The Doll Factory (2023) s01e02 Episode Script

MRS SALTER: We're not so much
a business as a family here.
MRS SALTER: Careless hussy.
ROSE: What are you doing?
IRIS: It's just a painting!
ROSE: It's obscene.
IRIS: Rose, you are suffocating me!
SILAS: Silas Reed.
IRIS: It's a pleasure to meet you.
SILAS: I had meant to offer
a tour of my collection.
Will you come, Monday, five o'clock?
BLUEBELL: My arty boy.
BLUEBELL: Since this one abandoned me.
LOUIS: I'm just in need
of a queen, that's all.
SILAS: I saw a redhead
today. She was very striking.
ALBIE: Miss Iris is a painter.
LOUIS: I want you to be my model.
IRIS: I know what happens
to girls like that.
LOUIS: What if you just
came to visit my studio?
Clarissa will chaperone. I promise.
CLARISSA: Why did you suggest so soon?
We'll have to move her before she comes.
CLARISSA: You can take that one.
CLARISSA: I found
something under the bed.
LOUIS: Well, get rid of it.
MRS SALTER: That's enough.
ALL: For what we're about to receive
may the Lord make us truly thankful.
MRS SALTER [OOV]: Amen.
- ROSE [OOV]: Amen.
- IRIS: Amen.
IRIS: Rose and I saw the
model for the Crystal Palace,
where the great exhibition will be.
MRS SALTER: Hm. Great
expense, more like.
ROSE: [CHUCKLES]
MRS SALTER: The
worshiping of commodities
will be the downfall of society.
Eat up. Mr Bowler is coming to see you.
IRIS: Who?
MRS SALTER: Mr Albert Bowler.
He's a porter and a churchgoer.
IRIS: Why is he coming?
MRS SALTER: To avoid fornication,
let every man have his own wife
and let every woman
have her own husband.
Corinthians.
IRIS: Urgh!
ROSE: [SCREAMS]
MRS SALTER: Oh-oh.
IRIS: Why me?
MRS SALTER: It has to be one of you.
It's just business. I can't
afford to keep both of you.
Eat.
IRIS: I've quite lost my appetite.
SILAS: Thank you.
GIDEON: This area is for
students of the profession.
SILAS: Excuse me.
LISTON: Gentlemen!
Today we are trying a
Yankee dodge together,
for making men insensible.
Bring him in.
LISTON: Chloroform.
A substance that quiets all suffering.
Relieves all pain.
Quenches all fevers.
I need someone.
You, sir.
Hm.
LISTON: Time me.
What's your guess?
SILAS: Oh, no more than 30 seconds.
LISTON: So quick, huh? Must
be familiar with my work.
SILAS: Nine seconds.
LISTON: Hold it back.
STUDENT: [VOMITS]
SILAS: 17 seconds.
28 seconds.
STUDENTS: [APPLAUSE]
GIDEON: Impressive in there.
Gideon Fletcher.
SILAS: Silas, um, Reed. Silas Reed.
GIDEON: I haven't seen
you before in lectures.
SILAS: I've only recently
started attending.
GIDEON: Mm. Well, you've
a strong stomach for a man
who's only just started his training.
I'm in need of a new dissection partner.
SILAS: Huh?
GIDEON: Preferably someone who
isn't going to spoil my shoes.
There are new cadavers
coming in tomorrow night,
so I'll see you there?
SILAS: Tomorrow I have an appointment.
GIDEON: After 10 PM?
SILAS: No, no of course not.
At, uh, five o'clock.
At 10 I-I will, I'll be there.
GIDEON: Good.
BLUEBELL: Time's up, maestro.
LOUIS: I'm not finished.
BLUEBELL: Can't get enough of me.
BLUEBELL: Hm.
- LOUIS: You're torturous.
- BLUEBELL: Hm.
BLUEBELL: Oh.
That happened fast.
It's like a bloody church in here.
Where'd it all go?
LOUIS: What are you doing in here?
BLUEBELL: Oh, I was just inquiring
if you needed a new lodger.
LOUIS: I thought you said
you were on your way out.
BLUEBELL: How about you paint me
in my natural habitat for once.
Come here. [GIGGLES]
LOUIS: Get off the bed.
Get off the bed. Get off the bed.
Get out.
CLARISSA [OOV]: Wait.
Bluebell, wait!
BLUEBELL: He can be a
real prick sometimes, hey?
Much appreciated.
Fucking bitch.
ROSE: Do you know it's torture
to have to look at you every day?
You should be grateful.
IRIS: Grateful for what? Albert Bowler?
ROSE [OOV]: Yes.
IRIS: I don't like him.
ROSE: It doesn't matter if you like him.
IRIS: It does if I'm
gonna have to marry him.
ROSE: No, it doesn't.
ROSE: What were you doing last night?
IRIS: I've had an offer.
ROSE: An offer of what?
IRIS: A new position.
ROSE [OOV]: Liar.
IRIS: As a model.
ROSE: Iris.
IRIS: To a proper artist, Louis Frost.
ROSE: Hey, you can't.
IRIS: I'm going to do it
if he agrees to teach me.
ROSE: Well, he won't.
Iris. No. Iris, he won't.
A model is no better than a prostitute.
They'll call you a whore. And
I'll be the whore's sister.
IRIS: Stop, listen to me.
ROSE: No, you can't. You
can't Iris. You can't.
IRIS: You should come with me.
We can find a room together.
I'll work for Louis
and you can sew clothes.
We'll save up and open our
shop like we always dreamed of.
ROSE: When we were children.
IRIS: Rose, I can't stay here.
ROSE: You don't have to stay here.
Marry Albert Bowler.
IRIS: No, I can't.
ROSE: That is the only real choice here.
The rest is just a fantasy.
IRIS: I'm sorry, Rose.
IRIS: No! No!
ROSE: This is for your own good.
IRIS: What have you done?
ROSE: Help me.
IRIS: Did you really think
this would make me stay?
ROSE: Please?
[CRIES]
MRS SALTER: What's this?
IRIS: I've found a new position.
MRS SALTER: How very
enterprising of you both.
IRIS: Rose will be staying.
MRS SALTER: Is that so?
Hm.
IRIS: Thank you, Mrs Salter,
for teaching me so much.
You've been a shining example
of everything I would hate to be.
ROSE: I'm sorry about the paintings.
So, please don't leave.
Iris, please don't.
MRS SALTER: You set
foot outside that door
you're never coming
back. Don't you dare!
LOUIS: Come on in. Come.
IRIS: Is your sister here, Mr Frost?
LOUIS: Call me Louis, for god's sake.
IRIS: You promised a chaperone.
LOUIS: Uh, Clarissa,
I believe promised.
And I promise you will leave here
entirely unsacrificed to Venus.
You've come all this way.
Let me give you the grand tour at least.
LOUIS: You can touch them
if you like.
LOUIS: Careful.
IRIS: Is it fragile?
LOUIS: Mm. Just relatively priceless.
IRIS: It's beautiful.
LOUIS: Mm.
I thought the same
thing when I first saw it
at the Royal Academy.
Oh, I borrowed it.
IRIS: I didn't know you could.
LOUIS: Well, I didn't exactly
clarify the finer points
of the loan with them.
IRIS: So you stole it.
LOUIS: You'd never steal anything.
IRIS: How do you know?
What is that?
LOUIS: That's Guinevere, the iguana.
She likes you.
IRIS [OOV]: Is this it?
LOUIS: Yes.
The Imprisonment of Guigemar's Queen.
Shall I tell you the story?
It's tragic, deeply romantic.
She, the queen, she's held
captive by a jealous husband.
But she falls in love
with a man named Guigemar.
And when they're discovered,
they knot each other's clothing
in such a way that only their
lover knows how to untie.
So that when they meet again,
they know one another
to have stayed true.
IRIS: How, how did you ?
LOUIS: Oh, we used a different technique
to what's taught at the academy.
Vivid colours painted on top
of a wet white background.
We aim to bring, uh,
reality to our paintings.
IRIS: Then why do you paint knights
and princesses and maids?
If your ambition is reality,
surely you should paint something real.
There's plenty to inspire you in London.
No shortage of starving
children or wronged women.
LOUIS: Well, thank you for your opinion.
Other than that little
critique, your thoughts?
IRIS: I think I've-I've
never seen anything like it.
What are you doing?
LOUIS: Iris. You are perfect.
You were made for this.
Imagine it. Imagine it.
Your face, your figure there.
It's going to be magnificent.
IRIS: I haven't-I haven't
agreed to anything yet.
LOUIS: My Queen, I would
kill for-I would die for this.
To do this with you.
- IRIS: Please, get off the floor.
- LOUIS: Yes.
You need to make good on
your promises, unlike today.
If I'm to leave Mrs Salter's,
you said a shilling an hour.
LOUIS: You can take the first
shilling now, if you like.
IRIS: And
LOUIS: And?
IRIS: You teach me to paint.
LOUIS: Why?
Despite how wonderful this all looks,
being an artist is,
uh, fucking miserable.
IRIS: I know.
LOUIS: Paint something for tomorrow.
Where are you staying tonight?
There's a place for
women on Rathbone Street.
You'll make enough in two
hours to pay for a week's rent.
I can take you there now.
IRIS: We haven't struck a deal yet.
LOUIS: I, um, I think we have.
IRIS: You were watching me.
LOUIS: Observing. If you're an artist,
you should know it's a vital skill.
Come on. I'll show you.
SILAS: We're closing early.
I have an important appointment.
CUSTOMER [OOV]: All right.
IRIS: I'll be fine from here.
Thank you.
LOUIS: All right. Well, I'll,
um, I'll see you soon then.
KATHLEEN: Some of the women
meet on an evening downstairs.
We've got a lot of
interesting characters here.
IRIS: Thank you.
It's perfect.
KATHLEEN: What's your story?
IRIS: I'll take the room,
but I need to be somewhere
before five o'clock.
KATHLEEN: Don't let
my chatter hold you up.
SILAS: I don't think she's coming, pups.
SILAS: I'm so glad you came.
IRIS: This place-this place is
SILAS: This is just the shop.
IRIS: Well, it's magnificent.
Did you make everything in here?
SILAS: Can I show you something special?
IRIS: Yes.
SILAS: This is the piece I
mentioned when we first met.
That, that I intend to submit
to the Great Exhibition.
Do you think it's morbid?
IRIS: I've never seen anything like it.
SILAS: It's not many people
would appreciate the craft,
like you.
The paint work on your
dolls, the exactitude of it.
IRIS: Are we a pair of
unacknowledged artists?
SILAS: Are we a pair of
unacknowledged artists?
I grew up outside of the city.
I spent a lot of time out
of the house in the woods.
I'd-I'd collect the bones
and skulls of small creatures.
Trifles. Silly things.
But they all meant something to me.
SILAS: I-I still find it
difficult to part with them.
Every one.
IRIS [OOV]: Are you all right?
SILAS: This was my first piece.
I found it with a
friend, uh, long time ago.
I haven't had many people in my
life who tried to understand me.
IRIS: You're not alone in that.
SILAS: She had hair just like yours.
That same colour.
When I first saw you at the
model of the-the Crystal Palace,
I thought
She disappeared, my friend,
before I left for London.
Before I escaped.
IRIS: Silas. I'm so sorry.
SILAS: You're such a kind person, Iris.
SILAS: Sorry I'm late.
GIDEON: What's your excuse?
Lover or liquor?
GIDEON: Who is she?
SILAS: Her name is Iris.
GIDEON [OOV]: Whore or heart?
GIDEON: Heart it is.
GIDEON [OOV]: Shall we?
Right.
Let's take a look at the stomach.
Here. Stretch it out.
SILAS: Surely something a little
less primitive could be used
then it could be possible
for the skin to be-
GIDEON: He's dead.
The skin can't be saved.
SILAS: Preserve the skin.
GIDEON: Why the hell would you want
to preserve the skin?
[LAUGHS]
You're joking?
I'm gonna keep my eye on you.
No, you're right. It is a bit crude.
Still, less fun without
a good bit of bloodshed
don't you think?
Hold that.
SILAS: Uh-huh.
IRIS: What was I thinking?
LOUIS: Hm.
It's primitive,
limited grasp of anatomy.
Proportion, perspective,
chiaroscuro, composition.
IRIS: Fine.
LOUIS: But it is honest.
There are worse critiques. Trust me.
Sit.
We can agree on your
choice of subject at least.
And the first mistake
of the amateur painter,
this shadow here,
they call this your cupid's bow.
IRIS: What's wrong with it?
LOUIS: Absolutely nothing.
IRIS: In the painting.
LOUIS: Oh, in the painting.
So many things.
IRIS: Will you teach me?
LOUIS: We've already started.
IRIS: You want me to draw the table?
LOUIS: Well, let's, uh,
let's see what you can do with this.
What?
IRIS: [SIGHS] Pencil.
You're a terrible thief.
LOUIS [OOV]: So are you.
FILIGREE: Your application
mentioned another piece?
SILAS: Albie?
SILAS: For the great exhibition,
it would be an entire window.
SILAS: How would you like to
be my porter this afternoon?
SILAS [OOV]: Come on.
FILIGREE: I think both
pieces will do well
in the zoological section.
SILAS: The best day. The best.
Come on.
Well, we need to catch a hundred.
No, more.
150 I think. Can you catch that many?
ALBIE [OOV]: That many what?
SILAS: Ah, butterflies. Come on.
I need to run an errand.
SILAS: Wait here.
SILAS: Iris.
ROSE: If you're looking for
my sister, she's not here.
You were here the other night.
I saw you outside.
You're the artist she told me about.
SILAS: W-we are friends.
ROSE: Leave before I
scream to Miss Salter
that the man who has made a
whore of my sister is in her shop.
SILAS: No.
ROSE: You can tell Iris
that she is dead to me.
She's all yours, Mr Frost.
ALBIE [OOV]: Mr Silas?
SILAS [OOV]: Yeah.
ALBIE: You know that's
not Miss Iris in there.
That's her twin.
SILAS: Of course I know that.
Take that back to the shop.
[WOMEN'S LAUGHTER AND CHATTER]
[WOMEN'S LAUGHTER AND CHATTER]
IRIS: Hello.
ROSSETTI [OOV]: Primitive is correct.
LOUIS [OOV]: Exactly.
LIZZIE [OOV]: Well, you
have to admit, Gabriel,
she has a kind of personality.
ROSSETTI: Well, I've never
seen a dog's self-portrait.
But I imagine that would have
equally distinctive personality.
GIDEON [OOV]: Silas.
LOUIS [OOV]: It's not so bad.
ROSSETTI [OOV]: It is so bad.
LOUIS [OOV]: It's honest.
The word is honest.
SILAS: I'm sorry, I was diverted.
GIDEON: We're celebrating.
It's tradition at the university
to toast the first corpse
one cuts together with a new partner.
Rather him than us.
SILAS: Yeah.
GIDEON: That's the spirit.
LIZZIE: [LAUGHS]
LOUIS [OOV]: I take no responsibility.
GIDEON: Do you know them?
MADAME: Here we go, let's clean that up.
IRIS: And then I threw
a doll at the wall.
Do you think I'm completely mad?
ANANYA: Why?
To turn your whole life upside down?
Cut all ties from your
family and run away to a place
like this from two long miles away?
Try two months on a ship
and then we'll talk about madness.
IRIS: I hope you don't mind me saying,
but you're very beautiful.
ANANYA: [LAUGHS] Why?
I don't mind this at all.
IRIS: I'd like to draw you someday.
ANANYA: You're an artist
then? Not just for dolls.
IRIS: I'm, I'm learning.
ANANYA: What you must
learn is to say it.
Nothing is true until
you claim it for yourself.
FEMALE [OOV]: Poor Iris.
GIDEON: This is your girl you mentioned.
FEMALE [OOV]: So judgemental.
ROSSETTI: You spill
LOUIS: Just a smidge.
[UNCLEAR CHATTER AROUND TABLE]
MALE [OOV]: I think you're
being very cruel to poor Iris.
LOUIS [OOV]: No, I think
I'm being incredibly fair.
GIDEON: I wouldn't stand for it myself.
If I plant the crops, I
don't expect some other chap
to come along and harvest the goods.
Or should I say sow the seeds.
BLUEBELL: Oh, a real gentleman.
MALE [OOV]: Are you actually
intending on giving Iris lessons?
LOUIS [OOV]: Why not? She paints.
[LAUGHTER AND CHATTER]
KATHLEEN: Are we what
you expected, Iris?
BLUEBELL: All right, sailor?
GIDEON: We're surgeons, not sailors.
BLUEBELL: It's just an expression.
Surgeons, is it?
I like your waistcoat.
GIDEON: Why don't you come
and take a closer look?
BLUEBELL [OOV]: I'm Bluebell.
MILLAIS [OOV]: Okay. Okay.
I think we should toast
to Guigemar's Queen.
LOUIS: Oh.
HUNT: Just try not to
fuck it up this time.
ROSSETTI: To Iris Whittle.
ALL: Yeah, to Iris.
GIDEON: The nerve.
Right in front of you.
And to just ignore the fact
he's sitting right there.
BLUEBELL: No, they ain't ignoring him.
They just don't know he's here, do they?
Silent, starey Silas.
GIDEON: Well, I think he
should confront the matter.
Hm? What do you say?
BLUEBELL [OOV]: Oh, I'd love to see that.
- GIDEON [OOV]: Yeah?
- BLUEBELL: Go on, Silas.
GIDEON: We think you
should confront the matter.
And if you say this girl is yours first,
then it's a matter of
integrity. Of honour.
LOUIS [OOV]: Mr Reed!
HUNT [OOV]: Easy, tiger.
ROSSETTI [OOV]: Evening, Silas.
SILAS: I want a word
with you, Louis Frost.
LOUIS: Here he comes.
SILAS: Don't laugh at me.
Don't touch me. I want a word with you.
LOUIS: Hunt, calm down.
I think it's time Mr
Reed went home, don't you?
SILAS [OOV]: You think you
can walk over me, don't you?
LOUIS: I think you're
drunk, cadaver. Fuck off.
MADAME: I'll not have a brawl
in here tonight! Gentleman!
HUNT: Don't you fucking touch them.
SILAS: A gentleman does not
treat women the way you do.
LOUIS [OOV]: And how the
hell would you know? Hm?
SILAS: We've all heard the
whispers about you, Louis Frost.
LOUIS: Whispers?
I'll give you whispers. You fucking
SILAS: Where did your last model go?
Hm? And the one before that?
LOUIS [OOV]: Oh, fuck off.
SILAS: No. Where?
LOUIS: Fuck off.
SILAS: Wherever did Sylvia end up?
HUNT: Your mouth, Silas.
LOUIS: Hunt, it's fine. Hunt, it's fine.
SILAS: Answer me now.
LOUIS: Oh, my God, Bluebell,
I am so-you fucking pig.
MADAME: That's enough!
Get out!
GIDEON [OOV]: I think you'll
find, madam, this is ac
MADAME: I think you'll
find that this is my house
and I decide who's in and who's out.
BLUEBELL: That's what you get for not
taking your punches like a man.
GIDEON: You've got some nerve.
Talking to a gentleman like that!
MALE [OOV]: Oh, fuck off.
GIDEON: Come on.
MADAME: Get out.
LOUIS: I didn't do anything.
He started the altercation.
BLUEBELL: She knows, lovey. She knows.
You were aiming for me, weren't you?
LOUIS: No, I wasn't aiming for
BLUEBELL: What do you reckon?
Gonna come up a nice
blue? Grab your paintbrush.
ROSSETTI: Bluebell, give him a moment!
LOUIS: Fuck's sake.
HUNT: Uh, Louis, just have
a drink to settle your nerves
- before you
- LOUIS: Please.
MADAME: You all right?
BLUEBELL: I'm fine, I'm fine.
Yeah, I'm fine. I've had worse.
They're all just pricks.
Fucking pricks, every last one of them.
BLUEBELL: [GASPS AND COUGHS]