All language subtitles for Hot Metal s01e02 The Modern Prometheus

Multi -millionaire Terence Twiggy
Rathbone has bought the Daily Crucible

newspaper and appointed Russell Spam as
its new aggressive editor, while former

editor Harry Stringer has been rehoused
in the office lift.

Reporter Greg Kettle, meanwhile, has
discovered ex -Soviet leader Nikita

Khrushchev alive in Switzerland.

What would you like, Mr. Rathbone?

I think I'll have the Chattoria
Maritimo.

That's the restaurant, sir.

Yes, that's what I'll have.

Well... Acquisitive as ever, Adrian.

You know, I often think it's a good
thing that the government don't find out

about your little business manoeuvres.

Quite so, Prime Minister.

Talking of which, Mr. Rathbone...

There was the most extraordinary
demonstrations going on down in the

we came in.

Something about cheap labour in your
South American mind.

Propaganda, Mrs McNamara. Left -wing
crazies at work.

Well, it says here, some of your
labourers are digging the mineral out of

rocks with their bare hands.

I believe in a return to Victorian
values.

Yes, of course. It's just that, well, in
a uranium mine... Health risks are

minimised, Prime Minister.

Every worker is issued with his own
asbestos suit.

Yes.

Anyway, you've made it into Queen Street
at last, I see.

The newspapers are the cow dung in the
field of communications, Mrs. McNamara,

but they have their uses.

Unpredictable, these two.

Take our bill next week on the
restoration of capital punishment.

Signs are it's going to be a very close
thing.

All it needs is a slight nudge in public
opinion.

I think I catch your drift, Franklin.

Of course, I have no control over the
Daily Crucible's political view. Oh,

whatever.

I have no control over any inquiry into
South American operations when it comes

to that.

No, no, no, I'm quite sure that your
record on human rights is utterly

blemish.

What would you like to start with, Russ?

A

good

journalist knows how to protect his
story, Harry. There's some right

Fleet Street these days.

I still say this is madness, Russ.

Everyone knows Khrushchev died in 1971.

In obscurity.

What proof did the world ever have that
he was really dead?

Oh, for God's sake, Russell.

Why don't we say we found Trotsky and
Rasputin as well at McDonald's?

Mr. Newstead?

Is he still alive?

I'm not disgusted. It didn't seem rather
personal.

He does look a bit like Chris Chopper,
doesn't he?

But we've still got to prove it,
Russell.

We've got to have hard evidence.

We'll have the evidence, Harry.

If this checks out, it won't be
dynamite, it'll be thermonuclear.

Get it to tell us everything.

Politics, the power, the passion.

Born again, Supremo spills sex secrets.

Russell Reed, black from dead red.

Lift lid on loves and lust.

There's never been a story like it.

I'm impressed, Russell. You've certainly
done your homework on this one.

They've been over it with a fine
-toothed scalpel, sir.

Every square molecule of it. The man is
crucial.

You're looking queasy, Harry. What's the
matter?

Well, these Sovietologists certainly
argue a cogent case, I agree, but I

pretend I don't have reservations.

Reservations are the condoms in the
birth of new ideas, Harry.

When I take over a business, I take the
back seat. Right, Russell?

Right, sir.

Your policy of less affair is a beacon
of inspiration to all Fleet Street.

People are calling you the new Roy
Thompson.

I trust that man implicitly, Harry. He's
young, he's new, he has a fresh view.

He can smell a soup when he sees one.

Just to warn you, Stampede 7, the Iran
-Iraq peace initiative, it's been

Yeah, there's a replacement on its way.

Love -tug budgie and millet -dope
riddle.

You know,

I think I may have managed to convince
myself, Max.

What about Khrushchev?

After all, the most distinguished...

experts in the country are prepared to
go on the record?

Maybe I've misjudged Spam.

I mean, perhaps, deep down, he's
actually a... My godfathers, what are

Artwork samples for the hanging spread.

Hanging spread? What hanging spread?

New rush job to coincide with the
Commons vote on Monday. There's the memo

Spam.

Should we reinstate the rope for
rippers?

or let homicidal psychopaths prowl the
streets on probation, the crucible

carefully considers both sides of the
issue.

Who's on this, as if I didn't know?

Kettle and Bill Titler left a couple of
hours ago.

Greg says something about a brilliant
new angle he wanted to chase up. You

haven't put young Titler onto a story
with Greg Kettle?

And I had such high hopes for that boy.

We've come here to talk to the relatives
of a murder victim, is that right? Not

the relatives of a murder victim, no.

The friend of a murder victim?

Not exactly the friend of a murder
victim, no.

We have come here to talk to the murder
victim.

The murder victim is dead.

A dead person talked to us.

Hello? Is there anybody there?

Mrs Gladys Tate, Greg Kettle of Her
Majesty's Press. We spoke on the phone.

Everything is ready. I'm on the second
floor.

Now, remember, this woman is a very big
medium.

We are about to enter a haven of peace
and transcendental reverence.

Yes, I think the spirits are receptive,
Mr Kettle. Whom is it you wish to speak

to? I'd like to call up first Mr Edward
Daintree, who was hacked to death by the

Butcher of Burns.

He is here. Mr Daintree is with us now.

Edward Daintree, there is one here who
would speak with you.

Will you respond?

Go ahead, please.

Good morning, Mr Daintree.

Sorry to drag you down here.

We're doing a background piece on the
rights and wrongs of the death penalty

convicted murderers.

Now, you were horribly disemboweled by
one of these people.

I believe at one point your head was cut
off with a bread knife.

Do you think that a ten or fifteen year
prison sentence is adequate for this

sort of grisly crime?

Uh -huh.

Yes?

Would you?

I guess not.

Right. Well, thank you very much indeed,
then, Mr. Daydream.

Was there anything you wanted to ask?

Uh, no. I think that's covered most of
my points.

Well, thank you very much, then, Mrs.
Tagpa.

Next, I wonder if you could get hold of
a Mrs. Belle Elmore Crippin.

Talk to me about sociologists, unquote,
said A5 murder victim Harry Langham.

Small intestines were found in a ditch.
Point. New path.

Quotes. They know F for Freddy dash,
dash, dash. All about anything.

More to follow later.

Yes, it requires a special kind of
skill.

job of the reporter.

Very similar to that of the nuclear
physicist or the brain surgeon.

I'm surprised you never went in for
brain surgery, Greg.

Many people have suggested it over the
years.

The hand, part of the hand.

Right, this is the mock -up for Monday's
front.

We leave with Khrushchev, obviously, all
the background material, substantiating

evidence, how the Crucible scoured the
world for six months to find him and so

on.

Gradually we set the scene for the next
day's issue when we start serialising

his official memoirs as told to Greg
Kettle.

I remember Greg not too dry.

I want it spiced with scandal.

What were the young men of the Kremlin
like between the sheets? Was Brezhnev

really the superstar everyone claimed?

How did Kosygin feel about women with
big breasts?

Right.

But don't trivialise it.

And on the centre, we run the background
spread on hanging. Time to coincide

with the Commons vote later today.

Yes.

I must say that for an article that
purports to offer a fair, evenly

discussion on the morality of capital
punishment, the headline string the

bastards up.

offense so far.

What would you suggest, Harry?

I suggest we give Bill Titler a free
hand for a few days.

Left to himself, he might come up with
something useful.

Father Teasdale.

Bill Titler, Daily Crucible.

You can start by taking that crate into
the hall.

I'm afraid everything's rather a muddle.

They're closing the church down, you
see. I really... Oh, don't worry.

I'll get the brownies to move it later.

Actually, I wondered if I might have a
word about your late brother, Mr Trevor

Teasdale. Trevor?

Oh, yes.

Sweet, charming fellow.

Well, what did you want to know? Well, I
understand he was assistant chief

hangman of Great Britain.

I don't want to talk about that, I'm
afraid. No, I never talk about it. No,

sorry. Fine, fine, fine. Point taken.
It's not my job to pry, I understand.

A bit sensitive.

So you, uh, say you've got to pack up
and move out, then?

Certainly, yes.

How much to do until the... Oh, no, no.

Not in the sun, please.

Use the toilet roll.

You see, Prime Minister, the crucible
spread on hanging is pretty well sewn up

for tomorrow's edition.

I'd be a rogue and a rapscallion if I
tried to interfere with that coffee now.

Oh, absolutely, Twiggy. Well, the
crucible must print. The crucible must

Cigar. Oh, what's that? Some notes of
mine?

It appears to be a short list for the
Queen's birthday honours, Prime

Lord Rathbone of Higerton.

Sir Russell Spam.

Harold Stringer, CBE.

Oh, how careless are we, Twiggy? This is
highly confidential.

Of course, none of these has actually
been confirmed yet.

Names can still be removed.

With all due respect, sir, I feel it
morally wrong and totally indefensible

three honours should be bestowed on a
single newspaper.

Strike off, Harry Stringer.

And the attendances never did pick up,
so down came the Episcopal decree.

The church has got to go.

It's very sad, Father.

Still, I suppose I'd better be off.

Thanks very much for the tea and
sandwiches.

Bye now.

Oh, sorry. There was just one small
detail I wanted to check before I go

your brother.

He died on March the 4th, 1973, is that
right?

Quinn Quagesma.

Yes, that's right, because I remember
actually being at home at the time with

parents, all celebrating Quinn Quagesma.
I remember them saying on the news that

the Home Secretary had just granted a
pardon to Raymond Evans, the man your

brother had hanged 17 years before.

That was quite a coincidence, I suppose,
your brother dying that very same day.

I told you I didn't want to talk about
that. Oh, no, no, I wouldn't want you

I've never said a word to anybody about
it in 13 years.

Right. Well, you know what the press
would do with a story like that.

And I don't want to talk about it ever
again, don't you understand?

How I went to his house that day and...
..found him there, hanging from

the banisters.

The rope all taut and rigid round his
neck.

He always could tie a good knot, Trevor.

Your brother, a former hangman, hanged
himself. He couldn't bear it, you see,

knowing that he'd taken an innocent
man's life like that.

Well, I think you're absolutely right
not to talk about it, Father.

Now, when you first found him hanging...

Change of plan, everyone. The BBC's
check has bounced. The breakfast time

appearance is cancelled.

It's time to deal with a special live
interview with ITV at nine tonight.

OK, careful with him, boys.

He's exclusive.

This is terrific, Will.

Just what the spread needs to put some
sanity back into it.

Bill Tickler's just come back with a
good one for the spread, Max.

A hangman who hanged himself when he
found he'd executed an innocent man.

The whole spread was moulded ten minutes
ago, Harry. Sorry.

Bugger it.

Where's Spam, then? TV studio.

Live Christoph interview in five
minutes.

Well, can't we run this on page three at
all?

There's a piece about Princess Diana
being anorexic again.

What?

Died shock -flat tight. Spark slim
-plagued scare.

Weight loss, health theory of a royal
knee wrinkle.

What does this mean?

Oh, it's a scene last night at the
theatre. One leg of a tight, slightly

Do you think she's lost weight, Annie?
Look, this is her yesterday.

This is her the same day last year.

Oh, who the hell gives a toss about
Princess Diana's bloody tight?

That's the death of, oh, my God.

Oh.

And here on LWT in a moment, a change of
program, we present a special live

interview with former Soviet leader
Nikita Khrushchev.

Yes,

rather fat and almost completely bald.

How do you spell that?

Yes.

Mr.

Donald...

Oh, yeah.

Chronic schizophrenia.

And what happened after he was
discharged? Did he... I see.

Stay with friends.

Good

evening.

Tonight... A rare moment in history.

Former Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev,
ousted from power in 1964 and believed

to have died in 1971, was last week
found alive by a reporter working for

Daily Crucible newspaper.

The Crucible's editor, Mr. Russell Spam,
is with me tonight with Mr. Khrushchev

himself, now 93 years old, but still, I
understand, alert and articulate.

Mr. Khrushchev, can I start by asking
you, How does it feel to have been dead

for 15 years?

Mr. Christophe, did you hear my
question?

Mr. Christophe?

Mr. Christophe?

We're going to move on now to tomorrow's
debate in the Commons on capital

punishment. All the polls show that the
outcome is still very much in the

balance. Earlier this evening, the Prime
Minister told me why he believed the

death sentence was an effective
deterrent.

What's the verdict?

Serious?

Things are a mess, Russell.

Not only did this man die on live
television.

Now, you tell me it wasn't Khrushchev at
all, but some fruitcake from a loopy

bin.

What can I say, Mr.

Rathbone? I've had enough, Russell.

You're fired.

I quite understand, sir.

You were going for a moment there,
didn't I?

What?

Excellent front page. Wait till Harry
sees it. He'll be pleased as punch.

TV death blow spikes Fool's Day gag.

The tragic death of a 75 -year -old man
on live TV last night sadly scuppered

Britain's biggest ever National April
Fool's Day spoof.

A father -loving crucible had put up
geriatric joker Mr Donald Kubelski to

hopes role of Mr Khrushchev as part of a
special all -Fool's Day prank.

Tell Spam I want to feed him here in my
office immediately.

Hey! You just don't get to say the front
page is a cracker.

How you have the effrontery, Russell, to
pass off this fiat. Oh, incidentally,

I've just read this hangman piece of
young Titler's first -rate job.

Duke -ridden noose -boss in string -up
shock.

Rope chief's brother tells of heartache,
lynch grief.

It's a story that swings hanging
debates, Harry.

Shame it missed the paper. Oh, the word
down from the Chief Whip's office is

that the bill should cruise through this
afternoon by seven votes.

Thanks in no small measure to our
Chamber of Horrors contribution, I dare

Well, it's not good enough, Russell.

I agree, Harry.

We've put on half a million readers, but
we need more.

We need a stronger image, a campaigning
paper, a paper with a conscience.

How's this going for a new long...
running moral crusade. The Crucible

war on an enemy of society.

An evil power -crazed maniac, a rabid
lunatic who makes Hitler look like

Paddington Bear.

And only the Crucible dares to stand up
to him.

Well, who is this person?

We haven't found him yet, but...

off his master and a story with some
sordid sex appeal someone's secrets we

grabbed famous facts that we have
stabbed