Mouse in the Works

**Mouse in the Works** is the third episode of Bertha.

A mouse is loose in the factory so Mr Sprott makes a mouse trap.

## Plot

This week, Bertha was making Jack-in-the-boxes. Roy and TOM help checking the boxes whilst Nell and Flo pack and stack them. However, Roy was having trouble with one of the boxes since it keeps popping out of its box. He shouts for help as Ted and Nell suggest that he should push it right down and close quickly. Roy followed the steps and the box remained shut. It worked like a charm.

Suddenly, one of the Jacks jumped right out of the box Flo was holding and bounced across the factory floor. The workers struggled to catch it as it hopped and hopped. Finally, Nell caught it with a box and Roy took it from beneath. Upon closer inspection, Ted notices that the Jack had become unstuck. Roy placed it on the side so they can mend it later.

Panjit then arrived to collect the Jack-in-the-boxes and put them in the dispatch department. The workers were not finished with the order yet but he was told he could take the finished copies. Before he picked them up, Nell and Flo warned him that these are very bouncy. Eagle-eyed Roy then spotted one of the boxes moving and tried to warn Panjit. But it was too late. The Jack hopped out it’s box and bounced across the floor again. TOM chased after it, but he wasn’t having much luck catching it. Meanwhile, Mr Duncan was having a cup of tea from Mrs Tupp’s trolley. Then a Jack hopped straight into his tea. Mrs Tupp was surprised to learn that Bertha is making Jack-in-the-boxes whilst Mr Duncan grumbled. TOM took the Jack out of the tea cup and headed back to Bertha.

Knowing that the boxes need more glue, Ted orders Roy to go to the stores and get glue. Roy got on the dumper truck and headed for the dispatch department. TOM arrived back with the Jack in his hand and handed it to Nell.

Arriving from the factory floor, Panjit is storing the boxes with the other goods Bertha has made in the dispatch department. These goods hadn’t been sent to the shops yet. However, as he got out of his forklift, he noticed holes in the cardboard boxes. Roy then arrived and asked for a tin of glue. Panjit told him about the strange holes in the boxes which prompted Roy to go and tell Mr Duncan. He spots him having a cup of tea and tells him about the incident. Mr Duncan was most interested and headed off to see Mr Willmake about it. On his way, he met Mr Sprott, whose drawings are chewed on. In the office, Mr Duncan met up with the manager, who informed him about the situation. Mr Willmake thinks that there is a mouse in the factory which makes Miss McClackerty shriek and stand on her chair. In order to prevent any more damage, Mr Willmake asked Mr Duncan to tell Mr Sprott to design a mouse trap.

Back on the factory floor, everyone was busy making Jack-in-the-Boxes. They didn’t know yet that there is a mouse situation in the factory. TOM placed a box on the ground and spotted the mouse hiding between the boxes. The robot became frightened and playful toward the mouse and tried to catch it himself. However, he lost it when Nell came up to him, pointing to the mouse’s possible direction. The mouse then decided to go inside Bertha, which startled Bertha (And Roy) as she pushed out a few boxes onto her conveyer belt. Ted shut her off, wondering why she jumped so unexpectedly. Roy took note that a lot of strange things are happening in the factory lately.

Mr Duncan asked the staff if they have seen a mouse. This made everyone look around and have Flo dropped a box in surprise. Mr Duncan explains that the mouse has to be found by manager’s orders. Ted pointed that they didn’t have to look far since it is already sitting by the foreman’s foot. They chase the mouse behind Bertha, where it chose to go through the back door of the big machine. Trying to get the mouse out, Mr Duncan used a mop to try and push it out; the staff didn’t want to hurt it since it hasn’t done any harm. The mouse was stronger then expected as it grabbed hold of the other end, forcing both Mr Duncan and Roy to pull the mop out. However they both pull too hard and landed on the ground. The end of the mop came loose too, leaving its handle behind.

In the design office, Mr Sprott is showing Tracey the mouse trap he invented. It was carefully designed to catch the small creature without covering it. Tracey thought the mouse trap will work when Mr Sprott explained its features to her; and he was keen to test it out on the mouse. Ted and Roy tried everything to coax the mouse trap, hoping the trap will work as expected. Mr Sprott positioned it near the back of a Bertha and everyone went back to work. The mouse had other ideas as it crept onto the trap to catch the cheese but became startled and ran off with it when it heard a cat meowing (which is one of the many features on the mouse trap). Mr Sprott was disappointed when the trap didn’t exactly trap the mouse.

Roy then thought that Bertha could make something that could help catch the mouse. Ted liked the idea and set Bertha straight to work. Out on the conveyer belt was one of the boxes for the Jack-in-a-boxes. Nell noticed how there was a hole on one side of the box and inside was the shredded mop piece. She could tell what Bertha had made and placed it on the floor for the mouse to reach. The mouse crawled in, making itself comfortable with its new house. Flo decided to take it home with her, saying that her husband Bamburai will Samurai it.

## Characters

* Bertha
* Roy Willing
* T.O.M
* Mr Willmake
* Miss McClackerty
* Mr Sprott
* Ted Turner
* Nell and Flo
* Mrs Tupp
* Tracy James
* Panjit
* Mr Duncan
* John (mentioned)

## Trivia

* The mouse would later appear in the Postman Pat episode "Postman Pat and the Mystery Tour"
* The title ‘Mouse in the Works’ is a reference to ‘Spanner in the Works’ which means to prevent an event or plan from succeeding. Coincidently, the mouse is preventing the workers from doing their job.
* This is the first (and only) episode where Flo’s son John was mentioned.
* In Mr Sprott’s mouse trap, cheese was used as bait for the mouse. However, mice do not actually like cheese since they have a sensitive sense of smell and certain cheeses gives off odours that are repulsive to them.

## Goofs

* When Mr Duncan walks up to the manager’s office and meets Mr Sprott outside his office, the fire extinguisher on the wall moves a bit.