The Pursuit of Love (2021) s01e02 Episode Script

1
I think Linda's marriage
was a failure
almost from the beginning.
She and Tony Kroesig
were married in February,
had a hunting honeymoon
and were settled down for good
in Bryanston Square by Easter.
Morning.
Tony started working
in his father's old bank
and prepared to step
into a Conservative seat
in the House of Commons
For extending to me
its usual general indulgence
an ambition
which was very soon realised.
MPS: Hear, hear!
You were kind to give me
such a wonderful present!
The Kroesigs
thought Linda Radlett
affected, eccentric
and extravagant.
The Radletts
considered Tony Kroesig
a pompous, money-grubbing ass.
Consider making some
judicious investments
in America.
You might be glad
to go there yourself.
There's not a war.
I may be old,
but I can still shoot,
damn you!
I loathe abroad!
Nothing would induce me
to live there!
And as for foreigners,
they're all the same -
they all make me sick!
SIR LEICESTER: And did the necklace cost
all the thousand pounds
I sent you?
Oh, well,
I thought you'd want me
to buy one thing with it
and always remember
who gave it to me.
Erno, dear.
You should have asked Tony
to invest it for you,
or spent it on
entertaining important people
who might have been of use
to him in his career.
There's no such thing as poverty!
Just people who are bad
at their jobs, and idle.
The only mental qualities
necessary for survival
are those which produce money.
Why do you think people
who already have plenty of it
want to lock themselves away
from God's fresh air
and blue skies
simply in order to make more?
Do try to behave like an adult.
But Linda, being What she was,
kept up a perfect shop front
and I never really knew
much about it.
Oh, no, I haven't seen
Linda Radlett for ages!
In a way, it was wonderful
to be away from her
and all the raging scenes
in the hall at Alconleigh
that Christmas.
- Fantastic!
- You loved it?
- Oh, I haven't read it.
- Oh! (LAUGHS)
And to find my heart wasn't racing
and my stomach churning
all the time.
Linda?!
Oh.
Oh, yes.
W comes after V.
(TUTS)
Famously.
You're the one who's not
a bright young thing.
(GIGGLES)
I suppose so.
Gosh!
Don't you love a bookshop?
- I do.
- (BELLS PEAL)
It was a happy time,
and I got happily married
to Alfred Wincham,
then a young don
at St. Peter's College, Oxford.
Oh, Alfred!
Oh!
(GIGGLES AND SHRIEKS)
ALFRED: Let's go over here.
I have been with this kind,
scholarly man ever since
You've never been moresexy!
Just pull it off that way!
- Alfred!
- Oh, sorry, darling!
finding in our home
at Oxford that refuge
from the storms
and puzzles of life,
which I suppose
I always wanted.
Oneone moment!
One moment!
I'll just get my trousers
Oh, creases!
- Right.
- Oh!
(PASSIONATE MOANING)
(MOANS) Mm, Fanny!
Mm!
Not digestives,
my favourite food!
(GIGGLES)
Mmm!
(EXHALES)
It's so nice here!
Oh, thank you!
The wallpaper!
And these curtains!
Where did you find them?!
Gosh, Fanny,
- you are lucky to be you!
- Oh. Well, it's nothing like
- as grand as Bryanston Square.
- Oh, no!
It's huge and empty there!
(SIGHS)
I miss the hours of cheerful bustle
and pointless chatter at Alconleigh.
Yes, but when you were there,
you always wanted to escape.
Oh, no, I know!
Oh!
(LINDA SIGHS CONTENTEDLY)
I'm in pig.
What do you think of that?
Fancy that!
I am, too!
No!
Fanny! Oh, my goodness!
Look, I'm so fat!
I'm so fat!
(LAUGHS)
Oh!
Fanny!
Oh, it's so lonely without you!
Oh, Fanny, the horror
of important people!
You are lucky not to know any.
(FLOORBOARD CREAKS)
Ladies.
(BOTH LAUGH)
Oh, I do like that Alfred of yours!
Yeah?
Mm. He has such a clever,
serious look.
(BOTH LAUGH)
What pretty little darn babies
you'll have!
Oh! Gosh, I do feel so ill!
(SIGHS)
Linda's child, a girl,
was born in October.
(BABY WAILS)
She was very ill indeed
at her confinement.
(GASPS)
Oh, darling!
Hello.
Not to scare you,
but it was absolutely the worst thing
that's ever happened to me.
How can Ma have done it six times?
I know.
I'm absolutely terrified.
Davey keeps trying to tell me
what a wonderful clear-out it'll be.
(CHUCKLES)
So, what are you going to call her?
And where is she, anyway?
The sister's room.
- It shrieks.
- Hmm.
Moira, I believe.
(SCOFFS) Not Moira.
Darling, you can't!
Tony likes it.
He had another sister
called Moira who died.
Their old nanny told me
it was all because his sister Marjorie
whacked her on the head
with a hammer
when she was four months old.
- Can you believe it?!
- Oh, dear!
And they call us
an uncontrolled family!
Why, even Fa never tried
to murder anybody!
Well, all the same,
I don't see how you can saddle
the poor little thing
with a name like Moira.
It's too unkind.
It'll have to grow up a Moira
if the Kroesigs are going to like it.
And they may as well like it because,
frankly, I don't.
Linda, how can you say that?
You can't possibly tell
Whether you like her or not yet.
- (KNOCK AT DOOR)
- Wait till you see her.
You must be the cousin
I've heard so much about.
- Do you want to see the baby?
- Yes.
Poor thing,
it's really kinder not to look.
Pay no attention to her.
She pretends to be a wicked woman,
but it's all a put-on.
Poor soul!
She must've caught sight of
herself in a glass somewhere.
(BABY WAILS)
Ah!
But Linda's so young!
You both are, Fanny.
I don't believe very young mothers
ever get wrapped up in their babies.
Just like the Bolter.
She was too young to be adoring.
I'm perfectly adoring.
And Linda really seems
to loathe Moira.
DAVEY: So like Linda.
She has to do things by extremes.
Ha!
Oh, no tea for me,
please, Fanny.
- I'm on a new diet.
- Ooh!
One meal white, one meal red.
It's doing me so much good.
So, you won't be wanting
any chocolate cake, then?
Erno, chocolate counts as red.
Surely that's obvious?
- Well, OK.
- Thank you.
She's been terribly ill.
Sadie was in despair.
Twice, they thought she would die.
The doctor said to never
have another child.
It would almost certainly kill her.
DAVEY: Don't talk of it.
I can't imagine the
world without Linda.
He was right,
it was an impossible concept.
LINDA: Sh!
- Sh-sh-sh!
- (BABY WAILS)
(SOFTLY) Whispered Freckles,
on the alert.
Somebody else
was in the barn besides them.
Should we take her to see the park?
Sorry?
Moira. Should we take Moira
to see the park?
No, thank you.
I've already seen it.
(FOOTSTEPS APPROACH)
What do you think you're doing?
I'm reading to my babies.
Oh, don't talk nonsense!
Get up! God's sake!
I'm taking you out!
Linda then proceeded
to fritter away
years of her youth
with nothing whatever
to show for them.
She became what's known
as a society beauty.
(RAUCOUS LAUGHTER
AND ANIMATED CHATTER)
Fashionable young men
cluster round her
like bees around honey.
Buzz, buzz, buzz!
Chat, chat, chat!
(RAUCOUS LAUGHTER)
At the cinema,
theater, opera, ballet,
dinner, supper, nightclubs,
parties, dances,
all day, all night -
endless, endless chat.
(LAUGHS)
Thank you very much. Thank you.
Hello, Fanny, darling!
What are you doing here?
You invited me.
Yes, I did, of course I did,
but
- Thank you so much.
- Thank you.
that wasthat was
for lunch at noon.
It'sten to twelve now.
Oh!
Well, I did get scared
once I heard the birds tweeting!
Oh, dear,
I've been up all night chatting!
Oh, come on, darling Fanny,
let's have lunch in bed!
DAVEY: My feeling is,
is that Linda is in real pain
and she's only disguising it
with a lot of chatter.
If she had had
an intellectual background,
the place of all
this pointless chatter
might have been taken by
a serious interest
in the arts, or by reading.
- Hey, give my doggy back!
- David!
- It's mine!
- It's mine now!
Give him the doggy back! David!
Yes, I suppose
she should have become
a terrible bore by now,
but she isn't quite one yet.
Of course she isn't.
Linda's extraordinary!
It's your best friend you're
talking about here, Fanny.
Don't hate me, Davey.
But how she treats that poor child
is appalling, darling.
She's completely abandoned
her to Surrey
to be brought up by the Kroesigs.
She doesn't even have affairs!
I don't see what she gets
out of her life -
it must be dreadfully empty!
It's all frittery and silliness
with Linda.
Linda believes in love!
She
She's passionately romantic!
Casual affairs would be
of absolutely no interest to her.
One only hopes
that when the next irresistible
temptation comes,
it will not prove to be another Bottom.
I suppose she really is
just like your mother, Fanny.
And all of hers have been Bottoms.
DAVEY: Poor Bolter!
She's happy, though, now,
isn't she,
with her Italian count?
Linda's not like my mother.
Tony is a frightful Counter Hon,
and the people who love her
should really be more sympathetic.
I called Linda, who asked me
to go with her to visit Moira,
now seven years old
and living permanently
with her grandparents in Surrey.
Here you are!
Hello.
Tony and Moira have gone riding.
I thought you might have passed them.
- Oh. No.
- Now, I must warn you,
we have something of a rough
diamond coming for lunch.
He's by way of being
rather a Communist.
Clever chap gone wrong.
Son of a dear old professor
who lives in the village.
I always think it's as well
to see something
of these left-wing fellows.
If people like us are nice to them,
they can be tamed wonderfully.
Hello.
Welcome!
Splendid you could come!
(BIRDSONG)
No, Moira,
no cake before fruit.
Oh, Tony,
let her have a piece of cake.
Not until she's eaten her fruit!
It's all right, Moira,
you can have a piece of cake.
- No, she can't, Linda.
- Have some cake, Moira.
What does your father write about?
The plight of the working man.
Well, I hate the lower classes!
Ravening beasts
trying to get my money!
Well, let them try, that's all.
Oh, shut up, Tony!
You wouldn't say that
if you'd grown up in the country.
Nobody ought to be
in Parliament who hasn't.
We've all lived in the country.
Do put that dormouse away, Linda.
Surrey is not the countryside!
(LAUGHS)
- (CHUCKLES)
- Your pa's not exactly
a man of the people, Linda.
I mean, for God's sake,
he's against women
being let into the Lords
in case they use
the peers' lavatory!
It's the kind of thing
that gives the man on the street
the impression we're governed
by a lot of lunatics!
We are governed by a lot of lunatics.
The USSR, Norway and Mexico
are the only places worth living in.
Everywhere else is horror.
Fascism in Italy,
Nazism in Germany,
civil war in Spain,
inadequate socialism in France,
tyranny in Africa,
starvation in Asia,
reaction in America
and right-wing blight
here in England.
Yes. Tony's frightfully right-wing.
He really rather loves Hitler.
We have financial interests
and many relations in Germany.
- Really?
- Charming chap, Mr Hitler.
I went to see him in Berlin,
and got taken for a drive
in a Mercedes-Benz
by Heinrich Himmler.
The only medicine is Communism.
- (TONY COUGHS)
- (SIR LEICESTER MUTTERS)
Come back to mine for tea,
will you?
And meet my father?
You'd like him.
(GIGGLES)
And Linda did just that
leaving the Kroesigs to behave
for the rest of the afternoon
like a lot of hens
who have seen a fox.
That really is rather too bad of Linda.
Moira was looking forward
to showing her the ponies.
WOMAN: Cuckoo!
Oh, who's that?
- Who?
- That?
Oh!
Linda returned
just in time for dinner,
looking very beautiful.
She had a father and a mother,
and they all lived together
in a house
LINDA: Christian's father
is an absolute darling!
He lives in the
smallest house imaginable,
but it's packed with books!
Oh, God, he's perfect heaven!
I can see you mean
Christian is perfect heaven.
No, it was (SIGHS)
It was just so nice to talk about the
the betterment of the world.
Instead of the way Tony talks,
which is all about
what jobs his friends get,
and I just want to fall asleep!
(SIGHS)
Fanny
Oh, don't look so worried.
It's not sexual,
it's a meeting of minds.
- (BANGING ON WINDOW)
- Ah!
Just o-open the window,
will you?
Of course I won't!
You must,
or he'll fall off and die!
Linda, if I let him in, he'll
create heartache and danger.
- You never think, Linda!
- Well, you think too much!
- (BANGING)
- Oh, God!
Look, let him in,
or I shall stand up out of the bath
and let him in myself!
You wouldn't dare!
- You know I would.
- Linda, if you don't
draw the line somewhere,
nothing will ever be enough!
But I don't want just enough!
You've got to start believing
in something other than love!
What else is there?
(SIGHS)
Come fight the Fascists
with me, Linda.
(MOUTHS)
Well
Oh! (GIGGLES)
I'd better get dressed first.
Linda was a plum
ripe for the plucking.
The tree had been shaken.
The comrades were sent
large quantities of tinned milk
She threw discretion
and what little worldly wisdom
she may have picked up
to the winds.
common example of
the workers of Soviet Russia.
Please donate generously!
She became an
out-and-out Communist,
and bored everyone to death
at the dinner table.
Finally,
to the infinite relief
of the Kroesigs,
she went off to live
with Christian,
and Tony started proceedings
for divorce.
Divorce?!
This was a great blow
to my aunt and uncle.
You'll be banned from the house.
Your sisters will be banned
from seeing you!
No decent man
will marry any of them now!
An adulterous woman
is the single
most disgusting thing there is!
I don't like the light-hearted way
you abandoned little Moira, Linda.
Well, bolting's in the blood!
Meanwhile, our littlest
had started kindergarten,
and I gave Alfred breakfast
in the garden to celebrate.
(SIGHS)
No-one but us until four.
Mm!
Peace!
Mm! Look at those roses!
Oh!
Isn't it heaven, our little life?
Yes.
Or not.
Yes, but that's the marmalade spoon.
Don't put it in the jam.
LINDA: Fanny, darling?
I know you're still cross with me,
but please, can you not be?
I've come here
because I desperately need a drink!
Oh, dear.
It was all so pointless
in that big, huge house,
and it does seem unfair
to have to go on feeling
so dreadfully unhappy
for the rest of one's life.
Of course you shouldn't be unhappy
for the rest of your life.
So, what is your life?
I'm a Communist, you know.
We both are.
And I'm living with Christian
in his flat.
Very small.
Which is just as well, because
I'm doing all the housework!
Hmm. And I don't seem
to be very good at it.
I mean, the oven!
I don't wonder some people
put their heads in them
and leave them there
out of sheer misery!
Darling, might I get another drink?
So, how has Tony taken it?
(EXHALES)
He's awfully pleased, actually.
- OK.
- Yes.
Cos now he can marry his mistress
without having a scandal
or upsetting the Conservative Association.
- Who is she?
- She's called Pixie Townsend.
You know the sort -
young face,
white hair dyed blue!
She's a terrific Counter Hon,
but she lives near Plains
and adores Moira,
and she's good at everything I wasn't,
like Conservatism and golf!
- Yes, I think I saw her there.
-Hmm!
Yes.
Oh!
Well, I'm only too thankful
I found out she exists.
Because now I needn't feel
in the least bit guilty.
I do think it's unfair
that when I'm unfaithful,
it's disgusting,
but when Tony is,
no-one bans him from anything!
Please say something.
No-one will be happy
if you're not happy,
and especially not Moira.
And after all,
our children's well-being
is all that really matters in the end.
And now you can settle down
with Christian
and you can have a wonderfully
fulfilling married life,
like you never could have with Tony.
Yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,
he's heaven!
So, what's he like?
Oh!
You just can't think
what an extraordinary man he is!
Oh, he's so
detached from other human beings.
He's just
He only really cares for ideas.
(LAUGHS)
Oh, Fanny,
it's so nice to chat!
I really
I miss it!
With the comrades,
they never chat, they just
They make speeches all the time.
(SOBS SOFTLY)
It only ever took half an hour
in her company
before I had forgiven her
all over again.
Whatever happens,
I shall always be on your side.
Oh, that's all that really matters!
Oh, thank God you didn't ban me!
I'm lost without you!
(SOBS SOFTLY)
(WHISPERS) Course not.
Hmm!
(CHUCKLES SOFTLY)
Darling, I must go.
But it has
(EXHALES)
so cheered me up,
seeing you.
Hmm!
(FOOTSTEPS APPROACH)
(BANGING ON DOOR)
Hello.
Linda and Christian Talbot?!
I can't leave England without
her getting herself mixed up
with some thoroughly
undesirable character!
I desperately need a drink!
And so do my dogs!
I think herher
her marriage to Tony
has been rather unhappy.
Well, naturally,
nobody expected her to stay with Tony,
but the point is, she jumped
out of the frying pan
into the empty grate!
No! No! No!
Not water, Fanny, no.
Whisky!
Oh!
I think it is partly the Communism
that attracted her,
cos she felt the need of a cause.
Christian is an attractive fellow,
I do see he provides
a perfect reaction from Tony,
but it's a disaster!
If she's in love with him,
he's going to make her miserable!
Is she in love with him?
Well, if she's not,
she's embarking on a career
like your mother's.
Which, for Linda,
would be very bad indeed.
Well, Linda's not like my mother.
She just needs to spend
five minutes on her own!
I know Christian from a child.
He's a man who moves through
the world, attached to nobody!
I expect he's hardly aware
Linda's even moved in on him!
That's rather what Linda
has just been saying.
Oh, so she's noticed it
already, has she?
Well, she's not stupid.
(DOG SNORTS)
What are they living on?
Very little,
and in Christian's tiny flat.
Matthew's cut her off completely.
I hear the Kroesigs
go about saying that
there's one good thing -
she's sure to starve.
Oh, they do, do they?
Write Linda's address down,
please.
You don't happen to know
what the daily consumption
of milk is in Vatican City,
do you?
No.
No, I don't. I'm sorry.
Goodbye, Fanny.
I shall have to see what I can do.
- Come on!
- Right.
- (DOG BARKS)
- Come on!
(DOOR CLOSES)
What he did was to present Linda
with the freehold
of the prettiest little doll's house
far down Cheyne Walk,
on that great bend of the river
where Whistler had lived.
The Bryanston Square house
had been dark, cold
and pompous.
The only thing of beauty in it
was a painting
of a fat, tomato-coloured
bathing woman,
which Lord Merlin had given
Linda to annoy the Kroesigs.
The picture was wonderful
in Cheyne Walk.
You could hardly tell
where the real
water reflections ended
and the Renoir ones began.
So, will Christian be moving in?
Oh, yes, of course!
But just for the moment,
I am free as a bird!
(EXHALES) At last!
"On way Hollywood.
Don't worry. Jassy."
Aunt Sadie and Uncle Matthew
were now presented with crises
What?!
in the lives of
two more of their children.
Hollywood?
- What?!
- Well, that's most peculiar!
I mean, she's never shown
the slightest interest in the cinema!
Oh, yes. Jassy's in love
with a film star
called, er
Larry Boon,
oror Barry Loon,
I can't remember which.
He's in that pirate flick,
you know?
She wrote to Hollywood
to ask him if he were married.
She said if he wasn't,
she was going straight out there
to marry him herself.
So I suppose she got a letter
saying he's not married
and just went off.
It's lucky she had
her running-away money.
Are there any more sausages,
Mum?
It turned out Larry Boon
was not even a hero,
he was just an ordinary pirate.
So far, he doesn't have much
to recommend him!
He's terribly good
at shinning up and down ropes.
Look, Matthew,
he's got an entrenching tool
just like yours!
Maybe that's what awakened
some hereditary emotion
in Jassy's bosom.
What does a fellow want to do that for?!
Bloody fool!
He should've known
there'd be an ambush there!
I don't think much of the cove.
Oh, I think he's divine!
No discipline, needs a haircut!
I wouldn't wonder if he drinks!
BOTH: Sh!
Uncle Matthew seemed
to be mellowing
with age and misfortune,
and was warming to Lord Merlin,
who he no longer called depraved,
and whose very comfortable house
he was no longer adverse to visiting.
Oh, God!
What the?
Don't be scared,
Matthew, darling.
Moti is almost completely domesticated.
Much like you!
How do we get her back?
We can't send Linda after her.
It's no good sending one bolter
after another!
Hmm.
(DRAMATIC FILM MUSIC)
(CORK POPS)
Jassy, you can't possibly marry
a man you've only just met!
But I'm madly in love with him.
Yes, but you can't
start a life with someone
based only on romance and excitement,
or you'll run off with the next
person who turns your head
and cause chaos and
confusion for everyone!
Marriage is wholemeal bread,
it's not ambrosia and honey dew.
That's the most depressing
thing I've ever heard.
God, Fanny,
I hope you haven't become a bore!
I only came because you said
there'd be roast potatoes.
Are there any?
DAVEY: Oh!
Oh, they look divine!
Goody!
- Thank you!
- I thought this was
your red meal, Davey?
Well, clearly,
potatoes are red.
- Thank you.
- Anyone can see that.
Those crispy ones, please.
Thank you.
Your ostrich feather is fantastic!
(LAUGHTER)
- How sweet!
- I really love that!
- Oh, it really suits you!
- I know, I know!
Two days after we got there,
Jassy became Mrs. Larry Boon.
Larry is actually a terrific Hon.
He's a dear little peach of a man.
And we're sure Jassy
will be wildly happy with him.
It does seem hard luck
to have reared a pretty
love of a daughter
in order for her to go off
with some little man like a peach
and live with him
thousands of miles away.
The letter was from Matt,
announcing he had
run away from Eton
to fight in the Spanish war.
(AUNT SADIE GASPS)
(SOBS)
Aunt Sadie minded this very much.
I think Uncle Matthew minded, too
The desire to fight's entirely natural.
though he pretended not to.
But I do think it's a pity
to fight in a second-class war
when there'll so soon be
a first-class one available!
Christmas that year
was a sad one at Alconleigh.
LORD FORT-WILLIAM: Did you know
that a harbour master
is entitled to fly an ensign?
And I wonder if you've ever
thought about
What are you hoping for -
present-wise?
I was thinking of a little fur,
one of those tiny little ostrich hats.
You needn't worry about
new clothes, my darling.
You're like the Royal Family -
whatever you wear,
you look exactly the same.
(CHUCKLES)
Oh.
because you have to register
the tonnage
and the displacement
(SIGHS)
Why have all the best ones bolted?
Inevitable outcome.
Terrifying father who told them
all foreigners were dangerous
and refused to educate them.
The adventurous ones got curious.
Why did I stay behind
with the unadventurous ones?
Is it because of the bolter?
Certainly.
Oh, Fred, am I a bit of a
prig?
(SNORES SOFTLY)
Oh.
What did you say?
You a bolter?
No!
A sticker.
(SIGHS)
I'm a tremendous sticker.
How marvelous.
Linda married Christian
and asked us to a
New Year's Eve party
at Cheyne Walk to celebrate.
(MUSIC AND CHATTER)
Yes!
Oh! Hello!
I'm so sorry,
it's not nearly tidy enough.
I wanted to get a nice piece of fish,
but we're utterly broke!
So there's beer and, um
Hmm. Oh!
delicious biscuits.
I tried calling to ask what to bring.
Thank you for the champagne!
Oh, no, the phone's been cutoff,
thank God!
Christian's favourite amusement
is to ring up the Nazi leaders in Berlin
and have teasing talks with them.
- Let me find you a glass.
- It's £1 million a minute.
Er
(VOMITS)
(BOTH LAUGH)
Oh, my God!
Being a Conservative
was so much more restful!
Communists aren't at all thoughtful
when it comes to keeping things clean.
- Oh, no!
- (BOTH LAUGH)
But I did miss you at Christmas!
Darling! Me too.
(SIGHS)
I'm lost without you.
And I do feel like a
terrible old black sheep.
Oh!
Baa!
(QUIETLY) Baa
Oh! Did I tell you?
- I've got a job.
- What kind of job?!
In a bookshop.
- What?!
- (LAUGHS)
I know I've hardly read any books,
but the ones I have read, I love,
and so does everyone else seem to.
Oh, but,
Fanny, darling,
it should be you in the bookshop,
not me.
You're the educated,
intellectual one.
But of course, you've got too
many important things going on.
Oh, darling!
It's really exciting.
- FANNY: I can't stand it!
- ALFRED: It'll be a disaster!
Someone with a worse head
for business I've never met.
I know that it's chaotic,
but you can't say
that her life isn't exciting!
At least they're on the front line
of what's happening in the world!
You know, famine and things,
and
the battle against Fascism!
People like Tony and Leicester Kroesig
hear Linda speechifying
and see all these Spaniards
and Communists in Cheyne Walk,
I expect they're
more convinced than ever
that Fascism is the only answer.
I know, but it is galling
about the bookshop!
It turned out Alfred was quite wrong
about Linda's lack of business sense.
She worked at the bookshop
every Friday and Saturday,
during which time,
an extraordinary transformation
would occur.
Soon enough, the chatters,
headed by Lord Merlin,
came back in full force.
You caught me in the act!
- Oh, I do that.
- The old switcheroo.
(ANIMATED CHATTER)
I thought this one was absolutely spot-on
for you over there.
(BELL RINGS)
- (MAN CLEARS HIS THROAT)
- Ooh!
Linda's the only person
who has ever succeeded
in finding me
Froggy's Little Brother.
What is Froggy's Little Brother?
Oh. Well,
it's the heart-warming tale
of a seven-year-old Froggy,
who strives to take care
of his younger brother Benny,
after the early death of their parents.
Well, do you know,
it's all about brotherhood
and comradeship.
You'd actually love it!
I was an avid reader as a child.
(CHUCKLES)
Thank you!
Every day!
Linda's presence resulted in it becoming
the only Red bookshop
in England to make a profit
and being awarded with a medal.
Congratulations, Comrade Linda!
- (CHEERING)
- Whoo!
Between the dog's abscess,
the laundry ruining my sheets
and Cathy stealing
from the store cupboard,
it's been a ghastly week!
Do you ever feel like half
of who you are has been stuffed
into a suitcase
and is slowly suffocating?
Sorry?
It's OK.
- Gentlemen.
- Enjoy your port.
(ANIMATED CHATTER)
(DONS CHAT AND LAUGH)
Paint the cross and shields
and, of course,
they won the battle.
- They did!
- (LAUGHTER)
Very good, very good.
- Oh, God, it's your mother!
- Hello, darling!
I'm here because I took
the wrong train to a party!
Oh, dear!
Are you terribly poor?
- (MOUTHS)
- How very odd!
I hope you didn't marry for love, darling.
Whoever invented love ought to be shot.
Look where it landed me.
A dead white hunter,
an Italian count,
two viscounts, a Greek poet
and still counting.
Dons aren't quite the same
as white hunters or Italian counts.
My advice is a good fur coat.
Don't bother about much else,
you need hardly take the coat off.
And don't waste money on underwear.
Nothing stupider.
Do you have any nice friends,
darling,
to make up for your tiny house?
- Not really.
- No?
Oxford seems designed
exclusively for celibate men.
Wives are superfluous,
it turns out.
What's the point of being
the educated and intellectual one
if you still have to leave
your own dinner parties
so the men can do
all the good chatting
and drink all the good port?
What about Linda Radlett?
Where's she?
She ran off with Christian Talbot.
She's working in a Communist bookshop.
Well, I hope he's better than Tony Kroesig,
though they rarely are.
Isn't a bookshop more your style?
Yes, it is.
If I didn't have all these
children to bring up,
suddenly.
Well, can't you leave them with Emily?
I know you think all
the babies in the world
should be left with Aunt Emily!
Don't let your children get in
the way of your life, darling.
Do you mean me?
No! No,
I
- You mean me.
- No,
you didn't get in the way!
Course you didn't!
I've had a wonderful life!
(PHONE RINGS)
- Hello.
- LINDA: Hello, Fanny, darling!
I'm talking quickly
because the phone's going
to get cut off any second,
but will you come and see me off
at Victoria Station tomorrow?
Franco's brutal Fascist forces
have chased
half-a-million people
out of Catalonia
and I'm joining Christian
on the French border with Spain
(LINE DISCONNECTS)
(TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS)
(SIGHS)
Oh, well, I'm terrified!
Never been abroad in my life before!
I hope you sent your jewels to the bank.
Darling, don't tease.
You know howl haven't got any now.
Think of me sleeping on the train,
all alone!
I'm sure you won't be alone.
Foreigners are greatly given,
I believe, to casual sex with strangers.
(GIGGLES)
Yes, that would be nice!
Oh, God! Oh, I just do wish
you were coming with me!
It might be easy for you
to drop everything
and leave your life and be free
Tickets, please!
and never face any consequences,
but some of us have to stay behind
to support our husbands
and look after the children.
- Thank you, miss.
- I'm staying.
Why are you so cross with me?
Did you even say goodbye to Moira?
Yes!
I did, actually.
She She only wants Pixie Townsend.
She doesn't really like me!
Well, do you like me?
Don't Moira and I have
an awful lot in common?
- (TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS)
- Of course not.
- Right away!
- Fanny!
Darling, you're interesting and clever, and
Fanny!
I suppose everybody has a right
to not like their children!
Oh, please,
stop it about Moira!
You're scaring me!
I'm always telling everyone
that you're not like my mother,
but you're just exactly like her!
- Fanny, stop it!
- (TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS)
Please! I'm going to be useful!
I'm going off on a noble journey,
like Odysseus.
You're not Odysseus, Linda!
Fanny, please!
Please don't give up on me!
I'm lost without you!
You always say that,
but you always leave me!
I didn't see Linda for another year.
(SIGHS)
She told me afterwords
I'd so upset her
that she slept
all the way across Europe.
- Here.
- Oh, hello!
A ship has been chartered
to take 6,000 Catalonians,
who the French government
have shut up behind barbed wire
like beasts and forgotten about,
out of the camps to Mexico.
Families will have to be reunited
from male and female camps
to get on the boat.
It's a mammoth task.
(WOMEN SING)
(PHONE RINGS)
(LOW CHATTER)
Linda? Linda!
This is Lavender.
Lavender's an incredible worker.
Muchas gracias, senora.
Linda!
Lavender!
What a turn-up!
Oh, I'm so happy you're here!
Oh! Lavender!
Linda, meet Randolph Pine,
who helps us so marvellously
in the office.
- Hello. Oh!
- Hello.
Didn'tdidn't you sit on my bed
a million years ago
with a million other young men,
chatting?
Yes, that was me.
Welcome, comrade.
Goodness!
Everyone's got so serious all of a sudden.
Well, the world's gotten
rather serious all of a sudden.
Hmm. Yes.
What can I do to help, Christian?
I long to be useful!
Never fear, there's masses of work!
- Can you speak Spanish?
- No.
Oh!
Well, you'll soon pick it up.
Huh!
I'm quite sure I shan't.
Maybe
maybe you could help with the babies?
Un momento, por favor.
What do you know about welfare work?
Oh, dear.
Nothing, I'm afraid.
- Lavender?
- Sorry.
I was hopeless with my own baby.
I know, she can help arrange
accommodation on the ship!
Yes, I can do that.
I can do that.
Here are the maps.
Deck one, deck two, deck three,
and first class is
So, how do I decide who gets which cabin?
It's a strictly democratic ship
run on republican principles,
so I'd give decent cabins to families
Where there are small children
- and babies.
- Yes.
- Lavender? Phone call.
- Sorry.
Apart from that,
do it any way you like.
Hola. Si.
Si?
- Um
- No se preocupe.
(LINDA CLEARS HER THROAT)
LAVENDER: Un momento,
por favor.
- (PHONE RINGS)
- Hola.
(EXHALES)
(WOMEN SING)
For the next few weeks,
Linda drove in a little Ford van
between the men
and women's camps
as they waited for the ship to come
and take them
to a more certain future.
And she grew to love the wild,
rugged countryside of Europe,
a place which had been
so maligned by Uncle Matthew
through her childhood.
Not knowing much Spanish,
or anything about calories or babies,
like her friend Lavender,
she sometimes found herself
waiting to be useful.
(FOOTSTEPS APPROACH)
Hello, lady.
- Hello.
- What are you waiting for?
Oh! Er
(CLEARS HER THROAT)
I'mI'm waiting to be useful,
I think.
Are you lonely?
Maybe.
Did you leave your boyfriend behind?
I leave behind
many boyfriends.
But most,
II miss mymy friend.
My best friend.
Yeah.
She is trapped in Barcelona still.
Look at you, with your guns!
Yeah.
Together, we were
- we were very brave.
- Ah.
Don't waste all your time being useful.
Time is precious.
And we may not have much of it left.
You know?
The end is beginning now.
This is my best friend.
Ah
That's a good face.
- It is.
- Yes.
- Friends.
- Friends.
ALFRED: The name "Vatican"
is derived from an Etruscan
Vatica or Vaticum,
meaning
Don't put your cup down there,
darling, it'll make rings.
Oh.
Vatica, or Vaticum,
meaning garden. Rather lover.
-Hmm.
- Before 1929,
this garden had been wilting and weary
for a number of decades
(SIGHS)
The great day finally came
for the families to be reunited
from the camps
and put on the ship to Mexico.
(GUARD SHOUTS ORDERS)
The women and children
were on the quayside
when the men arrived.
They hadn't seen each other
since the retreat from Spain
and had doubted
they ever would again.
Do you ever feel lonely,
Christian?
Loneliness is a luxury.
If you've three square meals
a day and a roof over you,
there's nothing on Earth
to complain about.
(ANIMATED CHATTER)
- (CHEERING)
- Matt?
Matt!
I'm so sorry!
Excuse me!
Sorry! Matt!
I'm so sorry.
Matt!
Matt!
Hello, Linda!
Oh-oh-oh! What?
Are you mad?!
(SPEAKS FRENCH)
He was fighting in Spain!
Gosh, you look ten years older!
You do!
You're grown up!
I had no idea that you were here!
I'd seen you several times,
but I thought you might
fetch me home, so I made off.
You are terribly thin!
Do you need anything?
Yes, please! Some cigarettes
and a couple of thrillers.
You will have to go home
when the real war starts.
You know that, don't you, Matt?
I don't see why.
I've never been happier in my life.
Fighting Fascism is all there
is to do that makes any sense.
(SHRILL WHISTLE)
And abroad is the only place
on Earth worth being.
(EXCITED CHATTER)
Viva Espana!
Viva Espana!
- Viva la Espana!
- Viva Espana!
They'll never see Spain again.
(SHIP'S HORN BLASTS)
Goodbye!
Did you work on any special plan
when you were arranging the cabins,
or how did you do it?
Well, I simply gave all the best cabins
to the people that had
"Labrador" on their cards,
because I used to have one
when I was little
and it was such a terrific Hon!
So sweet, you know.
Aw!
That explains it.
"Labrador" in Spanish
happens to mean labourer,
so under your scheme,
all the farm hands
found themselves in luxury,
While all the intellectuals
were battened.
(ALL LAUGH)
Bravo, Linda!
That'll teach them not to be so clever.
There's Christian,
I'll go fetch him in.
He was such a sweet Labrador,
wasn't he, Matt?
Yes.
But if you want a pet,
why don't you make an offer for a leech?
(LAUGHTER)
Hmm. I can't somehow imagine
the leech ever getting very fond of one.
Too busy fussing about the weather all day.
No time for human relationships.
(LAVENDER GIGGLES)
Linda could never remember
afterwords
how much she really minded
when she discovered
Christian was in love
with Lavender Davis.
MAN: I do love your scent, Linda.
Apres Londres?
Yes.
Certainly, her pride was wounded.
Christian, I am leaving you
for good and going home
because I realise our marriage
has been a fake.
Please look after Matt.
PS.
I know you prefer
serious
educated women.
Especially Lavender!
(PHONE RINGS)
LINDA: Hello? Hello?
Hello, Fanny? Are you there?!
Hello. Hello.
Linda?
Oh! Fanny!
- (SOBS)
- (TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS)
My life so far has not been
at all of a success.
I know you can't be useful all the time,
but I'm useless at everything!
Why did I ever leave Tony
in the first place?
And Moira?
That was where my duty lay.
Why can't I be dependable,
like Lavender
and Pixie Townsend
and you?
(SOBS)
I keep thinking about your mother.
Am I a bolter?
Oh, I want to die!
- Linda, where are you?
- No, you see,
I'm just
I'm renouncing men.
They are not the answer
and they do not fill the hole!
(TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS)
Oh, no, no!
That's my connection for Paris!
My money's running out!
I love you! I love you!
And I don't
I'm lost without you, Fanny,
and you're the only thing
I ever got right.
Two more trains and I'm home!
I've missed you so much!
(WHISPERS) So much.
Oh!
Oh!
You're in a good mood.
Linda's coming back!
- Oh, Alfred!
- Wonderful.
Bonjour!
- Bonjour! Oui.
- My ticket!
Pardon.
Here!
(SPEAKS FRENCH)
- Um
- It has expired.
It is, erer
it is for yesterday, not for today.
Ah! Ah!
No, but I'm sorry,
I don't have enough money
for another ticket!
Please, will you make an exception?
Please?!
Excusez-moi, sir, please!
I just I really need to get home!
My friend is going to be
awfully worried about me!
Rien a faire, madame.
(LOW CHATTER)
(TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS)
(SOBS)
(LOW CHATTER)
(WAILS)
- Ow!
- Pardon.
(SOBS)
Why didn't I listen to my father?
Why did I ever come
to this bloody abroad?
(LAUGHS)
(WAILING CONTINUES)
I would like to point out
that I am the daughter
of a very important British nobleman,
so if you are planning
to give me an injection
and put me on a ship to
Buenos Aires, then think again!
(LAUGHS)
One does not have to be
Sherlock Holmes to guess
that you're an Englishwoman.
(SOBS)
French ladies never sit
crying on their suitcases
at the Gare du Nord
in the very early morning.
I invite you to luncheon with me.
But first, you must have a bath
and rest and put a cold
compress on your face.
(CALLS OUT)
Merci.
Get in, please.
I apologise, madame,
for not taking you to the Ritz,
but I have a feeling for
the Hotel Montalembert just now
that it will suit your mood
this morning.
(LAUGHS)
(WHISTLES CHEERFULLY)
(FABRICE SPEAKS FRENCH)
- Bien sur, monsieur.
- Merci.
I will fetch you a little before one o'clock
and we will go out to luncheon.
Merci.
Goodbye for the present.
(WHISTLES CHEERFULLY)
Mademoiselle?
(PHONE RINGS)
(PHONE RINGS)
(GASPS)
(SIGHS)
FABRICE: Allo, allo!
- Hello?
- Ah, you keep me waiting.
That is a very good sign.
A sign of what?
Hmm?
A good augury for our affair,
that it will be happy and long lasting.
Huh!
We are not going to have an affair.
And if that's what you were thinking,
I don't want lunch!
I shall leave this hotel room
and go straight to the train station!
(CHUCKLES) Mademoiselle,
don't be so English.
May I ask, what is your name?
Linda.
Linda? That's a pretty name.
I'm waiting for you downstairs, Linda.
(LINE DISCONNECTS)
(SIGHS)
(EXHALES)
(EXHALES)