01x01 - Episode 1

[bunniefuu]

This programme contains

discriminatory content,

strong language, some scenes which

some viewers may find upsetting

and some violent scenes

from the start.

You walk away from every day,

Nothing much to make you stay.

Then, bloody hell, you hear a bell,

Ring across the wishing well.

PEOPLE SHOU

SIRENS WAIL

This beautiful thing,

Flowers and rings.

Funny what the wishing brings.

I love you, baby.

I can't quite say it but

if I had a harp, I'd bloody play it.

MELEE OF SHOUTS

Before I saw you, I didn't know it

But now I discover

BURGLAR ALARM RINGS

I'm not a bad poet.

And this is the dawn of

the age of love.

BURGLAR ALARM, PEOPLE SHOU

expl*si*n

You!

I'm just trying to get home.

Walking home from college.

Trying to get home?

It's a f*cking long way

back to the jungle, son.

Aghhh!

Ska, ska, ska

Ska, ska, ska

Not any people can cha-cha-cha

Not everyone can do the twist ♪

sh*t!

DOG SNARLS

Aghhh!

DOG BARKS

POLICEMAN: ..over number 27.

POLICE WHISTLE BLASTS

sh*t! They followed him. Run!

Ska, ska, ska

Jamaican ska ♪

INDISTINCT SHOUTS

DOG BARKS

Now everybody can do the Ska

The new dance that goes like this

Now bow your head

Swing your arms

Now do a dip ♪

Dante?

Jeannie?

What are you doing here?

You're a good kid.

I'm just trying to get home.

Right, give me a hand.

Hup!

JEANNIE PANTS

I tried to get the bus,

but, for some reason, the buses

to Chelmsley Wood are not running.

Dante, the buses aren't running

on account of them being on fire.

Why would you burn your bus home?

EXPLOSIONS

Come with me.

Come on.

But everybody can do the ska ♪

POLICE WHISTLE, DOG BARKS

Right. In here.

Jamaican ska

Ska, ska, ska

Jamaican ska ♪

f*cking petrol all over me!

What the f*ck, Dante!

f*ck!

Ow!

JEANNIE SIGHS

Never.

You're still weird, then.

Are you OK?

Mm. Not really.

Well, don't worry.

We'll be safe here. We'll just

sit it out until it gets light.

I'm not OK

because I just had my heart broken.

And who broke your heart?

I asked this girl at college

to come with me for a cup of tea,

and she said no.

Tea?

I don't drink alcohol.

Well

might've been the tea

she was saying no to.

You think?

I remember when you climbed up

on the roof of the school Yeah?

with the black flag of anarchy.

Is that what it was?

We all thought you were

going to jump off.

Hmm.

You all thought I was going to jump.

Well, when I walked to the edge,

where the decisions are made

for a bit, so did I.

But then I thought,

"What would my nan say?"

I'll have a cup of tea with you,

Dante, you weird f*ck.

POLICE SIRENS AND LOUD-HAILER

INDISTINCT LOUD-HAILER ORDERS

Sounds like we're losing.

What would we win, if we won?

So, Dante,

it's obvious you are still the same.

How's your gorgeous, rock-hard

brother?

Move on!

MUSIC: Is This Love

by Bob Marley and the Wailers

PEOPLE SHOUT AND JEER

k*ll!

Aghhh!

Agh! Ughh! Aghh!

g*nf*re

You black b*stard!

Leave us alone!

f*ck off!

I don't mean black as in

the colour of your skin, comrade.

I mean black like Black and Tan.

Half my f*cking family are Irish!

IRISH REEL PLAYS

How you doing?

After due deliberation,

and after an exceptionally

good display by all contenders

I can declare

the winner in The Gate Hangs Well

Irish Ceilidh under-20s

boy's dance competition is

Bardon Quinn!

Hup!

Maith an fear!

Well done, son!

Could you not have waited, Dad?

You didn't have to come in

and play the big Provo.

I would've won anyway.

INDISTINC

Well done, son. Well done!

Well done.

BLACKBIRD SINGS

What?

Bird song.

Not arranged or organised.

Just happens.

Do you want to lift back

to the estate?

A lift in what?

You can give me a hand.

A hand with what?

BIRDSONG

Listen.

No, no, no. It's OK.

It's just a bird

singing.

What are you doing?

f*ck!

RADIO CHATTER

Sarge!

Sarge, we just had Comms telling us

to pull out.

Our grandmother used to wake us up.

She used to say

it's not arranged

or organised

but it's the best music

in the world.

We should get back to the barracks,

Sergeant.

Do you sing, soldier?

No, Sergeant.

This whole w*r.

This whole thing.

It's about music.

Did you know that?

Sarge, we should get out of here

before the day shift wakes up.

Cos to the east,

they've got their songs

but then to the west,

they've got their songs, too.

Yeah,

and where we are right now, Sarge,

we're stuck bang

in the middle of them.

GUNSHO

f*ck!

Why don't you just sing together?

Come on!

GUNSHO

..try, try and try, try and try

You'll succeed at last

Mm-mm-hmm-mm ♪

What are you doing, staring?

Well, if you're awake,

you can come and give me a hand.

I've got college.

I've got a mock exam.

We'll be done

and back before college.

Get down here!

You can get it

if you really want ♪

I was listening to the birds.

Then I heard him call you.

You've got school.

College, Nan.

He said I'd be back in time.

Just do the red diesel thing.

That's OK.

Doing the stolen diesel is OK.

But if he asks you

to do anything else

I don't even know

what the red diesel thing is, Nan.

Well, that's what he's calling

you to help with.

It's ill*gal, but that's OK.

It's not inhuman.

Nan, I promise

I won't do anything inhuman.

Ohh!

They can't make you do anything.

Did you see the trophy I won?

I really won it.

Just do the red diesel,

come back, and go to school.

College, Nan.

OK.

VAN HORN BEEPS

VAN DOOR SLAMS

Behold!

Villa Cross Bingo Hall!

Revolution headquarters.

Miraculously unscathed.

I'm official delegate

for our estate.

We've been allocated

one van-load of liberated goods

to go to the Happy Trooper pub

for distribution.

By who?

Don't ask.

Looks like we're first here.

We can take the best stuff.

Dante, help me!

Grab the stereo equipment.

The sound system

at the Trooper is sh*t.

It's dance night tomorrow night.

f*ck! It's real!

It says here that this space suit's

actually been into outer space.

Leave it!

It was taken by mistake

from The Moonlite Club

by a bunch of Zulus

who forgot that The Moonlite Club

is owned by Robbie Carmen.

I have no idea

what any of that means.

It means the space suit was looted

from a display

in the premises of the worst

gangster in South Birmingham.

So leave it the f*ck alone!

If you take it back

to Robbie Carmen,

he'll think you're one of the Zulus

who looted his club,

and he'll sh**t your knees off.

What's a Zulu?

Zulus fight, and go to Blues

matches, and clamp cars.

And steal space suits.

Are you a Christian or something?

Don't know what I am.

I think anarchist is close,

but almost everybody pisses me off,

so I doubt I'm anything.

You mean he'd think I'm a Zulu

because I'm black.

Zulus are black and white.

And the reason Robbie would

think you're a Zulu

is cos you've got the look, OK?

I know you're just a really

weird kid

but to people who don't know ya,

you've got the look about ya.

You look like somebody

who could be somebody.

Even on our estate.

I want to be somebody.

I want to be a poet.

A poet?

I write poems.

You don't look like a poet.

You look like your brother.

What music do you like?

Leonard Cohen.

Bob Dylan.

I like the words.

Oh.

Do you write words?

Words come to me.

And you put them into songs?

Tunes don't come to me.

Tunes come to me.

They play in my head.

I, er I recorded them cassettes

myself for parties.

They play records, and I record them

because I can't afford to buy them.

Dante, you say you don't know

what you are.

This

is what you are.

MUSIC: Broadway Jungle

by Toots and the Maytals

All right, that's enough!

Dad, why the f*ck

do we need 28 traffic cones?

Why the f*ck did you count them?

You counted them

because you're the smart one.

And we like smart ones.

You are not putting any item

stolen from Robbie Carmen

into the company lock up.

Right

Come here.

If he has any complaints

about the damp,

tell him to call

Mission Control or the council.

I would strongly recommend

Mission Control.

OK. First, we take the cones

out of the van.

And cut off the ends to make

the hole in the tip bigger.

Like this.

And why would we do that?

You try it.

OK, OK.

I'll cut off the tips

of the traffic cones,

you take the ones I've cut

over to those troughs.

And why would I do that?

You do that because the Coventry

and Birmingham battalions

are self-financing

because those sticky b*stards

in Dublin give us nothing.

So we have to finance ourselves,

and 80% of our finance comes

from the laundering of red diesel.

Come on. I'll show you.

Look.

Diesel.

But it's red.

Dad, I have to be

back in college in one hour.

Standard diesel is clear,

but this is red.

The British Government puts red dye

into diesel sold to farmers

because it's subsidised

and only meant for use on farms.

It's ill*gal to sell red diesel

for use on the public road.

So, today we are going to be

removing the red dye

from this cheap, subsidised diesel.

Putting the cleaned-up fuel

into barrels

to sell at the normal, retail price.

The profit of 80 pence per gallon

will go to buy

the necessary tools and equipment

needed to help us continue the w*r

to liberate the six occupied

counties of Northern Ireland.

And why would we do that?

You know, there are some in

our little Hillsides community

who are saying to me that my boy

isn't really pulling his weight.

Over there you'll find

some sacks of cat litter.

Cat litter? I'll cut the cones,

you'll fill them with cat litter,

I'll add some sulphuric acid,

and you will pour the diesel through

the mixture,

into the troughs, to remove the dye.

And the reason you'll do that

is because I am f*cking

telling you to do it!

They closed all the curtains

And locked all the doors,

On the road that runs

From my street to yours.

We meet in the smoke

from burning pages,

Slip the bolts,

break open the cages.

I'm closer to heaven on floor 27

Cos I can see the M6.

And when the lifts are fixed,

I'll go down on the ground,

Spin you around.

And we'll hitchhike to Brighton

Where we'll no longer be frightened.

But now

I'm going to lie my dad.

Because he's going to go

f*cking mad!

Where the hell hell you been?

I've been seeing two of everything.

Oh, Jesus!

Come. Sit down.

You're cut, Dante.

Got hit.

By who?

Can I have water, Dad?

Yeah, sit down.

NEWS REPORT ON TV

REPORTER: The tension was electric.

A number of cars, including

a police van, were overturned.

Other vehicles were

deliberately set on fire

Went up to Soho Road

to your college.

They tried to arrest me.

Oh.

Did the police hit you?

They mistook me for someone I'm not.

How is your head?

I'm OK.

Yeah, you look OK.

OK, I'm actually not OK.

I think you might be in shock,

Dante.

Yeah.

I am in shock.

Well, you don't have concussion.

You dizzy?

Dad, I'm OK.

I'm not a vase.

And, anyway, it's not my head

that's wounded.

It's my heart.

What you talk about?

When my class finished,

I asked Fiona if she wanted to

go for a cup of tea or something,

and she said she only does dances.

She only does rock-steady dances.

I don't even know what

rock-steady is.

So, you stay out all hours of the

night, get caught up in a riot,

get beaten till you start seeing

double,

and you talk about some girl?

I'm in love with her.

Oh, Lord!

When she said no,

I just walked around.

I didn't even smell the smoke

until I got to Lozells Road.

Handsworth is always weird,

but last night it was really weird.

What happened?

Birmingham exploded.

Just like I predicted it would

two years ago.

But Fiona is more important, yes?

Yes.

You love her?

Yeah.

A medieval kind of love.

I hear you've been listening

to Leonard Cohen, lately.

He writes poems like me.

You write poems?

A girl at college said,

"People like us don't write poetry."

"People like us!"

And I said Joan Armatrading's

songs are poetry,

and she's from Wolverhampton

Mm-hm.

which is an even worse sh*thole

than here.

Dante, you don't have

a lot of experience

about anything.

And that is probably my fault.

But when a woman decides that she

don't like you, that is it.

Women don't change their mind.

So you have to move on.

Find somebody else.

How your head now?

Less bruised than my heart.

DOOR SHUTS

Lord, where'd this boy come from?

Marie?

It's been a while.

Forgive me, Father.

I've been unwell.

My heart.

What's wrong with your heart?

They say it's clogging up.

But it's also breaking.

It isn't about me that I'm here.

I have sinned in my head, surely

but I'm not here about myself.

This holy confessional is for

no other business than confession.

It's about my grandson, Bardon.

And about Bardon's father.

This holy confessional

is for no other business.

Bardon's father is trying to

call him in to the organisation.

Marie!

And, Father,

I know that you yourself

have conversations and connections.

This is not an appropriate place

Connections with the same

organisation.

These things are not

for conversation, not even in here.

I've said he can do the diesel.

But I heard his father on the phone

talking to people in Birmingham

about sacks of fertiliser

and the purchase of detonators.

Marie, you will stop this right now!

You will not listen into

conversations

or say any of the words you are

carrying on your back

like a great weight.

Nonsense about fertiliser.

That is what's hurting your heart.

Trying to know and daring to say

things that are best left unsaid.

Father, I want you to speak to

the battalion commanders in Coventry

and Birmingham and tell them my

little Bardon is not to volunteer.

Volunteer for what, Marie?

He's not to volunteer for the Ra.

I have no idea

what you're talking about

and you have no idea

what you're talking about.

Now go home, Marie

and take care of your poor heart.

By a lonely prison wall

I heard a young girl calling

Michael, they have taken you away

For you stole Trevelyan's corn

So the young might see the morn

Now a prison ship lies

waiting in the bay. ♪

You can get it if you really want

You can get it if you really want

You can get it if you really

Low lie the fields of Athenry

Where once

..you'll succeed at last

..we watched the small

free bird fly

Persecution you must fear

Our love was on the wing

..you got to get your share

You got your mind set on a dream

It's so lonely round

..how hard it may seem, now

..Athenry

You can get it if you really want

You can get it if you really want

By a lonely prison wall

You can get it if you really want

But you must try

Try, and try Try and try ♪

Bardon, why don't you just get on

with your job and shut the f*ck up?

And why would I do that?

You can get it if you really want

You can get it if you really want

But you must try

try and try, try and try

You'll succeed at last ♪

It's OK.

I can't leave you in here.

I'm taking you home.

Come on!

Win or lose you got to get

your share

You've got your mind ♪

CHILDREN SCREAM

Bang! Bang! Bang-bang-bang! Bang!

Bang!

Why don't you all just

f*cking sing to each other?

You can get it if you really want

But you must try

try and try, try and try

You'll succeed at last

Don't you know?

Yes, sir ♪

Rome was not built in a day

Opposition will come your way

But the hotter the battle you see

Is the sweeter the victory now

You can get it if you really want

You can get it if you really want

But you must try

CAR HORN BEEPS

..try and try

You'll succeed at last

Hey!

You can get it if you really want

But you must try

try and try, try and try ♪

GUITAR STRINGS TWANG

Who are you?

What you doing in my house?

It's OK, Marie.

It's OK. I'm a friend of Eamonn.

How did you get in here?

Eamonn leaves a key with us

in case of emergency.

Who is "us"?

Sit down, Marie.

I'll stand.

What do you want?

Someone told us you were having

problems with your heart.

I'd like you to leave. Now.

I'm a nurse, Marie.

I just wanted to warn you

that stress of any kind will only

make your condition worse.

There, now.

Bang, bang, bang.

Like a marching song.

Getting involved in stressful

situations,

speaking about stressful matters,

that is what is setting

your heart banging Hmm

and it will only serve

to put your life at risk, Marie.

Do you understand?

This is good, strong medical advice

from a nurse of 25 years standing.

Safest bet is not to listen

into other people's telephone calls.

Please,

get out of my house.

Rest yourself, Marie.

Nothing good ever comes

of making a fuss.

DOOR SHUTS

Fly me to the moon

And let me play among the stars

Let me see what spring is like

On Jupiter and Mars

In other words, hold my hand

In other words, darling, kiss me

Fill my heart with song

and let me sing for evermore

You are all I long for

All I worship and adore

In other words, please be true

In other words,

darling, I love you

Fly me to the moon

Let me play among the stars

Let me see ♪

SCRAPING

..on Jupiter and Mars ♪

DOOR BANGS

MUSIC STOPS

Whoever you are, you've got ba*ls.

If you want to keep 'em,

you'd better explain.

They were going to dump it.

Who?

Whoever they are.

I didn't want to see it dumped.

I like stars and space.

You like stars?

You see that stage?

Frankie Laine has performed

on that stage.

Yeah, but it's 1981,

nobody knows who Frankie Laine is.

I do.

Where did you get it?

Who the f*ck are you?

I write poems.

Sometimes about planets.

Also, my older brother used

to work for you, Mr Carmen.

Though nobody's meant to know,

and I never tell anybody.

That's why I wasn't afraid

to come here.

Who was your brother?

Gregory Williams.

f*ck!

HE CHUCKLES

Yeah, yeah.

I can see it in your eyes.

We used to call him Virgil.

He was a wild card.

He had an unusual way with him.

He broke heads for me.

And I write poems.

Yeah, and you do the decent thing

and you bring back stolen property.

Or are you looking for work?

No.

I heard Virgil joined the forces.

He goes up the ranks,

and gets broke back down again

for being a wild card.

Last night, my doormen let the

f*ck in through the staff door.

f*cking Zulus.

They took everything.

But I got this.

Now, I don't do this stuff myself

any more

but I was fizzing.

They were going wild.

I had a respectable customer

have a heart attack.

So, I took a machete

from the kitchen,

and I took this from one of the

f*ck with his hand in the till.

Virgil was the best

head of security I ever had,

and he would not have let

last night happen.

You look a lot like him.

I'm not like him.

My dad keeps me in at night.

I have to go. Now f*ck the time,

son! You listen to me!

There. There it is.

In your eyes.

It's very rare.

Instant.

Last night was an alarm going off,

"Wake f*cking up!"

f*ck Frankie Laine!

I'm going to change the venue

and I will need new people.

Well, I just came to return

the space suit.

f*ck being a doorman!

Just before the fire

comes the spark!

You have to know it when you see it.

If you're one tenth

of what your brother was

you can earn a grand a week

just looking like how you look.

DOOR SLAMS

Give me an hour

to press like a flower

Give me a stone to put in my shoe

So when I walk, I will remember you

Just give me a day,

I'll walk you away

Just give me your time

and I'll give you mine

And we can make the junction shine.

That's f*cking BRILLIANT!

If you knew

how much I love you

How much I need you

You wouldn't stay away

If you knew

You were my one desire

You set my soul on fire

You wouldn't stay away

Now, darling ♪

Shouldn't have told you

where I work.

I'm looking for something.

What you looking for?

An album called New Skin For An

Old Ceremony, by Leonard Cohen.

Dante, why did you invite me

to go for a cup of tea?

Or coffee.

I said it was up to you.

You don't drink alcohol?

My dad used to drink.

Saw what it does to people.

STYLUS RIPS ON RECORD

And you don't smoke dope,

and you don't dance.

Listen to this.

You don't smoke cigarettes, either.

No. Listen and tell me

what you think.

..longing from my tongue

Whatever useless things

these hands have done

Let me see your beauty broken down

Like you would do

For one you love

Your body like a ♪

Sounds like it was recorded at 45

and is playing at 33.

You have to listen to the words.

Can't dance to words.

Yes, you can,

if they're the right words.

Fiona, last night I wrote a poem

that could also be a song.

It's about you.

You're just using me

to try out some emotions

you think are sophisticated.

Things you've read in books.

Then, just as I was composing

the final verse of the poem,

something struck me.

What?

A policeman.

Because of you, I walked

all the way to Lozells Road.

Seriously?

Fiona, am I wasting my time

completely with you?

Dante,

you were in the riot last night?

I can see that if I told you that

I was there throwing bricks

you'd be impressed,

but it wouldn't be true.

I was just walking round putting

the words in my head into order.

The words come and land in my skull

like a flock of pigeons

on a tower block.

DOOR OPENS

Do you want to buy that?

I've already got it.

I used Leonard Cohen

as an excuse to come and see you.

He of all people would understand.

Not completely.

What?

You're not completely

wasting your time.

"Not completely."

OK.

That'll do until Monday.

See you in history.

I'm going to be your number one

I'm not the kind of girl

who gives up just like that

Oh, no

The tide is high

but I'm holding on ♪

EAMONN SIGHS

Do you want me to run you

to college?

I'm two and a half hours late.

The exam's over.

Oh.

What are they doing having

exams on a Saturday, anyway?

I'm doing extra work.

What is it you want to be, son?

I want to be my own man, Dad.

What?

And I'm not?

Is that what you're saying?

You little f*ck!

Men like us, we have a duty

to our country and to our people.

Do you hear me, Bardon?

Bardon!

Nan?

WATER RUNNING

Nan?

Nan. Nan, I'm coming in.

DOCTOR WHO THEME ON TV

I got back specially

so I could watch Doctor Who.

I know. Um

What's wrong?

It's your nan.

Nanny Marie.

I just get off the phone

from your cousin, Bardon.

Your nan had a heart attack

this morning.

Your Nanny Marie dead.

Dante

I know you loved her.

And when I was a drunk,

she looked after you.

But she's with the Lord now.

Broken windows

And empty hallways

Pale dead moon

in a sky streaked with grey

Human kindness is overflowing

And I think it's going

to rain today ♪

KNOCKING ON DOOR

Nanna's side of the family, they all

have a weakness of the heart.

She smoked a lot when she was young.

Dad, why don't you go and light

a candle and go to church

and, you know,

and then pray for forgiveness?

Forgiveness for what?

You better listen to me, son.

There's some merchandise

of a particular sort

coming down to us from Birmingham

in the next few days.

When it arrives, you're going

to have to make some decisions.

Do you understand?

Sit.

At ease.

Is there something wrong with you,

Sergeant Williams?

I don't think so, sir.

At zero four hundred hours

this morning,

you got out of an armoured vehicle

on the Lower Falls Road,

exposing yourself to the enemy,

and putting yourself

and your men at risk.

The report says that you did it

to listen to a bird singing.

Yes, sir.

It was very beautiful.

As a consequence of this reckless

act, you drew fire onto your unit.

Two live rounds.

At just after

zero nine hundred hours,

you exposed yourself to danger again

from the chamber of the same

armoured vehicle

while driving through

the Short Strand.

Telling everyone

in a very loud voice

that they should sing together.

You joined this regiment

with quite an extensive criminal

record as a juvenile.

Yes, sir.

Because of your father's

distinguished service

in this regiment,

that criminal record was overlooked.

But I wonder Wonder what, sir?

if a leopard ever changes

its spots.

In normal circumstances, I would

either put you through the system

or I would refer you

to psychiatric for an assessment.

But an hour ago

we received this.

It's your grandmother.

I have decided to recommend you

for three days' compassionate leave.

Perhaps you'll get a chance

to take stock of your emotions

when you're back in England,

and then you will return here

fit for duty.

If you give me the words,

I will put them in the right order.

Why don't we go

and have that cup of tea, Dante?

I came to see ya.

I want to give you something.

Saw you walking, and I followed ya.

You said you're a poet.

I've got lots of tunes in my head.

I, er recorded them

on this cassette ages ago

and forgot about them, cos

can never think of any words.

Dante

I've had this idea

that I could do the tunes,

and you could do the words.

What do you say?

You can get it if you really want

You can get it if you really want

But you must try

try and try, try and try

You'll succeed at last

Persecution you must fear

Win or lose

you got to get your share

You've got your mind

set on a dream

You can get it

though hard it may seem now

You can get it if you really want

You can get it if you really want

You can get it if you really