The Cambridge Spy (TV story)

The Cambridge Spy was the sixteenth episode of Series 1 of K9 and featured the first time-travel adventure of the show.

Synopsis
A freak accident engages the Space-Time Manipulator and Jorjie is taken back in time to November 1963. K9 and Starkey follow to rescue her and become embroiled in a spy-ring and a race against time to save Darius from never having existed. Gryffen enlists June's help to bring Jorjie back to their time and save Darius.

Plot
At the mansion, as Gryffen works on the Space-Time Manipulator Starkey is beaten at Chess by K9. He argues that K9 cheated but K9 tells him that "cheating is a tactic employed to alter the odds when one is in danger of defeat" and that he was never in danger of defeat. When Darius chuckles, Starkey challenges him but he refuses to let Starkey wipe the floor with him again as usual. Starkey wonders why Jorjie is looking at some papers in the corner, she tells him that they're Police files and Newspapers Gryffen found in the basement back from when the mansion was a Police station. Starkey asks Jorjie why she is wearing a rainbow and she replies with some 60's slang. She tells him she's got a history assignment due on Friday, "The impact of music culture and criminal activity in 1960's England". K9 fails to understand the exchange of slang between Starkey and Jorjie, when she tells him it's fun K9 joins in. Among the papers, Jorjie finds something interesting. In 1963 there was a Russian Spy-ring working in the district and the mansion (then a police station) was the centre of investigations. Darius thinks the Russians were friends of Britain at that time, K9 notes how his history knowledge is "sadly" lacking.

K9 tells the team that in the 1960's the Government considered the Russians a very serious threat to this country, there was great alarm about Russian spies. Jorjie decides to look up the Cyberpedia about 1963. As the storm grows louder, Gryffen is excited that the STM is working. The STM sends out a ball of Green energy which flies across the mansion and hits Jorjie, making her vanish. Starkey, Darius and K9 tell Gryffen in the Chess room what happened to Jorjie, he tells them how he was working on the Quantum equaliser and it was going so well but there was a power surge. K9 tells Starkey that the Quantum equaliser maintains the balance between Space and Time, it's disruption could open a time stream. Jorjie has been sent to a different time, the same place but a different time. K9 says that if equaliser wasn't stable it could be anytime. Darius then finds a newspaper dated 1963 with the headline and picture of a Cat burglar arrested, he spots Jorjie in the background and shows the team.

In 1963, a reporter finishes taking pictures of two Policemen holding the arrested Cat burglar, they then take him to the cells. The Constable finds a confused Jorjie and asks if he can help, Jorjie pokes him, discovering he's real. She asks him the year, he replies 1963. She tries to call Gryffen using her communicator, the Constable is confused by the look of it. He suspects that she is a Russian spy and asks her name. Then a boy called William Pike who looks identical to Darius helps Jorjie by claiming to the Constable that he's her brother, however the Constable takes them both away. Back in 2050, K9 determines that the lightning surge destablised the equaliser, Jorjie's VR goggles acted as a channel for the power, sucking her into the portal. Darius tries to contact Jorjie but fails, Gryffen is confused as the Time stream is still open and they should be able to communicate. Starkey decides to go after her, Gryffen tells him he doesn't know how long the portal will remain open and Jorjie has to be found immediately and he needs to lock on and transport him. K9 decides to join Starkey, as does Darius but Gryffen says he needs someone to remain and help him operate the portal. Darius objects as he wants to find Jorjie, Gryffen insists that he can't do it alone and that if Darius wants to save Jorjie he should help him here. As Starkey prepares to leave Gryffen warns him that if the portal closes he won't be able to reopen it and he will be trapped in 1963.

In 1963, Jorjie and Bill are locked up in a cell, she wonders why he calls himself Bill. He says its his name, William Pike, and wonders why she goes on with "this Darius stuff". She realises he isn't Darius, Bill assures her that as she's a kid the Police will call her parents and it will be sorted out, Jorjie tells him he has no idea. The Constable walks out of the Police station and takes a look at a Car, he finds a folder in a seat but is interrupted by the arrival of K9 and Starkey. K9 greets the Constable with some 60's slang as Starkey contacts Jorjie however he ends up calling the Constable as he confiscated Jorjie's communicator. The Constable asks Starkey and K9 to accompany him to the station but Starkey snatches Jorjie's communicator and runs off with K9. The Constable then finds another man with a communicator and takes him away. Later, he puts him in Jorjie's cell and tells Bill to come with him for interrogation. The man then introduces himself to Jorjie as Miles Barrington Smythe. In 2050, Gryffen is disturbed by Jorjie's presence in the newspaper, he gets Darius to look through them to spot anymore alterations. He warns that to begin with, it may only be just a photo, but the longer they are there the greater the chance they'll affect something really significant. He explains that the present as we know it is a result of what's happened in the past and if the past has been changed then so has the present. Darius then spots something, a story about his Great-Grandfather, accused of being part of a Russian spy-ring and being convicted for treason.

In 1963, while the Constable takes a look at the communicator, a Man, identical to Thorne arrives. The Constable tells him that the suspect is as requested in the interrogation room, he gives him the folder he found in the Car. The Constable and the man meet Bill in the interrogation room, the Constable introduces the man as Agent Barker from MI6. He puts the folder on the table, Bill says he will explain everything, Barker agrees that he will as the Constable leaves. Darius confirms the boy in the picture is his Great-Grandfather, Gryffen ascertains that the past has been changed and that if he ended up in prison he may have never met Darius' Great-Grandmother who never who had given birth to his Grandfather who would have never married his Grandmother who would have never given birth to his Father, Darius shouldn't exist. But as he does Gryffen thinks everything may have worked out fine, however this is disproved as Darius starts to fade away. As he fades completely, June arrives asking to see Jorjie, Gryffen worryingly chuckles. Starkey and K9 sneak nearby the station, K9 detects two people, one of them Jorjie in a cell 14.2 meters away. Starkey prepares to grab her and get "our butts back through that portal", K9 agrees "rapid transport of butts imperative".

Starkey contacts Gryffen who reveals what happened to June, he tells him he and K9 are nearly ready. June can't believe he let it happen but Gryffen says it was just a coincidential anomaly and he'll get them back. Starkey tells Gryffen he's found Jorjie and will be ready to transport her in 10 minutes. Gryffen tells him theres a problem, they have to save Bill or Darius will cease to exist. They sneak through the Police sttion and Starkey snatches the communicator. They then arrive at Jorjie's cell, Starkey asks if she has seen Bill. She says he's being held in the interrogation room. K9 blasts open the door, Miles shows the way to the interrogation room. In 2050, Gryffen tells June they have to give the portal all the power they can with the same way it powered up before, lightning. The electrical surge will run directly to the STM if someone holds the antenna out the window. Due to Gryffen's Agoraphobia, it has to be June. Gryffen assures her the antenna dish will protect her and he gives her some gloves. In 1963 the gang sneak through but they see the Constable typing a letter. Starkey asks K9 to provide a distraction, he then plays a Car Crash sound effect. Miles alerts the Constable to a crash, the Constable recognises him as the man he arrested and chases after him.

In the Interrogation room, Barker questions Bill as to why Russian documents ended up in his cab, he tells him he doesn't know and that he's not a spy. He says he has his rights and he wants his lawyer, Barker tells him spies has no rights. K9, Jorjie and Starkey arrive to save him, Barker threatens to have them all arrested along with Bill they note his resemblence to Thorne. K9 blasts the wall, Barker gives in and allows them to dissapear. Gryffen finds they are succeeding as Darius starts to return. Starkey and Jorjie contact Gryffen telling him they are ready to go, but they can't recieve him. June gets outside the window ready for the antenna to recieve the strike, Darius starts to fade again. As Starkey tries to contact Gryffen, Miles arrives. The lightning strikes the antenna, powering up the STM. Starkey tells Bill to escape, he refuses to disgrace the family and stays to prove his innocence. As Barker insists he's guilty and will be going to prison, Darius fades away.

The Portal becomes very unstable. Jorjie tells Bill he knows he's innocent, he tells her he has to prove his innocence. Barker says that the evidence proves otherwise, Jorjie argues that it doesn't prove anything. Barker says that Bill is guilty until proven innocent. K9 decides to prove him innocent by taking a look through the document, he detects the language as Russian and that there is a coded message. Based on a basic mathematical equation, the details of a spy network located in this area just like in the newspaper. Barker insists this only proves Bill is guilty and tries to leave but is stopped by another blast from K9. He detects this message is to a spy, instructing him to use his government employee card to access information and as Bill is not a government employee, he is innocent. K9 tries to find who the name of the spy is but detects the document is going to explode and warns every one to get down. The Document explodes, Starkey is contacted by Gryffen who tells him he has less then a minute. They say goodbye to Bill and K9 gives out somemore 60's slang as the team get back to their own time.

In 2050, Darius comes back to existance and the others come through the STM. Everyone is glad to be all back together and they all laugh. Later, K9 scans World situation and ascertains that no significant changes to the timeline has occured. Jorjie is dissapointed, Gryffen explains that "tempting as it may be to change the world by changing the past, it creates far too many problems". Starkey then says that "We're stuck with changing it from here". In 1963, Barker meets with Miles (who is a Russian spy) to discuss their close escape, Barker complains that Miles took his time setting the self-destruct and that "the mechanical-dog" almost revealed him. Miles tells him he was interested to see it's capabilities, Barker hopes the next time he passes material on to him he'll take better care of it. Miles argues that he needed to hide it quickly and the Cab was convinient, Barker hands him a copy of the Document. Miles appreciates this and hopes that one day Britain will have a society like communist Russia. They both leave the street.

Cast

 * K9 Mark 2 - John Leeson
 * Starkey - Keegan Joyce
 * Jorjie Turner - Philippa Coulthard
 * Darius Pike - Daniel Webber
 * Professor Alistair Gryffen - Robert Moloney
 * June Turner - Robyn Moore
 * William Pike - Daniel Webber
 * Barker - Jared Robinsen
 * Constable - Daniel Murphy
 * Miles Barrington Smythe - Corey Robinson

Production crew

 * Writer - Jason Bourque
 * Director - Mark DeFriest
 * Producers - Penny Wall, Richard Stewart, Simon Barnes
 * Executive producers - Jim Howell, Grant Bradley, Steve Robbins
 * Associate producers - Bob Baker, Paul Tams
 * Supervising producer - Dale Bradley
 * Co-Executive producer - Mark Blythe
 * With special thanks - Sam Tromans
 * Line producer - Pam Collis
 * VFX Director - David Napier
 * Series Production Designer - Jon Dowding
 * Episodic Designer - Adam Head
 * New K9 Design by - Paul Tams, Alex Kubalsky
 * Series Director of Photography - Ben Nott
 * Episodic Director of Photography - Tony O'Loughlan
 * Music by - Christopher Elves
 * K9 theme music by - Micheal Lira
 * Editor - Russell Maggs
 * Casting - Faith Martin and associates
 * Episodic casting - Lisa Moloney
 * Drama/Dialogue coach - Peter Kent
 * Story Producer - Greg Walters
 * Script Adaption - Michaelet O'Brien
 * Production Accountant - Pru Donovan
 * 1st Assistant Director - Peter McLennan
 * Script Supervisor - Sue Ketchington
 * Costume Designer - Joanne Thompson
 * Makeup Designer - Sharon Robbins
 * Puppeteer - David Pawsey
 * Location Manager - Charles Boyle
 * Sound Recordist - Ian Grant
 * B Camera Operator - Dan Maxwell
 * Gaffer - Steve Monk
 * Key Grip - Billy Harmer
 * Special thanks to - Space Furniture, Shredox, J. Barbour & Sons Ltd, Heath Williams at Firefly Lighting, Videopro
 * Safety Supervisor/Stunt Coordinator - Danny Baldwin
 * Transport Manager - Alister Ward
 * Unit Manager - Graeme Suhr
 * Post Production Facility - Cutting Edge Australia
 * Head of Post Production - John Lee
 * Sound Design - Warren Pearson

Story notes

 * Despite the fact Thorne was re-introduced in the previous episode, he does not appear, instead his Great-Grandfather does.

Ratings
to be added

Myths
to be added

Filming locations
to be added

Production errors
to be added

Continuity

 * Jorjie is sent to November, 1963. The same month the first episode of Doctor Who was both broadcast and set. (DW: An Unearthly Child)
 * In universe, Shoreditch was becoming the centre of a Dalek power struggle at the same time. (DW: Remembrance of the Daleks)
 * VR goggles first appeared in K9TV: Regeneration.
 * When William Pike's future is distrupted, Darius is almost erased and starts to fade away. This isn't the first time interferrance in the timeline in 1963 had caused something like this, Amy Pond almost faded away after the Daleks exterminated Humanity. (VG: City of the Daleks)

Home video releases
This episode is featured in the Series One complete boxset.