This Town (2024) s01e01 Episode Script
Episode 1
This programme contains
discriminatory content,
strong language, some scenes which
some viewers may find upsetting
and some violent scenes
from the start.
You walk away from every day,
Nothing much to make you stay.
Then, bloody hell, you hear a bell,
Ring across the wishing well.
PEOPLE SHOU
SIRENS WAIL
This beautiful thing,
Flowers and rings.
Funny what the wishing brings.
I love you, baby.
I can't quite say it but
if I had a harp, I'd bloody play it.
MELEE OF SHOUTS
Before I saw you, I didn't know it
But now I discover
BURGLAR ALARM RINGS
I'm not a bad poet.
And this is the dawn of
the age of love.
BURGLAR ALARM, PEOPLE SHOU
EXPLOSION
You!
I'm just trying to get home.
Walking home from college.
Trying to get home?
It's a fucking long way
back to the jungle, son.
Aghhh!
Ska, ska, ska
Ska, ska, ska
Not any people can cha-cha-cha
Not everyone can do the twist ♪
Shit!
DOG SNARLS
Aghhh!
DOG BARKS
POLICEMAN: ..over number 27.
POLICE WHISTLE BLASTS
Shit! They followed him. Run!
Ska, ska, ska
Jamaican ska ♪
INDISTINCT SHOUTS
DOG BARKS
Now everybody can do the Ska
The new dance that goes like this
Now bow your head
Swing your arms
Now do a dip ♪
Dante?
Jeannie?
What are you doing here?
You're a good kid.
I'm just trying to get home.
Right, give me a hand.
Hup!
JEANNIE PANTS
I tried to get the bus,
but, for some reason, the buses
to Chelmsley Wood are not running.
Dante, the buses aren't running
on account of them being on fire.
Why would you burn your bus home?
EXPLOSIONS
Come with me.
Come on.
But everybody can do the ska ♪
POLICE WHISTLE, DOG BARKS
Right. In here.
Jamaican ska
Ska, ska, ska
Jamaican ska ♪
Fucking petrol all over me!
What the fuck, Dante!
Fuck!
Ow!
JEANNIE SIGHS
Never.
You're still weird, then.
Are you OK?
Mm. Not really.
Well, don't worry.
We'll be safe here. We'll just
sit it out until it gets light.
I'm not OK
because I just had my heart broken.
And who broke your heart?
I asked this girl at college
to come with me for a cup of tea,
and she said no.
Tea?
I don't drink alcohol.
Well
might've been the tea
she was saying no to.
You think?
I remember when you climbed up
on the roof of the school Yeah?
with the black flag of anarchy.
Is that what it was?
We all thought you were
going to jump off.
Hmm.
You all thought I was going to jump.
Well, when I walked to the edge,
where the decisions are made
for a bit, so did I.
But then I thought,
"What would my nan say?"
I'll have a cup of tea with you,
Dante, you weird fucker.
POLICE SIRENS AND LOUD-HAILER
INDISTINCT LOUD-HAILER ORDERS
Sounds like we're losing.
What would we win, if we won?
So, Dante,
it's obvious you are still the same.
How's your gorgeous, rock-hard
brother?
Move on!
MUSIC: Is This Love
by Bob Marley and the Wailers
PEOPLE SHOUT AND JEER
Kill!
Aghhh!
Agh! Ughh! Aghh!
GUNFIRE
You black bastard!
Leave us alone!
Fuck off!
I don't mean black as in
the colour of your skin, comrade.
I mean black like Black and Tan.
Half my fucking family are Irish!
IRISH REEL PLAYS
How you doing?
After due deliberation,
and after an exceptionally
good display by all contenders
I can declare
the winner in The Gate Hangs Well
Irish Ceilidh under-20s
boy's dance competition is
Bardon Quinn!
Hup!
Maith an fear!
Well done, son!
Could you not have waited, Dad?
You didn't have to come in
and play the big Provo.
I would've won anyway.
INDISTINC
Well done, son. Well done!
Well done.
BLACKBIRD SINGS
What?
Bird song.
Not arranged or organised.
Just happens.
Do you want to lift back
to the estate?
A lift in what?
You can give me a hand.
A hand with what?
BIRDSONG
Listen.
No, no, no. It's OK.
It's just a bird
singing.
What are you doing?
Fuck!
RADIO CHATTER
Sarge!
Sarge, we just had Comms telling us
to pull out.
Our grandmother used to wake us up.
She used to say
it's not arranged
or organised
but it's the best music
in the world.
We should get back to the barracks,
Sergeant.
Do you sing, soldier?
No, Sergeant.
This whole war.
This whole thing.
It's about music.
Did you know that?
Sarge, we should get out of here
before the day shift wakes up.
Cos to the east,
they've got their songs
but then to the west,
they've got their songs, too.
Yeah,
and where we are right now, Sarge,
we're stuck bang
in the middle of them.
GUNSHO
Fuck!
Why don't you just sing together?
Come on!
GUNSHO
..try, try and try, try and try
You'll succeed at last
Mm-mm-hmm-mm ♪
What are you doing, staring?
Well, if you're awake,
you can come and give me a hand.
I've got college.
I've got a mock exam.
We'll be done
and back before college.
Get down here!
You can get it
if you really want ♪
I was listening to the birds.
Then I heard him call you.
You've got school.
College, Nan.
He said I'd be back in time.
Just do the red diesel thing.
That's OK.
Doing the stolen diesel is OK.
But if he asks you
to do anything else
I don't even know
what the red diesel thing is, Nan.
Well, that's what he's calling
you to help with.
It's illegal, but that's OK.
It's not inhuman.
Nan, I promise
I won't do anything inhuman.
Ohh!
They can't make you do anything.
Did you see the trophy I won?
I really won it.
Just do the red diesel,
come back, and go to school.
College, Nan.
OK.
VAN HORN BEEPS
VAN DOOR SLAMS
Behold!
Villa Cross Bingo Hall!
Revolution headquarters.
Miraculously unscathed.
I'm official delegate
for our estate.
We've been allocated
one van-load of liberated goods
to go to the Happy Trooper pub
for distribution.
By who?
Don't ask.
Looks like we're first here.
We can take the best stuff.
Dante, help me!
Grab the stereo equipment.
The sound system
at the Trooper is shit.
It's dance night tomorrow night.
Fuck! It's real!
It says here that this space suit's
actually been into outer space.
Leave it!
It was taken by mistake
from The Moonlite Club
by a bunch of Zulus
who forgot that The Moonlite Club
is owned by Robbie Carmen.
I have no idea
what any of that means.
It means the space suit was looted
from a display
in the premises of the worst
gangster in South Birmingham.
So leave it the fuck alone!
If you take it back
to Robbie Carmen,
he'll think you're one of the Zulus
who looted his club,
and he'll shoot your knees off.
What's a Zulu?
Zulus fight, and go to Blues
matches, and clamp cars.
And steal space suits.
Are you a Christian or something?
Don't know what I am.
I think anarchist is close,
but almost everybody pisses me off,
so I doubt I'm anything.
You mean he'd think I'm a Zulu
because I'm black.
Zulus are black and white.
And the reason Robbie would
think you're a Zulu
is cos you've got the look, OK?
I know you're just a really
weird kid
but to people who don't know ya,
you've got the look about ya.
You look like somebody
who could be somebody.
Even on our estate.
I want to be somebody.
I want to be a poet.
A poet?
I write poems.
You don't look like a poet.
You look like your brother.
What music do you like?
Leonard Cohen.
Bob Dylan.
I like the words.
Oh.
Do you write words?
Words come to me.
And you put them into songs?
Tunes don't come to me.
Tunes come to me.
They play in my head.
I, er I recorded them cassettes
myself for parties.
They play records, and I record them
because I can't afford to buy them.
Dante, you say you don't know
what you are.
This
is what you are.
MUSIC: Broadway Jungle
by Toots and the Maytals
All right, that's enough!
Dad, why the fuck
do we need 28 traffic cones?
Why the fuck did you count them?
You counted them
because you're the smart one.
And we like smart ones.
You are not putting any item
stolen from Robbie Carmen
into the company lock up.
Right
Come here.
If he has any complaints
about the damp,
tell him to call
Mission Control or the council.
I would strongly recommend
Mission Control.
OK. First, we take the cones
out of the van.
And cut off the ends to make
the hole in the tip bigger.
Like this.
And why would we do that?
You try it.
OK, OK.
I'll cut off the tips
of the traffic cones,
you take the ones I've cut
over to those troughs.
And why would I do that?
You do that because the Coventry
and Birmingham battalions
are self-financing
because those sticky bastards
in Dublin give us nothing.
So we have to finance ourselves,
and 80% of our finance comes
from the laundering of red diesel.
Come on. I'll show you.
Look.
Diesel.
But it's red.
Dad, I have to be
back in college in one hour.
Standard diesel is clear,
but this is red.
The British Government puts red dye
into diesel sold to farmers
because it's subsidised
and only meant for use on farms.
It's illegal to sell red diesel
for use on the public road.
So, today we are going to be
removing the red dye
from this cheap, subsidised diesel.
Putting the cleaned-up fuel
into barrels
to sell at the normal, retail price.
The profit of 80 pence per gallon
will go to buy
the necessary tools and equipment
needed to help us continue the war
to liberate the six occupied
counties of Northern Ireland.
And why would we do that?
You know, there are some in
our little Hillsides community
who are saying to me that my boy
isn't really pulling his weight.
Over there you'll find
some sacks of cat litter.
Cat litter? I'll cut the cones,
you'll fill them with cat litter,
I'll add some sulphuric acid,
and you will pour the diesel through
the mixture,
into the troughs, to remove the dye.
And the reason you'll do that
is because I am fucking
telling you to do it!
They closed all the curtains
And locked all the doors,
On the road that runs
From my street to yours.
We meet in the smoke
from burning pages,
Slip the bolts,
break open the cages.
I'm closer to heaven on floor 27
Cos I can see the M6.
And when the lifts are fixed,
I'll go down on the ground,
Spin you around.
And we'll hitchhike to Brighton
Where we'll no longer be frightened.
But now
I'm going to lie my dad.
Because he's going to go
fucking mad!
Where the hell hell you been?
I've been seeing two of everything.
Oh, Jesus!
Come. Sit down.
You're cut, Dante.
Got hit.
By who?
Can I have water, Dad?
Yeah, sit down.
NEWS REPORT ON TV
REPORTER: The tension was electric.
A number of cars, including
a police van, were overturned.
Other vehicles were
deliberately set on fire
Went up to Soho Road
to your college.
They tried to arrest me.
Oh.
Did the police hit you?
They mistook me for someone I'm not.
How is your head?
I'm OK.
Yeah, you look OK.
OK, I'm actually not OK.
I think you might be in shock,
Dante.
Yeah.
I am in shock.
Well, you don't have concussion.
You dizzy?
Dad, I'm OK.
I'm not a vase.
And, anyway, it's not my head
that's wounded.
It's my heart.
What you talk about?
When my class finished,
I asked Fiona if she wanted to
go for a cup of tea or something,
and she said she only does dances.
She only does rock-steady dances.
I don't even know what
rock-steady is.
So, you stay out all hours of the
night, get caught up in a riot,
get beaten till you start seeing
double,
and you talk about some girl?
I'm in love with her.
Oh, Lord!
When she said no,
I just walked around.
I didn't even smell the smoke
until I got to Lozells Road.
Handsworth is always weird,
but last night it was really weird.
What happened?
Birmingham exploded.
Just like I predicted it would
two years ago.
But Fiona is more important, yes?
Yes.
You love her?
Yeah.
A medieval kind of love.
I hear you've been listening
to Leonard Cohen, lately.
He writes poems like me.
You write poems?
A girl at college said,
"People like us don't write poetry."
"People like us!"
And I said Joan Armatrading's
songs are poetry,
and she's from Wolverhampton
Mm-hm.
which is an even worse shithole
than here.
Dante, you don't have
a lot of experience
about anything.
And that is probably my fault.
But when a woman decides that she
don't like you, that is it.
Women don't change their mind.
So you have to move on.
Find somebody else.
How your head now?
Less bruised than my heart.
DOOR SHUTS
Lord, where'd this boy come from?
Marie?
It's been a while.
Forgive me, Father.
I've been unwell.
My heart.
What's wrong with your heart?
They say it's clogging up.
But it's also breaking.
It isn't about me that I'm here.
I have sinned in my head, surely
but I'm not here about myself.
This holy confessional is for
no other business than confession.
It's about my grandson, Bardon.
And about Bardon's father.
This holy confessional
is for no other business.
Bardon's father is trying to
call him in to the organisation.
Marie!
And, Father,
I know that you yourself
have conversations and connections.
This is not an appropriate place
Connections with the same
organisation.
These things are not
for conversation, not even in here.
I've said he can do the diesel.
But I heard his father on the phone
talking to people in Birmingham
about sacks of fertiliser
and the purchase of detonators.
Marie, you will stop this right now!
You will not listen into
conversations
or say any of the words you are
carrying on your back
like a great weight.
Nonsense about fertiliser.
That is what's hurting your heart.
Trying to know and daring to say
things that are best left unsaid.
Father, I want you to speak to
the battalion commanders in Coventry
and Birmingham and tell them my
little Bardon is not to volunteer.
Volunteer for what, Marie?
He's not to volunteer for the Ra.
I have no idea
what you're talking about
and you have no idea
what you're talking about.
Now go home, Marie
and take care of your poor heart.
By a lonely prison wall
I heard a young girl calling
Michael, they have taken you away
For you stole Trevelyan's corn
So the young might see the morn
Now a prison ship lies
waiting in the bay. ♪
You can get it if you really want
You can get it if you really want
You can get it if you really
Low lie the fields of Athenry
Where once
..you'll succeed at last
..we watched the small
free bird fly
Persecution you must fear
Our love was on the wing
..you got to get your share
You got your mind set on a dream
It's so lonely round
..how hard it may seem, now
..Athenry
You can get it if you really want
You can get it if you really want
By a lonely prison wall
You can get it if you really want
But you must try
Try, and try Try and try ♪
Bardon, why don't you just get on
with your job and shut the fuck up?
And why would I do that?
You can get it if you really want
You can get it if you really want
But you must try
try and try, try and try
You'll succeed at last ♪
It's OK.
I can't leave you in here.
I'm taking you home.
Come on!
Win or lose you got to get
your share
You've got your mind ♪
CHILDREN SCREAM
Bang! Bang! Bang-bang-bang! Bang!
Bang!
Why don't you all just
fucking sing to each other?
You can get it if you really want
But you must try
try and try, try and try
You'll succeed at last
Don't you know?
Yes, sir ♪
Rome was not built in a day
Opposition will come your way
But the hotter the battle you see
Is the sweeter the victory now
You can get it if you really want
You can get it if you really want
But you must try
CAR HORN BEEPS
..try and try
You'll succeed at last
Hey!
You can get it if you really want
But you must try
try and try, try and try ♪
GUITAR STRINGS TWANG
Who are you?
What you doing in my house?
It's OK, Marie.
It's OK. I'm a friend of Eamonn.
How did you get in here?
Eamonn leaves a key with us
in case of emergency.
Who is "us"?
Sit down, Marie.
I'll stand.
What do you want?
Someone told us you were having
problems with your heart.
I'd like you to leave. Now.
I'm a nurse, Marie.
I just wanted to warn you
that stress of any kind will only
make your condition worse.
There, now.
Bang, bang, bang.
Like a marching song.
Getting involved in stressful
situations,
speaking about stressful matters,
that is what is setting
your heart banging Hmm
and it will only serve
to put your life at risk, Marie.
Do you understand?
This is good, strong medical advice
from a nurse of 25 years standing.
Safest bet is not to listen
into other people's telephone calls.
Please,
get out of my house.
Rest yourself, Marie.
Nothing good ever comes
of making a fuss.
DOOR SHUTS
Fly me to the moon
And let me play among the stars
Let me see what spring is like
On Jupiter and Mars
In other words, hold my hand
In other words, darling, kiss me
Fill my heart with song
and let me sing for evermore
You are all I long for
All I worship and adore
In other words, please be true
In other words,
darling, I love you
Fly me to the moon
Let me play among the stars
Let me see ♪
SCRAPING
..on Jupiter and Mars ♪
DOOR BANGS
MUSIC STOPS
Whoever you are, you've got balls.
If you want to keep 'em,
you'd better explain.
They were going to dump it.
Who?
Whoever they are.
I didn't want to see it dumped.
I like stars and space.
You like stars?
You see that stage?
Frankie Laine has performed
on that stage.
Yeah, but it's 1981,
nobody knows who Frankie Laine is.
I do.
Where did you get it?
Who the fuck are you?
I write poems.
Sometimes about planets.
Also, my older brother used
to work for you, Mr Carmen.
Though nobody's meant to know,
and I never tell anybody.
That's why I wasn't afraid
to come here.
Who was your brother?
Gregory Williams.
Fuck!
HE CHUCKLES
Yeah, yeah.
I can see it in your eyes.
We used to call him Virgil.
He was a wild card.
He had an unusual way with him.
He broke heads for me.
And I write poems.
Yeah, and you do the decent thing
and you bring back stolen property.
Or are you looking for work?
No.
I heard Virgil joined the forces.
He goes up the ranks,
and gets broke back down again
for being a wild card.
Last night, my doormen let the
fuckers in through the staff door.
Fucking Zulus.
They took everything.
But I got this.
Now, I don't do this stuff myself
any more
but I was fizzing.
They were going wild.
I had a respectable customer
have a heart attack.
So, I took a machete
from the kitchen,
and I took this from one of the
fuckers with his hand in the till.
Virgil was the best
head of security I ever had,
and he would not have let
last night happen.
You look a lot like him.
I'm not like him.
My dad keeps me in at night.
I have to go. Now fuck the time,
son! You listen to me!
There. There it is.
In your eyes.
It's very rare.
Instant.
Last night was an alarm going off,
"Wake fucking up!"
Fuck Frankie Laine!
I'm going to change the venue
and I will need new people.
Well, I just came to return
the space suit.
Fuck being a doorman!
Just before the fire
comes the spark!
You have to know it when you see it.
If you're one tenth
of what your brother was
you can earn a grand a week
just looking like how you look.
DOOR SLAMS
Give me an hour
to press like a flower
Give me a stone to put in my shoe
So when I walk, I will remember you
Just give me a day,
I'll walk you away
Just give me your time
and I'll give you mine
And we can make the junction shine.
That's fucking BRILLIANT!
If you knew
how much I love you
How much I need you
You wouldn't stay away
If you knew
You were my one desire
You set my soul on fire
You wouldn't stay away
Now, darling ♪
Shouldn't have told you
where I work.
I'm looking for something.
What you looking for?
An album called New Skin For An
Old Ceremony, by Leonard Cohen.
Dante, why did you invite me
to go for a cup of tea?
Or coffee.
I said it was up to you.
You don't drink alcohol?
My dad used to drink.
Saw what it does to people.
STYLUS RIPS ON RECORD
And you don't smoke dope,
and you don't dance.
Listen to this.
You don't smoke cigarettes, either.
No. Listen and tell me
what you think.
..longing from my tongue
Whatever useless things
these hands have done
Let me see your beauty broken down
Like you would do
For one you love
Your body like a ♪
Sounds like it was recorded at 45
and is playing at 33.
You have to listen to the words.
Can't dance to words.
Yes, you can,
if they're the right words.
Fiona, last night I wrote a poem
that could also be a song.
It's about you.
You're just using me
to try out some emotions
you think are sophisticated.
Things you've read in books.
Then, just as I was composing
the final verse of the poem,
something struck me.
What?
A policeman.
Because of you, I walked
all the way to Lozells Road.
Seriously?
Fiona, am I wasting my time
completely with you?
Dante,
you were in the riot last night?
I can see that if I told you that
I was there throwing bricks
you'd be impressed,
but it wouldn't be true.
I was just walking round putting
the words in my head into order.
The words come and land in my skull
like a flock of pigeons
on a tower block.
DOOR OPENS
Do you want to buy that?
I've already got it.
I used Leonard Cohen
as an excuse to come and see you.
He of all people would understand.
Not completely.
What?
You're not completely
wasting your time.
"Not completely."
OK.
That'll do until Monday.
See you in history.
I'm going to be your number one
I'm not the kind of girl
who gives up just like that
Oh, no
The tide is high
but I'm holding on ♪
EAMONN SIGHS
Do you want me to run you
to college?
I'm two and a half hours late.
The exam's over.
Oh.
What are they doing having
exams on a Saturday, anyway?
I'm doing extra work.
What is it you want to be, son?
I want to be my own man, Dad.
What?
And I'm not?
Is that what you're saying?
You little fucker!
Men like us, we have a duty
to our country and to our people.
Do you hear me, Bardon?
Bardon!
Nan?
WATER RUNNING
Nan?
Nan. Nan, I'm coming in.
DOCTOR WHO THEME ON TV
I got back specially
so I could watch Doctor Who.
I know. Um
What's wrong?
It's your nan.
Nanny Marie.
I just get off the phone
from your cousin, Bardon.
Your nan had a heart attack
this morning.
Your Nanny Marie dead.
Dante
I know you loved her.
And when I was a drunk,
she looked after you.
But she's with the Lord now.
Broken windows
And empty hallways
Pale dead moon
in a sky streaked with grey
Human kindness is overflowing
And I think it's going
to rain today ♪
KNOCKING ON DOOR
Nanna's side of the family, they all
have a weakness of the heart.
She smoked a lot when she was young.
Dad, why don't you go and light
a candle and go to church
and, you know,
and then pray for forgiveness?
Forgiveness for what?
You better listen to me, son.
There's some merchandise
of a particular sort
coming down to us from Birmingham
in the next few days.
When it arrives, you're going
to have to make some decisions.
Do you understand?
Sit.
At ease.
Is there something wrong with you,
Sergeant Williams?
I don't think so, sir.
At zero four hundred hours
this morning,
you got out of an armoured vehicle
on the Lower Falls Road,
exposing yourself to the enemy,
and putting yourself
and your men at risk.
The report says that you did it
to listen to a bird singing.
Yes, sir.
It was very beautiful.
As a consequence of this reckless
act, you drew fire onto your unit.
Two live rounds.
At just after
zero nine hundred hours,
you exposed yourself to danger again
from the chamber of the same
armoured vehicle
while driving through
the Short Strand.
Telling everyone
in a very loud voice
that they should sing together.
You joined this regiment
with quite an extensive criminal
record as a juvenile.
Yes, sir.
Because of your father's
distinguished service
in this regiment,
that criminal record was overlooked.
But I wonder Wonder what, sir?
if a leopard ever changes
its spots.
In normal circumstances, I would
either put you through the system
or I would refer you
to psychiatric for an assessment.
But an hour ago
we received this.
It's your grandmother.
I have decided to recommend you
for three days' compassionate leave.
Perhaps you'll get a chance
to take stock of your emotions
when you're back in England,
and then you will return here
fit for duty.
If you give me the words,
I will put them in the right order.
Why don't we go
and have that cup of tea, Dante?
I came to see ya.
I want to give you something.
Saw you walking, and I followed ya.
You said you're a poet.
I've got lots of tunes in my head.
I, er recorded them
on this cassette ages ago
and forgot about them, cos
can never think of any words.
Dante
I've had this idea
that I could do the tunes,
and you could do the words.
What do you say?
You can get it if you really want
You can get it if you really want
But you must try
try and try, try and try
You'll succeed at last
Persecution you must fear
Win or lose
you got to get your share
You've got your mind
set on a dream
You can get it
though hard it may seem now
You can get it if you really want
You can get it if you really want
You can get it if you really ♪
discriminatory content,
strong language, some scenes which
some viewers may find upsetting
and some violent scenes
from the start.
You walk away from every day,
Nothing much to make you stay.
Then, bloody hell, you hear a bell,
Ring across the wishing well.
PEOPLE SHOU
SIRENS WAIL
This beautiful thing,
Flowers and rings.
Funny what the wishing brings.
I love you, baby.
I can't quite say it but
if I had a harp, I'd bloody play it.
MELEE OF SHOUTS
Before I saw you, I didn't know it
But now I discover
BURGLAR ALARM RINGS
I'm not a bad poet.
And this is the dawn of
the age of love.
BURGLAR ALARM, PEOPLE SHOU
EXPLOSION
You!
I'm just trying to get home.
Walking home from college.
Trying to get home?
It's a fucking long way
back to the jungle, son.
Aghhh!
Ska, ska, ska
Ska, ska, ska
Not any people can cha-cha-cha
Not everyone can do the twist ♪
Shit!
DOG SNARLS
Aghhh!
DOG BARKS
POLICEMAN: ..over number 27.
POLICE WHISTLE BLASTS
Shit! They followed him. Run!
Ska, ska, ska
Jamaican ska ♪
INDISTINCT SHOUTS
DOG BARKS
Now everybody can do the Ska
The new dance that goes like this
Now bow your head
Swing your arms
Now do a dip ♪
Dante?
Jeannie?
What are you doing here?
You're a good kid.
I'm just trying to get home.
Right, give me a hand.
Hup!
JEANNIE PANTS
I tried to get the bus,
but, for some reason, the buses
to Chelmsley Wood are not running.
Dante, the buses aren't running
on account of them being on fire.
Why would you burn your bus home?
EXPLOSIONS
Come with me.
Come on.
But everybody can do the ska ♪
POLICE WHISTLE, DOG BARKS
Right. In here.
Jamaican ska
Ska, ska, ska
Jamaican ska ♪
Fucking petrol all over me!
What the fuck, Dante!
Fuck!
Ow!
JEANNIE SIGHS
Never.
You're still weird, then.
Are you OK?
Mm. Not really.
Well, don't worry.
We'll be safe here. We'll just
sit it out until it gets light.
I'm not OK
because I just had my heart broken.
And who broke your heart?
I asked this girl at college
to come with me for a cup of tea,
and she said no.
Tea?
I don't drink alcohol.
Well
might've been the tea
she was saying no to.
You think?
I remember when you climbed up
on the roof of the school Yeah?
with the black flag of anarchy.
Is that what it was?
We all thought you were
going to jump off.
Hmm.
You all thought I was going to jump.
Well, when I walked to the edge,
where the decisions are made
for a bit, so did I.
But then I thought,
"What would my nan say?"
I'll have a cup of tea with you,
Dante, you weird fucker.
POLICE SIRENS AND LOUD-HAILER
INDISTINCT LOUD-HAILER ORDERS
Sounds like we're losing.
What would we win, if we won?
So, Dante,
it's obvious you are still the same.
How's your gorgeous, rock-hard
brother?
Move on!
MUSIC: Is This Love
by Bob Marley and the Wailers
PEOPLE SHOUT AND JEER
Kill!
Aghhh!
Agh! Ughh! Aghh!
GUNFIRE
You black bastard!
Leave us alone!
Fuck off!
I don't mean black as in
the colour of your skin, comrade.
I mean black like Black and Tan.
Half my fucking family are Irish!
IRISH REEL PLAYS
How you doing?
After due deliberation,
and after an exceptionally
good display by all contenders
I can declare
the winner in The Gate Hangs Well
Irish Ceilidh under-20s
boy's dance competition is
Bardon Quinn!
Hup!
Maith an fear!
Well done, son!
Could you not have waited, Dad?
You didn't have to come in
and play the big Provo.
I would've won anyway.
INDISTINC
Well done, son. Well done!
Well done.
BLACKBIRD SINGS
What?
Bird song.
Not arranged or organised.
Just happens.
Do you want to lift back
to the estate?
A lift in what?
You can give me a hand.
A hand with what?
BIRDSONG
Listen.
No, no, no. It's OK.
It's just a bird
singing.
What are you doing?
Fuck!
RADIO CHATTER
Sarge!
Sarge, we just had Comms telling us
to pull out.
Our grandmother used to wake us up.
She used to say
it's not arranged
or organised
but it's the best music
in the world.
We should get back to the barracks,
Sergeant.
Do you sing, soldier?
No, Sergeant.
This whole war.
This whole thing.
It's about music.
Did you know that?
Sarge, we should get out of here
before the day shift wakes up.
Cos to the east,
they've got their songs
but then to the west,
they've got their songs, too.
Yeah,
and where we are right now, Sarge,
we're stuck bang
in the middle of them.
GUNSHO
Fuck!
Why don't you just sing together?
Come on!
GUNSHO
..try, try and try, try and try
You'll succeed at last
Mm-mm-hmm-mm ♪
What are you doing, staring?
Well, if you're awake,
you can come and give me a hand.
I've got college.
I've got a mock exam.
We'll be done
and back before college.
Get down here!
You can get it
if you really want ♪
I was listening to the birds.
Then I heard him call you.
You've got school.
College, Nan.
He said I'd be back in time.
Just do the red diesel thing.
That's OK.
Doing the stolen diesel is OK.
But if he asks you
to do anything else
I don't even know
what the red diesel thing is, Nan.
Well, that's what he's calling
you to help with.
It's illegal, but that's OK.
It's not inhuman.
Nan, I promise
I won't do anything inhuman.
Ohh!
They can't make you do anything.
Did you see the trophy I won?
I really won it.
Just do the red diesel,
come back, and go to school.
College, Nan.
OK.
VAN HORN BEEPS
VAN DOOR SLAMS
Behold!
Villa Cross Bingo Hall!
Revolution headquarters.
Miraculously unscathed.
I'm official delegate
for our estate.
We've been allocated
one van-load of liberated goods
to go to the Happy Trooper pub
for distribution.
By who?
Don't ask.
Looks like we're first here.
We can take the best stuff.
Dante, help me!
Grab the stereo equipment.
The sound system
at the Trooper is shit.
It's dance night tomorrow night.
Fuck! It's real!
It says here that this space suit's
actually been into outer space.
Leave it!
It was taken by mistake
from The Moonlite Club
by a bunch of Zulus
who forgot that The Moonlite Club
is owned by Robbie Carmen.
I have no idea
what any of that means.
It means the space suit was looted
from a display
in the premises of the worst
gangster in South Birmingham.
So leave it the fuck alone!
If you take it back
to Robbie Carmen,
he'll think you're one of the Zulus
who looted his club,
and he'll shoot your knees off.
What's a Zulu?
Zulus fight, and go to Blues
matches, and clamp cars.
And steal space suits.
Are you a Christian or something?
Don't know what I am.
I think anarchist is close,
but almost everybody pisses me off,
so I doubt I'm anything.
You mean he'd think I'm a Zulu
because I'm black.
Zulus are black and white.
And the reason Robbie would
think you're a Zulu
is cos you've got the look, OK?
I know you're just a really
weird kid
but to people who don't know ya,
you've got the look about ya.
You look like somebody
who could be somebody.
Even on our estate.
I want to be somebody.
I want to be a poet.
A poet?
I write poems.
You don't look like a poet.
You look like your brother.
What music do you like?
Leonard Cohen.
Bob Dylan.
I like the words.
Oh.
Do you write words?
Words come to me.
And you put them into songs?
Tunes don't come to me.
Tunes come to me.
They play in my head.
I, er I recorded them cassettes
myself for parties.
They play records, and I record them
because I can't afford to buy them.
Dante, you say you don't know
what you are.
This
is what you are.
MUSIC: Broadway Jungle
by Toots and the Maytals
All right, that's enough!
Dad, why the fuck
do we need 28 traffic cones?
Why the fuck did you count them?
You counted them
because you're the smart one.
And we like smart ones.
You are not putting any item
stolen from Robbie Carmen
into the company lock up.
Right
Come here.
If he has any complaints
about the damp,
tell him to call
Mission Control or the council.
I would strongly recommend
Mission Control.
OK. First, we take the cones
out of the van.
And cut off the ends to make
the hole in the tip bigger.
Like this.
And why would we do that?
You try it.
OK, OK.
I'll cut off the tips
of the traffic cones,
you take the ones I've cut
over to those troughs.
And why would I do that?
You do that because the Coventry
and Birmingham battalions
are self-financing
because those sticky bastards
in Dublin give us nothing.
So we have to finance ourselves,
and 80% of our finance comes
from the laundering of red diesel.
Come on. I'll show you.
Look.
Diesel.
But it's red.
Dad, I have to be
back in college in one hour.
Standard diesel is clear,
but this is red.
The British Government puts red dye
into diesel sold to farmers
because it's subsidised
and only meant for use on farms.
It's illegal to sell red diesel
for use on the public road.
So, today we are going to be
removing the red dye
from this cheap, subsidised diesel.
Putting the cleaned-up fuel
into barrels
to sell at the normal, retail price.
The profit of 80 pence per gallon
will go to buy
the necessary tools and equipment
needed to help us continue the war
to liberate the six occupied
counties of Northern Ireland.
And why would we do that?
You know, there are some in
our little Hillsides community
who are saying to me that my boy
isn't really pulling his weight.
Over there you'll find
some sacks of cat litter.
Cat litter? I'll cut the cones,
you'll fill them with cat litter,
I'll add some sulphuric acid,
and you will pour the diesel through
the mixture,
into the troughs, to remove the dye.
And the reason you'll do that
is because I am fucking
telling you to do it!
They closed all the curtains
And locked all the doors,
On the road that runs
From my street to yours.
We meet in the smoke
from burning pages,
Slip the bolts,
break open the cages.
I'm closer to heaven on floor 27
Cos I can see the M6.
And when the lifts are fixed,
I'll go down on the ground,
Spin you around.
And we'll hitchhike to Brighton
Where we'll no longer be frightened.
But now
I'm going to lie my dad.
Because he's going to go
fucking mad!
Where the hell hell you been?
I've been seeing two of everything.
Oh, Jesus!
Come. Sit down.
You're cut, Dante.
Got hit.
By who?
Can I have water, Dad?
Yeah, sit down.
NEWS REPORT ON TV
REPORTER: The tension was electric.
A number of cars, including
a police van, were overturned.
Other vehicles were
deliberately set on fire
Went up to Soho Road
to your college.
They tried to arrest me.
Oh.
Did the police hit you?
They mistook me for someone I'm not.
How is your head?
I'm OK.
Yeah, you look OK.
OK, I'm actually not OK.
I think you might be in shock,
Dante.
Yeah.
I am in shock.
Well, you don't have concussion.
You dizzy?
Dad, I'm OK.
I'm not a vase.
And, anyway, it's not my head
that's wounded.
It's my heart.
What you talk about?
When my class finished,
I asked Fiona if she wanted to
go for a cup of tea or something,
and she said she only does dances.
She only does rock-steady dances.
I don't even know what
rock-steady is.
So, you stay out all hours of the
night, get caught up in a riot,
get beaten till you start seeing
double,
and you talk about some girl?
I'm in love with her.
Oh, Lord!
When she said no,
I just walked around.
I didn't even smell the smoke
until I got to Lozells Road.
Handsworth is always weird,
but last night it was really weird.
What happened?
Birmingham exploded.
Just like I predicted it would
two years ago.
But Fiona is more important, yes?
Yes.
You love her?
Yeah.
A medieval kind of love.
I hear you've been listening
to Leonard Cohen, lately.
He writes poems like me.
You write poems?
A girl at college said,
"People like us don't write poetry."
"People like us!"
And I said Joan Armatrading's
songs are poetry,
and she's from Wolverhampton
Mm-hm.
which is an even worse shithole
than here.
Dante, you don't have
a lot of experience
about anything.
And that is probably my fault.
But when a woman decides that she
don't like you, that is it.
Women don't change their mind.
So you have to move on.
Find somebody else.
How your head now?
Less bruised than my heart.
DOOR SHUTS
Lord, where'd this boy come from?
Marie?
It's been a while.
Forgive me, Father.
I've been unwell.
My heart.
What's wrong with your heart?
They say it's clogging up.
But it's also breaking.
It isn't about me that I'm here.
I have sinned in my head, surely
but I'm not here about myself.
This holy confessional is for
no other business than confession.
It's about my grandson, Bardon.
And about Bardon's father.
This holy confessional
is for no other business.
Bardon's father is trying to
call him in to the organisation.
Marie!
And, Father,
I know that you yourself
have conversations and connections.
This is not an appropriate place
Connections with the same
organisation.
These things are not
for conversation, not even in here.
I've said he can do the diesel.
But I heard his father on the phone
talking to people in Birmingham
about sacks of fertiliser
and the purchase of detonators.
Marie, you will stop this right now!
You will not listen into
conversations
or say any of the words you are
carrying on your back
like a great weight.
Nonsense about fertiliser.
That is what's hurting your heart.
Trying to know and daring to say
things that are best left unsaid.
Father, I want you to speak to
the battalion commanders in Coventry
and Birmingham and tell them my
little Bardon is not to volunteer.
Volunteer for what, Marie?
He's not to volunteer for the Ra.
I have no idea
what you're talking about
and you have no idea
what you're talking about.
Now go home, Marie
and take care of your poor heart.
By a lonely prison wall
I heard a young girl calling
Michael, they have taken you away
For you stole Trevelyan's corn
So the young might see the morn
Now a prison ship lies
waiting in the bay. ♪
You can get it if you really want
You can get it if you really want
You can get it if you really
Low lie the fields of Athenry
Where once
..you'll succeed at last
..we watched the small
free bird fly
Persecution you must fear
Our love was on the wing
..you got to get your share
You got your mind set on a dream
It's so lonely round
..how hard it may seem, now
..Athenry
You can get it if you really want
You can get it if you really want
By a lonely prison wall
You can get it if you really want
But you must try
Try, and try Try and try ♪
Bardon, why don't you just get on
with your job and shut the fuck up?
And why would I do that?
You can get it if you really want
You can get it if you really want
But you must try
try and try, try and try
You'll succeed at last ♪
It's OK.
I can't leave you in here.
I'm taking you home.
Come on!
Win or lose you got to get
your share
You've got your mind ♪
CHILDREN SCREAM
Bang! Bang! Bang-bang-bang! Bang!
Bang!
Why don't you all just
fucking sing to each other?
You can get it if you really want
But you must try
try and try, try and try
You'll succeed at last
Don't you know?
Yes, sir ♪
Rome was not built in a day
Opposition will come your way
But the hotter the battle you see
Is the sweeter the victory now
You can get it if you really want
You can get it if you really want
But you must try
CAR HORN BEEPS
..try and try
You'll succeed at last
Hey!
You can get it if you really want
But you must try
try and try, try and try ♪
GUITAR STRINGS TWANG
Who are you?
What you doing in my house?
It's OK, Marie.
It's OK. I'm a friend of Eamonn.
How did you get in here?
Eamonn leaves a key with us
in case of emergency.
Who is "us"?
Sit down, Marie.
I'll stand.
What do you want?
Someone told us you were having
problems with your heart.
I'd like you to leave. Now.
I'm a nurse, Marie.
I just wanted to warn you
that stress of any kind will only
make your condition worse.
There, now.
Bang, bang, bang.
Like a marching song.
Getting involved in stressful
situations,
speaking about stressful matters,
that is what is setting
your heart banging Hmm
and it will only serve
to put your life at risk, Marie.
Do you understand?
This is good, strong medical advice
from a nurse of 25 years standing.
Safest bet is not to listen
into other people's telephone calls.
Please,
get out of my house.
Rest yourself, Marie.
Nothing good ever comes
of making a fuss.
DOOR SHUTS
Fly me to the moon
And let me play among the stars
Let me see what spring is like
On Jupiter and Mars
In other words, hold my hand
In other words, darling, kiss me
Fill my heart with song
and let me sing for evermore
You are all I long for
All I worship and adore
In other words, please be true
In other words,
darling, I love you
Fly me to the moon
Let me play among the stars
Let me see ♪
SCRAPING
..on Jupiter and Mars ♪
DOOR BANGS
MUSIC STOPS
Whoever you are, you've got balls.
If you want to keep 'em,
you'd better explain.
They were going to dump it.
Who?
Whoever they are.
I didn't want to see it dumped.
I like stars and space.
You like stars?
You see that stage?
Frankie Laine has performed
on that stage.
Yeah, but it's 1981,
nobody knows who Frankie Laine is.
I do.
Where did you get it?
Who the fuck are you?
I write poems.
Sometimes about planets.
Also, my older brother used
to work for you, Mr Carmen.
Though nobody's meant to know,
and I never tell anybody.
That's why I wasn't afraid
to come here.
Who was your brother?
Gregory Williams.
Fuck!
HE CHUCKLES
Yeah, yeah.
I can see it in your eyes.
We used to call him Virgil.
He was a wild card.
He had an unusual way with him.
He broke heads for me.
And I write poems.
Yeah, and you do the decent thing
and you bring back stolen property.
Or are you looking for work?
No.
I heard Virgil joined the forces.
He goes up the ranks,
and gets broke back down again
for being a wild card.
Last night, my doormen let the
fuckers in through the staff door.
Fucking Zulus.
They took everything.
But I got this.
Now, I don't do this stuff myself
any more
but I was fizzing.
They were going wild.
I had a respectable customer
have a heart attack.
So, I took a machete
from the kitchen,
and I took this from one of the
fuckers with his hand in the till.
Virgil was the best
head of security I ever had,
and he would not have let
last night happen.
You look a lot like him.
I'm not like him.
My dad keeps me in at night.
I have to go. Now fuck the time,
son! You listen to me!
There. There it is.
In your eyes.
It's very rare.
Instant.
Last night was an alarm going off,
"Wake fucking up!"
Fuck Frankie Laine!
I'm going to change the venue
and I will need new people.
Well, I just came to return
the space suit.
Fuck being a doorman!
Just before the fire
comes the spark!
You have to know it when you see it.
If you're one tenth
of what your brother was
you can earn a grand a week
just looking like how you look.
DOOR SLAMS
Give me an hour
to press like a flower
Give me a stone to put in my shoe
So when I walk, I will remember you
Just give me a day,
I'll walk you away
Just give me your time
and I'll give you mine
And we can make the junction shine.
That's fucking BRILLIANT!
If you knew
how much I love you
How much I need you
You wouldn't stay away
If you knew
You were my one desire
You set my soul on fire
You wouldn't stay away
Now, darling ♪
Shouldn't have told you
where I work.
I'm looking for something.
What you looking for?
An album called New Skin For An
Old Ceremony, by Leonard Cohen.
Dante, why did you invite me
to go for a cup of tea?
Or coffee.
I said it was up to you.
You don't drink alcohol?
My dad used to drink.
Saw what it does to people.
STYLUS RIPS ON RECORD
And you don't smoke dope,
and you don't dance.
Listen to this.
You don't smoke cigarettes, either.
No. Listen and tell me
what you think.
..longing from my tongue
Whatever useless things
these hands have done
Let me see your beauty broken down
Like you would do
For one you love
Your body like a ♪
Sounds like it was recorded at 45
and is playing at 33.
You have to listen to the words.
Can't dance to words.
Yes, you can,
if they're the right words.
Fiona, last night I wrote a poem
that could also be a song.
It's about you.
You're just using me
to try out some emotions
you think are sophisticated.
Things you've read in books.
Then, just as I was composing
the final verse of the poem,
something struck me.
What?
A policeman.
Because of you, I walked
all the way to Lozells Road.
Seriously?
Fiona, am I wasting my time
completely with you?
Dante,
you were in the riot last night?
I can see that if I told you that
I was there throwing bricks
you'd be impressed,
but it wouldn't be true.
I was just walking round putting
the words in my head into order.
The words come and land in my skull
like a flock of pigeons
on a tower block.
DOOR OPENS
Do you want to buy that?
I've already got it.
I used Leonard Cohen
as an excuse to come and see you.
He of all people would understand.
Not completely.
What?
You're not completely
wasting your time.
"Not completely."
OK.
That'll do until Monday.
See you in history.
I'm going to be your number one
I'm not the kind of girl
who gives up just like that
Oh, no
The tide is high
but I'm holding on ♪
EAMONN SIGHS
Do you want me to run you
to college?
I'm two and a half hours late.
The exam's over.
Oh.
What are they doing having
exams on a Saturday, anyway?
I'm doing extra work.
What is it you want to be, son?
I want to be my own man, Dad.
What?
And I'm not?
Is that what you're saying?
You little fucker!
Men like us, we have a duty
to our country and to our people.
Do you hear me, Bardon?
Bardon!
Nan?
WATER RUNNING
Nan?
Nan. Nan, I'm coming in.
DOCTOR WHO THEME ON TV
I got back specially
so I could watch Doctor Who.
I know. Um
What's wrong?
It's your nan.
Nanny Marie.
I just get off the phone
from your cousin, Bardon.
Your nan had a heart attack
this morning.
Your Nanny Marie dead.
Dante
I know you loved her.
And when I was a drunk,
she looked after you.
But she's with the Lord now.
Broken windows
And empty hallways
Pale dead moon
in a sky streaked with grey
Human kindness is overflowing
And I think it's going
to rain today ♪
KNOCKING ON DOOR
Nanna's side of the family, they all
have a weakness of the heart.
She smoked a lot when she was young.
Dad, why don't you go and light
a candle and go to church
and, you know,
and then pray for forgiveness?
Forgiveness for what?
You better listen to me, son.
There's some merchandise
of a particular sort
coming down to us from Birmingham
in the next few days.
When it arrives, you're going
to have to make some decisions.
Do you understand?
Sit.
At ease.
Is there something wrong with you,
Sergeant Williams?
I don't think so, sir.
At zero four hundred hours
this morning,
you got out of an armoured vehicle
on the Lower Falls Road,
exposing yourself to the enemy,
and putting yourself
and your men at risk.
The report says that you did it
to listen to a bird singing.
Yes, sir.
It was very beautiful.
As a consequence of this reckless
act, you drew fire onto your unit.
Two live rounds.
At just after
zero nine hundred hours,
you exposed yourself to danger again
from the chamber of the same
armoured vehicle
while driving through
the Short Strand.
Telling everyone
in a very loud voice
that they should sing together.
You joined this regiment
with quite an extensive criminal
record as a juvenile.
Yes, sir.
Because of your father's
distinguished service
in this regiment,
that criminal record was overlooked.
But I wonder Wonder what, sir?
if a leopard ever changes
its spots.
In normal circumstances, I would
either put you through the system
or I would refer you
to psychiatric for an assessment.
But an hour ago
we received this.
It's your grandmother.
I have decided to recommend you
for three days' compassionate leave.
Perhaps you'll get a chance
to take stock of your emotions
when you're back in England,
and then you will return here
fit for duty.
If you give me the words,
I will put them in the right order.
Why don't we go
and have that cup of tea, Dante?
I came to see ya.
I want to give you something.
Saw you walking, and I followed ya.
You said you're a poet.
I've got lots of tunes in my head.
I, er recorded them
on this cassette ages ago
and forgot about them, cos
can never think of any words.
Dante
I've had this idea
that I could do the tunes,
and you could do the words.
What do you say?
You can get it if you really want
You can get it if you really want
But you must try
try and try, try and try
You'll succeed at last
Persecution you must fear
Win or lose
you got to get your share
You've got your mind
set on a dream
You can get it
though hard it may seem now
You can get it if you really want
You can get it if you really want
You can get it if you really ♪