Shooting the Past (1999) s01e03 Episode Script

Hello? Hello? Who is this? Hello.
I don't know what time it is, but it's very early.
So thanks (!) Come on! Come on! You have reached the Bates residence, Mr Oswald Bates, that is.
Not Mr Norman Bates, for those callers familiar with the work of Mr Alfred Hitchcock.
If you would like to leave a message for Mr Bates, assuming he's still around, please do so after the beeps and he will call you back within 24 hours, without fail.
lf, of course, he's still able to do so.
Much obliged.
Beep.
Oswald? Pick up the phone, Oswald.
Oswald! Oswald?! Oswald! Oswald! Oswald? Oswald.
Can you hear me? It's me! Marilyn.
Which service? Ambulance, please.
Ambulance.
Um, I've got a man here.
He's taken an overdose.
He's taken Is he still alive? Yes, barely.
I need an ambulance really quickly.
Oswald? There's an ambulance coming.
You're still there.
You're staying with me because you phoned me Just half an hour ago.
You could dial my number so you can't have fallen too deep.
Have you? Why did you take all the bulbs out leaving Just one? Typically perverse.
What are all the tapes for? What are the tapes for, Oswald? What's on here? Hm? Is this something? This is for Marilyn first, and then for everyone else.
A full account of what I found now follows.
Can you hear this? It follows right now.
What's that for? Oswald! Oswald.
We can't tell if there's been significant brain damage.
We have to assume there's some damage, the interruption of blood to the brain.
We won't have any real idea until he regains consciousness.
It is possible he won't regain consciousness for some considerable time.
There's no guarantee, you understand, that he will regain consciousness.
Does he have any family that should be notified? Does he have any family? No.
I don't believe he has any family.
I've known him all this time and I'm not really sure.
That must sound strange.
So there's nobody else, then? That's right.
Should I keep talking to him? I mean, loud, even without a response.
Like you always read about people doing.
Should I be doing that? Absolutely.
It won't do any harm.
But I have to say it's unlikely that we'll see any immediate improvement.
I can't believe you've been this stupid.
I really can't believe you've done this, Oswald.
Why? Come on! Tell me! I still felt last night there was a chance of me getting somewhere, saving the collection.
And now, I have to spend the time I've got left VITAL time, talking aloud to you.
And you left me this teasing message.
What can I do? Especially with you like this? I've got to start thinking like you.
God forbid! You caught me sneaking a little nap.
What have you been up to, anyway? Carrying on with another visiting academic? Carrying on? Yes.
Carrying on.
Describes it absolutely.
Not too serious, but definitely physical.
I hope this one's better than the Norwegian, the walrus expert.
He was a lovely man.
Mr Walrus? Do you know what I think is wonderful about our lives here? We have a chance to dream.
Dream from looking at these pictures, and then let the mind float.
And make connections between things.
Day dreams, night dreams.
Ha! We've space, time.
And no pressure.
The most valuable things on Earth.
Thanks, Oswald.
We could still be doing that if you hadn't buggered everything up.
There's a maJor surprise.
I'm not enJoying talking like this, one way conversation.
Anyway, the maJor surprise is that I have got a mobile phone for the first time ever.
Going to get the kids into action, since I'm stuck here.
Mobile phones are not to be used in here! Surely you know that! I'm sorry.
No.
I didn't know that.
Another example of me not surviving outside.
Right? I have to break the rules.
Forgive me, everybody.
Hello, Marilyn? What's happened to him? Is he all right? He hasn't woken up, but hopefully he will.
I'm trying to make him.
To help him wake up, go to his house with Nick.
It's unlocked.
And take anything What do you mean? Wait.
Listen.
Whatever you see that seems to have something to do with this week.
This week? Yes.
With him searching for something.
Take it to work, OK? Understand? OK? It's weird.
This is definitely a weird place.
We have got to make a decision, because all of this could be to do with this week.
So, we've got to make a decision.
Right or wrong.
Any news? Could you Just leave us, please? Mr Anderson asked me We don't care what he asked you.
Well, you need your privacy.
I can understand that.
Anyway, I have to go buy a coat.
A coat for the cold.
A good coat.
Is he better? Is Oswald better? Has he woken up yet? No change.
No news.
He's still unconscious.
He will get better, won't he? Cup of tea, please, Molly.
Do the doctors say he'll get better? Nobody knows.
We've put his stuff out here.
We didn't know what you wanted to do with it.
This is our last day.
We can either spend the day on the phone, a last, desperate ring round to try to raise anybody.
Or we can try to find out what Oswald meant.
He said he was on to something.
If we can work out what it is, it might do us some good.
What is it that Oswald has found? We don't know, Veronica.
Clearly.
It's probably a piece of whimsy.
It'll mean guesswork.
I must warn you, we grabbed everything from one side of the room.
If there was vital evidence on the other side, it ain't here.
I see.
Great (!) Well, we've got to make some ruthless choices.
Otherwise we'll still be wading through his opera programmes at six o'clock tonight.
Split it up.
Everything that seems to go together, put it together.
Yup.
We'll do that.
And you, Nick.
You listen to all these tapes.
Anything that strikes you as odd or interesting, Just call me.
Our other American friend, Mr Anderson, will certainly turn up to make sure we'll be gone in the morning.
I'm not going to tell him about Oswald.
Why? Surely they'd feel sympathy if we tell them, maybe give us longer.
No.
As Oswald might say, if people feel guilty they don't want anything to do with you.
We'll seem even more unstable.
He'll want us out more than ever.
That's gonna happen anyway.
While we're here we have a chance.
Talk about clutching at straws.
She doesn't give up.
Veronica, can you come here a minute? You've known Oswald as long as I have.
I I believe so.
Er, yes.
I I'm sure you're right.
This is what I'm thinking.
This is my first guess.
It'll be about the American.
Oswald wanted to startle him like he did when he found the street in his home town.
Do you think I'm right? Oh, yes.
Yes.
It could well be that.
Oswald thought it would impress people finding a picture of their house 5O years ago.
I'm thinking this is probably about the American's background in some way.
Yes Yes, it could well be that.
Is that all you're going to say? No.
No, I'm sure you're right.
Well, I'm not.
Now, Veronica, can you remember? You talked to Oswald after he interrogated the Americans.
You were there, weren't you? Yes.
I was there.
I think.
For For a little while.
Now, think carefully.
Can you remember what town Mr Anderson said his family were from? It was in Ireland.
Or was it Virginia? No, no.
It was in Ireland.
It was quite a well known town.
I had heard of it.
It was, um Sky er No.
No.
Er, Ski Ski Oh, dear.
Skib? Skib? Skib.
Skib.
Skibbereen? Skibbereen.
That's it I think.
Have you finished? This will help.
I mean, to help you find whatever you're looking for.
Do you need me to stay? No, Nick.
Because, um It's Just that I've never seen you use this before.
I can manage.
I learnt watching Oswald.
OK, so, what the hell am I looking for? Gotta think like you, Oswald.
Huh! I can't think like you.
A connection.
Something in this town.
Something his family did.
Oh! For crying out loud! They're so dull these pictures, anyway.
Is it something anachronistic? Something that shouldn't be there? Something invented long before we were told it was and kept secret? He was always good at prophecies.
I Just saw somebody on the street with a phone! Yeah! A portable phone! A big heavy thing it was.
Soon, I bet ya, everyone will have them.
Quicker than you think.
Builders will have them on building sites.
Bin men will have them.
Piano tuners.
Secretaries, the whole world! I bet ya.
What happened? The talkies were invented here long before "The Jazz Singer"? Something military? Doesn't look like it.
Together, they will form something that can be kept, even used by the mass media not "even", I shouldn't have said that.
Something domestic, then.
Something much more personal.
Something passionate.
Something sexual? More likely.
Something sexual.
Powerful.
Something really passionate.
There you are, a bit earlier than I was expecting.
I'm not packing up till the end of the day.
Fine.
You've got till the end of today.
It's what we agreed.
So you're holding us to that timetable? Come on, Marilyn! I know.
Just checking.
You don't have a picture of your mother, do you? Do you have a photo of your mother? Or your grandmother? Why this obsession with my mother? That's what Oswald asked me.
He did? That's great.
When did he ask you? When? Yes.
It's very important when he asked you.
Mid week? Yeah.
Good.
He insisted on seeing a picture of my mother.
Thought you wouldn't carry one of your grandmother.
You're not? No.
He was right.
As always.
Where's the picture of your mother? There she is.
She died five years ago.
I'm sorry.
Looking for something in my background? You bet! So Oswald didn't get anywhere? On the contrary.
Why don't you ring him and ask him? He's ill.
Too ill to call? He's not taking calls.
What are you doing here anyway? I came to check on your progress.
Really? Well, I'm making progress right now.
Got anybody to buy the collection? Some promising leads, which are still warm.
Could come through at any moment.
There's nothing there, Marilyn.
Where? In my background.
I can tell you about my grandmother.
There are no surprises.
She must be here.
Why must she? Because I think Oswald found her.
She's here.
She's definitely here.
There is nothing to discover.
You reckon? She was the daughter of a businessman from Skibbereen.
They were quite affluent.
She went with an aunt on a trip to the US in her early 2Os.
There she met my grandfather at a tea dance.
She was a dutiful wife.
She had Just one child, my mother.
I believe she lived for my grandfather, as often happened in those days.
She died when I was two years old.
I have no memory of her.
I think I've found her.
Could be.
It is.
It could be.
It's your grandmother.
Pictured as a young woman.
OK, there is a good likeness.
I'll give you that.
Can I keep it? No.
Absolutely not.
Certainly not yet.
Come on.
It's the beginning of the trail.
So Is there anything here, please look, that has something to do with your family? Anything you recognise? I don't believe there is.
No.
Any of these words make any sense to you? No.
Seems a lot of the same word.
Is it, er gunge something? Gunge arama! It's not gunge something.
Maybe it's "gadgetry".
No.
Grenadier? Or Gadarene, maybe.
Does that convey anything? Gadarene? No.
It conveys nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
Spig? Could you see if there's anything under Gadarene in the collection? Gada what? Gadarene.
Could be Gadarene.
Probably one of Oswald's favourite restaurants! Haven't you got a busy schedule? Isn't there an architect's meeting you should be at? No.
Not today.
Then you can be put to work, can't you? Help solve this.
What's to solve? You find a picture of my grandmother as a young woman I'll tell you what there is to solve.
Somewhere in here is what happened next.
We Just have to make the connection.
Gada, Gada, Gada, Gada, Gad Gad, Gad Gad Jesus! Gadarene! Wait a minute! Gadarene! There's something biblical, isn't there? It's Just coming back.
My Bible classes.
Something about the Gadarene swine.
Hogs.
They threw themselves off a cliff? Yes? It's Just a load of pigs, I'm afraid.
A lot of porkers.
I don't think my family had much to do with the Gadarene swine.
There may be other boxes, of course.
You're building a house of cards.
You think it's my grandmother.
This word might be Gadarene.
It doesn't amount to anything, Marilyn.
Hello? Yes? No.
Is it the hospital? Is it about Oswald? Er, yes.
Yes, we are still open.
We can do that.
Yes.
Yes, a full set of British prime ministers of the 2Oth century Hospital? Oswald been in an accident? Oswald tried to kill himself.
I'm sorry.
Really sorry to hear that.
He's in a coma.
Anything I can do? No.
I don't think so.
That's good of you.
I was expecting What were you expecting? You to be angry in some way.
Because of what? Because maybe feeling guilty about things? I don't.
Do you feel guilty? Yes, I do a bit.
Because Oswald's not the fruit cake you think he is.
I mean, he's not easy, I'll grant you, but he's a he's a very modern person.
Modern? You're kidding.
No.
He is.
His mind works very fast.
He knows everything that's going on.
I Just feel I should have kept up with him.
Seen his darkness.
I don't understand why, being asked to leave a week early, he should take his life because of that.
No.
I don't understand that, too.
Not at the moment.
I also don't know if he left this puzzle deliberately to test me, or if it was a mistake.
What is it, Nick? Um I think that Veronica would like a word with you.
Oh, excuse me.
I'm sorry to interrupt you.
I want to check that I haven't missed any prime ministers of the 2Oth century.
I nearly missed out Bonar Law.
OK.
I'll look at them.
Thank you.
Photographs are wonderful things, aren't they? You can still make a selection, take all the pictures you want.
The offer's open.
You know that.
Save some of the collection, Marilyn.
I don't think anybody's missing.
What's the matter? Don't think I know this guy.
Is he the guy that hated Mrs Thatcher? I think You're not telling me I'm related to him? Something's Just occurred to me.
I've Just remembered something.
Give me a moment.
I've got to make sure.
Wait here till you're called.
She's ready for you.
OK.
Here I am.
What have you got for me? Oh, one or two little things.
Just little things? OK.
I have to warn you, Marilyn.
I'm very sceptical.
You can show me absolutely anything, a guy with antlers on his head, and say, "This Jerk is your great uncle.
" How do I know? You have no proof.
We'll see.
There is no proof.
If you say so.
Why distance yourself from it before you've heard what it is? Because you and Oswald think you've got ammunition.
It's too late for ammunition, isn't it? Much too late.
So, is it something unpleasant you've dug up? Depends on your point of view.
Marilyn.
It's a great story.
I think it is.
But, of course, you may not have time to hear it.
I don't believe a word of it, whatever IT is.
But give it to me.
Aren't you worried that we're not packing up? We should be getting ready to leave.
Tell me what you've found, Marilyn.
Are you musical? A little.
Nothing special.
I play a bit of piano.
OK.
Just wondered.
Great houses.
Great houses.
Yes.
You're telling me one of them belongs to me? This is Just before the First World War.
Society wedding parties.
New Year's Eve parties.
Is she dancing somewhere there? In a terrific ball gown being swept off her feet.
My grandmother.
Like now, there were musicians who specialised in playing at society occasions.
There was one group of musicians, these called the Minotaur Orchestra.
There's something charismatic about them.
The Minotaur Orchestra.
More animals.
Your grandmother, Hettie, must have met them when they played at a ball she attended in Cork.
How did you know she was called Hettie? I never told you that.
Because this Hettie, this innocent Hettie from Skibbereen, is about to Join up with another sort of Hettie.
The Hettie we already knew about, Oswald and I.
So, she ran off with someone from this orchestra? No.
She Joined the orchestra as a full member.
That's good.
I like the idea.
It's romantic.
She plays at these great dances, mixing with aristocracy.
A woman musician.
That's great.
Hold on.
These are the pictures I was able to put together because I'd got the connection that Oswald made.
We had this story, but we hadn't made the connection with Ireland.
We never traced it back until Oswald started delving into your background.
So, you found my grandmother playing in an orchestra.
Your grandmother's going to surprise you.
I really believe she is.
She already has surprised me.
lf, of course, this woman is anything to do with me.
Hettie, your grandmother, travelled from great house to great house with the Minotaur Orchestra.
But there was something about this band.
Behind closed doors, they hold their own wilder parties.
That's amazing.
Yes.
It's good, isn't it? This is a set up, isn't it, Marilyn? This funny word scrawled on bits of paper by Oswald, like a serial killer? Gadarene! And now here it is.
How convenient (!) You're giving me this tale, and maybe I'm getting hooked, but I'm very suspicious.
It's too easy.
"Let's find something in his background!" "Wow! There's an interesting story.
" And, lo and behold, all these photos to go with it.
Well, wow! There is a story, yes.
And, wow! You haven't heard the half of it yet.
OK.
Let's get to the real Hettie.
You want it short and brutal, then? Not brutal.
The Gadarene Club is more than Just dancing after hours.
They're quite adventurous, these young people.
What we would call surrealistic pictures.
Yeah, they're weird.
Sensual.
She's having an affair with one of the guys? No.
She's not.
With both of these guys.
Both? Yes.
The short one is called Robert.
The really short one is Neville.
How do you know she was involved with both? I could say "Look at the picture".
But also I know because soon after they played at Hilton Castle in Derbyshire.
What happened there? At Hilton Castle, both men vanished.
Vanished? Both of them? Both of them.
Neville Dawson and Robert St Bury have disappeared.
Hettie is questioned by the police.
Search parties are sent out.
There are newspaper articles.
Two men vanish off the face of the Earth.
Hettie is reported as having been "close friends" to both men.
Nothing's found.
Not a trace of them turns up, even on the moors.
An English mystery.
For the moment, yes.
It was assumed the two men must have run off, because they were involved in crime.
Sounds plausible to me.
That wasn't what happened, though.
Hettie disappears from view.
Nobody in this country ever photographs her again, but she was still somewhere in this collection.
And Oswald found her.
There, in Paris, after the First World War.
The new Hettie.
Yes! Here she is, a member of your family.
Your flesh and blood.
I only have your word for that.
She's living in a strange world, some of it semi conventional.
She works as an artist's model but, again, behind closed doors, other things happen.
A weird, claustrophobic world.
A very intense world.
Of sex and, er, pictures, it appears.
Lots of sex, clearly.
And drugs.
Seances maybe.
See who's next to her? There he is.
No Robert? No Robert.
Definitely no Robert.
What do you mean? "Definitely no Robert"? You have no right to say that.
Casts suspicion! He could be anywhere.
He was.
You're not implying Hettie was involved with murder? That this woman was murderous? There's no way this woman was murderous.
Who says he wasn't there anyway? Could've been.
Nobody took a photograph.
He could have taken all these himself.
He was there once.
When the house was demolished, the house where Hettie had her apartment, human remains were found under the floorboards.
You're making this up.
Under the floorboards of that apartment.
Some of this may be true, but that is obviously made up.
You don't believe me.
OK.
Spig! Do you read French? I read French.
Oswald found all these himself.
He made the connections.
He found her again and again in the music parties before the First World War, in Paris after the war.
He found the apartment.
He sent for the cuttings.
He followed the trail.
This could all be bullshit.
Oh, yes? Want to know if there's another picture? Want to? What is that? What have you got there, Marilyn? Jesus! Your meeting with Hettie.
Is that better? Or do we need to get you something stronger? No, er, tea to, er calm me down.
That's fine.
I don't think he needs your first aid, Spig.
I don't think it is working somehow.
The tea.
I mean, I come to these buildings, this weird library that oughtn't to be here, and suddenly, bang, I have a new history.
And do you like your new history? Yeah.
I think so.
But I'm beginning to wonder.
There's this dark, romantic story, maybe murderous.
And, on the surface, you know, I've always been quite straight.
On the surface.
On the surface, yeah.
But underneath, I've always felt, I've always known there was another side.
That's why I came to a foreign city, get away from one's immediate culture, be freer.
For your spontaneous business school.
Don't mock! It is, as the kids would say, an awesome feeling, awesome, to know this is part of my blood.
Everything I thought about that side of my family, it's totally different.
Massively so! All sorts of things will change.
Ha! I'll probably dream differently at night.
All these new dangerous images coming at me.
And that's exciting, isn't it? You bet! You wanted a story in my background and there was one.
Probably something dangerous in all our pasts.
What was great about your grandmother, she loved being photographed.
Oswald! It's astonishing what he did! I mean, Just from my mother's picture.
He must have stored Hettie's face in his memory and somehow Yes.
He made the connection.
I wonder how quickly that happened.
He must have sneaked back here after he started that little fire.
He was in here in his hard hat doing his detective work.
No.
He gave me the hat back, so it wasn't quite like that.
It was a feat of detective and memory work.
It's uncanny.
No.
He has his own way of keeping records.
It's not all memory.
He has his own filing system.
It's Just a bit different from most people's.
I'm going to phone the hospital.
I've got to see if there's been any change.
Buy the collection.
What? Buy the collection.
You know if it had been split up you'd never have got the story about your family.
Buy it.
Hello? Can I have B wing, please? The Aston ward.
Hello? I'm looking for information about Mr Oswald Bates.
What was that name again? Mr Oswald Bates.
Please just hold on for a moment.
Oh, shit.
Oh, Christ! I Just heard her say something, something to another nurse about the gentleman who Just died.
I heard her say it.
I can't bear it if that's true.
Just wait.
Overhearing like that.
Could be anybody.
I heard it.
Has something happened? Just tell me.
I'm just putting you through to the doctor.
He won't be a moment.
Yes.
Could you Just She's gone.
I don't think I can hold like this.
Why don't they Just tell you? Get it done with.
I'll hold.
Oh please! Please! Why am I not there? You're great.
I'm great, am I? Yes, Marilyn.
A great, passionate person.
Passionate.
I am.
Yes.
And a wonderful story teller.
Well Oswald's made me a great story teller this week! He found it.
I put it into words.
Hello? Yeah.
No, I'm a friend of Miss Truman's.
We're working together.
Right.
There's been a little improvement.
Well, I think No.
I won't say it.
What? You were going to say it's the first time you've seen him not talking.
I want you to know, we followed Hettie's trail and we found everything.
At least, I think we found everything.
And it was a deliberate test, wasn't it? Of me! Something I could bloody well have done without.
Did I win? Well, a little bit.
Mr Anderson, for some reason I hardly ever called him Christopher.
Christopher Anderson got an American collection to buy the whole library.
They got it cheap and they didn't want it all, but we persuaded them.
We both managed it.
It's still all together.
It's saved but not in this country, of course.
And I'm bumbling along, working for another picture library.
Soon, I will try to get my own collection again.
And Oswald is very gradually coming back to us.
He'll never be the same.
He has slowed right down, of course.
I see a lot of him.
Often, we go for walks and have slightly laboured conversation.
How much is genuine and how much he uses his new slowness for his own ends I'm still finding out.
Oswald is this nearly right? You did what you did, your suicide attempt because you saw all this change coming? Everybody's working lives are changing so completely.
And your mind works very fast, and you calculated, "That's it for me.
"Probably won't get used again ever.
My career's over.
" And you thought, "Better Just check out now"? "Why waste time?" We are all hit by changing things.
Can't.
Can't.
Not able to stop it.
It's like waiting for the Oracle to speak.
I have to listen to you even more now because it takes you so bloody long! He changed my life.
I'm a lot more confident dealing with the outside world now.
And he changed Mr Anderson's.
In doing so, he harmed himself.
I tell him many times that, without the Oswalds of this world, we have no future, none of us.
He likes hearing that.
Naturally.