Original subtitles

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 SHOUT

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 SHOUT

EXPLOSION

You...!

I'm just trying to get home.

Walking home from college.

Trying to get home?

It's a fucking 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... ♪

Shit!

DOG SNARLS

Aghhh!

DOG BARKS

POLICEMAN: ..over number 27. POLICE WHISTLE BLASTS

Shit! 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... ♪

Fucking petrol all over me!

What the fuck, Dante!

Fuck!

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 fucker.

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

Kill!

Aghhh!

Agh! Ughh! Aghh!

GUNFIRE

You black bastard!

Leave us alone!

Fuck off!

I don't mean black as in the colour of your skin, comrade.

I mean black like Black and Tan.

Half my fucking 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.

INDISTINCT

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?

Fuck!

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 war.

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.

GUNSHOT

Fuck!

Why don't you just sing together?

Come on!

GUNSHOT

♪ ..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 illegal, 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 shit.

It's dance night tomorrow night.

Fuck! 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 fuck 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 shoot 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 fuck do we need 28 traffic cones?

Why the fuck 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 bastards 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 illegal 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 war

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 fucking 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 fucking 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 shithole 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 fuck 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 fucking 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 balls.

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 fuck 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.

Fuck!

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 fuckers in through the staff door.

Fucking 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 fuckers 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 fuck 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 fucking up!"

Fuck Frankie Laine!

I'm going to change the venue...

...and I will need new people.

Well, I just came to return the space suit.

Fuck 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... fucking... 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 fucker!

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... ♪