'Lost in Time' (Part 2) by Rupert Laight

In 1941, Clyde and George give the Nazis the slip and race outside, darting through the graveyard to freedom. In 1889, Sarah and Emily listen as the sounds of the fire abruptly stop – did the children die? Meanwhile, in 1553, Rani chases Lady Matilda into the Queen’s bedchamber, overpowering her before she can murder Jane; seizing the dagger, Jane demands to know why Matilda has betrayed her, but the woman explains that she too is a Protestant: she wanted to make Jane into a martyr to inspire the people to rise up against Queen Mary. Seeing the dagger glow, Rani realises that it is the Chronosteel: history hasn’t been changed, instead it has been kept on course. Back in the haunted house, Emily reminds Sarah that the ghosts will still return the next day; but Sarah has other ideas, and by turning back the hands of the grandfather clock, she causes events to occur again: as the duo watch, the figure of a woman appears, walking through the hall and up the stairs… Running for their lives, Clyde and George bump into George’s schoolteacher, Miss Wyckham, almost knocking her off her bicycle; on hearing their warnings of Nazis at the church, the young teacher informs the boys that more Germans have arrived, and have captured everyone in Little Malden… Dismayed at Jane’s fate in the coming morning, Rani chooses to stay with the girl a while, instead of using the Chronosteel to send her back home straight away; whilst Jane is pleased at Rani’s decision, it is not well received by Mr Smalley and his parrot, Captain, in the present: the last grain of sand has just fallen from the hourglass – the time window must be closed now! However, when the shopkeeper attempts to seal the portal, it refuses to shut; with horror, Mr Smalley realises that the Chronosteel is preventing it from closing – the portal will soon go out of control, and when it does, it will suck in the whole planet, destroying everything! Back in the past, Emily and Sarah hear how the babysitter has locked the children in their room to keep them out of mischief; when the woman suddenly vanishes, a concerned Sarah reflects that she still hasn’t found the Chronosteel… Following Miss Wyckham back to the church, Clyde and George stay back while the schoolteacher bravely confronts the Germans, armed only with a small pistol; however, when the two boys follow her inside, they are dismayed to learn that Miss Wyckham is really a Nazi spy in disguise! The duplicitous schoolteacher explains that she and Lieutenant Koenig intend to use their transmitter to knock out all the radar stations along the coast, thereby allowing their forces to sail in undetected. But Clyde is undaunted; by pretending that his mobile phone is a bomb, he distracts the Nazis long enough to allow George to grab the Chronosteel cross; the two boys then lock themselves inside the church’s tower, sounding the bell to warn the Home Guard of their situation. With their plans defeated, Miss Wyckham, Lieutenant Koenig and the two soldiers flee from the building… Elsewhen, Sarah and Emily arrive at Ben and Katy’s bedroom, where they discover a silver key in its lock; Sarah is pleased at finding the Chronosteel, but then finds that she cannot touch it as it is in the future. Deducing that she and Emily can walk into the room because the door isn’t locked in their time, Sarah leads her friend inside, where they see the two kids playing with a candle and matches. Things go wrong quickly: the candle gets knocked over, and flames begin to consume the room – but the children are locked in! When Ben and Katy seem to hear Emily, Sarah works out that Emily’s fear is linking her to them across time; furthermore, with some encouragement Emily is able to touch the key, and she unlocks the door; the children escape unharmed, and then vanish…Back in 1553, Mistress Ellen informs Jane that Queen Mary has ordered for her to be taken to the Keep; as Jane stoically prepares herself, Rani finally bids her goodbye – and after she has use the silver dagger to disappear, Jane declares her to have been an angel… Emerging from the bell tower into the now-empty church, Clyde says goodbye to George and then uses the Chronosteel cross to return to his own time: he arrives back in the junk shop at the same time as Rani, much to Mr Smalley’s relief. With the time window now wildly out of control, its energies causing the entire building to shake, the shopkeeper urges Clyde and Rani to place their artefacts into a secure case – all they need now is the final price of Chronosteel… Back in 1889, Sarah gives Emily a farewell hug and then takes the key from her; but as Sarah starts to vanish, Emily reaches out to her again – and ends up retaking the key! As Sarah returns empty-handed to the shop, the time portal begins to go critical – just as a woman enters the shop and asks after Sarah; then, to everyone’s amazement, the woman hands over the Chronosteel key! Mr Smalley immediately puts the object into his case; the effect is immediate: the portal instantly shuts down, restoring everything to normal. Grabbing the case and his parrot, Mr Smalley enigmatically tells Sarah and the gang that the Captain’s work is done… and then he and the bird vanish into thin air! While Clyde ponders how they can have been working for a parrot all along, Sarah turns to the newcomer, who introduces herself as Angela Price – Emily’s granddaughter. It seems that Emily kept Sarah’s newspaper cutting, and instructed Angela to go to the junk shop pictured in it at the exact time needed to return the key. On learning that Emily became a respected doctor who founded a children’s hospital, Sarah is delighted, and she offers to take everyone out for a nice cup of tea… Some time later, Clyde looks up George on the internet, and learns that the boy grew up to be not only a war hero, but also that he was honoured by the Queen for his work on radar systems. Meanwhile, in her room, Rani researches Lady Jane, finding some comfort that the doomed Nine Day Queen achieved immortality through her place in history…

Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith), Daniel Anthony (Clyde Langer), Anjli Mohindra (Rani Chandra), Cyril Nri (Mr Smalley [Shopkeeper]), Amber Beattie (Queen Jane), Elizabeth Rider (Mistress Ellen), Fiona Hampton (Lady Matilda), Richard Wisker (George Woods), Tom Wlaschiha (Lieutenant Koenig), Catherine Bailey (Miss Wyckham), Gwyneth Keyworth (Emily Morris), Lucie Jones (Gemma), Morgan Faith-Hughes (Katy), Llewcus Oaten (Ben)

Directed by Joss Agnew
Produced by Brian Minchin
Executive Producers Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner and Piers Wenger
A BBC Wales production

TX:
9th November 2010 CBBC @ 5.15 pm
11th November 2010 BBC 1 & BBC 1 HD @ 4.30 pm

Notes:
*Featuring Sarah Jane Smith, Clyde and Rani