With the Kathmandu Olympics starting in a matter of hours, International Rescue must disarm a bomb placed inside gymnastic equipment!
No, wait, that's the other Vault Of Death. This one's about the vault of the Bank of England, which has been fitted with a fancy new unbreakable electronic lock and two-foot-thick steel door. The vault also includes a depressurising system, since documents last longer in a vacuum. Unfortunately, a bank employee named Lambert is trapped inside the vault and the only key is miles away. The surrounding terrain is too crowded for the Mole, forcing International Rescue to go in through the old Underground rail network. Lady Penelope and Parker race cross-country to deliver the chairman and his key to open the main door, but, on arrival at Threadneedle Street, the chairman realises he's left the key at Lady Penelope's.
Fortunately, "Nosey" Parker demonstrates his skills by popping open the Bank's expensive and complex new lock with... a hairpin. Of course, this is made somewhat irrevelvant after an old acquaitance of Parker, recently escaped from prison, blows the back off the vault as part of a robbery.
Thundertropes Are Go!:
- Abandoned Area: Virgil and Alan gain access to the Bank of England by travelling through The London Underground, which by then had been disused for decades in favour of an overhead monorail.
- A Foggy Day in London Town: In the opening scene, Lady Penelope scares the crap out of the policeman guarding the Bank of England by approaching him through a thick fog. Then Parker uses the distraction to his advantage to knock out said policeman with a chloroform-filled rag.
- Almost Out of Oxygen: An unusual example as the air is being actively pumped out of the vault in which Lambert is trapped. He is so engrossed in his work that he does not even notice until he is literally gasping for breath. Thankfully, International Rescue had already been working on freeing him for some time.
- Badass Boast: "They haven't made a vault yet that Nosey Parker can't open!"
- Bank Robbery: Parker's former cellmate, Light-fingered Fred, expressed his life's ambition was to rob the Bank of England. He succeeds at breaking into the main vault by the end of the episode, but only after both Parker and International Rescue have done it first to rescue the suffocating Lambert trapped inside.
- Blatant Burglar: Light-fingered Fred breaks into the vault at the Bank of England wearing a striped shirt, flat cap and dark glasses, and literally carrying a sack labeled "swag". It could have been worse: at least he took the time to change out of his prison uniform (grey cap and overalls, with traditional black arrows) before doing the job.
- Averted in the case of Lady Penelope and Parker, who break into the Bank in their normal clothes. But then again, they were only putting on a show for the Bank's managers to show how easy it was to do.
- Chekhov's Gun: Light-Fingered Fred's escape from prison drives the drama of the episode as Parker refuses to take Lord Stilton to the bank, fearing he'll ruin his old cellmate's ambition to rob the institution. What Happened to the Mouse? is averted in the final scene when he successfully breaks in... only to discover that everyone else has beaten him to it.
- Chekhov's Skill: Parker's expertise at opening vaults is established in the opening scene. He later uses that skill to break into the Bank of England's main vault in a matter of seconds.
- Clerk: Lambert is a particularly noteworthy example, so dedicated to his work that he does not consider leaving the nearly-airless vault until he is literally gasping for breath.
- Contrived Coincidence: Any other night, Parker would be only too happy to drive Lord Stilton to the bank at the "phenomenal speeds" promised by Lady Penelope. Unfortunately, this just so happens to be the night his old cellmate has escaped, so Parker instead does all he can to prevent Lord Stilton from crushing the man's ambition of finally robbing the Bank of England.
- Cool Key: Lord Stilton holds the electronic key to the vault of the Bank of England. He keeps this key in his briefcase, which he emphasises "never leaves my side". Of course, this does happen, and it turns out the vault can be opened with a hairpin.
- Cool Old Lady: When everyone is baffled how to get into the vault, Grandma comes up with the solution to use the old disused subway train tunnels.Grandma: When I was a little girl, I remember my grandmother telling me about the old London subway, with trains under the ground. Now it's this new-fangled monorail system.
- Cut Phone Lines: When Lovegrove attempts to contact Lord Silton at Lady Penelope's mansion to inform him that Lambert is trapped in the vault, Parker cuts the lines before the situation can be fully explained.
- A Day in the Limelight: For Parker. The Thunderbirds don't appear until halfway through the story.
- Dramatic Drop: Parker drops his tray of drinks when he overhears the chairman tell Lady Penelope that there is an emergency at the bank of England, possibly a robbery.
- Also combined with Contrived Clumsiness considering Parker had just read about Light-Fingered Fred escaping from prison.
- Drives Like Crazy: Lady Penelope, which is why she usually has Parker chauffeur her around. But this situation is an emergency and Parker was actively trying to keep Penelope and Silton from reaching the vault, so she drives back to London with terrifying speed and recklessness.
- Easily Forgiven: Despite Parker's actions endangering Lambert's life (albeit unwittingly), Lady Penelope lets him off without so much as a lecture.
- Flash Back: To Parker's days in jail.
- For the Evulz: Fred's motivation for robbing the Bank of England seems to be simply to prove to himself that he can.
- Garbage Hideout: Light-fingered Fred escapes from prison via hiding himself in a trash can.
- Gosh Dang It to Heck!: When Parker spills the tray of coffee on Lord Silton, Silton angrily calls Parker a "clumsy nincompoop".
- Hairpin Lockpick: How Parker opens the new, high tech vault to save Lambert.
- Leitmotif: Several pieces of music particular to this episode:
- Light-fingered Fred's theme.
- Lady Penelope's frantic driving to London.
- When Alan and Virgil are in the London Underground tunnels, we hear music resembling "Oranges and Lemons say the bells of St Clement's", the nursery rhyme about London churches.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: After the rescue, Lady Penelope asks Parker how it took him two and a half hours to open the old vault, while the newer, more advanced, vault only took seconds. Parker admits that it was cause they had an audience the first time, and one rule that must never be broken is: "NEVER disappoint your public!".
- Older Is Better: Seemingly played straight when Parker manages to crack the new, high tech vault in less than a minute, while the original vault took him nearly two and a half hours. Lord Silton even decides to have the old vault reinstalled after witnessing Parker cracking the new one, stating it's probably a safer model. Then averted when Parker admits to Lady Penelope he could have cracked the old vault just as quickly if he wanted, but he wanted to give his audience a good show (which of course he couldn't in a real emergency).Bank Manager: We could do worse than going back to the old design; at least that one took him two and a half hours to open.
- One Last Job: Parker's prison cellmate and veteran criminal Light-Fingered Fred tells Parker that when he gets out of prison, he is going straight; just as soon as he's done the Bank of England. Parker makes the Wrong Assumption that the emergency is Fred living his dream, leading to a lot of unnecessary danger.
- Proscenium Reveal: We see Parker and Lady Penelope actually breaking into the Bank of England, from start to finish, before it is revealed that they have been asked to do so.
- Recruiting the Criminal: Parker, a former thief, is hired by the chairman to break into the bank to test the old vault's security.
- Rule of Three: The third prison cell shown at Parkmoor Scrubs is the one normally occupied by Light-fingered Fred, who has just escaped.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: The rescue itself isn't too complicated, but keeps getting set back by ill fate. The terrain being too crowded for the Mole. Parker cutting the phone lines and being unwilling to go to the bank fast, as he believes his old cell block mate is robbing the place and wants him to get away with it. Lady Penelope's suicidal driving. Scott being unable to cut through the cell door. The chairman forgetting his key. Eventually, Virgil and Alan have to settle for using the abandoned underground system and blow a hole in the side of the vault, only to find it has already been opened by Parker.
- Speak of the Devil: Lambert, already running dangerously low on oxygen, desperately attempts to call for International Rescue... Cue Alan and Virgil bursting through the wall of the vault.Lambert: I knew you were highly efficient, but this is ridiculous!
- The Stinger: After the action, Parker's old mate finally turns up to rob the vault, finding the place already opened from two sides. He states that he'd do a better job "burglar-proofing" his child's piggy bank.
- Superdickery: What's this? Lady Penelope and Parker are robbing a bank?
- Tempting Fate: The chairman keeps insisting his briefcase "never leaves his side". Guess what he leaves at Lady Penelope's when lives depend on it?
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Parker hears that there's an emergency at the Bank of London, makes the Wrong Assumption that his old cellmate Light-Fingered Fred is trying to rob the bank, and tries to delay Lady Penelope and Lord Silton so Fred can get away with it. Parker turns out to have guessed wrong, and he risks Lambert's life for no good reason without realizing it until it's almost too late.
- Workaholic: Lambert, who's so wrapped up in his work that he refuses to answer his phone (thus missing a call that would have warned him about the danger he's in) rather than be distracted. When he finally realizes he is locked in the vault, he's already minutes away from death.Ludgrove: Lambert was working on them, sir. His concentration is quite terrifying.
