North Sea Hijack 1980

Rufus Excalibur ffolkes Roger Moore is an eccentric, cat-loving counter-terrorism consultant hired by Lloyd’s of London to design contingency plans for safeguarding the North Sea oil installations it insures. Months after the assignment begins, a North Sea supply ship named Esther picks up a group of men posing as reporters who are meant to visit the Jennifer platform. The group’s leader, Lou Kramer Anthony Perkins, hijacks the vessel and the gang attaches limpet mines to the legs of Jennifer and its accompanying drilling rig Ruth, then demands a £25 million ransom from the British government. Esther’s crew fights back but is thwarted by Kramer’s vigilance, and two of their number die in the struggle.

When the British Prime Minister Faith Brook and her staff consult Lloyd’s about paying the ransom, the CEO informs them that ffolkes has been brought in to neutralize the terrorists and retake the platforms. The plan unfolds as ffolkes travels to Jennifer as the aide of Admiral Brindsen James Mason, who has been tasked with supervising the operation. With Ruth out of Esther’s sight, ffolkes initially asks the Admiralty to stage a fake explosion to distract Kramer and buy more time, then arranges for Brindsen and himself to board Esther from below so they can strike from within while his team approaches underwater. But Kramer distrusts ffolkes and has him removed from Esther, forcing a drastic rethink.

With the original tactic compromised, ffolkes persuades the Prime Minister to authorize a ransom helicopter drop that could be used to drop a bomb on Esther if the mission fails. He then executes a bold underwater approach to the ship, and despite a few mishaps he prevents the detonators from being triggered, saving Esther from disaster and leaving Kramer for dead. Mortally wounded, Kramer makes one final attempt to blow up Jennifer, but ffolkes thwart’s his plan and Kramer dies. In the wake of the successful operation, ffolkes is rewarded with three kittens named after Esther, Ruth, and Jennifer, symbolically tying his victory to the very assets he protected.