Season 1, Episode 2:
The Pilot (Not the Pilot)
In this World War Two spy drama, disabled pilot Lieutenant Rufus Heal works alongside British Corporal Valerie Sky and French agent Camille LeClaire to crack the latest German code. But with their superior Commander Randolph Wycombe threatening to shut down the operation and rumours of a traitor beginning to spread, will the agents manage to break the code in time and save Britain?
After Chris announces the play as having a number of historical inaccuracies, he also notes that his father Raymond will be playing the major role of Commander Wycombe, only for him not to arrive and Annie to take up the part at the last minute. Even whilst playing a silent telegram machine Dennis manages to ruin the play by revealing a major plot point prematurely, set related issues cause either extreme discomfort or physical pain to the actors, and excessively clingy makeup results in the final twist failing miserably.
Tropes
- Almost Kiss: Invoked by mistake when Vanessa jumps too early on her cue to kiss Chris, who pulls away each time. When it finally comes, he has to prompt her, leading to very awkward fussing that ends with her lips on his chin instead.
- Anachronism Stew: Played for laughs in-universe, the play features such inaccuracies as the present King being Henry VIII and the war being fought as the Vietnam War - in 1961.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Among the points from the Society’s crisis meeting were “budget spiralling, bad actors and whether or not Chris’s dad is racist”.
- Brick Joke: After delivering every wrong telegram first, Dennis has nothing to send when it's actually needed and adlibs printer error messages until the cast pushes a paper and pen through the lid of his costume.
- Comedic Underwear Exposure: Due to the failure of the blinds on the window, Jonathan (playing Winston Churchill) is literally caught with his trousers down while Trevor is trying to measure him for a new pair... and then, just as Chris has finished yelling at them, Robert shows up in his underwear with his trousers in need of refitting. After they've stood away from the window, the set wall collapses to reveal the three of them again - and this time, Trevor's taken his own trousers off in an attempt to lend them to Jonathan. Chris is halfway through having a very quiet breakdown when Dennis pops out of the telegram machine...Dennis: Shall I take mine off too?Chris: NO!
- Henry Lewis revealed in a Goes Wrong Along commentary that a deleted gag was to complete a trifecta of wartime leaders. An actor playing Joseph Stalin in another production elsewhere in the studio would show up with his trousers off, also looking for impromptu tailoring.
- Companion Cube: Dennis’s ad-libbing leads to the telegram machine becoming an actual character.Dennis: Buzz!
- Continuity Nod: During the second Time Skip transition, Annie does most of the work preparing the set for the next scene, as a nod to her being Cornley's original stage manager in The Play That Goes Wrong.
- Crazy-Prepared: Despite the fact that his face isn't supposed to be seen, Wycombe's body double is wearing a fake mustache as well.
- Cue Card: Vanessa reads out every one of Dennis' telegrams, even the clearly mistimed or improvised ones, exactly as written, even when she knows what the correct message is meant to be. This sets up Ness' own issues with improvisation, which is given greater focus in Season 2.
- Cunning Linguist: Camille is meant to be the group's translator and speaks French, German, and Spanish. Vanessa doesn't, and nobody supplied her with any lines in the appropriate language - not even on the readout from the decoder. This means that every time Vanessa has to recite a foreign phrase, she desperately resorts to lyrics from songs in that language, from "La Bamba" to "99 Luftbaloons."
- Everything Sounds Sexier in French: The point behind Vanessa's character, though her lack of knowledge of French means she adlibs "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi" in an unsuitable situation and tries to turn the lyrics to "Frere Jaques" into a romantic lament while stroking Chris's face.
- Hypocritical Humor: In the play, Valerie declares to Rufus that she's not interested in physical appearances. Immediately after delivering this line, Sandra pouts vampishly at the camera.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: A running gag has this done with various lines and the window at the back of the set, due to Robert and Jonathan standing on that particular part of the set in some ironic way that disproves the exact line.
- The Main Characters Do Everything: Played for laughs; in the climax, Adolf Hitler inexplicably shows up to personally pilot a German fighter plane and escort a double agent to safety.
- Meaningful Name: The writer of this play obviously didn't believe in subtlety, given the presence of a wounded RAF pilot who needs to heal both physically and psychologically called Rufus Heal.
- Necktie Leash: Chris accidentally inflicts this on himself when he gets his tie caught in the crank-operated radio, getting reeled in like a fish and half-throttled in the process, resulting in several lines of dialog delivered in vaguely German-sounding gibberish until Sandra takes a pair of scissors to his tie.
- No Indoor Voice: Chris’s anger at the actors not required for a scene loitering on the set causes Robert to comment that everyone thought he should play Hitler because of that tone.
- Obvious Stunt Double: Annie plays a stout male character who has a Shirtless Scene. Cue a body double trying his damndest (and failing) to hide his face.
- Playing a Tree: Dennis plays the telegram machine, who is only supposed to make noises. However, this being Dennis...[standing up to shake hands with Churchill at the end] "Vim!"
- Reaching Between the Lines: The phone conversation between Sky (Sandra) and Wycombe (Annie) is divided with a black block to create the illusion that they are in separate rooms. However when Sandra has nothing to write the information down with, Annie passes her a pencil and the block ends up falling down.
- Real-Life Relative: In universe, Chris' father Raymond was going to play Wycombe, but he fails to turn up until the very end of the show, when Chris angrily snaps at him to get out.
- Rouge Angles of Satin: For one of his ETM messages, Dennis asks Chris how to spell "Plymouth", to which Chris replies "Doesn't matter!" Cue Vanessa reading from the resulting telegram that German forces never attacked "Plimmley-mooth".
- Running Gag: Averted, this is one of the few times where Jonathan is able to get on stage and deliver his lines. Though he is still prevented from playing his role due to dodgy prosthetics.
- The Stateroom Sketch: The exit upstairs is one step and a trompe l'oeil painting of a staircase barely a foot from the door. Chris walks into it when he's first scripted to leave. Eventually he, Vanessa, Sandra, and the coatrack have to all be jammed into the tiny space at once as they all return to their "quarters."
- The Un-Twist: Invoked.
- Due to Dennis delivering the wrong telegram about Wycombe the first time, the traitor is revealed before they've even appeared.
Dennis: Vim vim vim vim vim vimvim vimmm—VIM!
Vanessa: Wycombe is a spy.
Chris: No, that's... not for now. There's another message.
Dennis: Vim vim vim vim vim vim vim vimvim vimmm—VIM!
Vanessa: The Germans didn’t attack Plymouth! There must be a spy at—
Chris: No! That’s not the message!
Dennis: Vim vim vim vimvim—VIM!
Vanessa: The war is over?
Chris: NO, IT ISN'T! Try again!
Dennis: Vim-vimvim vim vim vim—vim?
Vanessa: Oh, Wycombe is about to arrive.
Chris: Right, good. We already knew that.- As Jonathan is unable to take his makeup off, we never find out exactly who he is supposed to be under his Churchill disguise.
[defeated] "...I'm Winston Churchill." - Visible Boom Mic: When Chris' character denies the idea of hidden mics at their location, a boom slips into frame and the audio volume rises.
- Wallpaper Camouflage: Chris' character is supposed to only have one leg. After he fails to keep his real leg up, he tries to hide it by wearing a sleeve of the same pattern as the background wallpaper over his pant leg.
