Little Dorrit (2008) s01e11 Episode Script

Mr Merdle, having got him away from that little dancer once, I now find him in her clutches again.
I need you to find him a post, an occupation.
I believe I need to hold a dinner.
I find you perfect, my love.
I wouldn't change a single thing about you.
I am happy but marriage is sodifferent.
I never thought about what it would really be like.
This is most irregular.
Upon my soul! you mustn't just barge in saying you want to know, you know! But I do want to know.
How's a man to get anything done is this benighted country? In the old days We do not refer to the old days.
Amy, I demand that you conduct yourself in a manner satisfactory to myself and Mrs General.
£1,000, you know what I have.
The man knows nothing! He is not to be seen here again, Flintwinch, or heard of again.
CHURCH BELLS RING GONDOLIER YELLS IN DISTANCE Amy? Yes? Has it ever struck you that Papa and Mrs General are becoming very fond of each other's company? What do you mean, Fanny? I mean that Mrs General has designs upon Papa and he is not averse to being designed upon! How should you like Mrs General for a Mama, Amy? I I don't think I should like it very much.
I shouldn't like it at all.
I couldn't bear it! I wouldn't bear it.
I'd marry Sparkler first.
Oh, Fanny.
You said you'd never marry Mr Sparkler! Circumstances alter cases.
Consider! you may be wrong about Father and Mrs General.
I may be but I am not.
'Dear Mr Clennam, we are still in Venice 'and my dear father and Fanny have adapted themselves to our new fortune 'with wonderful ease.
'I, however, have not been able to do so.
'Mrs General is always with us and takes great pains to teach me, 'but I find my mind wandering to my old cares.
'Then I remember that there are no such cares left 'and I feel strangely lost.
'I have found great solace in Mrs Gowan's company, 'during these recent times, 'and I visit her almost every day in her confinement.
' DISTRESSED PANTING PET SCREAMS The cloth, please.
SCREAMING CONTINUES PET SCREAMS We have no idea what women go through at these times, Gowan.
So I understand, yes.
Yes, I know that you feel as I do.
We wish we could bear the pain for them but we can't.
Absolutely, absolutely Fatherhood! What a potent mixture of joy and anxiety it is.
Oh, Pet You'll discover that for yourself and it'll be the making of you as a man.
(Pompous buffoon!) Sorry? BABY CRIES A little boy! And both well! 'Mrs Gowan has had a little boy to be called Henry, after his father.
'He is a beautiful child, as you would expect.
'Mrs Gowan likes me to be near her 'and help her look after little Henry, which gives me great pleasure.
'So your Little Dorrit is a great deal happier now 'and content to still be in Italy for the time being.
' Amy! I have a bone to pick with you.
Oh? Could it wait till this evening, Fanny? I was just going out.
- Where, may I ask? - To meet Mrs Gowan.
That is just what I wanted to mention to you.
Now, you may not realise it, dear, but you're letting us all down again.
You've turned yourself into a nursemaid for that Gowan family and it's reflecting upon us.
You'll have everybody thinking you're a common servant! - Would it be so bad if they did? - Yes, it would.
I am determined Mrs Merdle shouldn't have anything to sneer about.
But Mrs Gowan likes to have me near her.
I'm not saying you should never go to them, just don't let them take advantage of you.
We're ladies of leisure now.
I don't think I shall ever learn to be a lady of leisure, Fanny.
Now that is not the spirit, is it?! Of course it is hard.
It's downright boring sometimes but one just has to work at it.
Do you not think I sometimes long to dance and do my high kicks in the grand people's faces? Do you really, Fanny? Do I ever?! One, two, three, kick! Five, six, seven, kick! Right in their silly astonished faces! But it wouldn't do, so I don't do it.
So, you see, we all have to make sacrifices.
Even Sparkler's making sacrifices.
I'm teaching him not to say I'm a damn fine girl with no biggod nonsense about me.
- And he's getting a job.
- What? Here, in Italy? No, in England.
Mr Merdle's going to get him one.
Mr Merdle, he can do anything.
'The first Lord of the Treasury.
' The Lord Chancellor.
The Bishop of Southwark.
Mr Eustace Barnacle of the Circumlocution Office.
Mr Septimus Barnacle of the Circumlocution Office.
Mr Tite Barnacle, Principle of the Circumlocution Office.
Lord Decimus Barnacle, First Lord of the Circumlocution Office.
Mr Ferdinand Barnacle A lot of Barnacles tonight.
They all come out for Merdle.
I understand this evening is about a little bit of jobbery.
Mrs Merdle's son by her previous marriage, name of Sparkler.
- Do you know the boy? - Nice young fellow.
Absolutely nothing between the ears at all.
A total blank.
They're fixing him up with something at the Circumlocution Office.
Well, I suppose he'll do no harm there.
No good either.
Oh, come on MEN LAUGH, CUTLERY CLATTERS And so we pass, gentlemen, through the various changes of life, from Eton pears to Parliamentary pairs! Excellent, sir, never heard you on such good form! We are all sorry not to have the pleasure of Mrs Merdle's company this evening.
She is in Italy, sir.
Ah, Mrs Merdle's son has been spoken ofMr Sprinkler? Mr Sparkler, sir.
Sparkler, of course.
He was mentioned in the context of a possible opening? If you please, sir.
Is he here this evening? In Italy, with Mrs Merdle.
Ah, well it's not indispensable that he should actually be on the spot.
The magic name of Merdle will suffice.
Quite so.
I think we may consider it settled.
Thank you, sir.
STRINGED INSTRUMENTS PLAY MUSIC STOPS Bravo! Yes! Dear Edmund is to be one of the Lords of the Circumlocution Office.
I expect you may have seen the notice in the Times.
What a pity it will take him away from us all! Congratulations, old fellow! Feet under the table now, eh? Well done! Well, point of fact, didn't actually do anything.
Thing just happened.
It's a total mystery to me.
It will keep him in town a deal and he prefers the country, don't you, Edmund? Well, I am fond of ratting with a couple of good terriers.
Not much ratting in Venice.
Lot of rats though.
Odd that.
- Edmund.
- Yes? - Be quiet.
- Right.
Still, though the Circumlocution may not be ideally suited to Edmund's talents, it is a position and not a disagreeable one.
Quite, and without wishing to disparage Mr Sparkler's abilities, I think we must see the appointment as a compliment to Mr Merdle - the man of the age! Thank you, Mr Dorrit, that may well be so.
POLITE CHATTER - How we do fret about our children.
- How indeed.
I wish you joy, my dear old fellow! There will be nothing to do and you will do it charmingly! There'll be a handsome salary to draw and you'll draw it charmingly! Eh? I'm delighted to see my dear old donkey so admirably stabled! Well, you know, I I dare say you wouldn't say no to such a stable yourself, Mr Gowan.
Indeed, no, but my relations seem to have sadly overlooked my talents.
Leaving you to sponge off the in-laws you affect to despise.
I say! You know, Fanny, draw it mild! I'm not sure Miss Dorrit knows how to draw it mild but I am rebuked.
I don't suppose you'll change your ways, though.
No, Miss Dorrit, I don't suppose I will.
I suppose I should congratulate you, Mr Sparkler.
I've spent a good deal of time at the Circumlocution Office and I never heard one word of sense in all that time.
They seemed to me the very epitome of how not to do it! Well, you know, I've not got in there yet.
It's not as if I'm up to the mark yet.
You'll have to forgive me but all I've seen anyone do at that place is push pieces of paper around and give each other jobs for life and let the country go to rack and ruin in the mean time.
Barnacles, yes, a well-named family! Steady, Mr Meagles.
I must insist, sir, that you do not speak disrespectfully of a very distinguished family.
and your good friend, Mr Clennam, will say the same.
He spent day after day at that place, trying to get some sense out of them about your tangled affairs and precious little good it did him, or you, sir! VOICES ECHO: 'Private gentlemen.
Well put.
You're very good, sir.
' 'We should have made each others acquaintance before, should we not?' Aitchoo! KEYS JANGLE DOOR LOCKS FANNY: Poor Pa, he does suffer so.
I felt sorry for Mr and Mrs Meagles too.
The Meagleses are all very well.
They're happy, they know their place and they don't care tuppence for what the world thinks of them.
We, on the other hand, labour under peculiar disadvantages.
Don't tell me you don't know what I'm talking about.
I'm sure I shall, after a few more words.
We're not quite the thing, are we? Some of us look the thing.
Pa is very gentlemanly but he's terrified of people knowing what he once was.
And Uncle, though a dear creature, is altogether unpresentable.
Edward is frightfully expensive and dissipated.
He isn't even any good at it - the, umdissipation, I mean.
And then there's you and me.
And we don't have a mother but we do have a Mrs General, who goes about like a cat in gloves and she will catch a mouse and the mouse she'll catch is Papa.
- Fanny! I refuse to be step-mothered by Mrs General.
The sooner I become Mrs Sparkler the better.
He has a good position now and I don't think a clever husband should suit me.
I shouldn't be able to defer to him enough.
But, Fanny, if you loved someone, that feeling would change.
I know it would! Oh! You know that, do you? Oh, bless me! How much some people know about some subjects! Well, they say everybody has a subject and we've hit upon yours! Don't tease me, Fanny.
It's only in fun, little one.
Fanny you do deserve someone you love.
Well, maybe I do, but there he is.
And as Mrs Sparkler, I shall be able to torment his mother - that piece of insolence - for the rest of her life.
That little dancer she gave her old bangle to, she will dance through her life.
Mow there is a face I'd like to land a good high kick on! Fanny, you wouldn't marry Mr Sparkler just to annoy Mrs Merdle! Now don't look so anxious.
We have talked it over comfortably and now it's time for bed.
Oh, you are the best and dearest little mouse, Amy.
Good night.
I refuse to know you, sir.
I refuse to know you.
Father? - Not in bed yet? - No, no, I, er Let me help you to bed, Father.
Help me? I am perfectly capable.
I know, Father.
But I should like to help you as I used to.
You should say Papa, you know.
I know.
I keep forgetting.
Miss Amy Dorrit, what are we to do with you? I don't know, Papa.
I'm a disgrace, aren't I? I fear you are.
But you're a good girl, Amy, for all that.
You're a good girl.
Ah, Mr Blandois! Very prompt.
Very punctual.
Always, for you, my dear little Flintwinch.
Let's go in here and have a few glasses and talk it over.
They don't know me here.
Well, let's put that right, shall we? DOG BARKS Have you seen this, Mr Clennam? I know that man! Blan-DOYS.
Blandois, a Frenchman.
Last seen at Clennam & Co.
Surely they don't suspect my mother of foul play, do they? They wouldn't issue a handbill like this if they didn't.
My God.
On your way! How did it seem to you, Mr Clennam, when you saw this man at your mother's house? She said she had business with him.
Any idea what this business was? My mother has never in her life taken me into her confidence.
Try her again, Mr Clennam.
She's in trouble now.
She'll have to swallow her pride and accept help.
Well, we'll see.
Signor! Signor! Signor! This is him! The bad man! You know him? You know Blandois? No, no, no, no.
No Blandois! He is call Rigaud and he is a killer! Good day, Constable.
Flintwinch, what's going on here? What did the Constable want to know? No need to worry, Arthur.
We're right as rain here, we are.
Here he is.
How are you, Mother? I am exactly as I was the last time you called here, Arthur.
I'm relieved to hear it, after your visit from that Frenchman.
You were right to suspect him.
He's not as he presented himself.
- And now he has disappeared? - Yes.
That is not your concern.
You severed all connections with the firm.
I am still your son, Mother.
I am concerned about you.
There is no need to be.
Monsieur Blandois, if that is indeed his real name, came to Clennam and Company with a business proposition which, after consideration, we declined.
is what I told the constable.
I have been told that this man is a notorious criminal.
I'm glad I have nothing to do with him.
Mother, this is a serious matter.
The authorities believe this man has been murdered.
Do they indeed? And I am suspected, am I? Then let them produce the body confined to this chair, could have committed the crime.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm rather tired.
Yes, of course.
MotherI worry about you, trapped up here in this room.
I've hardly seen you since I got back from China.
I'd like to call on you more often, make sure that you're well.
That won't be necessary.
I may be paralysed but I'm not a weakling, like your father was.
Goodbye, Arthur.
Shut the doors.
CHURCH BELLS RING - Oh! - Oh, indeed! I suppose you know what this means, little sister? Well, you mean you? She's as beautiful as she's doted on and there's no nonsense about her.
It's all arranged.
- No need to explain, Edmund.
- No, my love.
In short, we're engaged.
We just tell Papa and there's nothing more to say about it.
My dear Fanny, I should like to say a word to Amy.
Must you? I think I must, my love! Well, go on then.
My dear Amy, if ever there was a girl - next to your highly-endowed and beautiful sister - who had no nonsense about her, not one atom of Edmund! I know it's a habit of mine, for which I apologise, but she really hasn't got the least little bit What I wished to declare is that, though I may not be up to the mark on some subjects, on the subject of Amy I am up to the mark.
And, when we are at home in London, a knife and, er fork and an apartment will always be at Amy's disposal.
There So Ah.
Yes.
There, there.
It'll be all right.
I promise.
My dear Fanny, I am delighted.
On the arm of Mr Sparkler, you will move in circles at the very pinnacle of society.
Your noble ambition finds harmonious echoes in my heart.
You are a child brimful of duty and good principle.
Thank you, Papa.
Mark and learn, Amy.
Mark and learn.
'Dear Mr Clennam, 'I received some news last night, which allows me to hope 'that I may soon be leaving Italy and returning to London.
'My sister Fanny and Edmund Sparkler are to be married.
'Mr Sparkler has secured a position at the Circumlocution Office and, 'as soon as they are married, 'he and Fanny will travel to England to start their new life.
'It is my dearest wish to travel with them 'but I think I must wait so that I may travel with my father.
' In nominee Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti.
Amen.
Amy, now that your sister is married, she and her husband will travel to London to take up residence in the Merdle household.
I myself intend to travel with them.
I've some affairs to settle in London - investments and so forth.
Indeed, I hope to consult with Mr Merdle about them.
So we shall all go back together? No.
Edward is going to do some exploring, I believe, and you and your uncle Frederick will stay here.
You will, of course, be under the excellent supervision of Mrs General.
Couldn't I travel with you and look after you on the journey to London? Whatever makes you think I need looking after? HE CHUCKLES No, no, no.
Much better that you stay here.
It is to be hoped, Amy, that one day you too will find a husband but Mrs General and I agree that you have some way to go yet before that may be possible.
To be frank, my dear, you're not yet quite presentable in society.
Mrs General has a little more a little more forming to do, in your case.
Isn't that so, Mrs General? I fear it is, Mr Dorrit.
I've been approached by a factory in St Petersburg.
I hope you've said yes! We ought to make our capital work for us.
I want to put it into Merdle.
I should be grateful if you could give me the benefit of your advice as to the prudent investment of my capital.
- Why the devil are you here?! - I brought you cigars.
Damn your cigars! I don't smoke!