The Secret Agent (1992) s01e02 Episode Script

1 BABY CRIES THE PROFESSOR: Who is it? Mr Verloc.
Wait a moment.
LANDLADY: He won't be long.
- BABY CRIES It's Verloc! - THE PROFESSOR: I know.
A combination of time and shock device it has to be said, are perfect.
Is it dangerous? - Not if you don't panic.
When can I have it? A week.
Good.
HE LAUGHS Stevie? Stevie! Stevie, Stevie, I'm here, keep calm.
- STEVIE SHOUTS Be calm, be calm, Stevie, Stevie.
MAN COUGHS There we are.
There we are.
Where are your lovely patterns, hey? All those circles, and patterns you were drawing.
Here, sit down here.
I'll get you a glass of milk.
There's a letter for you.
Here we are.
Have you got it? These ideas put into your head, hey? OSSIPON: Anybody home? Come on, Stevie.
Go upstairs and have a rest.
Hello, Stevie.
Here! Stevie, go upstairs.
I heard that Mr Verloc is on the continent.
- Did you now? On business, I heard.
You should read this.
There's an article about marriage and free love.
Mr Verloc has returned from the continent, he's upstairs asleep.
Oh.
VLADIMIR: Every morning I read The Times these days I can't suppress a feeling of disappointment.
WURMT: Disappointment? - VLADIMIR: Hmm.
It's so damnably quiet.
No secret meetings broken up by the police.
No Members of Parliament wounded in the street.
No bombs thrown at the carriages of Royalty.
And no vicious suppression by the forces of law and order.
In short, nothing to make on nostalgic for the mother country.
The Times Editorial is scathing about the bill to bring the fisheries into public ownership.
Oh dear.
Oh, the Secret Agent, whose name was so secret that he was designated a Greek letter of the alphabet in the correspondence of my predecessor, Baron Stott-Wartenheim has not done what he was told to do.
Is it a question of time? Planning? Time is fast running out for Mr Verloc, the Milan conference on terrorism has begun.
We may have to dispense with his services.
All we need to do is make sure that one of his anarchist friends finds out he is a police informer.
WURMT: Would they kill him? - VLADIMIR: Oh, of course.
WURMT: He was very useful to us in the past.
- VLADIMIR: In the past.
Exactly.
It is planned! It will be done! We'll give you one week.
Winnie? Oh, Winnie.
Oh, Stevie's gone missing again.
He went to the greengrocer's two hours ago, I've been everywhere! Well, he won't go far.
He's being funny again, Adolf.
WOMAN: Mr Verloc! Ah! It's alright, he's there.
Where have you been? Where have you been?! I recognised him, he's been in the bookshop for hours.
He couldn't remember the name of your street.
Did you go to the greengrocer's? Oh, he's been looking at those books again, curse the day they taught you to read! Go inside, I'll have some strong words with you later, thank you.
Come inside, Stevie.
Stevie, come inside.
ADOLF: It's alright.
STEVIE BLUBBERS Hey.
Now then, young man, what's all this about, hey? It's alright, it's alright! You're home now, you're home.
I don't see why they should be invited.
He is my cousin.
They never invite us.
We've never invited them! To be honest I think they're provincial.
I suppose to be literal, yes.
She's always cool to me.
She thinks you were promoted quicker than Albert.
I don't think that's the case.
It works differently in the army.
I don't think they're the k Thank you, Mary.
They're the kind of people who are going to sit down with a duchess.
It wouldn't be fair on them.
I can't see why.
He is an officer.
WINNIE: Stevie.
- STEVIE: Mmm.
Did I see you wearing Mr Verloc's overcoat yesterday? No, Win.
I did, Stevie, you were hurrying to the greengrocer's.
STEVIE: Sorry Winnie, it was a mistake.
We have to watch out for your mistakes.
I better do both.
Have you got your pocket money? Mmm.
Where have you been? 'All the day, billy boy, billy boy?' Well? There's nothing, it's as quiet as the grave.
Nothing's as quiet as that.
Any foreign visitors? There's nothing.
Perhaps your other employer knows more than I do.
Hmm? Don't worry.
What about Michaelis? He's only out of jail on ticket-of-leave and I want him back there.
Why? All he wants to do is write books.
Are you alright? Yes.
A timetable for Sittingbourne, please.
CLERK: That's tuppence please, sir.
Thank you.
WHISTLE BLOWS - GUARD: All aboard, come on now.
Hurry on now, please! TRAIN WHISTLES KNOCKS ON DOOR - Yes.
Your Grace.
DUCHESS: Ahh.
My dear Henry.
Thank you for your note.
There seems to be something of a hornet's nest over this soirée of mine.
Annie's been in touch with you, has she? Oh yes she has.
I am very fond of Annie, but she's always been a difficult girl.
HE LAUGHS One thing in my favour is, she seems to listen to me.
She's very fond of you.
And I believe she has made a very good marriage.
I think it's important that you invite your cousins to my soiree, in spite of Annie's feelings if only for the sake of good family relations.
I would be delighted to meet them.
I am very grateful.
What are you reading? - Ah.
It's a manuscript.
The Autobiography of a Prisoner.
By that ticket-of-leave man you met.
Friend Michaelis, is it? It is very fine.
I'd like to read it.
'Do you not think, dear reader, that if I had not been the optimist I am 'I could not have found in 15 years some means to cut my throat? 'And, in the last instance, there were always the walls of my cell to dash my head against.
' I think if he went back to prison again he would die.
And I would never forgive you, Henry, if he did.
MICHAELIS: The violence that appears to be part of the development of civilisation does not speed up man's progress but rather acts as a brake upon it.
Violence is not a catalyst, but a diversion.
STEVIE HUMS WINNIE: He's been moping.
Mother leaving us.
I don't know what to do with him.
Stevie, Stevie.
Why don't you use the point of the knife to take the eyes out, like that.
Then you can peel them more easily.
You should take him out with you, Adolf.
As long as he didn't get lost again.
I've taken care of that.
That's better, now you've got the hang of it.
Morning! There's no need to feel hopeless.
People can fight injustice.
Kill the bad men.
No, it's not necessary to do that.
But they're bad! Well, then, you have to show the world, you have to let people see that for themselves.
How? How, Mr Verloc? Tell me.
You want to help poor people? Yes, I do yes.
- Well, that's good.
Am I good? Am I? - Yes.
Yes.
Stevie still gets very excited when any of your friends have been here talking.
Well, some of them are foolish.
Tom Ossipon's alright though.
You know, we should keep Stevie away from the meetings.
Perhaps he might profit from being sent out of town for a while.
Out of town? Well, perhaps you couldn't get on without him.
Well, I shouldn't get on without him, the idea! It was just a thought.
Of course I can get on without him, there's nowhere for him to go though, is there? Michaelis? He wouldn't mind giving the boy a room.
No visitors there, so no talk.
Well, he he's very good to the boy.
Does he really like him? Sure, he likes him.
Oh, well he's a good boy.
ADOLF: I could take him to Sittingbourne myself, if you like? Make sure he's alright.
If he doesn't get on I'll fetch him back.
Mind you don't get your clothes dirty in the country, Stevie.
Oh goodness me, don't look at me like that.
You know how you like to get yourself untidy given half the chance.
You've never been away for such a long time before, have you? Here, Winnie, take a cab back, I'll be home this evening.
Bye bye.
- Bye bye.
Come on, Stevie.
WHISTLE BLOWS TRAIN WHISTLES TRAIN WHISTLES WHISTLE BLOWS ADOLF AND WINNIE MOAN WINNIE: You're up early.
Going for one of your walks? You haven't had any breakfast.
You can't go out on an empty stomach.
I won't be long.
Daddy, Daddy! Ah ha ha! To work, to work, to catch some criminals! Lots of bad men? - Ooh, very bad men.
Very, very, very bad men.
Five, six, seven, eight, nine ten eleven twelve THE PROFESSOR: You're safe, until you screw the top of it tight then you have enough time to get away.
Do what you like with it 'til then.
But don't let it fall heavily.
Are you taking anyone with you? No.
Your paper, Henry.
Now don't forget, we are with Margaret tonight.
How could I forget? And you're not going to your club to play cards, I hope? I'll be back by 6, I promise.
GUARD: Maze Hill for Greenwich.
GUARD BLOWS WHISTLE TRAIN WHISTLES ADOLF: Michaelis? Michaelis? Yes.
I'm taking this young fellow home for a day or two.
MICHAELIS: Very well.
Goodbye, Stevie! I'll see you soon! Oh, yes.
Stevie! Stevie! We've got a tin like that at home, haven't we? MOTHER: Yes, dear, shh.
Stevie.
Stevie! Stay with me.
Can't see your hand in front of your face, brought me off my bike.
It's a bit clearer round there.
EXPLOSION - BIRDS CHIRP DOG BARKS For you, sir, it's urgent.
Excuse me, gentlemen.
KNOCKS ON DOOR HEAT CLEARS HIS THROA Each London anarchist exactly accounted for, is that right? Yes.
And you think there were two men? - Eye witness confirmed.
One probably escaped the park under cover of the fog.
The two men came from Sittingbourne two respectable, working men of a superior sort.
Sign painters or decorators.
Carrying a bright tin can.
They don't sound very likely, do they? Strips and bits of bright tin were found.
There were only three got off at Greenwich.
The other was a hawker from Gravesend, well known to the porter.
So.
Two foreign anarchists coming from Sittingbourne.
Sounds unaccountable to me.
It would be unaccountable if Michaelis wasn't staying in a cottage in the neighbourhood.
Michaelis? - We have enough to go on.
There'll be no difficulty getting up sufficient evidence against him, you may trust me for that, sir.
What can you bring up against him? Of a definite nature.
Apart from the fact of two men coming from a village some three miles away from where Michaelis happens to be living now.
That's enough.
Given the nature of the man we're dealing with.
He murdered a policeman.
Not I believe personally, and I think when he was not much more that a youth.
Did he report to the police before leaving London? Yes, sir, he did.
And do we know what he's been up to when he's been down there? Writing a book.
Do you think he was necessarily involved in the manufacture of the bomb? I wouldn't say necessarily.
He associates with men who are classed as dangerous.
He was made a delegate of the Red Committee less than a year after his release.
And you think the investigation should go in that direction? I do, sir.
That's the true line for us to take.
Of course if there's a reason of which I know nothing for not apprehending the convict Michaelis perhaps it's just as well I don't start the County Police after him.
Come now, Chief Inspector, this finessing with me So, what do you make of it then? What do I make of what? Have you been out much today? No, I stayed in bed all morning.
Did you walk down here? - No, omnibus.
You haven't heard the news? No.
Wonderful that you of all people should have heard nothing.
There's a man blown up in Greenwich Park today.
How do you know? Oh, they've been yelling the news in the street since two.
I bought a paper.
Not much so far.
Bomb in Greenwich Park, effects of the explosion felt as far away as Romney Road and Park Place.
Enormous hole under a tree, filled with smashed tree roots, broken branches.
All around, fragments of a man's body, blown to pieces.
No doubt a wicked attempt to blow up the Observatory, they say.
The implication blew himself up! I had no idea that anything of this sort was being planned here.
Oh, you know about everything, do you? Under this circumstances this is nothing short of criminal.
Criminal? - Yes.
What is that? What is crime? We must use the current terms.
Look, this business may affect our position in this country very adversely.
HE LAUGHS You're behind this.
Damn you! So you're just handing this stuff out to the first fool that comes along, hey? Just so.
I make it a general rule never to refuse anyone.
Society was not built on paper and ink, and paper and ink will not put an end to it.
My difficulty consists in experimenting practically.
HE SIGHS Can you describe the person you gave this stuff to? Oh, I don't think there can be the slightest objection now.
I'll describe him to you in one word.
Verloc.
Verloc? You can't say I gave it to the first fool who came along.
He either ran the time too close or let the thing fall.
BARMAN: Yes, sir? - Whiskey.
We must disclaim all connection with this business.
Why don't you ask the police for a testimonial of good conduct? They know where you all slept last night, they might even put out some kind of statement.
No, no, no, they must know that we had nothing to do with this.
Ahh, but will they say? I'll get Michaelis to speak at one of our meetings.
He'll talk bosh but it will go down alright.
Like treacle.
I'll give you a piece of advice.
Fasten yourself on the wife.
For all you're worth.
BELL RINGS - PAPER BOY: Evening papers.
Ta.
That thing he was carrying must have gone off right against his chest.
HEAT: I took it away without anybody noticing.
It can always be produced if required.
HE SIGHS Extraordinary thing.
Why should he go about labelled in this way? I met an old gentleman in a hotel once.
He has his name and address sewn in his coats in case of accident or sudden illness.
What is 32 Brett Street? Shop, sir.
- What sort of shop? It's a backstreet pornographers in Soho.
It's owned by someone I'm acquainted with.
Really? Police informer, sir.
Well? His name, Heat.
Name of Verloc.
Verloc.
Anybody else know about him but you? - No, sir.
He could never be produced publically.
THUNDER RUMBLES It was sufficient enough for me to know who he was and to use him to good purpose.
Well, this is the Secret Agent, the one you've got a hold over, is it? Yes.
His shop's left alone by the police.
A word from us to the Customs House people and one of those packages from Brussels would be rummaged open in Dover.
Precarious trade.
Why that? He's a lazy dog.
He's a spy in the pay of a foreign government.
When it comes to my own work I deal with the devil himself.
There are things not fit for everybody to know.
Me, it seems.
Well, how do you account for this? I don't account for it.
It needs looking into.
Oh, come now, Chief Inspector, surely this tells us that it's your, your Secret Agent who's the man responsible for this outrage.
And that he's, he's paid the price.
- No, sir.
It is not in his character.
Well, what other explanation can there be? I think the man who had most to do with it will turn out to be Michaelis.
Do you? He visits that address.
Very well, we will talk further tomorrow.
In the meantime, I think you better leave this with me.
Thank you, sir.
THUNDER RUMBLES ls it in connection with the Greenwich affair? Because he is very bitter against you people.
I would like to know if this is the beginning of a new dynamite campaign.
As far as one can be positive about anything, sir, I can assure you that it is not.
Your assurances seem to consist of making the Secretary of State look a fool.
I have been promised positively in this room that no such thing was even possible.
That information came from Chief Inspector Heat, sir.
Heat, yes, you're still rather a novice in your new birth.
Sir, this does not seem to be the usual anarchist outrage.
Not when one looks into it deeply.
Sufficient to say that evidence at the scene of the explosion points to an address in London where a police informer resides.
Now this police informer, who's known as Verloc, was also, I'm afraid in the pay of a foreign government and was recruited into the service of that government by the then Imperial Ambassador himself.
No! What do they mean by introducing their Crimean methods here, I mean a Turk would have more decency.
We have no positive proof, sir.
Yes well I would like to know what you intend to do.
I believe this to be a peculiarly stupid and feeble affair and I have excellent hopes to get to the bottom of it.
But I think it should be handled with discretion.
Now, it's possible that this man, Verloc, has destroyed himself by an accident and that by an accident of fate we have found his address on the clothing.
But instead of instructing Chief Inspector Heat to continue with the case it's my intention to discover the explanation personally at the shop in Brett Street.
Chief Inspector Heat would think it his duty to fasten guilt onto as many prominent anarchists as he could based on some slight indications he may have found in his investigation.
He would, would he? - I'm afraid so, sir.
An excellent servant but he shouldn't be given too free a hand, that would be a mistake.
Mmm.
Yes, certainly.
Find out as much as you can.
Find out in your own way.
THUNDER RUMBLES Goodness gracious, look at you! You're soaked right through! Here I'll help you off with that.
We'll have you laid up.
I don't think so.
Where have you been today? Nowhere.
I've been to the bank.
You have, have you? What did you go there for? To draw the money out.
What do you mean, all of it? Yes, all of it.
Well, what did you do that for? We may want it soon.
I don't know what you mean.
You know I can be trusted.
If I hadn't trusted you I wouldn't have married you.
ADOLF CRIES WINNIE: Adolf? Oh my Stevie! Stevie, no! My God, my God My God, my God ADOLF HEAVES MAN: Who was he then? - Some bloke, got lost in the fog.
He was that scattered they didn't know where to begin.
Picked up his legs one after another.
MAN: They found his middle leg half a mile away! MEN LAUGH You should feed your cold.
Go on.
No.
Thank you.
Where are your slippers? Your feet must be wet.
Sergeant! Sir? Has Chief Inspector Heat been in here? Yes, sir.
Is he still in the building? No sir, he left about half an hour ago.
I see, thank you.
THUNDER RUMBLES We need to leave London.
Get away.
France, perhaps.
You've just been to France.
No, emigrate.
Canada's a possibility, I've drawn the money out.
Emigrate?! - I've had enough of London.
The idea! - I'm so sick of this, sick and tired of everything.
I'm just Too much.
You've had a bad cold.
- No.
Yes, you have.
Have to go.
No choice.
I should like to know who's going to make you.
You're not a slave.
No one needs to be a slave in this country and don't you make yourself one.
You've a comfortable home.
And you're not tired of me, mm? Business isn't so bad.
I don't understand you.
I'm sure if you thought about it What would we do? Course, you might have a reason I don't know about, but if it's more money you want well, that's your business, but it isn't the only thing, is it? THUNDER RUMBLES Well.
what would Stevie do? Have you thought about that? You couldn't take him abroad, what would people think of him there? They might not be so kind in France.
No it wouldn't do at all, Adolf, it wouldn't do at all.
Had you considered Stevie when you thought of this plan? Well, if you do go abroad, you might have to go without me.
You would.
You'd have to go without me.
You couldn't.
You'd miss me too much.
Shop, you go, Adolf.
I've got my apron on.
Yes? I have been looking for a Mr Verloc.
I am Mr Verloc.
Mr Verloc.
We thought you might be dead.
WINNIE: What's the matter? I'm going to have to go out this evening.
You came over from the continent? You do understand English, don't you? Yes, I understand English.
My husband will do his best to help you.
He can find lodgings for you.
You might like to try Mr Giuliani of the Continental Hotel.
Did you know my husband before? In France? Your husband hasn't slipped out the back way by any chance, has he? Do you know that man? I've heard of him.
Is he one of Yundt's friends? That beastly old man, is he? No, no, no.
Well, whoever he is, he's waiting for you.
- Yes.
Is he one of your Embassy friends you've been bothered with of late? Who's been talking to you about Embassy friends? You've been talking in your sleep, Adolf - What did I say? Mostly nonsense, you've been worried about something.
Yes! I'd cut their hearts out, one after another.
But you let them watch out.
I've got a tongue in my head.
Adolf! Adolf, give me the money, you've got it in your pocket.
I don't trust him.
Get rid of him as soon as you can.
And you come home to me.
- Yes.
You need looking after for a couple of days.
Daddy, Daddy! - Huh? Night, night.
Take care of Mummy.
- Yes.