The Fingers of Mrs Figgis

"The Fingers of Mrs Figgis" is the eighth episode of the first series of the British children's television programme Julia Jekyll and Harriet Hyde. The episode was directed by Albert Barber and written by series creator Jim Eldridge. It was first broadcast in the UK on BBC One on 17 November 1995.

In the episode, the Jekyll family's cleaner Mrs Figgis (Josie Kidd) steals valuables from their home while Moira (Victoria Williams) is incapacitated with an ankle injury. Julia (Olivia Hallinan) investigates Mrs Figgis' thievery, but needs the help of her alter ego Harriet Hyde (John Asquith) to recover the stolen goods.

Plot
With her leg in a cast following an ankle injury, Moira Jekyll discusses a book she's reading with the family cleaner - Mrs Figgis. She details how the book's protagonist invites a woman into his home while he is incapacitated with a broken leg and the woman steals all his belongings - all the while Mrs Figgis steals the Jekylls' belongings. With Moira oblivious to the theft, Mrs Figgis leaves as Julia and Jerry come home. Jerry and Moira praise Mrs Figgis' help and the cost of her service, while Julia is suspicious. Jerry notices the missing ornaments, and he and Moira recount other missing items from the house. Julia suggests that Mrs Figgis stole the items, but her parents dismiss the possibility.

Julia enters the kitchen to continue working on an antidote, turning into Harriet Hyde as she mixes various chemicals. The hours pass with Moira enthralled in her book. As the doorbell rings, Harriet turns back into Julia after drinking a mixture - finally finding the formula for the antidote. However, due to Moira's injury, Julia has to answer the door before she can write down the formula. Striding into the house are Mrs Rocket, the Blister Sisters, Memphis Rocket and Lester Blister, who have come to cheer Moira up - although with her book, she doesn't need it. Mrs Rocket and her son insist, while the Blisters have been blackmailed into helping after Lester was caught fiddling his mark book.

The Rockets aim to entertain Moira with an evening of song - Memphis starting immediately with flashing lights as he performs a rendition of 'It's Not Unusual' by Sir Tom Jones. He unbuttons his jacket during the performance to reveal a lacy shirt, prompting Moira to cover Julia's eyes. Mr Blister is unamused. More hours pass, and the quintet sing and dance to 'I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing' by The Hillside Singers, with Moira and Julia now visibly bored. Before Mrs Rocket can carry out a solo performance of songs from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific, Julia ushers them out and picks up the vial of her antidote. However, Mrs Figgis returns with Moira's shopping, leading Julia to hide the vial inside a bravery award that Jerry received from the Steamroller Society. As Mrs Figgis leaves, she steals the bravery award - and Julia's antidote along with it. All she bought for Moira was a solitary teabag.

A few hours later, Jerry and Julia return home and find Jerry's bravery award missing. Having watched every police TV series ever made, Jerry takes it upon himself to find out who stole the award, and wants to know everyone who has been at the house that day. Julia identifies Mrs Figgis as the thief, but Jerry rejects this as she is the obvious culprit. Jerry wants all the other suspects to return to the house and re-enact their actions. While Moira dreads the thought of another three hours of singing, Jerry believes it to have been a cover for the thief to act.

Mrs Figgis brings the bravery award to a pawnbroker, who values the item at 50 pence. Julia arrives and overhears Mrs Figgis insulting both her and her parents. Distraught, Julia confronts the pair and places them under citizen's arrest, ordering the pair to return the stolen items and come with her to the police station. The pair chase Julia around the shop, but she runs off behind a curtain. Believing to have her cornered, the pair follow her - only to be thrown away by Harriet Hyde. But in the chaos, the vial containing the antidote has spilled open and the formula is lost.

Back at the Jekyll household, Jerry - now donning a detective-style trench coat - accuses one or more of the Rocket Academy visitors of stealing his award. The Blister Sisters deny the charges, claiming not to have wanted his bravery award to begin with. Lester also protests, only for Jerry to wrongly identify him as using the alias 'Mustapha Peepee', and Memphis as 'Fingers Fred'. Outraged at the allegations, Mrs Rocket threatens to call the police, only for two police officers to arrive with Julia and the bravery award. Moira and Jerry are gobsmacked to learn that Mrs Figgis was one of the thieves. Insulted by Jerry's false accusations, the Rocket Academy quintet vow never to sing for the Jekylls again and leave. Julia takes the vial from the bravery award as the police explain how she tracked Mrs Figgis to the pawnbroker's shop. The officer breaks down with laughter recounting how Mrs Figgis and the pawnbroker were begging to be saved from 'a monster - some big ugly hairy girl'. He goes to fetch a glass of water from the kitchen, only to scream in horror at the sight of Harriet Hyde as the credits roll.

Cast

 * Julia Jekyll - Olivia Hallinan
 * Moira Jekyll (credited as 'Mum') - Victoria Williams
 * Jerry Jekyll (credited as 'Dad') - Bill Fellows
 * Memphis Rocket - Simon Green
 * Mrs Rocket - Ann Emery
 * Lester Blister - Robert Portal
 * Mrs Figgis - Josie Kidd
 * Pawnbroker - Bob Goody
 * Policeman - Stephen Bent
 * Nicola Blister - Tiffany Griffiths
 * Sharon Blister - Karen Salt
 * Harriet Hyde - John Asquith

Crew
Executives:


 * Director - Albert Barber
 * Writer - Jim Eldridge
 * Producer - Jeremy Swan
 * Executive Producer - Anna Home
 * Musical Director - Jonathan Cohen
 * Casting Directors:
 * Jane Deitch
 * Angela Grosvenor
 * Makeup Designer - Elaine Smith
 * Costume Designer - Rosemary Cheshire
 * Production Designer - George Kyriakides

General production staff:


 * Production Assistant - Jane Jenkins
 * Assistant Floor Manager - Gabrielle Lindemann
 * Production Manager - Oliver Cookson
 * Studio Resource Manager - Andrew Garnett

General post-production staff:


 * Videotape Editor - Damian Raistrick
 * Vision Mixer - Hilary West

Script department:


 * Script Editor - Marilyn Fox

Camera and lighting department:


 * Camera Supervisor - Nigel Saunders
 * Lighting Director - Alan Jeffery

Art department:


 * Production Buyer - Pauline Seager
 * Graphic Designer - Pete Wane
 * Art Director - Nick Harding

Special and visual effects:


 * Visual Effects Designer - Roger Turner
 * Video Effects - Dave Chapman

Sound:


 * Sound Effects - Keith Eldridge
 * Sound Supervisor - Alan Machin

Trivia

 * This episode is the first not to have any scenes set at the Rocket Academy.
 * This is the first episode to introduce Mrs Figgis as an occasional recurring character. In this episode, the pawnbroker refers to her first name as Ethel, but in later appearances her name was changed to Daisy.