know either. Times were simpler? Granted, the theft was a short-lived event, with the police catching up with Joe and his mate soon after the report of the incident, but you'd think sensitive equipment would have been carefully checked over. It's also difficult to see how Vedel and his men could have hijacked exactly the right stores van that was going to send equipment to the HMS Weatherby at the right time for Drobnic to be aboard. We learn at the end of the episode that it was someone in Drobnic's own party who organised the assassination attempt, and they could have had an insider in Loch Tranith Naval Base, I suppose…

I do wish Richard and Sharron had had to do more than push Raven against a wall or retort sternly to keep control, but things couldn't go too far as they were experienced engineers - I can imagine Raven (played by Mike Pratt, most famous for being Randall in 'Randall & Hopkirk Deceased'), being a little more fleshed out and sly when he was merely blunt and grumpy. The issue of command hierarchy was also something that could have been addressed more, except that Richard brooks no argument on the subject. It was extreme for the engineers to agree that someone had to kill the recovering Drobnic so the pumps could be started, but they were all in fear of their lives, not wanting to be entombed at the bottom of the loch, and frightened people in desperation, and looking for self-preservation can do some terrible things. Fortunately for Drobnic, upon whom much depended in East/West relations, he had the protection of the champions of law, order and justice at his side! What was a simple escort mission, personal security for the President and his wife, turns into unscheduled surgery by the hand of Sharron, who Richard claims is a qualified doctor, though she says surgery isn't her branch of medicine. Of course she goes through with it anyway as the only chance her patient has of survival.

They really should have shown her studying up on surgery techniques, reading every book in the sickbay at super-fast speeds - that was a missed opportunity to show her powers of being a quick learner and able to read faster than any normal woman. Maybe that would have made things too secure and we needed the outcome to be uncertain? Their powers are on display for all to see. The wiry little Madame Drobnic wrenches her arm away from Raven, though it's questionable how hard he was trying, and it's not clear whether it was Sharron's physical strength that pulled the woman's arm out like a child's for the sleeping drug jab, or force of will as she stares intently, that compelled the older woman. The only other ability she gets to show off is a greater than average endurance of hardship: she and Richard are both visibly able to breathe normally when the others are finding it difficult (so much so that Raven even accuses Richard of using some of the emergency supply keeping Drobnic alive). Their abilities aren't limited to wacky powers, but the peak of physical performance, and that was a great way of showing they can still function when even great lunks like Raven are collapsing into unconsciousness. The men still get the greater part of the powers: Richard's quick reactions save the ungrateful senior engineer, Raven, from a pipe that was about to fall; when Raven tries to sever Drobnic's drip in a fit of pique, he gets an arm chop and himself shoved up a wall; and at that same wall when Richard's held at gunpoint by the nervous Jackson, he knows exactly when the lad is about to strike him, whips round, catches the blow and pushes him out. And that was after hearing the guy surreptitiously enter from another room down the corridor.

Craig is just as useful to the mission even though he's not part of it - he's supposed to be setting up the American leg of the tour, but returns to Tremayne's office because of a feeling his friends are in trouble. It's no wonder Tremayne was becoming more and more suspicious of his agents as Craig can't even explain it, and that's not the only time in the episode it occurs, either: he photographically recalls a file on Vedel after getting the name from Joe, making Tremayne incredulous again that he could remember such a thing off the top of his head like that. And at the base, when all seems lost because communication has been cut off with the sub and Richard hadn't been told he needed to turn the pressure compensation valve as the sub rose, he sends a mental picture of it, saving their lives. Except, as Admiral Cox said, there was no way to let them know this vital piece of information. I expect he left that part out of his report to Tremayne and Richard could have made up some story about seeing it in a film or something, but it's all forgotten in the relief that the sub surfaces safely. And the biggest contribution he makes is to talk to Richard through the scrambler and yet somehow make his voice understandable so Richard knows to turn off the scrambler switch. I don't know why he didn't send a picture of the switch, as that would seem easier, but it's good to have different ways of succeeding.

On the whole I thought it was a little better than I'd expected, but then I may have been thinking of other submarine episodes they did, since it was overused. Although this was the first episode to show the submarine set, it wasn't the first to feature some part of it - 'The Dark Island' used the conning tower briefly. The view behind the tower, as well as from the naval building, was obviously a painting, but they did use good stock footage of the sub leaving the dock or descending and ascending. The model used underwater was okay, if clearly a model, but I like that they used every aspect of the filmmaking of the time to tell stories. I imagine the model of HMS Weatherby on the Admiral's desk was the same used for those sequences. They also use the docks location which they'd done a few times by this point, and the staircase room was well disguised as a hotel lobby (previously seen in that guise in 'The Ghost Plane' as the ski lodge reception), where the post-credits sequences takes place - fittingly it's Craig alone since he's not in the episode as much: this time he catches a load of parcels a woman flings at him, carries them up several flights of stairs, and still gets to the right floor just after the woman's exited the lift and stupidly tries looking for him among the throng of people coming out! It's not the greatest display of prowess, more frivolous than anything, but it shows Craig a gentleman and gives him some added time in the episode.

Most of his scenes are with Tremayne, who pops up to look worried a few times. Interestingly, we learn he must have sleeping quarters just off his office (perhaps that door we've seen to the right of the entrance), as he comes to the phone in his office attired in a dressing gown as if he was spending the night there. It shows he cares about his agents if he's staying there twenty-four hours a day to hear news or coordinate. One little bungle was most amusing, though wouldn't be obvious unless you were paying close attention: he has his back to the door while he's on the phone early in the episode, presses the button to let Craig in, pulls his arm back, then the door closes automatically and he remembers he has to press the button to close it so you see his arm stretch out to press it, even though the door's already shutting of its own accord! Technically you never see him press the button either time as it's just off the edge of the screen, but you can see from the gesture that's what he's doing. The only other questionable thing I could think of was why there would be a submarine in a loch? Isn't a loch a closed body of water, the Scottish word for lake? If so, why would there be a naval base on a loch, unless it was used for training exercises. And why would you have shipyards there (the crew are made up of shipyard engineers)? Did the sub get built there or was it somehow transported in modular parts and reconstructed?

Once again the credits throw up some questions about whose character is worthy of inclusion. Most of the main speaking roles do get credited, with some strange inclusions or exceptions: Trimmer, the good guy pilot whom Richard relies upon a lot for backup, and has a fair bit to do, doesn't get in. Nor does Hayley, the errant engineer that escaped through the decompression chamber, and he was very vocal. Lieutenant-Commander Street, the Captain of the good HMS Weatherby, is killed in the explosion and so isn't in it much, but he does get a credit, as does 'Naval Captain' which I assume is the guy who speaks to the champions on the conning tower at the end, but could also have been in the room with the Admiral in those scenes. Even the 'Telegraphist' is credited, which must be the radio operator who tries to be in contact with the sub from Cox' office, but Joe, the hired thug, and Vedel, the glasses-wearing foreign villain who hired him, are both excluded! So it's bizarre and uneven. I don't know why they didn't just squeeze in a third page of credits and have all the speaking roles in there. At least there's a nice, if talky, ending, with Richard relieved that his and Sharron's part in escorting the Drobnics is over, until Craig breaks the news that Madame Drobnic has requested them for the American leg, too!

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