Cabin Pressure Trivia

1. In the second episode of series four, 'Uskerty', Carolyn arranges a last minute diversion to the titular destination in order to buy what gift for her boyfriend Herc?

From Quiz The 'Cabin Pressure' Alphabet Part Three

Answer: Stuffed sheep

Knowing that Herc has a phobia of sheep, Carolyn has decided to go out of her way to buy him the one gift he will despise most. Carolyn drags Martin with her to pick up the stuffed sheep which she has bought from a woman in Uskerty. When Carolyn gets into an argument with the taxi driver she, Martin and the sheep find themselves stranded on a country road. Their journey back to the airfield involves Martin channeling his inner Winnie the Pooh when faced with some bees and being harassed by a goose. While Carolyn and Martin are on their road trip, Douglas and Arthur have fun in the deserted airport and bond over pineapple juice. Elsewhere, the airport manager, Gerry, is finally able to put his new x-ray equipment to some use by scanning a flock of geese, one of which has swallowed Martin's cygnet ring.

From Quiz Come Fly the Friendly Skies

Answer: MJN

MJN stands for 'My Jet Now', as the company's plane was acquired as part of the owner's divorce settlement. She is quick to point out that she is C.E.O. of an 'airdot' rather than an airline, as you cannot put one plane in a line.

From Quiz The 'Cabin Pressure' Alphabet Part Three

Answer: Liechtenstein

In this episode Carolyn reluctantly agrees to go on holiday with Herc, leaving MJN in the 'capable' hands of Martin and Douglas. No sooner have the couple departed than MJN receives a booking to fly the king of Liechtenstein back from Vaduz to his school in England. The young king is accompanied by his older sister, Theresa, who seems immediately taken with Martin, much to the captain's surprise. Meanwhile Arthur teaches the king of Liechtenstein how to play 'yellow car' and Herc makes professions of love to Carolyn which go unanswered.

From Quiz The 'Cabin Pressure' Alphabet Part Two

Answer: Watch

Martin is convinced that the watch he bought in Hong Kong is a genuine Patek Philippe but Douglas remains unconvinced and is proved to be in the right when the watch begins playing the theme tune to 'The Simpsons'. 'Limerick' takes place in real-time as the crew attempt to pass the time on an interminably long journey by playing word games including composing various limericks and trying to think of celebrities with 'evil-sounding' names. When Arthur asks what is in the box they are transporting Douglas instigates a game of 'twenty questions' but when Arthur finally works out what is in the box he wishes he had never asked. Elsewhere Arthur is trying to learn the NATO phonetic alphabet, we learn the difference between an admiral's pie and a mere fisherman's pie and some heart-to-heart conversations take place on the flight deck.

From Quiz Come Fly the Friendly Skies

Answer: Carolyn Knapp-Shappey

Carolyn certainly runs her airdot with a rod of iron, probably for the best given the ragtag air crew she has to deal with and the company's seemingly infinite capacity for losing money! Carolyn is played by the veteran English actress Stephanie Cole.

From Quiz The 'Cabin Pressure' Alphabet Part Three

Answer: Prunella Scales

At the beginning of this episode Martin is told that his mother has been taken to hospital and he rushes to be with her. Martin does his best to care for his mother when she returns home but finds juggling his caring duties with his job as a pilot and his work as a man with a van exhausting. Luckily, Arthur is on hand to cheer Wendy up and take on Martin's duties. We also meet the other Crieffs, Martins siblings Caitlin and Simon, and learn a little about why Martin is the way he is. Elsewhere, Douglas gives Martin some useful advice on dealing with his domineering older brother and Carolyn and Douglas discover that they are both very good at avoiding words with more than one syllable.

From Quiz The 'Cabin Pressure' Alphabet Part One

Answer: Hester Macauley

Hester (played by Helen Baxendale) has recently starred in a popular film based on the story of King Arthur and his knights and is consequently being followed around by groups of beardy male fans dressed in home-made armour and, "singing a song about a dragon". With the help of a dozen black shirts Douglas is able to concoct a cunning plan to allow the crew to upgrade from the horrible hotel Carolyn has insisted on them staying at to somewhere much more fitting. Meanwhile Martin has trouble playing it cool around Hester and Arthur ponders the age old moral dilemma of whether it is unprofessional to inform a client that you once made a collage of their face out of pasta.

From Quiz Come Fly the Friendly Skies

Answer: Benedict Cumberbatch

Martin loves being a pilot and he claims it is all he has ever wanted to do. Unfortunately he is not very good at it and has taken seven attempts to get his pilot's license, which helps to explain why he is working for MJN for free while moonlighting as a 'man with a van'.

From Quiz The 'Cabin Pressure' Alphabet Part Three

Answer: Snowmen

The crew are about to leave Xinzhou when they are denied permission to take off because Arthur has left a large snowman on the runway. Unfortunately, it is a couple of minutes before dusk, meaning that the crew cannot dismantle the snowman in time and that they will need to leave the next day. Unfortunately, due to a broken APU, the plane's engines cannot be turned off necessitating a sleepover party on Gerti. This gives the crew the chance to bond over silly word games and shared confidences. Elsewhere, it looks like one of Arthur's snowmen might prove useful and Martin is perplexed by the aroma of mystery bacon which seems to be emanating from his shirt.

From Quiz The 'Cabin Pressure' Alphabet Part Two

Answer: Air Caledonia

The arrival of the two pilots from Air Caledonia on Gerti causes something of a stir amongst the whole crew. It turns out that Douglas knows the Air Caledonia captain, Hercules Shipwright, from their early years as pilots and he is hoping that this might help him get a job with a bigger airline again. Martin also sees the arrival of Hercules as a chance to improve his career prospects, unfortunately, since the flight is only supposed to last thirty minutes he is doubtful that this will give him much chance to make an impression, nor is it likely to give him the opportunity to get a date with Air Caledonia's first officer, Linda Fairburn, to whom he has taken an instant liking. Elsewhere, between bouts of bickering over board games, romance seems to be in the air between Carolyn and Hercules, the ghost of some of Arthur's charred toast makes an appearance, Martin gets into an argument with an airfield employee and someone receives a surprising job offer. This episode is particularly notable for two reasons. It sees the first appearance of Hercules Shipwright who will become a regular cast member as Carolyn's boyfriend and it is the only episode in which Martin is not played by Benedict Cumberbatch who had lost his voice at the time of the recording. The role of Martin was ably taken by radio comedy stalwart Tom Goodman-Hill. This episode was originally broadcast as the third episode of series three, probably due to the absence of Cumberbatch, although the show's creator, John Finnemore, has always insisted that the episodes were always intended to be broadcast in alphabetical order and that he does not view the initial disarranged broadcast order of series three as being canonical. CD releases of this series have re-established the alphabetical episode order.

From Quiz Come Fly the Friendly Skies

Answer: Douglas Richardson

Douglas is an excellent pilot, however his reckless rule-breaking and inability to resist a potentially profitable scheme, got him fired from his prestigious job at Air England, which is how a self-described 'sky god' like him finds himself taking orders from an inexperienced captain young enough to be his son. He makes up for this by teasing Martin relentlessly and beating him at every flight deck word game they play. Douglas is also something of a mastermind when it comes to saving the airdot from going out of business as he is seemingly never without a cunning plan.

From Quiz The 'Cabin Pressure' Alphabet Part Three

Answer: Strawberries

Martin has an interview for a major international airline and, while he is absent, Douglas is horrified to discover that Carolyn has invited Herc to take the captain's place. Unaware of Arthur's strawberry allergy, Herc offers him a piece of dragon fruit which causes Arthur to suffer an immediate reaction. Carolyn quickly administers the medication and the attack is under control. Elsewhere, Martin is having the interview from hell until he manages, unexpectedly, to turn the tide in his favour.

From Quiz Come Fly the Friendly Skies

Answer: Arthur

Arthur Shappey is Carolyn's son, he is in his late 20s in the first series and is an extremely cheerful and friendly character with a great eagerness to please and be helpful. Unfortunately, his attempts to help often lead to him annoying the rest of the crew as well as any passengers they are carrying. Arthur is often the victim of relentless teasing and outright insults, but nothing seems to dull his belief that people are 'brilliant' or put a dampener on his spirits. Arthur is played by the wonderful comedian and writer John Finnemore, who, as well as writing 'Cabin Pressure', also writes and stars in his own Radio 4 sketch show, 'John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme', as well as regularly appearing on Radio 4 panel shows such as 'The Unbelievable Truth' and 'Heresy' and the comedy current affairs show 'The Now Show'?

From Quiz Come Fly the Friendly Skies

Answer: Mr. Birling

The crew refer to the day of the rugby final as 'Birling Day', we have joined the crew on three separate Birling days. Mr. Burling is a rich, posh old man who enjoys being 'toadied' to by everyone around him, he is willing to tip generously as long as the crew are willing to be sufficiently obsequious and to put up with his constant insults. As well as rugby, he also has a love for fine whiskey which Carolyn always buys in for him. Douglas usually spends most of Birling day attempting to steal this expensive whiskey, and usually succeeds, since nobody outwits Douglas!

From Quiz The 'Cabin Pressure' Alphabet Part Three

Answer: Goofy

Since he is moving to Switzerland Martin wants to find a good home for his dad's van and Arthur gratefully accepts the offer. However, Martin is shocked to discover that Arthur has turned the van into an ice cream truck, by painting Goofy on the side and buying several boxes of strawberry flavoured ice lollies. Arthur's artistic abilities seem to leave something to be desired as nobody seems to realise what the painting is meant to be, with it being described variously as a 'devil' and an 'evil hippo'.

From Quiz The 'Cabin Pressure' Alphabet Part Two

Answer: Polar bears

Unbeaten Track are a Canadian firm who specialise in offering exciting adventure holidays to their clients, allowing them to view nature at first hand. Despite Martin's concerns that Gerti is the wrong type of plane for such a purpose, as it entails flying lower and more slowly than Gerti is meant to go, Douglas is quite excited about the challenge it presents. Martin becomes unbearably smug when Nancy, the holiday rep from Unbeaten Track, describes him as being a professional while saying that Douglas lacks professionalism. This leads to Douglas getting involved in even more mischief than usual. Elsewhere Arthur becomes a bear expert, Martin has to deliver a cabin address in a French accent, Douglas succeeds in nearly terrifying the passengers to death and a spirited game of 'the travelling lemon' is played.

From Quiz Come Fly the Friendly Skies

Answer: Hercules Shipwright

Hercules is introduced in the episode 'Newcastle'. It turns out that Hercules and Douglas were old friends from flight school (though subsequent episodes imply that Douglas is actually very jealous and resentful of Hercules). Hercules and Carolyn begin an argumentative flirtation during this episode which leads to other dates and a marriage proposal from Hercules in later episodes.

From Quiz The 'Cabin Pressure' Alphabet Part Three

Answer: Gordon Shappey

The auction takes a dramatic turn when Gerti seems to be attracting a lot of interest. Gordon Shappey is Carolyn's awful ex-husband and Arthur's absent father. Gordon has been desperate to get Gerti back from Carolyn after she was awarded the plane in the divorce settlement. When Gordon bids an extraordinary amount for the plane at the auction Douglas becomes suspicious about just why Gordon is so desperate to acquire such a decrepit old aircraft. Following the auction, Carolyn persuades the auctioneer to cancel Gordon's bid and sell the plane to the next highest bidder, a scrap merchant called Bruce who had bid considerably less, because she and Arthur are determined that Gordon will not get his hands on Gerti. Just as Bruce has flown off in Gerti, Douglas bursts in and tells Carolyn not to sell the plane because he is sure that there is something valuable on board. The episode ends on this cliffhanger.

From Quiz Come Fly the Friendly Skies

Answer: Liechtenstein

In the episode 'Vaduz', the crew are booked to pick up the king of Liechtenstein and fly him back to England. When they arrive at the royal palace, they are surprised to discover that the king of Liechtenstein is actually a spoiled schoolboy and that they have been hired to take him back to school in England. He is being chaperoned by his older sister, Princess Theresa, who takes quite a shine to Martin and who agrees to go on a date with him near the end of the episode. In a later episode it is revealed that they have been on other dates since.

From Quiz The 'Cabin Pressure' Alphabet Part Three

Answer: Golden wiring

The pressure is on Douglas as the whole crew of MJN are seemingly relying on him to do something clever and save the day again. After seeing how desperate Gordon is to buy Gerti, at seemingly any cost, Douglas is convinced that she must be much more valuable than they had ever imagined. Douglas, Arthur and Martin join forces to go and get the plane back, which they finally achieve after a series of setbacks. However, despite searching Gerti from nose to tail, they come up empty handed. It is when Arthur makes a silly remark about the Great Wall of China that Douglas has a flash of inspiration and discovers that all of the wiring on Gerti is made of solid gold. Douglas explains that Gordon, who must have feared that Carolyn was going to divorce him, had used most of his money to buy gold and had had it melted down, made into wires and hidden in the plane. Gordon's plan was to let Carolyn have the seemingly valuable things like the house and car in the divorce settlement while he got the beaten up old plane, thus preventing Carolyn from getting any of his money. This is why he was so desperate to get his hands on Gerti.

From Quiz Come Fly the Friendly Skies

Answer: Mr. Alyakin

During the Christmas special 'Molokai', the crew are annoyed to discover that Carolyn expects them to give up their Christmas Day to fly Mr. Alyakin from Tokyo (where they were all hoping to spend Christmas) to Molokai, meaning they will miss Christmas entirely. Carolyn is keen to impress Mr. Alyakin as he is a prolific user of charter jets and she believes if she can persuade him to use them regularly it might secure the future of MJN. It is left to Douglas to perform a Christmas miracle and make sure everything works out, leading to MJN doing various jobs for Mr. Alyakin in subsequent series.

From Quiz The 'Cabin Pressure' Alphabet Part Three

Answer: OJS

MJN had stood for 'My Jet Now' while OJS is an acronym for 'Our Jet Still', representing the fact that the airdot had survived and was still going strong. In an echo of the alphabetically ordered journeys taken by Gerti in all previous episodes, this episode returns to the beginning of the alphabet, with the crew being en route to Addis Ababa. Everybody, except for Gordon, has a happy ending, the gold wiring was sold for a considerable sum of money and Gerti lived to fly another day. Carolyn gets to keep running her airdot. Herc finally hears Carolyn tell him she loves him, they get married and he begins working for OJS. Douglas is promoted to captain while Herc becomes his first officer. Arthur is able to stand up to his bullying father, shows some surprising ingenuity and is able to continue doing the job he loves. Martin moves to Switzerland to start his dream job and to be near Theresa.

From Quiz Come Fly the Friendly Skies

Answer: four

There are four series of 'Cabin Pressure'. The first was broadcast in 2008 and the last in 2013. Each series is six episodes long, although series 2 was followed by a Christmas special so there were 25 episodes in total. Each episode had a one-word title, referring to the destination of that episode's journey, each beginning with a different letter of the alphabet, the first episode being 'Abu Dhabi' and the last being 'Yverdon-Les-Bains'. Scheduling problems meant that not all of the episodes in series 2 and 3 were broadcast in alphabetical order, even though that had been the intention. Many fans speculated that the series would end once the series reached 'Z' and creator, John Finnemore, confirmed on his blog that this would be the case. The cast would record one last 45 minute episode in which there would be resolution for some of the cliff-hangers from 'Yverdon-Les-Bains' and it would indeed be the last ever episode.

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