Original subtitles

♪♪

[Heart beating]

["Georgy Girl" by The Seekers plays]

♪♪

♪ Hey, there, Georgy girl

♪ Swinging down the street so fancy-free ♪

♪ Nobody you meet could ever see ♪

♪ The loneliness there inside you ♪

♪ Hey, there, Georgy girl

♪ Why do all the boys just pass you by? ♪

[Humming]

Jack Kelly walked into my granddad's bed shop

and asked if he could buy a mattress.

I was sat at the counter reading my "Lady Penelope",

and when he saw me,

he said he'd have me on top of it and all.

The mattress, not my Lady Penelope.

My jaw just...

[Laughs]

And then he laughed, and it was so joyous,

before my granddad heard him and went after him

with a Dial-O-Matic.

Thankfully it weren't worse.

He were watching over the butcher's shop next door.

So I put my jaw back up and that was that, you know.

Or at least I thought it was.

He came back the next day.

I was just...

[Laughs]

Never thought a boy like that would look at me like that

and just be like, "Okay."

Not special like, just okay.

Okay's fine with me.

We had our first date at the bed shop.

"Why go elsewhere when we have all we need for romance here,"

he said.

I'm not one to argue.

I locked up and span around with my hands on my hips

like I'd seen my nan do in her dancing classes.

"Where are the candles then," he said.

Not that we did candles.

They don't really mix well with goose eiderdown.

He got us a pie, and I let him have some whiskey.

10 years.

10 years younger and all the spaces between us.

It didn't matter though. We didn't touch.

Said he stunk of wool from working at the docks.

But there was a magnetism in our minds.

I flustered it its simple promise.

♪ So shed those downy feathers and fly a little bit ♪

♪ Hey, there, Georgy girl

My ma had a back street abortion.

♪ There's another Georgy deep inside ♪

To give her a choice, it were far as catholic pills

or a quick jab up there with the needles.

She chose the pills.

Didn't do the job.

Hospitalized her, barely survived.

She said she wouldn't wish the pain on anyone.

Worse than childbirth.

Doesn't sound right, that.

And when I arrived three years later all crooked,

she said I were punishment for her sins.

Sex was...

I once walked in on my nan blowing the hairdryer

up on her box.

[Laughs]

Her face.

It was like a cross between when she's found a corner piece

of a jigsaw and when my ma occasionally comes home

and tries to fob off with the baccy.

This peculiar reluctant delight.

[Chuckles]

It's the first time she swore at me.

"You've got hands, you can bloody knock," she said.

I just stood there.

"Won't you burn yourself," I asked.

And she pressed her lips tightly

like she was trying to squash a smile.

"All things need a bit of an airing from time to time."

[Laughs]

I could breathe for crying with laughter.

"Best to get it done quick," he said.

"First time won't feel our minds meeting,

and then you'll start to blossom."

Blossom? What like a...

[Laughs]

His voice sounded funny.

"A cocoon," he said.

"A cockoon," I replied.

He laughed and...

[Inhales, exhales deeply]

...his skin smelt nice.

They'd been loading Cheshire salts on the boats at the docks.

♪ Hey, there, Georgy girl

♪ There's another Georgy deep inside ♪

♪ Bring out all the love you hide ♪

♪ And, oh, what a change there'd be ♪

♪ The world would see a new Georgy girl ♪

My granddad got the Bizzies involved.

"It weren't right," they all said.

So they went calling for him down at the docks.

Granddad dragged me down and all,

in case he didn't come by his name.

I remember how our minds met.

He was gone.

Dock-master said, "He's a wooly back, what would you expect?"

Then, "A girl like her will be grateful."

Granddad didn't need his Dial-O-Matic that time.

Doctors describe meeting my ma as subnormal.

That was the word.

You've got a girl,

but I'm afraid she's come out as subnormal.

Polite.

They said given the outcome had been unexpected,

no one would judge if, if things didn't work out.

Community care could be arranged.

They could fix to have her sterilized.

Might be kind.

Or kinder.

That's British eugenics for you.

My nan put a stop to all that.

14, I were knitting baby clothes for Barnardo's

to send over to the colonies.

Ma walked in, and she didn't like that at all.

Snatched them right out of my hands, pulled the stitches out.

"No, no more," she said.

"You're the end of the line."

I tried to kiss her and lick the whiskey from her breath.

Babies need to be kept warm. Helps them feel safe.

My ma drove me in granddad's car.

My nan couldn't.

300 miles away, a small cottage hospital.

My ma stayed in the car.

"You've got to get rid," she said.

"It's not right."

Slipped me bus fare.

Lit up a fag and shot off in a plume of smoke.

I sat in the disappointment room, last on the list.

"It might get more complicated with you."

I got a pat on the hand.

They went in, they went out.

The lady whispered,

"You're lucky, you know,

no one's gonna judge you for getting rid."

I got another pat.

My turn.

I went in.

Doctor said, "You've made the right choice."

I felt my legs pick me up and carry me away.

[Rustling]

[Indistinct talking in distance]

When I got back, nan was knitting by the fire.

She knew.

I said, "I'm having her."

Nan cried.

Said she was too old.

"No.

No more, not again."

"Who's to raise her?"

"Me," I said.

[Sobs]

"You're not fit," she said.

[Crying] "Me, I can do it, I can."

[Sobbing]

Her lips -- her lips pressed tightly for a long time.

Then she patted me on the hand and said...

..."Be fair."

[Crying] Life's not fair.

[Sobs]

The -- the point is Father,

I wanted her.

Will you let her know that, please?

[Sobs]

Forgive me, Father.

Forgive me, darling girl.

♪ Georgy girl

♪ Hey, there, Georgy girl

♪ Wake up, Georgy girl

♪ Hey, there, Georgy girl

♪ Come on, Georgy girl

♪ Hey, there, Georgy girl

♪ Wake up, Georgy girl