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Johnny has a number of encounters with a mermaid. Larry Leach has been looking at the program files, and has discovered that the mermaid's name is Mary. David Overton has also been looking at the files, and has discovered all sorts of things - you can see his findings by clicking here.
As Ken White has pointed out, the mermaid incidents form a story.
A couple of guys have been doing some further investigation, and you can read their findings on the Story Page
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Hears but Doesn't See - On 20 Nov 1996 Ken White reported:
Johnny is fishing on the right when the mermaid comes in from the left. However Johnny has his back toward her and hence doesn't know she's there. She makes a splash as she goes under the water and Johnny hears it and thinks it is a fish. He re-adjusts his fishing position to where he thinks he heard the splash (left hand side of the island) and consequently gets a bite. He stuggles with what is obviously a large weight on the end of his line. He tugs and tugs till the line becomes loose and he ends up with a pair of false teeth on his fishing line.
On 20 Dec 1996 added:
When I saw it he caught the old boot.
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An invitation - on 8 Nov 1996 said:
JC's sitting reading his book when he sees the Mermaid swimming in the sea nearby. She swims over to the island and they both start acting shy. She hands him a necklace made of purple shells, and in return he tosses her the Titanic lifebelt (that he happens to have stuffed down the back of his shorts!). He then thinks of the two of them having dinner and she thinks of a green traffic light. Then they wave good-bye, and she swims off.
Click here for the "traffic light" scene.
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Dinner - On 20 Nov 1996 Ken White reported:
Johnny walks to the edge of the island and all of a sudden gets excited as he sees something coming (The Mermaid). He rushes behind the tree and we see the usual waving of two white things either side of the tree as Johnny gets changed. Next he pops out all besplendoured in top hat and tails (looking very swish!!) and greets the Mermaid. He then ducks behind the tree to all of a sudden pull out a ready made table all set with tablecloth, meal and drinks. They sit, eat, drink and talk for a while and seem to enjoy each other's company. Johnny then gets up from the table and ducks behind the tree again and this time pulls out an old gramophone. He then picks up the Mermaid and they dance for a while before she slips back into the sea and swims off into the distance. She again waves her tail to say goodbye and Johnny waves from the island.
This must have been what Jamie McGourlay saw when he reported on 21 Oct 1996:
Seen the Mermaid Dinner but this was after she actually swam up to the island to meet Johnny.
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Pleading - On 1 Nov 1996 Kath Fillingham reported:
I have just come back to my screen to catch Johnny stood in the middle of his raft begging the mermaid to climb aboard as she is swimming close by. She swims away and Johnny looks so dejected. Then the screen goes blank and we are back to fishing.
On 20 May 1998 Guy Renard gave his interpretation of the scene:
At the beginning, Johnny is standing on his raft when the mermaid swims up. She points to the raft and gets a question mark over her head indicating she is wondering what it is for. Johnny then motions and gets a bubble with a picture of the city in it as he explains it to her. When she finds out he wants to leave, she cries and then swims off while Johnny begs her to come back.
Thanks to Jim Marshall for the right hand picture.
The scene actually starts with the trill of notes, and Johnny building his raft, as he often does, but instead of turning round and waving as usual, the mermaid swims up. The scene continues as Guy describes it.
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Leaving - On 18 Aug 1997 cns reported:
Johnny is standing on his raft. Looks like he is trying to get the mermaid to go with him. She is in the water with the shark and they are laughing and I think she and the shark kiss and he sails off on the raft.
Although this scene is also mentioned in
the Escape page, it really belongs here as well.
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Day-dreaming - On 18 Oct 1996 Kath Fillingham reported:
A clock - and then...
A smaller square in the middle of a blank screen. In the square is a man sat at a desk working (thinking back I think this could have been Johnny at work). On the desk he has piles of work waiting to be done. Then he falls asleep at his desk and dreams of the island where he is sat at a large table with ... the mermaid having a fantastic meal.
The screen then goes blank and he is back to normal.
[Click here for a larger version]
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