02x06 - The President

Episode transcripts for the TV show "Derry Girls". Aired: 4 January 2018 –; present.*
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British comedy and coming-of-age story that follows 16-year-old Erin and her friends as they grow up in the 1990s of Northern Ireland.
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02x06 - The President

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2

RADIO: The President of the United States, Bill Clinton, a committed supporter of the peace process, will visit with both sides of the community during his trip to Belfast before travelling to Londonderry.

He's here!

He's here! He's landed!

I know he has, Da! And look at the state of the place!

I better tell Jim across the road!

Christ, I'm at my wits' end!

Firstly, he's not coming to Derry until tomorrow.

Have you see the heck of those skirting boards, Gerry?

I'd need a week to tackle them.

And secondly, I think it's unlikely he'll call to our house.

He might call, Gerry.

Aye, he might take a notion.

I think presidential visits are quite carefully planned.

I'm not sure there's an awful lot of room for notion-taking.

Hope you're right, Gerry. For it's like Beirut in here.

I mean, when was the last time these were bleached?

I couldn't hand Hillary that.

I'd say she keeps her place shining, Mary.

Sure she'd put you to shame.

Right, we need to clear this table. Jim's bringing his equipment over.

What equipment? Them aul radio transmitters he collects.

Him and Daddy think they can tap into the CIA's system on them.

Excuse me? Jim really buzzes off radio contact.

You canna tap the CIA, Joe.

It'll make tracking Clinton down much easier. Right.

I don't think the CIA enjoy people tracking the President down.

I think they can get funny about that type of stuff.

Let them try and bloody stop me.

They will stop you, Joe. They're the CIA.

I won't miss my chance! Not again!

You hear me, boy?

What the hell is he planning to do?

When JFK came to Dublin, Uncle Colm met him, and Daddy didn't.

Things are gonna be different this time, I tell you.

JFK spoke to Colm? Christ, that man didn't have much luck, did he?

I'm not sure any of us will get to meet Bill or Hillary.

Some sense at last.

They'll be far too busy.

That's why we've decided to take Chelsea off their hands.

What? We're gonna bring her to Lisnagelvin swimming pool.

The wave machine's been fixed. Lovely.

I hope she remembers her swimming cap, Erin.

They've got dead strict about swimming caps.

And that wain has some head of hair on her.

Dear Jesus.

Any word from Chelsea? Not yet.

And we sent that letter over a week ago.

You're sure you got the address right?

Chelsea Clinton, the White House, America.

It just doesn't make any sense. Did you send it first class?

We're not made of money, Michelle.

# Christmas time Silent night

# Mistletoe and wine Holy night

# Children singing Christian rhyme

# With logs on the fire and gifts on the tree

# A time to rejoice in the good that we see... #

That totally just wrecked my buzz.

Great stuff altogether.

A fitting rendition of what I consider to be the most godawful song ever written.

Just one announcement today, girls.

I'm sure many of you have guessed what it's about.

Although tomorrow is not officially a public holiday, schools across the city have decided to view it as such.

Because tomorrow, the President of the United States of America is coming here, to Derry.

You're a little young to perhaps understand the enormity of this.

A few short months ago, this would have been unimaginable.

But here we are.

And I for one can barely believe it.

I mean, people in this place stop k*lling each other for five minutes and the whole world loses the absolute run of itself.

This visit concerns me for a number of reasons, girls, but mostly because I am scared it will give the Pope ideas, and that's the last thing I need. No.

Our Lady Immaculate will play no part in this farce.

And I expect to see you all here tomorrow morning, business as usual.

Is that clear?

Is that clear?

ALL: Yes.

The Father, Son, Holy Spirit.

She can't do this. She simply cannot do this.

Well, she's done it, Clare.

But it's history! She's making us miss history!

Och, but I really wanted to find out what that Cromwell fella got up to next.

I really enjoy him.

Not history class, Orla! Real history!

History being made!

And Irish people aren't allowed to enjoy Oliver Cromwell, Orla. Why?

Because he was a f*cking arsehole.

Look, Bill doesn't even get here till four o'clock tomorrow.

"Bill"? Who are you? His Ma?

We've got plenty of time, is all I'm saying.

Do you know how packed that Guildhall Square is gonna be, James?

You'd have to camp overnight just to get a glimpse of him.

Chelsea will sort us out.

Och, I'm not even sure I trust Chelsea any more.

Aye, Chelsea might be flaky.

She does have crafty eyes.

OK, I'm not comfortable with the Chelsea-bashing, girls.

This is the biggest thing that's ever happened here.

That's ever likely to happen here. We should be a part of it.

We will be.

Are you suggesting we play truant?

OK, normal people don't call it that, but yes, yes I am.

You know what, girls?

Sometimes in order to do the right thing, you have to do the wrong thing.

And on this occasion, right is wrong and wrong is right.

What the f*ck are you on about?

Are you gonnae sack off school or not? Let's do it.

That'll be £1.99.

Right.

Is there some sort of a problem here, girls?

Not a problem as such, more of a question, really.

And you think I'm here to answer questions, do you?

Who, am I? Magnus f*cking Magnusson?

He doesn't answer questions, he asks them.

Pipe the f*ck down.

It's just, it's pink, white and purple, Dennis.

So? Well, it should be red, white and blue.

Says who? The rest of the world.

There's also quite a few stars missing.

No there's not. There's only 30 stars here, I mean, there should be 50, just because the stars represent states, so... Some of them left. Some states left?

That's right. Some states left America? Yep.

When did this happen?

The other day. God, that's desperate.

I dunno. I just feel like if 20 states left the USA, we might have heard about it.

Ah, they didn't want to make it into a big thing.

So these are the new, modern, up-to-date flags - they've just brought them out. OK.

It's just, well, I'm not convinced that's actually true.

Why would I lie? Because you bought a fuckload of dud flags and you're trying to get rid of them? GET OUT!

What first attracted him to a career in retail, do you think?

Hello there.

Why don't you hop in?

Come on now.

Don't be shy.

Help! Stranger! Stranger danger!

Jesus Christ, Erin.

Help! This woman is trying to abduct us!

Help! Fire! There's a fire!

Fire? What the f*ck are you on about?

It gets more attention. I read it somewhere.

Kidnapper! Help! Fire! Help! There's a kidnapper on fire!

Will yous all just shut the f*ck up? It's fine.

She's not a kidnapper!

Well, who is she?

My Aunt Cathy.

Hello, Mum.

MUSIC PLAYING

What exactly is the plan over there? They're trying to discover the location of the Presidential base camp.

Does that mean which hotel he's staying in? I think so, aye.

DOOR OPENS What kept you two?

We have some serious scandal, Mammy.

I'm not interested in any of your aul schoolgirl gossip, Erin.

I am. We just met James's mammy.

Cathy Maguire's back? Really?

She tried to set us on fire.

She did what? She didn't.

Jesus, but she's no shame.

Tell me this, wains. How were the eyebrows?

What do you mean? The eyebrows. Were they looking well?

I didn't really notice her eyebrows.

Cathy Maguire had the best eyebrows in Derry back in her day.

She'd could have given Joan Crawford a run for her money, isn't that right, Mary?

I've no time for Cathy Maguire.

The woman abandoned her own wain, Sarah.

She always was one cold, self-serving wee madam.

I'm not talking about her. I'm talking about her eyebrows.

Cathy and her eyebrows are two separate entities.

All right, don't be getting worked up. Well, I just think you should be able to compliment a woman's eyebrows without having her personality dragged into it.

DOORBELL Fine.

Her eyebrows were exceptional. Thank you.

It's Uncle Colm!

Dear God, no.

Everything alL right, Colm?

Oh, God, aye.

Well, the aul knee's giving me a bit of jip, but sure I'll not bore you with the details. I doubt that.

I felt a twinge there this morning and I says to myself, says I, "Colm, you'll have to get that seen to.

"You can't let that go."

For, and you'll maybe not remember this girls, but Maggie Murphy felt a twinge on a Monday, and on Thursday of the very same week, sure didn't she drop dead at the bingo.

And her sitting on a full house, too.

But sure, you can't take it with you, as they say.

God rest her soul.

Is there something we can do for you, Colm?

Oh, I just called round to help with this CIA business.

Who told you about that?

I did, Joe.

Why?

Look, Colm's met JFK.

He has experience with presidents, he'll know what to do.

No chance! I'm sorry, Colm, but you can't be part of this.

If you meet Bill Clinton, you'll be a president up.

You'll have two presidents to my one.

I cannot have you getting ahead of me, president-wise.

One of his presidents is dead, Daddy.

It still counts. Ssh!

I'll only have to even things up again. Sssh, Joe!

I can't spend the rest of my life traipsing around after bloody presidents. I've other things to be at, girls.

Shut up, Joe!

What the blazes is wrong with you? Mouth!

I think I've got something.

Don't toy with me now, Jim.

RADIO CRACKLING, INDISTINCT VOICE

Aye, it was a CIA agent, all right.

He said they're taking Bill back to base.

And I know where it is!

We need to move quickly.

You still OK to drive us? What?

We need someone to stay in the car, in case things don't go to plan.

So a getaway driver, essentially.

We're talking worst-case scenario.

We're talking no case scenario!

MUSIC PLAYING

It just doesn't make any sense, Jim.

I heard him say it. As clear as day, it was.

Burt? Why would they bring him to Burt?

That's what's so clever about it.

Nobody's gonna go looking for the President of the USA in Burt, now, are they?

Sure if you went about saying Bill Clinton was in Burt, people would think you were clean mad. Precisely.

Look, lads, if you want my opinion... We don't.

Grand. This Clinton boyo is actually America's 42nd president, which is interesting now, because JFK, well, he was the 35th.

Why is that interesting?

Well, I suppose it's not really.

Sometimes I'll just say something to get me from one sentence to the other, Joe, you know how it is.

It should be just up here on the left.

I'm not sure what number Nixon was, now.

Or your man, what do you call him, the beardy fella in the hat.

The one who knocked the aul sl*very on the head? Lincoln.

The very boy.

But then there was the 27th...

America's 30th.

And then there was the lad they named all the vacuum cleaners after.

Jesus wept.

How much further. Jim?

It should be just up here on the left.

We're back in the same place.

And Kennedy, of course, the poor critter. How?

Lovely fella. Hands on him like shovels.

How the feck are we back in the same fecking place!

What's going on?

I've driven 178 miles and I'm back where I was five fecking hours ago, Joe, that's what's going on! You stupid bloody eejit.

Thon Reagan character, he was another.

Stop listing presidents, Colm!

He'll list presidents if he wants to list presidents!

Ah, there it is! Roscarna Road.

That's it, that's what they said.

Well spotted, Jim. Good man yourself, Jim.

Where would we be without you, Jim?

# But I would walk 500 miles

# And I would walk 500 more... #

Daddy and Gerry not back yet?

They must have had a few drinks and lost track of time.

Sure, you know what Bill's like.

God, aye, any excuse to whip out the aul' saxophone.

We better hit the Guildhall. A bit early, are you not?

Clare's been there since five this morning, Mammy. It's gonna be jammed.

Anything from Chelsea, girls?

Not a dickie bird, Mammy. It's her loss.

That wave machine is absolutely cr*cker.

Ach well, at least yous were given the day off, sure, that's something.

We weren't given the day off, Mammy. We're playing truant.

Very good, Orla.

Truant. What is she not, Mary?

DOORBELL RINGS It's open. 'Mon in.

All right?

I hope you don't mind, Mrs Quinn, but...

Ach, Cathy, it's yourself.

Long time, girls.

It is indeed.

And fair play to you, Cathy, you've kept them eyebrows shipshape, so you have.

Credit where credit's due. Ach, you're too kind, Sarah.

I'm serious, they're in great nick. That must be some comfort to you.

I'm sorry? We heard about your wee divorce.

Nightmare.


Yeah, it was a difficult decision, but Paul, my ex, well, he just became so controlling.

Jesus. Really?

He was unbearable towards the end, it was always, "Oh, Cathy, why did you stay out all night?"

Or, "Who was that man you were having dinner with, Cathy?"

He was very insecure.

Wonder why.

James' father was the same.

I just seem to attract the possessive, jealous types.

I don't know what it is. The eyebrows.

Anyway, I hate to impose on you, but I need to make a quick call, and unbelievably, my sister doesn't have a phone.

She got rid of it when we racked up that massive bill ringing Russell Grant's horoscope hotline.

He didn't see that coming! James said you wouldn't mind if I...

Of course not. Work away.

You're a brick. Let me just find my filofax.

A brick?

Are you staying with your Deirdre, then?

Yes, I am. It's a bloody nightmare, if I'm being honest.

I'd forgotten just how small these little houses are.

I really don't know how you do it. Oh, we struggle through, Cathy.

In our teeny-tiny house.

But it's worth it if I get to see my big, handsome boy!

He's going to be the only man in my life from now on.

Aye, right. I've just missed him so much.

Well, you did dump him here quite a long time ago.

Mum's had a lot going on.

Yeah. I've actually just started my own business.

It's been a real passion project, a real labour of love!

And it's really starting to take off now, so... Right.

And what sort of area is it?

Self-adhesive labels.

Stickers?

I design high-end self-adhesive labels.

You make stickers. For bespoke gift packages.

You're a sticker maker. No, they're not stickers exactly.

Would there be much money in sticker making, Cathy?

They are not stickers! Labels. They're labels.

I think it's gonna do really well.

We better get going before Clare cacks herself.

Go on, love, you do your thing. See you later.

Here before you head, I got you a couple of American flags.

They're on the sideboard there. Thank you, Sarah.

They're the new ones, so they are. They've only just brought them out.

Yes!

KNOCKING AT DOOR Bill?

KNOCKING CONTINUES You in there?

No sign of life, Joe.

What are ye at?

I thought I told you to stay in the car.

Would it be worth maybe checking next door, Jim?

Right, so the Clintons are staying in a taxi rank in the arsehole of nowhere is the thinking now, is it?

It is, Gerry, aye.

Fantastic.

MUSIC:

Excuse me, son. Where to?

We were just wondering, have you seen the Clintons knocking about around here?

The Clintons?

We have reason to believe they're staying in this vicinity.

What would the Clintons be doing in Burt?

Heading to the chapel, Bill?

Aye. Anybody free to pick up Bill from base? Over.

Anybody near base at all? Over.

OVER RADIO: All right, back in five. Five minutes, Bill. Good.

Now, Jim, would you be open to the following possibility at all, that it may not have been a CIA agent you were picking up on that transmitter of yours, that there is in fact a good chance it was a taxi dispatcher from Burt ordering a car here to bring Bill to mass?

He did have a strong Donegal accent, now that you mention it.

Jesus, Jim!

MUSIC:

It's the best spot. I got THE best spot.

What happened to your face? See that bitch over there?

That wee girl?

She tried to muscle in, things got ugly.

She'll think twice next time.

You didn't fight that wain, did you, Clare?

I did fight that wain, Erin, and I'll fight that wain again if I have to.

What the f*ck is wrong with you?

People have been circling this spot like vultures.

I've managed to hold them off so far.

But it's only gonna get tougher. We must show no weakness.

We must be as one.

Are you on glue? Come on, link up!

Come on, James!

I need to talk to you. To all of you.

Later, James. It can't wait.

Just f*ck up and link on.

I'm leaving.

I'm going back to London with Mum.

When?

Now.

I have to go now. The taxi's booked.

I'm sorry. It was all decided so quickly...

I don't understand.

He's not serious.

I am.

You can't leave, James.

Look, this was always gonna happen. This was never my real life.

It was just something that got in the way of it.

What are you talking about? You love it here.

I'm not sure I do. I think I've just developed Stockholm syndrome.

Catch yourself on. You've never even been to Switzerland.

Listen. I'll never forget this place.

But I have to go home now.

It's time.

Goodbye, girls.

Oh, I don't f*cking think so somehow, dickface.

Oi, wank features!

Michelle, please.

"Goodbye, girls"? Wise the f*ck up!

What do you want me to say?

She'll let you down again, you do realise that?

She's asked me to be a partner in her business, actually, Michelle, so...

Now it makes sense. She needs you to help flog her f*cking stickers.

Self-adhesive labels.

Free labour, that's what she's after.

She only thinks about herself, James.

And when it doesn't work out, what then?

It will work out! Anyway, it's not like I belong here.

I never did.

That's not true. You're a Derry Girl now, James.

Piss off.

I'm serious. It doesn't matter that you've got that stupid accent, or that your bits are different to my bits, but because being a Derry Girl, well, it's a f*cking state of mind.

And you're one of us.

I have to do this.

But I don't want you to.

She's my mum, Michelle.

Well, f*ck off, then!

MUSIC: "Stay Another Day" by East 17

# Baby, if you've got to go away... #

This is shocking.

I mean, what is everybody playing at?

What are we playing at? I'm sorry?

Come on, Jenny, for once the world'll be watching us for all the right reasons. You'll get into trouble, Aisling.

I don't care.

# Don't think I could take the pain

# Won't you stay another day

# Oh, don't leave me alone like this

# Don't you say it's the final kiss

# Won't you stay another day... #

CROWD CHANT: We want Bill!

What are you doing here?

You told us we had to come in, Sister. Ah, for God's sake, Jenny.

You need to learn when to push back.

What? Get out of here. G'wan now.

CROWD CHANT MUSIC: "Caribbean Blue" by Enya

You'll be glad to get out of this dive, love. I know I am.

CHEERING

And now, ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to introduce the President of the United States of America!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

I see him! I see him! You're facing the wrong way, Orla.

No, no, look, it's James!

INDISTINCT What's he saying? I don't know.

I - AM - A DERRY GIRL! A f*cking prick is what you are! >

BILL CLINTON: Standing here in front of the Guildhall, looking out over these historic walls, I see a peaceful city.

A safe city, a hopeful city, full of young people that should have a peaceful and prosperous future here, where their roots and families are.

That is what I see, today with you.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

And so I ask you to build on the opportunity you have before you.

To believe that the future can be better than the past.

To work together because you have so much more to gain by working together than by drifting apart.

Have the patience to work for a just and lasting peace.
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