Back-Room Boy

Meteorologist Arthur Pilbeam’s fiancée Betty, Joyce Howard, breaks their engagement because he spends so much time at the BBC delivering the pips every hour that he can’t be with her. In a bid to escape the constant interruptions, he even uses the pips to play a quick tune on air. After a reprimand, he offers to resign, but the request is refused. When he voices a wish to avoid all women, he is posted to a remote Scottish lighthouse to file weather reports. Before he leaves, locals warn that isolation can drive a man mad and that a mermaid’s curse has felled predecessors within a month. He still goes, but as soon as he lands, most of his baggage disappears, adding to the sense of the strange assignment he’s taken on.

Arriving at the windy outpost, Pilbeam discovers he’s not as alone as he expected. He meets Jane, Vera Frances, a young girl who stowed away on the boat, and Bobbie, Googie Withers, a model who is the sole survivor of a torpedoed ship. His radio goes missing, and Bobbie reports a man tied up in a cupboard, a figure who seems to vanish when Pilbeam eyes him closely. Then another boatload of women plus some crew members arrives from Bobbie’s ship, turning the lighthouse into a crowded, claustrophobic place. As night falls, people begin to disappear without a trace, leaving Pilbeam anxious and determined to uncover what is really happening.

The truth gradually emerges: Nazi agents have been secretly sweeping the surrounding waters for mines and have taken the others prisoner. They spare Pilbeam, but force him to send away a rescue party without arousing suspicion. With the help of Jane’s uncle, George Merritt, and the women, they turn the tables on their captors, tying up the Germans and taking control of their boat. On the voyage back to the mainland, a foggy encounter with an enemy warship complicates things: the Germans mistake Pilbeam’s party for their own spies and order them to guide the vessel through a minefield. The small boat narrowly escapes the mines, but the German ship strikes a mine and sinks.

Back in London, Pilbeam returns a hero, and Betty has been given his old role on the pips. Though she seemed to rebuff him, she nods to the past and, in a moment of playful resistance, plays Shave and a Haircut, prompting him to rush off to see her once more.

Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 12:39