01x04 - Episode 4

[bunniefuu]

You're live on air, Tony.

Welcome to the show.

I was a teacher.

Twenty-seven years' loyal service,

so they could just throw me

on the scrap heap.

'You lost your job

because your face didn't fit?

'There must have been something

more to it than that, Tony.'

Ste, I ran over him.

I wanted to protect you.

You did it in my name?

When I'm talking to you lot

on the radio,

it feels like two old mates

putting the world to rights

over a couple of pints.

Mr Conroy?

Ste Murray is dead.

This is now a m*rder investigation.

Lawrence, thank Christ.

Sorry, do I know you, mate?

It's Tony. You know, from the radio?

We're friends.

Friends? You mean like

my 10,000 other best mates (?)

You used to be a teacher,

didn't you?

So don't be so bloody stupid, mate.

Seriously, brother

get a life.

FOOTSTEPS

HE EXHALES

Happy birthday, you old fart.

HE COUGHS

SNORING

LAWRENCE: 'So don't be

so bloody stupid, mate.

'Seriously, brother Get a life.'

HE SNORTS

'And welcome back.

We have a first-time caller.

'We have Tony,

and he's calling in from Bootle.

'You're live on air, Tony.

Welcome to the show.

'Listen, you're a hero, yeah?

You're a bloody hero.

'You're a - I don't know,

a Gary Cooper,

'a John Wayne, a Clint Eastwood.

'You're a Rooster Cogburn,

Butch Cassidy.

'You're the man

who does things his way.

'The man who stands alone.

'Yeah, but most of all, you're a man

'that I am insanely proud

to call my friend.'

Get up!

Get up!

Jesus! Get up!

Take T-Take whatever you want

I don't want your money.

I've got I've got

My wallet, where's my wallet?

I don't want your money!

I want you to tell the truth.

That's what I want.

Wh-What?

I trusted you.

I really, really trusted you.

It's you.

It's you.

Get out of my house!

You heard me. Get out of my

Get out of my house right now!

No! No. I'm not going nowhere.

What's wrong with you?

I'm calling the police,

you complete weirdo.

Breaking and entering,

trespassing

They're gonna throw the book at you,

mate.

Get off me!

Get off!

Get out of

my house!

No, no, no, no.

All right. OK. All right.

All right.

Easy, easy, easy, easy, easy.

Listen

Wh

Why don't you just - just go?

I won't say a word.

You know

..I had a happy place once.

What?

It was called school.

I was happy. The kids were happy.

BREATHING HARD

And then, suddenly

it wasn't a happy place any more.

And that's when I, erm

when I

erm

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I-I get it, man.

It's Tony, isn't it? It's Tony?

Yeah.

You know, I get I get it.

No, you don't get it.

I do. I do!

No, you don't get it!

If you did, you wouldn't have

told me all about your happy place.

The boozer by the river.

The pint on a sunny day.

Two best mates chewing the fat.

D'you know how good that sounded?

How much I wanted

to be a part of it?

And then you

you

The way you talked to me.

Yeah.

SHAKILY: Yeah.

I am

I'm so sorry, Tony.

I really am, mate.

I r I really am sorry.

I was I was bang out of order.

But you have to understand

one thing. Right?

I

I was having a super,

SUPER shitty day, mate.

You know, my-my-my head

was all over the place.

It was my birthday.

And my-my friends, phew

And, you-you know, Tony

..there's some other stuff

going on in my life

that you

couldn't even possibly fathom.

What like?

Like being told you had cancer?

Now, that WOULD be a bad day.

If you ever had cancer.

You But you didn't.

Did you, Lawrence?

You

How dare you?

PAPER FALLS TO FLOOR

How f*cking dare you!

You had no f*cking right.

And you had no right either!

D'you want sugar?

Yes, please. Here.

Hiya, love. Cup of tea, please,

when you're ready.

I'll bring it over.

I was, er, sorry to hear about

about what happened to your ex.

You know, it's

Anyway.

Yeah.

Have you seen Tony?

Hm?

No. I haven't.

What about you?

No.

He needs help.

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

But I don't know what to do.

HE CHUCKLES

I think you're probably asking

the wrong man.

Or maybe do

You do whatever your conscience

tells you to do, OK?

My conscience tells me one thing,

my heart another.

Please.

What should I do?

I'm sorry, I can't

No. I'm sorry.

What are you gonna do to me?

Why did you lie about having cancer?

I dunno.

I mean, obviously,

I-I took it too far.

You know, I was so convinced

that it'd be bad news

that I told a couple of people

that I had it,

and then when the biopsy

came back negative,

I didn't think I could backtrack.

You know, one minute,

you're pootling along,

everything's absolutely

Next minute, bang,

you got a f*cking great big lump.

It's terrifying.

SHAKILY: And then you gotta

wait for the results.

And that

that is a nightmare.

You have no idea

what that's like, mate.

You have absolutely no idea.

Especially when you're on your own.

No-one to lean on.

No-one to talk to.

You have loads of friends.

Oh, you Oh, you mean

my mates at the party,

that lot on the wall?

HE CHUCKLES BITTERLY

I'd f*cking I'd love to see

them feed me soup through a straw

and wipe my arse

while I'm ill and vulnerable.

No, mate.

It's just me, on my own.

Rattling around this big old gaff.

Not being able to sleep.

Not being able to function.

That's a funny thing, that, innit?

You know, me and you.

We're virtually the same person.

We're loners.

We're creatures of the night.

You're a liar, a fake

and a phony.

Well

I

I am a late night

radio talk show host, mate.

And I hate to say this,

but it goes with the territory.

So it's your job

to lie about having cancer?

To trick people into believing

that you went through chemo?

No!

It's my job to tell people

what they wanna hear.

KNIFE CLANGS

Don't people wanna hear the truth?

No.

They wanna hear THEIR truth.

I just simply help them find it.

I promised myself that I'd never

put my trust in anyone ever again.

After what happened.

I'd resigned myself to my fate.

Being lost, on my own.

But then you came along.

And you gave me hope.

OK.

That's a good thing, right?

Not if it's all you've got.

Cos when it's not there any more

you've got nothing left.

No, there's always hope, mate.

Not always.

Not after what I've done.

What do you mean,

after what you've done?

Stephen Murray.

It was me who ran him over.

What?

It was me. I did it.

Yeah, OK. But

it was an accident, right?

Tony, it was an accident, right?

S So, can

Can I just ask you

Can I just ask you

wh-why you did that?

It was my job to protect

to nurture.

OK.

It was my duty.

I couldn't allow myself

to fail again.

It's like you said -

it's our duty

to protect the vulnerable.

Right.

Oh

DISTANT SIREN

SIREN APPROACHES

SIREN FADES

I just - I really need the toilet

badly. It's urgent.

Where is it?

Just down the hall, mate.

Move.

SHE EXHALES

LINE RINGING OU

'Merseyside Police.'

Hello.

'How can we help?'

I've some information

about Stephen Murray.

'Take your time.'

I've the name of the person

who ran him over.

'Hold the line.'

BREATHING HEAVILY

f*ck.

WATER RUNNING

HE SNIFFS

Think, think!

sh*t.

f*ck, f*ck!

SHAKILY: Help. Help!

Someone help me, please.

Someone, someone help me, please!

QUIETLY: Help!

Please, someone help me!

MUFFLED: Help! Please!

SHOUTS: Please! Someone help!

Someone call the police! Please!

Help! Help me!

It's Lawrence Brightway!

Somebody, please help me!

Help! HELP!

BANGING CONTINUES

HE GRUNTS

LAWRENCE ROARS

Get off! Get off!

Help! f*ck off! Get off!

TONY GRUNTS

Argh!

No, no! No, no, no, no, no!

BOTH BREATHING HEAVILY

Oh, to be in your happy place now,

eh?

TONY CHUCKLES

I was just another voice

on the end of a telephone, wasn't I?

No.

You know, we get, like,

we get 100 calls a week.

Gotta keep everyone happy, and

Oh, you think playing with

people's lives makes them happy?

You're no different to all the rest.

No-one to take the year 11s

for footy?

"Tony Conroy will do it."

"Nice one, Tony."

No-one to do the open day?

"Ask Tony."

"Thanks, Tony."

Need sickness cover?

"Tony's your man. Top man, Tony."

And then

"Have some time out, Tony.

"The break'll do you good,

after all that's happened.

"The door's always open, Tony.

"We're here for you, Tony."

But they weren't there for me.

None of 'em.

"Move on, Tony.

"You have to put it all

behind you."

So, why didn't you? Eh?

Why didn't you move on?

I mean, you're not the first person

to lose their job, are you?

Oh, I didn't just lose me job.

I lost a part of me.

It was just a f*cking job.

Will you just get over it, man?!

Get up.

Get up!

We're going on air.

OK, thanks.

He's not home.

He works nights.

I know.

Do you have his mobile number?

Yes.

So, perhaps if you could call him,

ask him where he is,

or ask him to meet?

What's gonna happen to him?

Will he go to prison?

That's for other people to decide.

For now, we need to speak to him.

And find out what exactly happened

and make sure no-one else gets hurt.

He's a good man.

He's just lost his way.

Look, you can't go crashing in

f*cking live on air!

PHONE BUZZES

You know,

changes to the schedule

have to be OK'd by the controller -

sometimes, you know,

sometimes months in advance.

Call him. Mate, it's

the middle of the f*cking night!

Tell him we're going on air

before someone gets hurt!

OK, keep trying.

Tony, why don't you just

drive off into the night?

You know, I-I promise you,

I'm not gonna tell a soul.

HE SCOFFS

And remember this, you've got -

you've got something on me, right?

You've got the cancer.

You know, we keep this between us,

and we'll just call it quits.

I promise you. I won't tell a soul.

I promise you, if you go

..I will find you help.

You'll get me some help?

Yeah. Professional help.

You know,

I know a fantastic counsellor.

Someone that you can talk to.

Someone that will listen.

I had someone to listen to,

didn't I?

Now get the station controller

on the phone.

All right

Tony, you win.

I'm a worthless, shallow

fraud.

I'm a duplicitous piece of sh*t.

Is that what you wanted to hear,

mate?

Well, now your listeners

can hear you say it.

Call him. Get him on the phone.

Now.

You realise this'll be

the end of both of us, yeah?

My life ended the day

I walked out of the school gates

for the last time.

I'm begging you, Tony,

I'm begging you, please.

Please don't do this.

This job is

..it's all I have.

I know.

This is the last broadcast

you'll ever give, Lawrence.

The death knell of your career.

And then you'll know what it's like

to be thrown on the scrapheap.

Hey.

Call him.

TONY SIGHS

TONY EXHALES,

SNIFFS

Yeah, Brodie.

Yeah, it's me, it's Lawrence.

Yeah, I know what time it is.

Listen

we have a major problem here.

'Good morning, and welcome to

this rather impromptu edition

'of Night Talk,

with me, Lawrence Brightway.

'Tonight, we're joined by

a good friend of the show.

'We're joined by Tony,

'who has chosen to join me here

in my studio.'

Now, the phone lines are open,

so you know what to do,

don't be shy, as tonight,

we are going to be talking about

Trust.

Trust.

And betrayal.

'And betrayal.'

'People who let you down.'

People who you thought

were your friends.

People who you thought

were covering your back.

We're talking frauds,

phonies

back-stabbers.

And we have our first caller.

Welcome to the show. Line one.

Hello, er, hi, you're on Night Talk.

Who am I speaking to?

SUE: 'Lawrence, what're you like?'

CHUCKLING: Hey!

Good morning, Sue.

'Oh, it's your birthday,

for goodness sake.

'You are allowed some time off,

you know.'

We're talking trust and betrayal,

Sue.

'Hello? And who are you?'

I'm Tony, Lawrence's mucker.

Isn't that right, Lawrence?

Yeah, that's right, yeah.

'Well, hiya, Tony.

'Any friend of Lawrence

is a friend of mine.'

It's good to meet you too, Sue.

'So, trust and betrayal?'

'Oh, gosh, well,

'me and my Kenny

have been together 40 years.

'We've never had

so much as a cross word.'

'So I don't know

if I'm the best person to ask.'

Well, maybe we can ask Lawrence

to help us out, then.

Come on, Lawrence.

Tell Sue all you know

about trust and betrayal.

Or should I tell her for you?

So, Sue.

You know, I don't quite know

how to explain this, you see,

but sometimes

..sometimes, you say one thing,

and you mean another.

I suppose it's a kind of a way of

protecting the people

that you really care about.

'Oh, Lawrence.

'It's not about the cancer, is it?'

Yes, Sue, yes, it's

..it's about the cancer.

SUE SIGHS

'It's come back, hasn't it?

'Me and my Kenny

have been reading your book,

'and it's absolutely

heart-breaking.'

Tell 'em, Lawrence.

You see, the thing is, Sue

..see the thing is, you see

Another caller.

We have another caller on line two.

You're gonna tell 'em.

Even if we have to sit here

all night.

You're live on Night Talk.

Line two.

f*ck off!

'Hello, you're on Night Talk.'

f*ck off.

'Who am I speaking to, please?'

ROSA: 'Hello?'

'Tony?'

Rosa?

Is that you, Rosa?

'Yeah.'

'It's good to hear your voice.'

It's good to hear yours.

'I'm sorry.'

About what?

'You and me.'

'I just wasn't, erm'

Yeah.

'You know.'

Yeah, that's OK.

We can still be friends.

'Yeah, I'd like that.'

TONY SNIFFS

'You not working?'

No. It was quiet.

I decided to shut early.

'I want you to promise me

something, Rosa.

'That you won't give up

on the foundation course.

'That you'll go to college

and train to be a teacher.

'Make your mum proud.

'Make me proud.'

Always ask the best of yourself.

'The best of myself?'

It's something that

I used to say to the kids.

'It's nice.'

OK, but you've got to promise me

something, all right?

You can't hurt yourself

or anyone else.

Tony. Are you still there?

Tony!

'Yeah, yeah, yeah.'

The kids you told me about

..the ones who everyone else

had given up on.

The ones who had nothing and nobody.

'And the ones whose lives

you turned around.

'They should be your legacy.

'You're a good man, Tony.

'You help people.

That's what you do.

'You save people.'

You know, it's funny,

but for some reason,

I thought I could save you.

TONY SNIFFS

'What happened with Ste, you

'..you just weren't

thinking straight.'

But you're not the one

who needs saving.

'You could get help.'

TONY SNIFFS

No, it's too late.

No.

'Death follows me.'

Ste wasn't the first.

WHISPERING: Keep going.

WHISPERING:

What do I say? What do I say?

'What do you mean, Tony?

'Tony, are you

Tony, are you there? Tony?

'Tony.'

He's gone.

'What do you mean?'

What do you mean, Tony,

that Ste wasn't the first?

MAN: Subject's last known location

is on the first floor.

LAWRENCE: 'And for those of you

just tuning in,

'I've been joined by Tony,

an old friend of the show

'for this one-off episode

of Night Talk.

'And we're talking about

trust and betrayal.'

Stand by for emergency entry.

'Please do keep those calls coming.

'We'd love to hear from you.'

Er, you're through to Night Talk

on line one, welcome.

Hello, you're on Night Talk.

What's on your mind?

WOMAN: 'Mr Conroy?'

WOMAN SNIFFS

'It'

SHE SIGHS

'It's Sarah Hall.

'Joe's mum.'

TONY SNIFFS

Mrs Hall?

'I've been

putting this moment off

'..but Siobhan says

she saw you on the bus.'

I didn't mean to upset her.

I just wanted to say sorry

..to both of you.

I know.

'How is Siobhan?

'Is she still enjoying science?'

Yeah.

She's Year 11 now.

She's got Miss Khan. She's

She's doing really well.

Ah, she's a bright kid.

She'll go far.

You know

'I should've been there for him,

I should've

'I should've, I should've been'

TONY CRIES

You mustn't blame yourself.

I was his pastoral carer.

He called me

..the night it happened.

What?

'I I-I didn't answer.

'I'm so sorry.'

THEY BREATHE SHAKILY

SHE SOBS

DIAL TONE

PHONE BUZZES

'I was I was gonna answer.'

BUZZING CONTINUES

'I I had so much going on.

'I couldn't be there for him.'

BUZZING STOPS

DIAL TONE

PHONE BUZZES

'I didn't

'I didn't know how bad it was.'

DIAL TONE

PHONE CLATTERS

BELL RINGS

SIGHS

DIAL TONE

SHE WHIMPERS

TONY SNIFFLES

Joe. I'm s I'm s

I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.

Help me!

Help!

SARAH SOBS

I didn't hear

his calls for help either.

'None of us did.

'It's not your fault.

'Joe thought the world of you.'

TONY INHALES SHAKILY

I'm so sorry that I let you down.

'Mr Conroy

'..you didn't let anyone down.'

SOBS

BREATHES DEEPLY

KNIFE SCRAPES

Put it down.

Tony, put the knife

MAN: Strike! Strike! Strike!

Armed police!

No, no, no, no, no!

WOMAN: Coming to you live

from London,

the nation's favourite, Radio UK.

Hey, welcome back!

Welcome to Night Talk.

You're listening to me,

Lawrence Brightway,

broadcasting from

the heart of London City

all across our wonderful nation.

Tonight,

we've got a first time caller.

We've got Wendy,

and she's calling in from Hackney.

Er, welcome to the show,

Wendy.

What's up?

DEEP BREATHING

OVER PHONE LINE

Don't worry, Wendy, take your time.

WENDY INHALES

You're amongst friends here.

'I'm sorry, Lawrence.

'The thing is, I just

I don't know what to do.

'I feel so low, so desperate.'

Right, well, why don't we try this?

Why don't we try you just talking

and me just listening?

Like there's nobody else here,

just me and you in your happy place.

'My happy place?'

Yeah.

DOOR BUZZES

'You know, that special place

that makes you smile.

'The place where you can be

at peace with yourself.

'Put all your worries behind you.

'Your happy place.'

Tony?

Visitor.

Hi.

Tony.

How've you been?

Yeah.

It's good to see you.

'Shall I tell you about

my happy place, Wendy?

'I think about sitting outside

by the river

'..with the sun on my back

'and me and my old mucker.'

You know, two old mates,

down the local boozer,

putting the world to rights

over a couple of pints.