Original subtitles

LAUGHTER

What are you wearing? I thought we were playing tennis?

She got a better offer. We're going into town.

Alicia got tickets to the cinema.

I'm sorry, I was just coming to tell you.

But you promised. I know, I'll make it up to you.

When? After we've seen Frankenstein.

You know, I suppose they could come?

That's a wizard idea.

We could have popcorn, ginger beer...

They can't come into town. They're too...little.

That doesn't make any sense. I'm almost as tall as you.

She means you're too young.

3rd Formers aren't allowed into town without adult supervision.

And no Matron means no chaperone!

Besides, Frankenstein is too scary for the likes of you.

Please, Darrell.

I'm sorry, truly, but rules are rules.

Well, rules are unfair!

Unfortunately, no-one cares what 3rd Formers think.

Come on, Darrell!

No-one cares what 3rd Formers think?

Really?!

I can't wait.

I think it's time the 3rd Form take them down a peg or two, don't you?

What is it, Mary-Lou?

I'm really rather busy here.

You are? Doing what?

Father's been threatening not to send me to finishing school

unless I "buck up my ideas".

So, I am here, sacrificing my Sunday

for extra revision.

Well, Miss Grayling's asked for either her Head Girl or Deputy

and as Darrell's at the cinema that leaves you?

It's typical.

Rivers always manages to spoil everything,

even when she's not here.

Tell her I'll be along shortly.

Oh, and Gwen...?

Your book's upside down.

KNOCKING

Ah, Gwen! Thank you for coming.

When I heard that Darrell had skived off to the cinema,

I came as soon as I could.

How may I help you?

As you know the North Tower is currently without a Matron.

Matron Shipley will be sorely missed.

But medical issues aside, there are other duties that require attention.

Other duties?

Laundry collection, dorm inspection, that kind of thing.

Could you not just get the, er, old Matron to return?

I'm afraid Matron Maher has declined for personal reasons.

So, for the time being, I'd be very grateful

if the 6th form could help us out during this difficult patch.

And er, could these other duties be delegated?

As long as they are completed.

And might all of this count for some extra credit on my report?

As long as studies are kept up,

it could be mentioned in reports, yes.

Right, well, I don't see any reason to involve anyone else,

Miss Grayling.

I will step into the breach.

You will?

Yes.

I will personally see to it that North Tower is run with

the discipline and efficiency that it both requires and deserves.

Splendid.

Wasn't that such a good movie?

Enjoy the show?

What are you doing?

3rd Formers should not be roaming the school corridors at this time.

Is that one of your rules?

Now!

June, ow! Stop!

What are you doing?

Alicia, help!

Ow! Girls!

You've volunteered to do a Matron's duties?

Only the easy ones.

It's perfect.

Miss Grayling will tell Daddy about my extra credit

and then everyone will stop going on about my attitude.

What do you think?

Are you sure about this plan?

Being a Matron is a difficult job.

It's laundry collection and bossing children about.

How difficult can it be?

It's not our fault, they ambushed us for no reason.

No reason?! Of course we had a reason!

Fine, they wanted to come to the cinema with us and we said no.

Because it's against the rules. You can't blame us for that!

We can blame you for being so high and mighty about it.

High and mighty? What are you talking about? Girls, girls!

You should able to discuss your differences reasonably.

You know those rules are unfair.

That's just it, I'm not sure I agree.

Some rules are important.

You're only saying that because these rules don't apply to you.

Exactly. They did once, but we're 6th Formers now

and we have more freedom than you.

You can't argue against that.

Maybe we can argue.

We could have a debate.

Form versus Form.

You did say to discuss our differences reasonably.

That's an excellent suggestion.

Who will be team captains?

Good, that's settled then.

A debate will be held tomorrow afternoon.

Team Rivers versus...

..Team Rivers!

Ah-ah!

Tidy this up.

WHISTLE BLOWS

Out of your beds!

Come along now!

Quickly, I haven't got all day!

Good morning, Third Form.

You are probably wondering why I am here.

Sacrificing my precious time and my beauty sleep.

This is why!

Achoo!

Hmm.

Since Matron Shipshape's departure, standards have been allowed to slip

and Miss Grayling has turned to me in North Tower's moment of crisis.

Wait.

You're the new Matron?

Do you have an issue with that, Jones?

Do you believe that I'm not capable?

I think Jo's just surprised.

As we all are. Why?

It's just a lot to take on.

You'll be doing our laundry?

Clearing up after us at supper?

Performing our nit checks?

Dear me, no, no.

My role is more supervisory than...

..hands on.

As such, I will be delegating duties to the relevant Head of Form.

You mean me?

We must all answer duty's call when it sounds, Clarissa.

Achoo!

Gwen, Clarissa does seem quite ill.

Maybe she should see a real matron?

Nonsense, a little sniffle never hurt anyone, did it Clarissa?

Stand up!

Now!

We will begin with laundry.

The collection van comes at 8am

and I will need everybody's bed linen on it.

Thank you!

I'm going back to bed.

Come on, we need to strip the beds.

Alicia, look, it's from your mother.

It must be about the time capsule!

Hopefully they sent more clues about where they buried it.

And what's inside!

Not snooping, are you?

Snooping? Looking at my debate prep?

Of course not.

I just want to know what your mum says about the buried treasure!

Can you grab my pencil case, please?

Look, I'll tell you what.

Win the debate, and I'll show you what's inside this letter!

FARTING

Got you!

Two teams of two speakers.

Me and June versus Alicia and Darrell.

A motion is put forward.

"This Tower believes the 3rd Form

"should have the same freedoms as the 6th Form".

The 3rd Form will speak for the affirmative,

the 6th Form will argue against.

Um, each side takes it in turn to speak.

Who decides who wins?

Er, judges.

Who I suppose will be the audience.

Us.

Well, then, I vote for Felicity to win!

You must listen to all the arguments and weigh them up on merit.

Debate is not a popularity contest.

It is an important life skill.

They teach it at my brother's school.

Teddy says it will help him become Prime Minister one day.

Felicity, have you chosen a team-mate?

Yes, Mr Parker. June.

Ah! Johns versus Johns.

Promises to be a feisty affair!

Achoo!

Just how long have you had that cold, Clarissa?

I've finished prep!

WHISTLE BLOWS

Celeste! Do not let me catch you running in the corridor again.

And pull your sock up.

Malory Towers is a place of high learning not a village barn!

Enjoying yourself?

I'm just bringing order to the chaos, dear Mary-Lou!

You know how seriously I take my duties as Matron.

About that, Miss Grayling wanted me to find you.

Apparently the Laundry Service called

and said that the 3rd Form pillow cases have not been collected.

Oh, well, that must be a mistake.

I did give very clear instructions to Clarissa.

Well, you'd better check because Miss Grayling says

she's doing a dorm inspection tonight and the girls

must have clean bed linen.

Mary-Lou!

No running.

I thought Alicia wanted to find the time capsule as much as us?

She does.

I think she was just teasing.

Or maybe she would rather beat us at solving the mystery?

Alicia can be rather competitive.

It does seem the older they get the less the 6th Form have time for us.

If we win this debate, they'll be forced to take us more seriously.

Where is Clarissa?

She said she'd be helping us with debate ideas.

Um, Mr Parker was worried she'd have an infection

so Mary-Lou's taking her to the West Tower San.

Clarissa, this really is most inconsiderate of you.

Sorry?

Yeah, well, "sorry" doesn't clean the 3rd Form pillowcases does it?

I really don't know how you missed them in the first place!

Maybe because she's poorly?

And perhaps a stand-in Matron should have realised that.

Details. Do you know what's going to have to happen now?

You'll clean the pillowcases yourself? Yes!

MARY-LOU LAUGHS

Laughing at another's inconvenience, Mary-Lou, is most unbecoming.

LAUGHTER

Perfect timing.

You two have just volunteered.

Volunteered? For what?

Washing these pillowcases.

No, but we are going to the debate.

No, you are not.

Consider it punishment for running in the corridor earlier.

Wait...

I wasn't caught running in the corridor!

Well, Celeste was.

And I'm sure that if you had been with her

that you would have been running too.

Sooner you start, sooner you finish!

We don't know how.

Well, you just add a bit of soap and water, give it a stir!

It's also a punishment for eating sweets in the dorm!

Tellement enervante!

Oui.

All right, everyone, Felicity to start.

January 25th 1308,

Isabella became Queen of England when she was just 12 years old.

Her son was crowned King Edward Plantagenet III at 14,

my age.

3rd Formers might be younger than 6th formers

but we are no less capable of responsibility

or deserving of trust,

as this debate will prove.

This isn't about age.

It is about maturity -

"the quality of behaving in a sensible, adult manner".

Maybe 14-year-old King Edward required less adult supervision

than the Malory Towers 3rd Form girls,

but he was learning to lead a nation

not starting pillow fights.

The pillow cases?

It's all taken care of.

Gwen is so bossy!

Un tyran!

Is the water supposed to turn pink?

Oh! What did you do?

People change, society changes,

rules become stuffy and outdated...

Point of order.

The rules were made by Miss Grayling.

Is June calling her stuffy and outdated?!

Of course not.

Miss Grayling knows injustice when she sees it.

That's why she changed the Monitor rules

when we campaigned against them.

We were right then, and we're right now.

The rules are about safety, not injustice.

Malory Towers must protect younger, immature, pupils.

Bit rich of you to talk about being immature.

All the pranks that you play?

Pranks are one thing.

Alicia is talking about younger girls getting others and themselves

in trouble... No-one has broken more rules than you have, Darrell.

Please don't inter...

Everybody knows how much trouble your temper's caused!

Darrell, Felicity, a word.

I'm so sorry, I didn't mean that.

I don't know why she's apologising.

Darrell has got a vicious temper.

Shh! Well done, Felicity. Bravo!

It's rather more interesting than I thought, this debate!

This is not debate standards.

You cannot just interrupt,

or allow your temper to get the better of you.

Sorry, Mr Parker.

What have you done?

What you told us to.

Put laundry in water, soap, stir.

Oh!

Oh!

It's mine.

Excuse me. Ow!

We've plunged it a lot already and it's not helping.

There must be some way to get the colour out...

Yes, but what?

I don't know.

I'm not a matron!

Jo, that's it! We need to ask a real matron.

That's brilliant.

She can be nice when she wants.

The only way to earn responsibility is to be trusted with it.

So I think I'm equivalent to...

Our work is a lot harder, and we've been doing it for much longer.

The 3rd Form does just as much work...

It's interesting you bring up maturity seeing as the reason...

..battled against it, because you think it's unfair.

And now let's present the closing statements.

The 3rd Form deserve the freedom to make mistakes and learn from them.

After all, at the end of the day, we only have ourselves to rely on.

I do have a temper

and it has caused me all sorts of problems,

but I'm really learning to try and be better than that.

Because Malory Towers teaches young girls to mature,

to become responsible adults.

That is why it is right that the 6th Form have more freedoms

than the 3rd.

Thank you to both teams.

We will take a vote.

Congrats, you did well.

Maybe you should tell that to June?

Why would I want to do that?

Because she's your sister and she loves you,

even though you barely give her the time of day.

Cousin.

Sorry, what?

June is my cousin.

You said sister.

Take your seats, please.

The votes are in!

The winner of the 6th Form Versus 3rd Form Debate is...

..the 6th Form!

Well done. Congratulations.

June.

Lemons?

I think she's gone bananas.

Gwen, what's happened?!

Well, the pillow cases got stained,

so I asked Matron of West Tower for some advice to fix it.

She said lemons, baking soda

and a bit of elbow grease.

What is greasy elbows?

I think it means hard work?

No, I'm never going to get this done in time.

Miss Grayling's going to be disappointed,

Father is going to say no to finishing school.

All of this was meant to be easy

but it's actually really rather humiliating!

And whose fault is that?

Well, Clarissa didn't help!

Gwen...

Well I suppose I can accept a tiny portion of responsibility...

Gwen...

What? What do want me to say?

That it's all my fault, I can blame no-one but myself?

I've cut corners and taken short cuts.

No! Not now, Jo, no!

Well...

..isn't that true?

Yes.

Yes, I suppose so.

Now, look at me. Really, what am I going to do, Mary-Lou?

What are you doing?

Many hands make light work.

You're going to help me?

Of course.

You only had to ask.

But I didn't ask.

You did, just not in many words.

Thank you.

Right, all hands on deck!

There's lemon, and it's pink.

Is this how you make pink lemonade?

Sorry for running off like that.

Not very sporting of me, was it?

Obviously being allowed to go to the movies means a lot.

It's not about the cinema.

It never was, not really.

Then what is it?

Felicity, are you angry with me?

Maybe.

Why?

For winning a debate?

Because you're all grown up now!

And it feels like you never have time for me any more.

That's not true.

I will always make time for my little sister.

Today's the first time this term we've spent any real time together

and most of it arguing!

You're right. I'm sorry.

But still, you can't get cross with me for growing up.

I can't help it!

I know, it's just...

Soon you'll be off to University,

studying medicine, becoming a doctor,

and that's wonderful.

But?

I'm going to miss you so much.

Do you know why I want to be a doctor?

Why?

Because I get to make monsters like Frankenstein!

THEY GIGGLE

Hard luck on the debate.

You did well. I'd have voted for you!

Really? What's the punch line?

No jokes.

I don't say it enough, but I'm proud of you.

Who are you and what have you done with my cousin?

I've got something for you.

My mother says all the clues needed to find the time capsule

are in your Mother's letter.

But she did give us a clue as to what they put inside it.

Look.

There is a chess set buried in the time capsule.

She kept this piece as a memento

and sent it as a challenge for me to find the rest.

But...

..now I'm giving it to you.

Why?

Because there's no-one I trust more to solve this mystery!

June!

I need you to bring the 3rd Form to our common room tonight.

We have a surprise for you!

Well, Gwen.

I must say you've done a sterling job.

Well, a firm hand at the tiller makes for a steady ship.

SHE COUGHS

And, of course, I couldn't have done it

without a loyal and hardworking crew!

Well, perhaps the North Tower doesn't need a new Matron after all.

Oh, no, no, no, Miss Grayling,

we need a new matron!

Please, anyone but Gwen!

Ay, ay, sauve-nous...

Miss Grayling!

Er...

..after having carried out the Matronly duties,

I have a new respect for the position.

Ah, well.

And the people that have served before.

Our previous Matron,

for example.

I would really like to invite her to

a special tea.

What? Old Shipshape?

No, not Matron Shipley.

Um, our old Matron.

You don't know her.

She's Irish and she's ever so sweet and kind.

Anyway, a small tea to express our gratitude

but we would need your help to extend the invitation.

Well, it sounds like a lovely idea.

Let's discuss it.

Now, what did you have in mind?

We could have it...

LAUGHTER

Just a little bit further now.

This better not be a prank, Darrell.

Ta-dah!

Is that a movie projector?

I just thought if we can't go to the cinema,

the next best thing was to bring the cinema to you!

A special screening with popcorn and all the trimmings!

So, what was all this "special tea" business?

Well, it's very simple.

I've asked Miss Grayling to invite our old Matron back to Malory Towers

so that I can present her with an award.

An award for what?

Um, I don't know, but it doesn't really matter.

The point is that we get her to come back and return as Matron.

But how are we going to get her to do that?

I haven't thought that far through ahead yet.

Does Miss Grayling know about this part of your plan?

No, of course she doesn't.

And you're not to tell her, it's a secret.

The situation is actually intolerable.

I hand-washed dirty bed linen today.

No!

We need to get our old Matron to return and we do not let her leave!

Quiet, please!

The movie is about to begin!

Exciting!

Brilliant.

It's starting, pass me the popcorn!

MUSIC PLAYS

So exciting! Our very own cinema!

It's amazing.

Yee-ha!

Perfect, it's a Lily Vernon film!

Shh! She's my very favourite actress!

Gwen, be quiet! I've seen this one before.

Shh, be quiet! What?

I've seen this one before!

The whole thing is about the pursuit of the treasure

and it's just under the palm tree! Gwen!

Sorry!