Original subtitles

CROWD JEERS

First time, eh?

Bring forward the first prisoner.

CROWD CHEERS

This man has been accused of groping,

bullying, and harassing 20 women.

CROWD BOOS

What say you?! CHANTING: Execute! Execute! Execute!

The villagers call for a guilty charge.

However, this man's work has made quite a lot of money,

so, um...

..the court grants mercy! Yes!

CROWD BOOS

Just lie low for a few years.

We'll get you a soft profile in a friendly newspaper.

They'll have forgotten by then.

Go on. Off you go.

WHISPERING: Good luck. And next we have Kwabena.

CROWD CHEERS

He's accused of failing in his first TV job.

CROWD BOOS

You got anything to say for yourself?

Yes.

I have failed our community...

..but I did try.

I really did.

Aw!

Isn't that what we've been fighting for?

To try and fail with the possibility of trying again?

Surely that's what progress looks like.

The Rasta is right!

We cannot banish another black brother for just one mistake.

Hear, hear. Yes. Yes?

CROWD ROARS

Mercy! Mercy! Mercy!

But...

..he's not like us blacks, is he?

None of us directors stand a chance now because of him.

Off with his head!

CROWD CHEERS

Execute! Execute! Execute! Execute!

Off! Execute! Execute!

Execute! Execute! Execute!

CROWD CHEERS

AXE FALLS

# Wah? Everyting lock arff Wah? Road get lock arff

# Wah? Steel and copper... #

Take the pipe and fit it to the red valve.

There's no red valve.

Check, man, check!

Look, there isn't a red valve.

You can check yourself.

TV PRESENTER: ..after the break.

Love cannot be killed... Wait. ..or pushed aside.

It is eternal. Ain't that the TV show you get fired from?

I wasn't fired.

They just asked me not to come back to set.

It look really good! I'm not lying. It look good.

ROXIE ON TV: My heart is broken into a thousand pieces.

Look... I pray you'll come back to me.

..I know you've been struggling to find a film work,

but if you want, I can take you on to be my apprentice.

Train you up. Mm.

Unpaid, of course, but beggars can't be choosers.

PHONE VIBRATES

Sorry, I need to take this.

Yo. Can you eat? I have news.

What's the news? I'll tell you when I see you. Duh.

Look, meet me at the pub.

Wait. Do you need to stay and help your stepdad?

Stop that. Stop that.

I'll see you in a bit.

Wait. You're leaving?

You don't finish any job you start.

Look, Errol, I might not be a film-maker,

but I'm definitely not a plumber.

You got it on, though, yeah? Oh, so.

Might kill me for last night. Trust me. Oh!

Here he is. My budget Basquiat.

Ooh! You OK?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, good. What are you saying?

Yeah, I'm all right. I'm all right.

Yeah? How's work going? Er... Yeah.

Work's just work, innit? Just usual stuff. Mm.

You can say you like it. Oh, good. Thank gosh!

I love it! It's so good.

And Angela, she is, like, this story genius.

Like, I'm learning so much from her.

And she is letting me develop my own slate. Dope.

And I pitched Jamaica Road to her, and she loves it,

and she wants to make it.

Amy, don't play with me, please.

Bro, I'm being serious. I've been waiting to tell you this.

That's it! Argh!

AMY LAUGHS

Took you long enough, fam. I know, I know,

I know, but I just wanted to make sure.

And I didn't want to, like, you know, get your hopes up.

But she's on board. It's happening. This is it.

This is what we've been waiting for. Wait.

What? Does she know what happened on Sin And Subterfuge?

I don't think so. Why?

It's just I haven't had anything since,

and every time I smash an interview, they eventually find out I got fired.

Well, have you spoken to Simon since?

Then you might want to patch things up with him.

Mm. Like today.

Ah! If he gives Angela a bad reference,

then Jamaica Road is dead. Yep. Yep. Give me a sec.

Hello? Hey, Drew! Sorry. I was expecting your voicemail.

Sorry. Who is this?

Kwabena.

Who? Kwabena Robinson.

Oh, Kwabena. Oh, hi.

You know, I've been meaning to get back to you.

It's just things have just been so hectic.

Yeah. No, no, no. That's cool, that's OK.

I've got you now. So I was just...

Question. Has an Angela Ezenwa been in touch?

Oh, yeah, I know Angela.

She hasn't been in touch, though.

Well, she actually read Jamaica Road

and she wanted to discuss taking it on.

Mm. Does she know about the...incident?

No, she doesn't

and could you not call it the incident, please?

It sounds MeToo-ish.

But, look, I was wondering if you could

set up a meeting with Simon, so I can clear the air.

I'm not sure that's a good idea, Kwabs.

I know it's been a tough couple of months.

Well, nearly half a year, really.

But, you know, you just need to be patient

and people have forgotten about your...

..mishap.

They're doing a spin-off of Mandem In Outer Space,

which sounds promising.

Mandem In The Wild West! Drew, please.

I just want to apologise, that's all.

Fine. OK. But I'm only going to ask once.

Whatever he says is final.

And if he does agree, you're really going to have to charm him, Kwabs.

Just smile and agree with everything.

Calm. Yes. Calm. Calm. Calm.

OK, well, I'll let you know when I've heard from him.

Thank you. I appreciate it.

Um... You good, babe?

Ready?

Yeah. Let's go. OK.

# I've got the bruises to prove

# How could you pretend you never used and abused?

# Yeah

# And, yes, you scorned and refused

# To treat me equally Don't wanna hear your excuse

# Nuff whip lashing, yeah... #

Hey, did you see...? Yeah.

And the guy that...? Yeah.

It won't last.

Yeah.

Probably.

# How could you pretend you never used and abused?

# And, yes, you scorned and refused

# To treat me equally... #

Oh, Mr Mitchell!

How are you? How lovely to see you. It's been a while.

Yes. Been very busy at work.

Oh, well, hopefully it's not SO long next time.

Look, Mayowa, look who's come to pick you up.

It's Daddy! Yes, he knows.

We've had a lovely day today.

We've been painting.

Wow!

Who's that? Mummy. Yeah. That's Mummy.

And who's that? Who's next to Mummy? Me. Yeah!

And who are you playing with? Who's that? Oh!

Babika. Daddy!

Babika! Baba...who? Wait, who?

Yeah. Mayowa's got a little girlfriend, hasn't he?

My baby's got a girlfriend?!

What kind of place are you running here?

Aw. He and Babika are inseparable.

They're like two little peas in a pod!

Oh, yeah. Is Daddy going to take that? Yeah.

How have you been? I'm good. Thanks for agreeing to meet me.

No, of course.

Look, I know things ended on a strange note between us,

but it's good that we can clear the air,

you know, have an open, honest conversation.

Oh, totally. And, look, I am sorry

for not delivering on what I promised,

but I'm so grateful for the opportunity.

It's sad it didn't work out, but, you know,

that's always the risk when hiring new talent.

Oh, look, I am taking this whole experience as a learning curve.

You know, you're a very talented director.

Thank you, Simon.

Um, that's also,

um, what I wanted to discuss.

So I'm pitching my feature film,

and obviously they'll ask for references.

So I was just wondering if, when they do,

you know, you could talk about the reasons

you hired me in the first place.

You know, my enthusiasm and my passion,

and maybe not bring up the whole, um...

..incident.

I don't know, Kwabena. That puts me in rather a difficult position.

I know, and I'm sorry for asking you, but...

..I've wanted to make Jamaica Road since I was 15.

Tell you what.

We've got the premiere of Sin And Subterfuge coming up.

Come and talk about your experience on set.

Give US a good reference.

You want me to come and talk at the Q&A?

Exactly!

Sure, I'd love to.

THEY CHUCKLE

Can you please grab him some of those rice cakes?

Rice cakes? Mm.

You're giving him processed food?

Well, yeah. He eats them at nursery. He loves them.

Nah, they are violated.

Processed foods is a gateway to sugar,

and sugar is a gateway to crack.

You literally had Snickers for breakfast.

That's for my protein goals.

Did you know that he has a girlfriend?

Oh!

Bhavika, yeah. They're so cute together.

Why, what's wrong?

HE CLEARS THROAT

In the picture is Bhavika... Mm.

..him and you.

I don't see me.

It's just a painting, darling. He does loads of them.

OK, so how many am I in?

HE SUCKS TEETH

HE SIGHS

When I was driving home, I was thinking about how

my dad would pick up me and Kwabs.

I'd tell him everything about my crushes

and everything that was going on in life.

Baby, he's 18 months old. That's not the point.

Look, it's hard at this age.

There's something new every week.

And I'm missing everything, babe.

Everything.

Look, if you really feel this way,

why don't we just send him to a different nursery?

Somewhere more affordable. No!

He deserves the best,

and I want him to have what I never had, babe.

Well, you and Kwabs both went to state schools, right?

And you both turned out great.

Yeah, but how many of the mandem didn't?

And the only reason why we turned out fine

is because my dad was onto us.

Every day after school, he would be there,

making sure that we got home right on time,

checking the bus routes, making sure that we did our homework.

OK. Exactly. He was there.

Yeah? That's what you needed, not school,

the same way Mayowa needs you.

Yeah? Uh-huh.

It's OK, baby.

Aw!

Plus Edmonton done gentrified all these schools anyway.

It's not rough like it was back in the day.

Hey, you know they've got a Pret downstairs, babe?

Did you see that they have security outside, though?

Bruh!

THEY LAUGH

Sin And Subterfuge might just be the best thing...

This one's about to be everywhere.

It's called Sin And Subterfuge.

OVERLAPPING VOICES

CHATTER

Oh!

Yo, Kwabs! What you saying, man?

Oi, I didn't think they'd invite you.

Rah, you've really worked on your British accent.

GREEK ACCENT: Yeah, because I wanted people to understand me a bit more.

All right, listen.

This is my normal accent.

Swear? Yeah, I'm from Palmers Green.

Or Palmers Greek, as they say.

But, like, you know, when the whole diversity thing kicked off,

I had to switch it up a bit, innit?

You know, better my chances, man.

But you're still white.

Brexit, bro.

But good to see you, man.

Listen, I was worried about you, man.

You know, like, my uncle, he recently got fired.

Man tried to kill himself.

Right. Did you try and kill yourself?

No.

That's good, man. That's good.

Anyway, I'm going to work the room, yeah?

But, like, keep this accent stuff under your hat, yeah? Uh, yeah.

GREEK ACCENT: Gary, my darling!

Wow! Look at your wife.

She's so beautiful, like Kim Kardashian.

Excuse me. Sorry.

Thank you. Cheers.

Actually...

Yeah, probably best to wait till after the Q&A to get drunk.

I'll be fine with two drinks, Drew.

Seriously, Kwabs.

Do you know how many directors get a second chance, OK?

You need to make sure that you nail it on stage.

There's Bridgette. Have you spoken to her yet?

No, not yet. Yeah, no. Go now.

Go now, while she's free.

And remember, OK, there is no shame in grovelling.

CHATTER

Good to see you. See you in there.

Hey, Bridgette. Kwabena. Nice to see you again.

How've you been?

I'm OK. Yeah, um...

It's been a weird couple of months, but I'm good now.

Yeah, and, you know, I just wanted to apologise

for just everything that happened on the show.

Thanks, but, um, you really don't need to apologise.

I feel like I do.

Um, I went over schedule.

I broke the carriage.

I blacked up a stuntman,

which is a sentence I never thought I would say.

And, look, I know you didn't want to hire me in the first place.

No, hold on. Who said I didn't want you to have the job? No...

I heard you after my interview.

But look, it's cool. It's cool.

Like, I don't take it personally. You know, it's just...

Yeah, I realise that I wasn't as good as I thought.

No, you're right, Kwabs. I didn't want you to have the job,

but not because you weren't good enough.

It was a poisoned chalice to begin with.

Wait, was...?

Was that why you were on my case all the time? Yes.

You have no idea what was going on in the background.

The network needed a diverse show,

but weren't prepared to give us enough money to make it.

And that carriage, that fucking carriage.

I told Simon it was a bad idea, but he wouldn't listen.

He was so desperate to look like he was doing the right thing.

Wait, but at your screening, you said you were excited.

And I was. I was.

But by the time I realised what was going on under the surface, I was...

I was in too deep.

Half the directors, we couldn't afford,

and the other half ran as soon as they got wind of what was going on.

That's why they hired you.

Because it was cheaper to get someone inexperienced

and promote the show as giving opportunities to diverse voices.

And I was stretched so thin,

I couldn't get you the support you needed.

But you were good, Kwabs.

What you did with what you had was a miracle.

I'm just...

I'm sorry I couldn't protect you more.

Oh!

Here we are.

The three musketeers.

Together again.

Hey! Oh, it's good to see you, Kwabs.

Look, I'm rounding everybody up for the start of the screening,

so Kwabena, we'll catch up afterwards, yeah?

HE SIGHS

Let's give a huge round of applause

as we welcome the cast and crew of Sin And Subterfuge.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

It's lovely...

It's lovely to have you here with us.

I know the crowd are itching to ask questions,

so I'll get right to it.

Rudolph, how was it playing a duke?

Erm, it was a dream come true,

because in television, the opportunities are never there,

so thank you, Simon.

No, no, no. Thank you.

Um... No, we felt it was our responsibility

to do something revolutionary.

And personally speaking,

I've been a huge fan of Rudolph's for many years,

and so his name was one of the first that I put forward.

Bridgette, tell us about putting this all together.

Well, it was a tough shoot.

Most shoots are.

But I think given that we're all sat here today,

we've pulled through them.

No, it was...

It was... It was certainly a labour of love.

But we're committed to creating opportunities.

Kwabena, can you speak to that?

How was it for you as a young director

on such a big project?

HE SIGHS

Erm...

It was the experience of a lifetime.

APPLAUSE

You're too kind.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

And it was fucked.

I was constantly put in impossible positions

with no-one to ask for help.

When I pitched Rudolph,

the casting director told me that black actors weren't commercial.

And then they were proved wrong, weren't they?

SHE LAUGHS NERVOUSLY It's not funny. Like, at some point,

Rudolph's character was essentially a slave owner.

And when I pointed it out,

they told me that the show's not a history lesson.

And instead of allowing me to fix it,

they just denied a brilliant black actress the role

and hired a white influencer.

No offence, Roxie.

No problem. RoxieBaby on all major platforms.

But the whole time, I was presented with choices

when really, they just backed me into a corner.

And when it eventually went wrong...

..they actually fired me.

And, look, I know I'm not perfect,

but what was the point in hiring me

if you weren't going to give me a fair chance of succeeding?

Look, there were... No, but that was our deal, right?

That I should come out here

and say that I'm grateful for the opportunity.

So thank you.

MICROPHONE FEEDBACK

I'm going to go. Yeah.

Did you get that?

WHISPERING: Kwabs! Kwabs!

Be sure to catch every episode, every Sunday at 9pm.

"I have learnt that equality may not mean freedom.

"And freedom may not mean liberation.

"You may also know that change may not mean revolution.

"Once you realise that old conservatives

"are running out of things to conserve,

"you may also know that all politicians suck the same.

"Babylon must burn."

Yeah, you can forget about Mandem In The Wild West!

"Burn, Babylon, burn."

Will he understand this?

Look, it's subliminal messaging, yeah?

He's been around these posh white kids for months now.

I need this radical message to sink in.

That's enough Ben Zephaniah today, darling.

Burning sun. Nap time.

DOORBELL RINGS

Fight the power.

Errol? Fight the power.

Could you get that, please, honey? Fight it!

Black Panther there, hmm?

Come, baby. Come, come.

Ah! See him there.

See him there, Malcolm X!

Ha-ha!

Claude, I swear to God.

Sis, me can't big up my nephew, eh? Eh?

Hey! I see your video up on the Facebook ting.

Finally you grew some balls, boy!

A hell of a time to do it, but, you know,

it's about time you stick up for yourself.

Nice.

Thank you, Uncle.

But now you've totally mashed up your film career,

maybe it's time to go back to recruitment.

We were talking about him becoming a plumber.

Or...

..recruitment.

Yes, you could go back to recruitment

and do your movie making ting as a hobby,

like your uncle and his singing.

SHE LAUGHS

Sorry.

PHONE VIBRATES

Why are you laughing? Sorry, I have to take this call.

I see you laughing!

Hey.

What the hell happened?

You've seen the video, then, yeah?

Dude, everyone has.

It's all over socials.

Does that mean Angela has as well?

Yeah. I just spoke to her about it.

She said she loves your audacity,

but we're now going to need to take a beat on Jamaica Road.

We're just setting up,

so she wants to see how it all plays out first.

OK. That's cool.

That's cool?

I mean, it sucks, but,

you know, I'm not surprised.

You're taking this awfully well.

Like...too well.

I mean, look, I'm sure at some point I'll regret it,

but I don't know.

Right now, I'm relieved, to be honest.

Like, yeah, I'm kind of at peace with it.

I mean, it was crazy,

but I'm kind of in awe of you at the same time.

To have the mettle

to speak your truth in front of the entire industry.

Kwabs?

You there? Um...

Look, I have something I need to do, OK?

I'll talk to you later. Proud of you.

Where are you going? I have somewhere I need to be right now.

Yes, the Jobcentre!

THEY LAUGH

Shut up, Claude.

Kwabs? You were right.

Like, I wasn't being honest.

I wasn't. I wasn't busy.

I was hiding.

I shut you out, and you didn't deserve that.

Look.

I know I might be too late,

but I'd never forgive myself if I didn't say this.

I love you,

and I want to be with you.

HE SIGHS

SHE SIGHS

# I'm still here

# Yeah, yeah

# Yeah, yeah

# Still here

# I'm still here

# I'm still here. #