LOLA

- (MYSTERIOUS MUSIC PLAYING) - (INDISTINCT NEWS BROADCASTS)

Thom.

Papa used to say not to be blinded

by your own brilliance...

because you are...

more brilliant than even you know,

and also more dangerous.

I want to show you how history can be made and unmade.

How you created something miraculous.

So, I've gathered together our story

from whatever scraps of footage I could find,

in the hope that somehow,

some time, this film will find you...

and stop you.

I'm going to show you how to see your future.

Radio waves never die.

If we can receive broadcasts from the past,

surely we can receive them from the future?

I'll never forget that day

we switched her on for the first time.

1st October, 1938.

We named her in honour of Mama.

LOLA.

Ground control to Major Tom

It works.

Ground control to Major Tom

We've seen the future.

Take your protein pills

And put your helmet on

This is Ground Control To Major Tom

LOLA opened a magical new world.

1938 went into 1939,

but those dates meant nothing to us.

We were living in another time.

And we finally had a reliable source of income.

Remember that car I bought you?

Way too small for those legs.

Ground Control to Major Tom

Your circuit's dead There's something wrong

Can you hear me, Major Tom?

Can you hear me, Major Tom?

Can you hear me, Major Tom?

Can you hear...

But LOLA didn't just show us the world's wonders,

she also showed us its horrors.

The Nazis had torn through Europe,

Paris had fallen, Dunkirk had been evacuated,

and now Hitler had set his sights on Britain.

The Blitz would claim thousands of lives

over the coming months.

LOLA could no longer be just ours.

The world needed her.

(ON LOLA) They burst out of the clouds

at less than 2,000 feet

and dropped their deadly cargo on the Isle of Dogs before...

- (BUTTON CLICKS) - (STATIC HISSING)

This is an urgent warning,

1:35 a.m. Hackney and 1:45 Islington.

Due to thick cloud, there will be no warning

from the authorities for any of these attacks.

Please make yourselves safe.

3rd May, 1941,

21st furrow for the Angel of Portobello.

It has become a nightly occurrence.

After sundown, German bombers cross the Channel

with their deadly cargo.

No one knows where they will target or when.

No one, that is, but their German commanders

and one mystery woman in England,

nicknamed the Angel of Portobello

by those residents of West London

whose lives have been among the first saved

by her warnings.

(ON SPEAKER) Warning, 1:35 a.m. Hackney

and 1:45 Islington, repeat,

1:35 a.m. Hackney and 1:45 Islington.

Due to thick cloud, there will be no warning

from the authorities for any of these attacks.

Please make yourselves safe.

While the warnings didn't stop the bombings,

they did once again save dozens of lives.

Last night, at about half past 12,

we heard the Angel of Portobello.

We were in a dugout and, er, thanks to the...

thanks to the Angel of Portobello,

we are quite safe.

Thanks to the Angel of Portobello,

my family is all right, but our house got clobbered.

(WHEN, WHEN, WHEN PLAYING ON LOLA)

Oh, God. No, Thom, not this one.

She has nothing to say about life or freedom.

Well, we can't get it anyway.

But you are wrong, Mars,

the sentiment is tediously accurate.

People would rather buy into fatalism

- than own their own destiny. Hmm.

Don't people just want to know

that everything is going to be all right?

Come dance with me, Mars.

I'm not dancing to this.

I really miss you, honey

When, when...

Here.

- (ELECTRICITY BUZZING) - (MARS GIGGLES)

(ON LOLA) Preparation of food supplements.

Perplexed officials say

that the source of the Angel's signal remains a mystery,

and the army has been unable to identify

the mysterious lady broadcaster.

- Normally, we locate... Oh!

A pirate radio within 15 minutes of broadcasting.

You get a signal search

when pointing in the direction of the source.

Whereas here, the signal is coming from all around us.

It's like we're sitting on top of the antenna.

It's extraordinary.

We'd like the people behind this

to stop their game now and come forward.

We are at war.

Our intrepid officers continue their search

for the Angel of Portobello, documenting as they go.

Well, they're never gonna catch us, anyway.

No, of course not. You're much too clever.

Log of Lieutenant Sebastian Holloway,

1st June, '41.

I finally traced the signal source to Shoreham Gasworks.

The Angel of Portobello is using the gasometer

as a natural transmitter.

The metal superstructure magnifies

her weak radio signal and sends it through the mains

into London's pipe networks

which acts as her very own personal antenna.

It explains why her broadcasts are omnidirectional in London.

They were coming from the entire gas grid,

very clever.

2:15, spot what I assume to be the Angel of Portobello.

Young woman, curly blonde hair, on bicycle.

2:25, she climbs the main gasometer.

She spends about 15 minutes making adjustments

to what turns out to be a battery-operated transmitter

and the signal source.

2:45, she spots me

and Lance Corporal Clark, who's filming. She flees.

Cycles west toward the coast.

Very few houses on this stretch of land.

Terrible roads.

She nearly escapes,

but even she finds the conditions difficult,

and we manage to cut her off.

She denies everything, of course.

Says she uses the gasometer for bird watching.

Is extremely rude.

Has no papers.

But does possess radio transmitting equipment,

plus a map of all the gasometers in England.

When I ask her to identify herself,

she makes up some obviously bogus names.

Eartha Kitt, Maria von Trapp, Lady Stardust.

Actual name, Martha Hanbury.

After some gentle persuasion, she finally acquiesces

and agrees to escort us to her house.

Strange old place, quite run-down.

Her sister, Thomasina Hanbury, emerges and is even ruder.

Threatens to do damage to my privates,

but relents when I suggest

returning with a search warrant.

3:15 p.m., I get my first look at their machine

which they call LOLA.

It's going to change history.

Come on, then. You've got 10 minutes,

in and out.

This is... magnificent. It's beautiful.

How do you... How does it work?

Why aren't you doing more to stop people from dying?

Better you tell us how you predict the future.

We know you do.

Mars, what in God's earth did you say to him?

That you can catch radio and television broadcasts

from the future.

I had to tell him. He said we could be hanged as spies...

- Don't touch it! - (FEEDBACK ECHOES)

How did you find us?

I was just lucky.

I couldn't understand how the signal was so dispersed.

But I noticed it was stronger in houses with piped gas.

Using the copper piped gas network

as an antenna, that's genius.

I want to help.