Original subtitles

Steven!

You're mother's gone out. She went shopping an hour since.

- I expect my Dad's in. - Is he on nights?

- That's right. - Oh, well. See you.

Dad!

Dad!

- Dad. - Steven.

You're early. I'd scarcely woken up.

I got away early.

How are you lad?

- You're looking alright. - So's yourself.

A bit older. A bit more weight to go with it.

Take no notice of me.

I only got back from work 3 or 4 hours ago.

Nights! My age!

You'd think they'd give me something else.

- Your mother's out. - Yes!

Gone to buy herself a hat.

- A hat? - For tonight.

I'll tell you. I've heard nothing else for the past fortnight.

You think they'd come up with a few thousand.

Oh no you don't do you? Common sense.

Me? I'm too took to here.

Coal dust. It's a wonder I'm still alive.

I've heard that before.

- But you won't hear it for much longer. - I've heard that before as well.

Well, d'you fancy a cup of tea?

- How are the family then, keeping well? - Alright.

Up and down. Look at this.

I don't think owt's changed here since I was last up.

Family lad, family. There's nothing more important than that.

A good wife, children...

God's good grace.

You've got good health in the family, you don't need anything else. - Aye.

64 years next month. If I've not learnt that, I've learn nothing.

Damn near lost my hand last week. Seven stitches.

You'll have to watch out.

Watch out? At my age?

You're joking. One more year and I'm finished.

They'll pension me off.

50 years I�ve had down with that lot you know.

- That's what I've got to show. - And a little bit more.

I mustn't grumble.

Well then, how's your lot?

How's Sheila. Best daughter-in-law I ever had.

She's alright.

Four kiddies hardly 10 months between 'em. I don't know how they do it

I thought I was impetuous.

There were two or three years between you lot you know.

She's cleaned them windows a dozen times.

It's a wonder there's any glass left in.

Nearly polished 'em right through.

There's not much change out there either.

Hey up.

Get your jacket off lad. Make yourself comfortable.

Mind where you put yourself.

She's puffed up them thick cushions. Straightened every chair.

Just like being in the army.

- How long are you staying. - Have to get back tomorrow.

How's the work going?

Alright.

I wish I'd got half what you've got. And for doing twice as much.

I shouldn't worry.

It's got its drawbacks.

Drawbacks. It can draw back as far as it likes for me.

Teaching!

Coooeee!

Anyone in?

Ayup, look out, she's here, good god.

I thought I saw you Steven.

- How are you keeping? - Hello Mrs. Bernard.

- Well enough. - Pretend she's not here, she'll go away

Doesn't mind me popping in. Always the same.

- How's your kiddies? - Surviving.

I've heard. I've seen the photographs you know.

- And your wife? - Fine.

Your mother never mentions them, but I know.

It all goes on inside. She's ever so excited about tonight.

- Where are you taking them? - Into town. Colin's arranged something.

Your Andrew and Colin not here then yet?

- They're coming up by car. - It's a lovely treat for them.

I hope so.

Forty years, they'll not forget.

Yakking, yakking yacky.

Smells tea a mile off.

The human bloodhound. She's never out of this house.

He hasn�t forgotten me, don't worry, after all these years.

- That's true. - He doesn't let you forget, don't worry

He's out shouting it across the backs whenever he has any news.

You get tired of hearing it, I can tell you. - Tired.

They spend all day flat on their backs round here.

Don't know what work is.

Soon as their husband's gone off, out it comes, teapot, cushion behind the back.

- Feet up. - I know, that's why you never have anything to eat.

and your houses are full up to the chimney with last week's washing.

Last week's? Last bloody year's more likely.

We have to bolt the door sometimes, just to get a bit of peace.

Last week he gave your mother a bit of a shock. Came in

- white as a sheet he was. - Jumping up and down.

- They had to fetch the doctor. - Heart.

He didn't treat it lightly, don't worry.

Better take it easy, more rest.

I said you must be joking.

How would you take it easy with 10 ton of rock coming down on top of your head.

- What did he say? - He laughed.

They don't give a damn. Why should they, an old man.

I should have been dead years ago,

I don't think that's right somehow.

Nay.

I've no illusions, none.

I've had a good life with a lovely woman I can't ask for anything more.

Still...

My...

Well...

Oh, go on. Get shut.

She's waiting for a cup of tea. She'll be here all day.

I'll pop in later, love.

And remember, pinch of salt.

Pinch of salt. I'd like to pinch her bloody salt.

Got noses 10 miles long round here.

She'll be out there yakking it across the back.

We had a letter from our Collie. He's moved his job.

Cars!

Works liaison.

I nearly missed you there you know.

- One of the works cars is it? - Thought you're waiting at the next one

I could only get a lift to here.

- You've thumbed a lift all this way? - Why not?

You better get in,

- How long have you been waiting? - Not long.

- You look like a tramp. - I am a tramp.

It's going to be one of those visits,

We had a letter from our Collie. Moved his job.

Works liaison.

Factory that big would take you a fortnight to walk round it.

Cars! He offered to get us one.

Brand new. Cut price,

- You ought to take it. - What?

Now what would I want with a car?

If you can't shove it, peddle it or hang it on a wall, it's no use to me.

He has to argue.

Whenever the workers are coming out on strike, or think we ought to,

Collie's the one called in by the management to negotiate.

Industrial relations.

A family with relatives like ours and all.

He told me I ought to get out.

Retire now. Buy a house.

- He put up all the cash. - Why don't you?

What?

Andrew's another.

Chucked up his job to become an artist. Nearly 40 with 2 children to support.

My god, it takes some reckoning.

Come here as a solicitor that he's worked at.

That I've worked at.

Many's that night I've spent with him at that table, I can tell you.

Decimals, fractions, Latin.

I seem to remember.

You were the last, Stevie, but by god you were the best.

There were nowt I had to teach you.

The others!

Had to shove it down their throats like trying to eat burnt porridge.

Why don't you take up Colin's offer?

We could all chip in a bit.

I were 15 when I first went down that pit, lad.

49 years. Half a century.

One more'll make it a round number.

Not worth risking your health for.

You remember the war?

Used to carry one of you out there.

- Me. - You?

Ay, I think it were.

They hardly bombed round here.

Must have flown over, thought it weren't worth it.

- Made a mistake there. - They made no mistakes about that.

Miles and miles of nothing, this place.

Always has been, always will be.

Only thing ever come out of here is coal and when that's finished as it will be,

there'll be even less.

Row after row of empty houses. As far as the eye can see.

100 years ago, this was all moorland.

Sheep.

Bit of wood.

When they dig it up in 1,000 years, they'll wonder why we made such a mess.

They'll look at the foundations. Think we lived in little cells like goats.

- We did. - Ay.

Well, how's the book going?

Alright.

One of them was going to be famous. I always thought it'd be you.

- Why that? - You were always so clever.

Don't tell me that's something you forget?

I think I must have done.

Would you like a wash? I'll forget my head one of these days.

I'll go up, have a look round

Not much to see, I can tell you. Two rooms back and front.

If the water's not hot enough, give us a shout.

I'll er... heat some up for you. Won't take a minute.

Right.

- There you are. Well, where else would I be.

You've had some tea then?

- Two of you. - Aye, Mrs. Burnett called in.

- And you gave her some tea then? - Well, I thought I'd better.

Oh, yes.

- And what's going on then? - Going on?

Oh, Steven's upstairs, I forgot.

Forgot!

It slipped me mind.

- He's having a wash. - Having a...

- Have you given him a clean towel? - Towel?

- Oh no, I forgot. - Honestly.

- Don't worry. Nothing's moved, nothing's shifted.

We could do with some more coal.

Well then...

And where have you been all this time?

About.

Oh, you're not looking too good love.

The climate. I'm not used to it up here.

- Aren't they looking after you? - They are, alright.

Let's have a look at you.

You've put on a lot of weight. Or taken a lot off.

- I can't remember. - I forget myself,

Have you had your tea? Let me get you something to eat.

There's no hurry.

- Well, how's your family? - Oh, well.

They must take a lot of upkeep you know.

How old's Roger now? Three months. And Patrick's scarcely one and a quarter

- I don't know I've lost count. - There seems to be a lot of them.

I er... I hope your Dad hasn't been too much.

No... no.

I think you'll do a lot of good you know now you're up here.

If you persuaded him to come out of that pit.

- He's only another year. - Yes, he's told me.

Pride, you've never seen anything like it.

I'll just take these out.

I'm good for carrying if I'm good for nowt else.

They'll send me back as a donkey.

Reincarnation. Written all over me from head to foot.

You better be careful, somebody might hear you.

He don't bother with me.

Don't you think she's looking a picture? - Yes.

40 years of married bliss has left its mark.

D'you know when she walks down that street, people step back,

just to bow to her,

If I come back as a donkey, she'll come back as a queen.

I were just saying love, you look a picture.

- Oh I know. What of? - You know what I mean.

She spends that long in front of the mirror that when I get to look at it

- I find her still in there looking out. - He doesn't change does he?

You see him skip in the back and call me there when Mrs. Burnett comes round.

Mrs. Burnett?

By gum, I'd have to be down to the last woman on earth to consider that.

As it is love, I'm still up with the first.

I don't know. He hasn't known where to put himself you know,

since he's known you were coming.

Ever since you went to university he's not known what to do with himself.

- What? How long ago? - 15 years. - Longer.

Education lad, you can't do without. Look at your mother.

Left school when she were 16. 16, that were nearly retirement age in them days.

- She's still got her certificate upstairs. - I remember.

Proficiency in Domestic Science, Nature Study and the English Language.

All done out in copperplate script.

Miss Celance Watson.

Her father were a pig breeder just out of town.

A small holder.

A pig breeder who kept pigs.

By gum, you had to be in love, I tell you, to step inside her house.

Well, I've heard some things.

And she ends up marrying me.

Never forgiven me, have you, love?

Ay, but you know I love you.

And I married you all the same.

I'll show you my hat later, love.

- Yes. - It won't frighten us will it?

Remember we've got to walk down that street with you in public.

- I don't mind walking with a woman... - You've got nothing to be ashamed of.

Oh, I'd never be ashamed, love.

whatever you wear darling, I never have been and I never will be ashamed.

Well, in that case we'll be alright.

Embarrassed, now I might be embarrassed, but... never ashamed.

She's a good woman.

One of the best. A lady.

That were a bit of a let down, marrying me.

Oh, now.

I wouldn't have thought so.

Nay lad, never one to grumble.

Well then Steve, what's it feel like to be home?

- Home? - After all this time.

Well, I don't know Dad.

Very much the same.

Tell her I won't be long. Not safe to leave it parked round here.

- I'll find somewhere on the road. - Alright. See you.

You've forgotten your bag.

Hey, where are we?

Come on then, open up.

Here we are.

There you are love. I wondered where you'd got to.

On the lav then were you eh? - I was not.

By golly, there's been a lot put on round here hasn't there?

Go on, get on!

Hey, where is he? Come on then.

Where's he hiding?

I'll be up there old man.

Snoring off his head. I'll go up and I'll tip him out.

- You won't. He's out. - What?

- He went down to the pub with Steven. - Steven? - After dinner.

I've been expecting them back any minute.

- Isn't Colin with you then? - Parking.

Didn't think it was safe to leave it outside.

Oh no, I'm not surprised these days.

I don't know.

Like a museum is this.

Hasn't changed in 5,000 years.

We've just had it decorated a few months since.

Oh, what with then?

Soot!

I can see somebody hasn't changed, I can.

Gun Smoke in Paradise. I used to marvel at that.

My Dad's reading age hasn't risen beyond when he was ten years old.

- We can't all be educated you know. - No.

No. Thank god for that.

Whereas what you've done with yours.

I shouldn't mention it I suppose but...

What Peggy must be thinking I can't imagine.

She must be out of her mind with worry.

- What are you living on? - On love, my dear. Like everybody else.

We've been married now you know for 17 years.

If we haven't got a bit of that left in stock, then we might as well not try.

But how are you living?

I mean, what sort of pictures d'you paint?

- I know? - What?

You think I paint... young ladies.

- Or better still... young men. - What?

Come on. Admit it.

She thinks I spend my time painting young ladies with no clothes on.

She thinks I gave up my career as one of the greatest solicitors in the land

in order to peruse certain young ladies without their clothes.

- I thought nothing of the kind. - Come on, you're as bad as Peggy.

- She thought the same. - I'm not surprised.

- I really puzzled her. - What?

The picture, Peggy, came in with it tucked beneath the arm.

She thought, well I don't know what she thought she was going to see.

She was half blushing before I had a chance to put it down.

Lo and behold...

Triangles!

Triangles?

After that... squares.

- Squares? - Rectangles... rhomboids.

Sometimes even nothing.

- Nothing? - When I say nothing you know there'd be a...

spot of something, a little red.

Touch of viridian, cerulean.

Trickle there. Ooh, lovely.

Still...

- Old fashioned. - Old fashioned? - Yeah.

Yeah, I don't use paint now you know.

Plastic compound,

Plus miscellaneous bric-a-brac picked up from the refuse dump outside the town.

Got arrested once.

- Arrested? - Yeah.

Loitering with intent.

Ran rings round them at the station.

You better get a solicitor, they said.

I am a solicitor, I said.

Why Mr. Shaw, they said, we didn't recognize you.

Artist now mate, I said, don't you forget it.

I don't know why you ever gave it up.

After all those years you spent studying with it.

It seems such a waste.

You were never interested in art before,

No. I'm not now either.

Well I...

I've said enough. You must know your own mind.

Mad River Guns. He must get through these faster than he does a cigarette.

He brings them home from work. I don't know where he gets them from.

I hope you fumigate them before they come into the house.

- I thought about it a time or two I can tell you. - I bet, I bet.

No alien bodies in this house.

That's always been our motto

What was that... subject?

- Subject? - You were always top in at school.

- Domestic science. - No, no.

- Human hygiene. - Human hygiene.

I remember you telling us, when we were lads.

Human Hygiene. The sort of vision those words created.

It was an experimental class. Never been taught in a school before.

Never looked back since.

No wonder we were so clean.

- Came top eh? - Well...

Used to tell my friend about it at school.

Human Hygiene eh? Frightened them all to death.

They thought, well...

I don't know what they thought.

Anyway, I never had any trouble with them after that.

There he is, look!

He must have walked for miles.

I don't know.

Hello!

Hello?

Hello.

- What? - I said hello.

- Oh. - She thinks you're coming in the back.

- Mother! - Did you park the car?

Yes. Mother!"

Oh, there you are love.

I thought you were coming in the...

How lovely. Oh thank you love.

I do appreciate that.

Trust him to come in the front. Only for royalty is that you know.

Workers have to use the rear,

Take no notice love, he's in one of his moods,

Iconoclastic - What? - I'm iconoclastic!

I remember her telling me that when I was, how old, 11 or 12.

I've just got the word for you lad, she said. And she took out her dictionary.

- You know her first prize for... - Hygiene.

You see now, he remembers that.

- I don't remember looking. - I didn't dare mention it for years.

I went round all that time thinking it was some kind of sexual deviation.

- Well I don't remember that. - Iconoclastic.

First girl I ever took out. When we got to her gate, moon shining...

I said I think I better warn you, I said

before I start anything

I'm iconoclastic.

She said: I better get in then. Yes I said, I think you should.

Three hours of that I've had in the car.

- You've heard about his painting. - I have.

The only he took it up is because they couldn't stand his conversation

- in the office any longer. - He's got his father's nature all right

I think I must have.

Where is he by the way? In bed?

- At the pub. - I'll get you a cup of tea, love.

There's your Dad now. And Steven.

I won't be a minute.

Hope we haven't kept you waiting love.

You know Clive and Andrew are here.

Alright?

Alright.

There... There you are then. How are you lad?

You're looking pretty well yourself.

- How are you? - You damned old wreck.

- How many have you had eh? - I go down there for social reasons.

- Not for anything else. - Oh aye, we know.

I'm not the drinker in the house.

She's in there stoking up.

Don't you worry. They know you of old.

Heart of gold. Never stops working.

Were that your car, Mrs. Burnett told us about?

We just come up with her. She saw it down the road.

They'll bury that woman in a glass coffin.

If she couldn't look out, she never step inside.

Well then Steve... How's your writing going?

Alright.

Your mother said in her last letter you were going to publish a book.

- I was. - Well then?

I shall look forward to seeing it.

He's got all the brains has Steve.

And all the kiddies too.

Are you alright out there love?

I'm alright. Don't you worry.

They ought to run tea in pipes around here instead of water.

- They'd make a fortune. - Round here they would.

Slake your thirst.

Dust.

Sounds as though you've got half a ton of best nugget down there Dad.

Well I have, don't worry, I shouldn't be surprised.

I'll go and see if my mother needs a hand.

Executive.

Nice bit of coat,

You won't find one of them where I work.

I don't know. Can't miners earn as much as dentists these days?

Where?

At the bloody dogs they might. It's the only place they can.

I've even thought you know, of going down myself.

You've got a career you have. I spent half my life

making sure none of you went down that pit. - I've always thought

coal mining was one of the few things I could really do.

One of the few things for which I'm ideally equipped.

And yet the one thing in life from which I'm actually excluded.

You are ideally equipped to be a professional man.

Or how you want. That place...

An animal could do what I do. And I can tell you, most of them are.

He's right.

- I've been studying your library. - What?

One of the first things I ever remember was a picture of one of them.

A cowboy with a hat out here.

Trousers flapping like wings, mounted on the back of a rearing horse.

Somehow it still sums it all up.

- What? - Dunno.

Freedom...

They're nowt that just pass the time.

- I bet you can't remember a single one. - What?

What happens...

at Bloodstone Creek...

when Barry Hogan rides...

I couldn't tell you.

Bring the tray, love,

Here we are.

Oh, thank you dear.

- He'd make a lovely mother. - You'd better watch out.

He'll shove it right over your head.

He couldn't knock a fly off a rice pudding.

Don't be to sure.

He'd negotiate with it first.

You're a quiet one love.

Sure your Dad didn't persuade you to have too much to drink?

No.

He doesn't say much, but he doesn't miss owt, do you lad?

How's your book going then Steve?

Alright

Well not really.

I've packed it in.

Packed it in? Why it's years.

Well, why d'you give it up then lad?

Not my cup of tea.

I'll stick to what I've got I suppose.

He's better off looking after his wife and family and not writing books,

What was it all about then Steve?

Modern society, to put it into words.

I don't know.

Indicating, without being too aggressive...

how we'd all succumbed to the passivity of modern life.

Industrial discipline... and moral turpitude.

- Don't mock him. - I'm not mocking him.

He let me read a bit of it once, What, four years ago?

Been writing it nearly seven.

I don't know why he's packed it in.

I agreed with every word.

Agreed with what?

His view of society.

The modern world.

Nay, I can't make head nor tail of it.

Are you in, love, or are you out?

No we're out!

Don't worry, We've had her in here before.

He never changes does he. Take no notice love, we're in.

- We hear all about you now you know. - Not too much I hope.

No, no. Just the right thing. What your father wants to tell us.

- Don't worry. I tell her nowt. - How are you Andrew?

I hear you've given up your job.

That's right. If you hear of anything going round here, just let me know.

That'll be the day.

When he comes looking for a job round here.

It'll be sooner than you think, don't worry.

We're thinking of setting up in business.

Business? What sort of business then's that?

- Glass coffins. - Glass coffins?

Or wooden ones, with little windows in.

- Would you like a cup of tea? - I wouldn't mind. I wouldn't say no.

Like asking a dog if it wants to piddle.

- It must be a proud day, love 40 years. - That's right.

We'd have waited until we'd been married 50

Only I don't think either of us would have lasted that long.

Forty years. It's a round number.

I'm near retiring, God willing. And what with one thing and another...

Mother here, she's going to be...

Well, she's going to be a certain age next week.

I shall be sixty.

Well, I don't mind them knowing.

She were a young lass of 20 when I married her.

And in my eyes she's been the same age ever since.

Come now. Don't let's exaggerate too much.

Nay, you're as old as you feel. And that's the way I'll always see you love.

- Look at the time. - Ay, come on, we better get moving.

- The Excelsior Hotel - That's the one.

They only finished it last year. Twelve stories high.

Costs you a pound to take your coat off. If you sneeze it costs you a fiver.

If you ask for a glass of water, you've got to tip ten bob to pour it out.

I'll tell you, I'm in the wrong bloody business.

I'm only sorry your Jamie never lived to see it.

Well...

He was a lovely lad he was.

Ay, we'd have been alright with the four of them we would.

They wouldn't remember him.

Nay.

You have your tribulations.

Missed him, you did, by about three months,

- And Colin there... - He was almost two.

Andrew... nearly five.

Now he could have been an artist. He could draw like a little angel.

How old was he?

He was seven when he died.

He had a little book.

His teacher sent it all from school.

Drawings. You wouldn't know they hadn't been done by an artist.

Shapes...

Colours...

There were one of three apples on a plate.

You could almost pick them up.

Pneumonia.

Didn't have the protection against it in them days, like they do now,

I'd have cut off my right arm, I bloody would.

Right then.

Let's be moving.

On with the dance.

Oh well, I best be getting back.

How are your lot then, Mrs. Burnett?

Well enough.

Half a dozen kiddies, not two minutes to come up and see their mother.

Still, that's how it is.

That's where you're lucky love. Your lads come home.

Don't disown you. Don't forget you when you're getting old.

Ay, we've been lucky we have.

If you drop your key off, I'll make sure your fire's in when you get back.

- Thanks, love. - Now don't do anything I wouldn't do.

- That don't leave us so bloody much. Tarrah, love. I'm off before he starts.

One of the best she is.

One of the best what?

Forget it.

Oh you should have heard him in the car.

Talk about the two nations.

The dignity of the manual labourer,

- Labourer? - I should forget it.

Never ask an ex-patriot working class man about his views on his former class.

D'you know, when he left school and went to university,

Colin was a card carrying member of the CP.

CP? What's that?

- Communist. - Communist?

To my mother, communist is synonymous with sex deviate.

Pervert.

Luster after young girls, defiler of young men.

I never said that.

- I didn't know you were a communist. - No, neither did he.

It only lasted a year. It gives him an aura of respectability now,

when he's negotiating with the men.

- You'd go down well, I can tell you. - Damn well where?

Like Rhondda

You can't get much lower than where I am mate.

Look we're here to celebrate, not to have arguments.

I can remember when they were all at home.

Arguments? It were like a debating palace.

Your head got dizzy, trying to follow each one.

- Here, I'll take this. - Thank you love.

Well, I'll go off and get changed then.

- Are you coming Dad? - Ay, I'm coming.

Alright then?

Look lads...

About Jamie...

I wouldn't talk about him too much.

I know you didn't bring it up, but...

Well, your mother,

As you get older, you start thinking about these things.

What about them?

Nay, I've said enough.

Right then. I'll get up and get polished up.

Leave a bit of muck on Dad. We won't know you without.

Some hope to that.

- I'll get a proper inspection. - Hygiene,

Hygiene! That's it.

Right then. Think on.

Well! This time tomorrow, we'll all be back home.

I should just lay off you know, just one. Give it a rest.

Are you going to negotiate with me or something, Colin?

We're here to give them a good time. Something to remember.

God alone knows, they deserve it.

Ay, he's right.

What about you Steve?

What are you so quiet about?

Silent Steven.

They called him that at school.

I've just thought.

I've all that way to walk back to get the car.

Ring for a taxi.

Same distance to the phone box the other way.

You forget don't you, what a primitive place this really is.

You know the other morning we ran out of toothpaste at home. Suddenly I remembered

we never had toothpaste here.

We used to clean our teeth with salt.

3 little piles on the draining board every morning.

We never had any cakes either. Remember that?

There was a jam tart and one piece of sponge roll for tea on Sunday.

Steve there used to have to stand at table because we only had four chairs.

Aye, I remember.

Would you believe it.

D'you remember when old Shuffler came to see Dad about my going to university?

Shuffler? He left by the time you got there.

Sixth form. Careers.

He came here one night and talked to my Dad about the pros and cons of

of going to university.

He sat in a chair. We had it there.

Put his hands out like this.

Ping! Bloody spring shot out.

Nearly dislocated his elbow.

And me Dad. Me Dad said to him...

Would you mind not putting your hands on the arms Mr. Rushton,

the springs are coming out.

Their floors.

There was a piece of lino which my Mother moved round each week

trying to fit the chairs over the holes and spaces.

Newspaper on the table for dinner.

Breakfast, supper and tea.

Don't read when you're eating.

After he came here, Shuffler never spoke to us again.

Whenever we met in the school corridor,

he used to gaze at some point exactly 6 inches above your head.

Talk about the pain of poverty.

I still dream about that look.

I do.

I often wake up trying to convince him we're not as poor as that any longer.

That's what comes of going to a good school.

Full of drapers son's, minor bureaucrats and children of the professional classes

My dear old Col

Your children are the children of the professional classes,

- I have no children. - Good God, you haven't.

I forgot.

Why have you never married Col?

Dunno.

- Haven't had the time. - Hey, you're not...

Don't think so.

I mean 'cos if you are...

For my mother's sake, I'd keep it under your hat.

- Oh sure. - The one thing my mother cannot stand.

I don't mind a man being as promiscuous as he likes

within reason of course and with the sole exception of me Dad.

The thought of one man going with another.

I don't think we've quite come to that.

And any case as far as marriage is concerned,

probably might have to.

What?

Good God, you don't mean...

there's not some unfortunate lassie carrying an embryonic Colin in her tum?

No, it's just less embarrassing to be married than not to be.

Oh, I see, well...

As long as it's only that.

You know your one grievous disability Andy if you don't mind me mentioning it

is not only have you never grown up,

you've never even put in the first preliminary effort.

Management talk.

His men's talk is both more subtly obscene

and more overtly gratuitous.

I must say it's come to a sorry bloody pitch

I could have got him a job years ago if he'd wanted.

I could even have got him on the board what with his gifts, his tongue,

his golden sense of opportunity.

He might even have done a bit of good.

You are listening to a man, believe it or not

- whose life is measured out in motor cars. - In blood, in men, in progress.

D'you know what he told me on the way up here?

Cigar in mouth, gloved hands firmly on the wheel...

The well being of this nation is largely if not wholly dependant

on maintaining a satisfactory level of exports from the motor industry.

The nation!

If my bloody nation is dependent on that I'd rather crawl round on all fours.

with a pigskin on my back and a bow and arrow in my bloody hand I would.

You probably might have to.

- Sooner than he thinks. - May God speed that day, God speed it.

And that mind you, after witnessing my poor old father's life.

Crawling around in pitch black on his belly

his life hanging on the fall of a piece of rock

- for fifty bloody years. - My father, old friend,

has more dignity in his little finger

than all you and your bloody automated factories could conjure up.

- in a thousand bloody years! - Yes.

I weep for you, I really do.

To think you once lived here under this roof.

My brother. And you end up, just look at you.

Like this.

I'll go and have a wash. Steve...

- No I've er... - I shan't be long.

Sorry to hear about your book.

Yes.

I thought it well worth while.

Yes.

What's gone wrong then, Steve?

I don't know what you mean there Andy.

I remember you very well at school.

- Yes? - That silence.

I read into it at that time, a kind of arrogance.

disdain, a sort of feeling of contempt.

No, no. I respected you very much because of that.

Misplaced contempt it may have been.

God knows, the educated sons of that school Steve.

You.

Where's all that venom gone?

Where for Christ sake Steve is that spirit of revenge?

I've often thought it.

You and Colin are very much alike.

Alike?

The morality of vested interest on the one hand...

And the morality of destruction on the other.

In a way, you're both evangelists.

And you.

I'm not a moralist like you.

Attitudes like yours are easily adopted.

All you have to do is destroy what's already there.

Look, that book of yours...

I think I agreed with every word.

I even felt I'd written it myself.

It was the truth. An act of reflection of all the indignities, the perversities

the abominations that I and I alone at that time I imagined had endured.

And suffered. And to have all that confirmed.

Enhanced! Not by someone I never knew, but from you.

And now look at you. Detached, aloof.

Transformed!

When at long last you've identified a cancer,

it is no commendation of your powers of loving

to get down on your knees and give it a damn great kiss.

- What would you have us do then Andy? - I'd never give up.

I'd rather run out there with bloody guns I would.

- Yes I really think you'd do it. - I would.

What choice is there? I.. I really would.

I remember you too Andy.

I remember you very well at school.

Coming home one night and devastating all of us.

Me, certainly.

With why it was no longer tenable, a belief in God.

As if belief was some kind of limb, to be hacked off at will.

- Oh Steve. - Believe me!

Destroy any part, and all the rest goes with it.

I don't understand.

You've lived here half your life.

what kind of vengeance do you have in mind?

How are you going to survive then Steve?

Amoral, ascetic, uninvolved.

How are you going to manage Steven?

Steve...

For Christ sake...

For Christ sake?

I must say for someone who doesn't believe in God, he invokes him an awful bloody lot.

You should have heard him.

Four hours of that, I've had inside that car.

If you ever have a car, don't let him inside.

Two miles with him in the passenger seat and you'll drive into a wall. - Alright.

Good God! Amazing.

When poor old Jamie died...

Do we have to go through all this again?

Andrew has a new theory about his origins.

Not new and not theoretical either.

He's discovered...

I told him...

A little time ago...

That Jamie was born three months after my mother got married.

Good Lord! No, no.

Upright. Still standing.

Can you imagine for one moment what went on

during those six months negotiations prior to the event?

Let me see.

No, this is something you should be particularly good at.

First in Human Hygiene.

- Why does he go on about that. - English Language, Domestic Science.

Didn't leave school till she was 16. Religious.

Raised by a petty father to higher things.

Ends up being laid in a farm field by a bloody collier.

Hygiene.

Never forgiven him, she hasn't.

Dig coal he will to kingdom come. Never dig enough.

Retribution!

D'you know what I'd say to you? Mind your own bleeding business.

Oh, alright.

- Poor old Jamie. - Poor old Dad.

- Poor old Dad. - Well that's it exactly.

- What? - Guilt.

Subsequent moral rectitude.

They fashioned Jamie, as a consequence in the image of Jesus Christ.

I can think of worse examples.

When Mary said we have a son, her husband said: Tell me another one.

Andrew thinks Jamie died because he could never atone.

Atone for what?

For whatever my Mother felt.

He died of pneumonia according to the certificate.

I remember seeing it myself, years ago.

- Do you remember Jamie? - Not really.

- I was only two or three at the time. - Well, I was nearly five.

I remember him very well.

Sitting there drawing.

Or upstairs crying. Now they never beat us you know.

But him... he was black and blue.

And like Steven there but for his pictures, silent as the tomb.

- Come on. - Come on, come on what?

Honestly, the way he dramatizes the slightest inflection. Black and blue!

I don't remember that.

And I remember me Dad landing me one once or twice I do.

And you!

Well?

Come on, fair's fair.

If Colin wants to whitewash everything, why not give him every chance.

- It's nothing. - Nothing?

It's nothing.

- Years ago... - Years ago.

My Dad...

My father...

Look, it's really nothing.

My father told me, shortly after Jamie died...

your mother tried to...

What?

Kill herself.

Fair's fair. Now look here.

She was already six months gone with Steve.

Sitting here on this floor, hugging a knife...

- when the old man staggers in through that door. - Not drunk.

From work.

- See this doesn't interest him at all. - D'you think in all honesty it should?

Alright, she tried to kill herself.

- And Steve. - And Steve? He wasn't even born.

No, he wasn't. Waiting there, that's all. To be delivered.

- Look at him, still waiting. Solemn, silent. - Alright, alright.

I mean poor bloody soul.

And supposing it should be true.

Is it something I should bear with me every second, every day.

Are we supposed to be endlessly measured by our bloody imperfections.

Just precisely are you after Andy?

D'you want someone to hold your hand throughout your entire bloody life?

- Ask Steve... - What about 'Ask Steve?'

He's more bloody common sense.

Go on! Tell him.

Well, giving up his book isn't exactly a sign of his maturity.

Growing up is it?

He actually has been having nightmares.

In true, I might add, evangelical style.

What they're about?

Jamie!

He sees him crying out.

Trying to appease the immaculate conception.

Trying to tell them that it wasn't his fault.

Jamie in the wilderness, Jamie on the mountain top. Jamie...

At the window saying...

Even if you were a first in Human Hygiene

and you intended on marrying someone smarter than my Dad. It wasn't my fault.

Please God forgive me.

Please God forgive me Ma, it's not my fault,

What's he on about Steve?

For Christ's sake?

I wrote Andy a letter, a few months back.

Asking him what he felt...

Revenge I'm afraid is his only answer.

Revenge? On what?

On them.

On them? For what?

I don't know... Everything.

Oh, I see. Nothing less than that.

Projecting him into a world which they didn't understand.

Educating him for a society which existed wholly in their imaginations.

Opportunistic, philistine, parasitic.

Bred in ignorance, fed in ignorance.

Dead in ignorance.

Only of course, his common sense, perhaps even his compassion

forbids him to do anything of the sort.

The most tedious thing about his social attitudes, his moral judgments,

is the perversity of their motives.

That's something I've always felt about these screaming revolutionaries.

But now...

I understand.

You think by some superb gesture of self exorcism

powered and engendered by god knows what,

you can rid yourself of all this, your dreams, your nightmares.

No.

You're like a man with one foot on either side of an ever widening chasm.

This detachment you're trying to tell me about, is going to rip you wide apart

Yes, well...

You can't be for this crummy world and at the same time

be for your own psychic, spiritual, and moral autonomy any longer.

It is now the season of the lotus and if you've anything to save, save it, Grab it.

- In both hands and run. - Yes, well. - Well what?

- Well let's hope there aren't too many of you. - Too many?

- Someone has to stay behind. - Behind? You're not behind.

You're nowhere. You're overrun.

Now look.

Forget it.

- You want a hand or can you manage? - I don't damn well know.

Now look...

Lay off.

Bloody braces. They're like a straightjacket on your back.

Your mother'll be down in a minute.

I had to hang around up there, give her a hand.

She can't reach any of her buttons these days.

Look at that.

She's had me polishing that since a week last Sunday.

You shone a light on that, it'd burn your eyes.

Look er... I'd better get the car.

I were thinking about that.

Can you wait until she comes down?

She wants to make an entry.

She'll be another half hour doing her gloves up,

straightening her hair. You'll have plenty of time.

Oh well, there's no great hurry.

- We can have a drive around. - Aye, she'll like that.

She's had hard life.

She worked very hard.

Kept this place like a palace.

One woman in a house of men.

She'd have given anything to have had a daughter.

You know...

Somebody to talk to.

Hey up. Here she comes.

- Are you ready? - Aye we're ready love.

Ooh, just a minute.

That's her button gone.

Are you ready then?

Here she comes.

Wow!

Beautiful.

Lovely.

D'you like it?

It's very nice.

I couldn't have done better myself.

Here, let me have a kiss and all.

- Have you locked up the back? - Oh no, I'll go and do that now.

- D'you like it? - Well, are we ready then?

- I'll go fetch the car. - Oh nay love.

Look, why don't we all walk down? It's only half a mile.

Well, if you feel up to it.

We've walked down that road together often enough in the past.

Once more won't hurt us.

- Are we to go in front or do we follow on behind? - I don't know.

We'll go in front. Show the flag.

- Now have you all got your coats? - That's an old familiar question.

Cleaned your shoes, washed your faces. Ties straight, got your handkerchief.

Right then.

- Have you all got your coats - We're all ready, we're all locked up.

Nay, mother.

Out of the front door today, love.

Dad, bring up the rear.

- Bring up the rear? Who's the boss here...

You and me old lad.

Steve.

Come on Steven, we're not leaving you behind.

Steven?

That was lovely, Steven.

It's Mrs. Burnett.

All saints, come in. She thought they were being raided.

What did I tell you? Lovely and warm.

- Have you had a nice time then? - Proper grand. Couldn't have been better.

We've had to hold her up.

Got us nearly arrested. Hold me up? I'm quite all right.

That's a lovely fire.

I do appreciate that. Thank you love.

- I put the key on the sideboard. - Don't rush off. We're having a celebration.

We've still got a bit put by.

- Well, I don't know. - I'm having the finest night of my life.

The Excelsior? I've seen nothing like it.

We had that many waiters running round the table, you couldn't see the food.

Oh, now...

- Oh it was lovely. - Oh I am glad.

The view!

All the walls are made of glass you know on that top floor, on the restaurant.

You could see right across the town.

From the muck heap at one end, to the muck heap at the other.

Go on. It wasn't like that at all.

You can see the moors up there. Sweeping away.

And rocks.

When the sun was setting you could see the light glinting on a little stream...

- It must have been miles away. - Yes, that's right.

And then when it got dark, all, all the lights came on

and you could see right up that valley.

Lines of lights, little clusters.

And a train. Just like a snake it was winding in and out.

I don't know. We've lived here all our lives, but never seen anything like that.

We skint our Colin, ain't that right?

I bet he won't come back up here in a hurry, I can tell you.

Champagne?

He's even got a bottle in the car.

Aye, we've still got space for a drop more.

- Oh not for me thanks. - Come on, we'll have another toast.

Ta.

Half way through the meal, restaurant full of people...

Mill owners, engineering managers,

leaders of our imports and experts.

Never done a hard day's work in their bloody lives.

He gets up...

- And goes round to every table. - What?

I'd like you to know he says...

That that lady and that gentleman over there

are my Mother and my Dad.

The finest mother and the finest father you ever saw.

- He said that? - At every table.

He went round to the entire place.

He did. I didn't know where to put myself.

If you want to do something...

which in years to come

you can recount to your grandchildren with pride

with a sense of achievement...

then get up off your backside and go over there and shake them by the hand.

What? He said that?

He did. I thought they'd throw us out.

Throw us out? They couldn't bloody well afford it.

Oh, now.

He hasn't been too discrete with some of his jokes tonight.

- A toast then. - A toast.

A toast, a toast.

- You top it up Steve. - I'm fine.

To the finest Mother and the finest Dad.

That these three sons have ever had.

To the finest Mother and the finest Dad.

Hey, you don't say it you daft nut.

- What? - It's you we're toasting.

Never lost the opportunity to take a glass.

She's right. I never have.

To the best wife, my love.

To the best wife in the land.

That's right.

The best wife that any man could wish for.

The best wife.

To the best family in the land.

The best family in the land.

To the best neighbour a man could wish for.

The best neighbour.

- Well I've damn well run out. - Allow me father.

We'll soon get through this stuff, eh?

- Come this time tomorrow. - Plenty more where this came from.

Oh no, I think I've had enough.

Well, perhaps just a little one then.

Go on. The sky's the limit.

Like the old days, Harry.

Like the old days. You're right there.

Shall I tell you something now?

Do you know how high it is where I'm working at present?

Thirteen inches.

- Can't be. - Thirteen inches!

He's right. The Rawcliffe seam.

If you so much as cough the whole damn roof will come in on top of you.

200 yards of rock above.

And the centre of the earth beneath.

You're no more than a piece of stone yourself.

Propped up on either side.

And you lie there with your belly shoved up against your throat.

Oh come now, we've just had our dinner.

They don't believe me, they don't.

I've often thought, I'd like to take her down.

Just the once, in all these years.

Just to show her what it's really like.

I've heard enough about it without having to find out.

Nay! You don't know.

Not unless you've been down.

You can have your life down there you don't get anywhere else.

And you really learn.

the meaning of what God's good protection is.

I tell you, you stuck me with a pin you wouldn't find any blood.

There'd just be a little trickle of coal dust come out.

He ought to come out you know.

While he's got two arms and two legs and a head to go with it.

They don't understand.

You've got your pride.

Damn it all!

You just can't walk out and leave it.

What? What's it all add up to?

Fifty years of good fortune.

How many men have you seen maimed and killed?

Yes... Yeah, well...

I'm not going to get morbid at this hour of the night. Come on Mrs. Burnett.

- Another little drop. - No. I ought to be going.

- Well perhaps just a little one. - She had a taste for it.

I saw it at a glance.

Once at Christmas. That's the only time I try.

And on occasions like this of course.

You'll remember them shelters during the war then do you?

A certain one I do. The largest hole you ever saw.

This lot, they won't remember it.

Remember it? We dug the bloody thing.

Went down, what were it?

Fourteen feet.

Opened it up, first night of the bombing, let her in.

- Swam around didn't you love? - Swam? I nearly drowned.

Calls himself a miner.

Ladies first. That's always been my motto.

Whole place full of water.

Frightened being bombed to death, end up being drowned.

Spent all the time in the cupboard underneath the stairs.

Many's the night we spent playing cards by the light of a candle.

With the sound of German bombers overhead.

I used to carry young Stevie out to watch.

I remember.

Rockets.

Thank god we reached the twilight, love.

- All in one piece. - In one piece.

That's right.

While the tempest still is high

Hide me oh my Saviour, hide

Till the storm of life is past

Safe into thy haven guide

Oh receive my soul at last

Remember Sunday school?

Crusading?

I was in St. Andrew's appropriately enough.

- He was in St. Peter's. - I remember.

- Each Saint, he had a different pew. - A different banners to each group.

St. Peter was a fish. Eyeballs like damn great saucers.

St. Francis, a bird.

With one leg and a beak, like a damn great parrot.

He was no artist, that's for sure, who painted those.

No.

Jamie, now.

He'd have gone down like a bomb.

He would.

You remember the night he died?

I do.

Woke her up, knocking at her door.

Aye, and I shall never forget it.

We were lying there in bed, when suddenly...

On the wall above there were...

Three damn great crashes, like a fist.

Bigger.

Like a damn great giant, shook the house.

Frightened us to bloody death.

- With Mrs. Burnett. she sat with us. - The rest of the night.

I could never work that out.

There was you two...

Never heard it.

Slept right through.

He died without any warning you know.

He caught a chill one night.

He were dead the next morning.

I'd have given owt to have saved that lad.

I've asked him a time or two to take me in his place.

I willed them.

Them bloody rocks to come down on my head.

He were a lovely lad.

Well...

I shall have to go to bed you know...

Falling asleep sitting here.

All this excitement.

Look at the time. I only came across to make up the fire.

I've left the light on and the door open.

- Want me to see you across Mrs. Burnett? - No, I'll manage on my own, thank you.

Leads you into puddles, when he's in these moods you know.

I'm so glad you've had such a good night, love.

- Thank you, love. - See you in the morning, all being well.

All being well, sleep tight.

I'll be gone now. Good night.

Good night Mrs. Burnett.

Good night love, and thank you.

It's been a lovely evening.

Good night, love.

- Good night Mother. - Good night, love.

I'll see you in the morning.

Good night and... Thank you all again.

Heads I sleep upstairs, tails you sleep down here.

- Right. - Tails. You sleep down here.

- Heads I sleep upstairs, tails... - Wait a minute.

If the destiny of 15,000 men rested in his hands you could fiddle him with a penny.

It's late. That's the only reason.

God bless our motor industry and all who crucify themselves inside.

Alright. Now hang on a minute, hang on a minute.

The shortest match sleeps down, right?

Stevie?

Not me.

Andy.

Me.

Well...

That were a damn fine night.

This time tomorrow, I'll be back down. Nights.

This is one I'll always remember.

I want you to know, that you've made your mother and me...

- Very proud. - Nothing of it.

We'll all be back here this time next year, don't you worry.

I might hold you to that and all.

You off up then Steve?

Aye.

Is Steve all right?

He's alright?

He don't look very well.

Works too hard.

Always put too much into everything he did.

He'll be alright.

I'll get off up.

- Good night. - Good night Dad. - Good night.

Don't make too much noise.

Your mother sleeps very light.

- A fiver. - What?

The bed.

Iron... They must have had this 20 years.

They haven't. I bought it for them only last year.

- The rest of the furniture too? - Just about.

- What about it? - Not likely.

You stingy sod.

No dependants. The money you earn. Won't give up five quid for a decent bed.

Not that, it's just the feeling of repugnance.

- Repugnance? - My brother selling me his bed

While not even his. For five pounds.

- Of course you could go in the car. - Or back the Excelsior.

Don't worry. I know your mentality.

The fact is, for me it's a privilege sleeping in this house.

A privilege? Are you alright?

Look...

I know what my mother and father have done.

And I don't give a sod for your bloody family analysis.

- Four pounds ten - No. - Alright then, I'll sacrifice.

- Four. - Nothing!

I'm sleeping here.

High pressure meetings in the morning.

I have as a matter of fact.

Tomorrow afternoon.

I don't know how they've managed without you.

Must be what? Ten hours since they saw you last.

You're getting undressed are you?

Not entirely, no.

I just can't make this out.

Only two years ago it seems,

you were running in through that door, little short trousers and a snotty nose.

I'm tired. I have to drive back and work tomorrow,

Yes, well, you're a busy man.

- I expect you've got a secretarial assistant. - Yes.

Don't you ever feel... you know...

- You could make a little progress with her? - She happens to be a man.

A man.

The assistance I require is not the sort that you imagine.

- There are any amount of women, pushing typewriters. - I see.

- On second thoughts, I think I might be safer upstairs. - Good, I'm glad.

Good night.

Shall I turn out the light?

If you don't mind. I'd be very grateful.

- Is anything the matter? - I forgot to say goodnight.

Good night.

- Three quid. - Goodnight.

- Two. - Good night. - Well, I hope it kills you.

One pound ten.

- Piss off. - Right.

Steve?

Steve?

Steve.

What?

Are you asleep?

Christ sake!

- Steve. - What?

He's at it again.

What?

Crying in his sleep.

- What's the matter with him? - How do I know.

Well, can't you wake him?

Alright. I suppose I'll have to.

- He may have drunk too much. - You must be joking.

It could be anything. Indigestion.

Alright then, you go, if you're so bloody efficient.

Perhaps you could negotiate some suitable compromise eh?

Let's say a whimper.

I can't hear anything.

Probably not.

Is this something you've just...

What are you doing?

I can't sleep up there, with that row going on can I?

It's all yours for nothing.

Now look here.

- Oh God there's somebody getting up. - Maybe they've seen him.

Hope it's me Dad.

Christ!

Better get the cards out, we'll be here all night. Where's that scotch?

- Bit more on the fire, we'll be all right. - Look, you better get up off there.

What's going on?

Colin's just off up. I've swapped him.

Need a spot of oil. Hear them springs, Christ.

- There's Steven. - Steven?

- I've just been in. - Sleeping?

Wind.

I've never heard a noise like it.

Look here Col, you'd better go up and have a look.

What?

I'll go. What d'he say?

Nothing.

Right, well...

Soon settle that, eh?

We can't have him saying nothing, can we?

Right.

Well...

He were awake.

His eyes were open.

When I bent over him he...

He shook his head.

He never cried as a baby.

D'you know that?

He only cried the once when...

He's coming down.

Dressing gown.

Would you believe it. Dreaming.

Wind.

That Steak Diane

Almost... almost made a complaint when I first saw it.

Did you see him put it in the pan?

- No. - Damn faded colour.

Bet they've had that in there for weeks, waiting for someone like us to come along.

Inexperienced. Uneducated.

What was yours?

- Tatare, steak. - Oh, that must have been very fresh.

- Going by the colour. Blood red. - Yes.

Steve's was the... rump wasn't it?

- Sirloin. - It could easily have been that.

- Wouldn't have minded having another look at them carrots. - Alright!

Alright, Steve?

Yes.

It's not Sheila is it?

No.

No.

It could be tonight. I mean, all the excitement.

It's been a very emotional evening for all of us in't it?

- What with that. - And that Steak Diane.

I think we've had enough.

You know your mother'd be very upset if she thought you were unhappy.

That's very true.

She would.

She would.

- Watch it. - What?

Watch it.

Look, I've just about had enough.

Your systematic bloody disparagement of

every bleeding thing inside this house.

Now look...

I don't know what's going on here...

But you keep your voices down. Your mother's asleep.

You've got any arguments, then...

- Well, save them till tomorrow. - Why?

What's she got to be protected from?

What?

- That goddess we've got up there... - Take no notice he's drunk.

- He doesn't know what he's saying. - Oh, he'd know, of course.

The supreme bloody sycophant.

The professional passer over, the shoddy, fifth rate, sycophantic whore.

Look... Look, you better get out.

Get out? I've never been in.

What?

This family.

Oh God!

Look...

Tears.

What the hell is he crying for?

You better get out.

Go on. Or I'll turn you out myself.

Dad. Wise up!

You've enshrined that woman in so much adoration that she's

well nigh invisible to you as well as she is to everybody else.

- What?... - You owe her nothing. What are you trying to pay off?

Better go. Go on.

I'll give you the keys. You can drive to the hotel.

I've got no money on me.

Here.

Are you actually aware of what you're doing?

- I'm protecting. - Protecting?

You're protecting nothing.

He's the one you want to kick out, you know. Him!

Him and that one way up yonder. That's made us all so bloody clean and whole.

It's envy, it's jealousy. Listen to nothing he's got to say.

Come on Steve.

You've heard it. You're not deaf.

What is it seething round inside that head of yours that causes you...

And look, my Dad to cry.

- I... - No... No rush, no hurry.

What's eating out your mind?

Nay Steve...

You mustn't.

God, I'll bloody kill you for this.

You mustn't, lad.

All I ever had was...

Every night I...

I hope she's listening.

I hope you're listening!

I hope in all sincerity that she can hear her sons

Her abject bloody lover commend her bloody souls to thee.

Dad, Dad.

Forty years. What chance have we ever had with that?

Go on Steve... tell him!

I'll bloody kill you for this. I'll bloody kill you.

Now, let's negotiate a settlement, Col.

40 years in my father's life, with a lady like my mother.

Conscientious, devout, sincere.

For getting her with child at the age of 18, 19, 20, I forget which.

On the back of which imprudence, we've been born. All our lives.

Labouring to atone, for her sexuality.

Labouring to atone for what? Labouring to atone.

When I think of all the books I've had to read.

The texts I've had to study, the facts I've had to learn.

The exams I've had...

With that vision held perpetually before me. A wife, a child, a home, a car.

A rug that didn't have holes in it. A pocket that never leaked.

I even married a rector's daughter. Christ! How good could I become?

The image of my life.

Of his life! Built up on that!

We are the inheritors of nothing. Totems!

While all the time, the godhead slumbers overhead.

You blame them for that?

Blame?

Blame. Good God no.

No blame. No bloody nothing.

No.

No.

Dad...

Dad. What was it?

What image did you have down there?

Crawling round every night.

Panting, bleeding,.

Blackened.

What world was it, you were hoping we would inherit?

Shut up!

For Christ sake, shut up!

These aren't your son,s old man.

I don't know what you see here?

These are nothing.

Less than nothing.

Washouts.

Has-beens.

Semblances.

A pathetic vision of a better life.

- I think you've said enough. - Enough?

Life measured out in motor cars. I'll stick one on your bloody tomb.

Dad.

Dad.

Fast asleep. Well, why not eh?

Steven...

Nothing.

Right.

Well, I'll go on up then.

Cheerio.

My God.

Dad.

Dad!

It's all right Dad. It's alright.

What there was happened?

Dad.

There's nothing I wouldn't do for you lads.

- You know that. - Aye. we do.

Trust the Shaws. Two minutes together and out it comes.

Fists all over.

I'll never forgive him for that.

I won't.

Dad... don't.

If your mother ever got to hear about this.

That'd tear her in two.

Dad...

Leave it.

Aye, I know.

You do too much Steve.

You've got to live your life as well as work.

Yes.

Well, you go to bed, eh, Dad.

- I could sleep down here. - What for?

You go on up.

- Don't you sleep with him up yonder. - Dad!

He was upset as well.

You let him lie up there alone.

Alright.

Now go on.

You get off.

Aye, go on Dad.

We'll be alright.

I hope she's not awake.

She won't be, don't worry.

- In the morning... - Don't worry.

We'll have that trouble maker out.

Aye.

Well... good night.

Good night, Dad.

Want a drink?

No.

I'll have one.

I'll have two, I think.

Christ!

Thanks for small mercies.

Me Dad.

Didn't understand a word.

- He's like a child. - Andrew?

Say that again.

Funny thing is...

the funny thing is, he raised us to better things.

But in his heart...

My Dad...

He despises even more than Andrew.

I mean his work actually has significance for him.

whereas the sort of work he's educated us to do is nothing but a pastime.

A sort of soulless stirring of the pot.

Good God.

What hope have any of us got?

Think I'll have another.

What actually do you do with it Colin?

I mean this feeling of disfigurement?

This crushing bloody sense of injury, inflicted as he says, by wholly innocent hands.

I better get up.

Have you... had any medical advice?

Some sort of guidance. I mean, Christ knows...

there's any amount of stuff nowadays.

If...

If we all thought like that maniac up yonder, we'd all be what?

- Artists, most likely. - Aye.

And I can just see the sort of art.

- First think in the morning, we must have him out. - Yes.

Are you OK then?

Sure.

Good night then, Steve.

Aye.

Good night.

I thought it would either be you or Steven. Trust Andrew.

Snoring his head off, in bed.

Fire's still going from last night, we were that late.

- D'you sleep alright? - Like a top.

Thank you love. It was a lovely night.

- Well, I'll call the others. - Well, I'll have a wash.

Andrew'll sleep all day if I remember.

- Dad! - I'm coming.

- Call the others. Tell them it's getting cold. - Aye, I will.

And what time do you have to be off by?

As soon as that one up there is ready.

He's wrecking his career. I suppose you realise that.

Aye, I do.

I don't know.

He was always wild.

Thought he took it very badly.

When Jamie died.

He was five years old was Andrew.

Of course I put him out with Mrs. Bennett when Steve was born.

- Why was that? - Nay love, to save me the work.

Saved my life, you did, you know.

We kept you at home. You were only two.

I don't think he's ever forgiven me, Andrew.

He was away six weeks.

He used to come to that door, asking to be let in.

I tried to explain to him.

If he'd been here, we'd have had a terrible time.

What with your Dad at work, and Steven.

Jamie.

Ah, well.

We all have our problems, love.

Oh, yes.

As you get older you find these things more and more work themselves out.

Right, that's right.

Dad!

- I'll have to tip it away in a minute. - Aye.

We're coming.

- And how's your work going. - Oh, very well.

Well, I didn't want to tell you about it until I was more certain.

Nay. Now you'll have to.

- Come on. - Well, its not finally settled, but...

Fairly soon now...

Come on.

I might be getting married.

- Well! - It's not all been agreed yet but it's,

on the cards.

Here, love. Let me give you a kiss.

Congratulations. I knew something was up. - Up?

Your mood you know. On top of things.

- What's she do? - A dentist.

A dentist!

I'll bring her up, or better still, you could come down.

Show you round the factory.

Well then...

Have you told your father?

No. No one.

After all these years. Going to take the plunge eh?

I thought you'd never get to it.

We thought you'd gone to work or something.

Nay, I were waking them up, upstairs.

Well, we have got some news for you.

- Are you feeling alright? - What news.

Nay. You've got to be in a proper mood to hear this.

I told you he had too much to drink last night.

I am in a proper mood.

I was telling my mother...

I might be getting married.

That's very good.

Aren't you going to say any more than that?

I'm very pleased.

Well, if that's all you've got to say.

Congratulations, lad.

I'm very pleased.

- When are we going to see her? - I were just saying...

I could bring her up, or you could come down.

Wait till the others hear this. This'll wake them up alright.

Morning, morning, morning.

- And a lovely day it is. - Oh, it is. He's right for once.

How is my old mater this morning eh?

- The apple of my eye. - I'm well, thank you.

I've been dreaming about you, I have.

I hope something pleasant for a change.

Oh, very pleasant. Very.

How are you, old chap, today?

Alright.

He has just given us some very wonderful news.

That's how well he's feeling.

Good God!

He can't be.

For one moment there... I thought he might be pregnant.

He is getting married.

Look at this. All dried up.

- Tea cold. - I must say! - Nay, mother.

- Leave' em too. - No, no. It's hot enough really.

I assure you.

So, when's this happy event going to take place then, eh, Col?

It hasn't been announced yet.

She hasn't started suing you yet then, eh, Colin?

No. Merely that it hasn't been announced.

Well, I hope she's one of us Col, not one of them.

- A dentist. - A dentist?

Good God!

I knew he's marry a sadist.

Formative experience. Can't beat it, every time.

This tastes very nice.

Good job you came up with the goods Colin.

My mother was beginning to get a bit worried.

She thought you might be one of those.

I thought nothing of the kind.

Well, you must have thought something.

All that time, you couldn't have been thinking nothing.

Well, I thought he was taking his time.

Taking his time? He been through half a dozen cars whilst we've been waiting.

I thought he'd given up the human race.

Look well if he'd fathered a string of shooting brakes.

and a line of two tone limousines.

You see it's well done, eh? Col, come up to scratch.

What did I tell you? Same as usual.

- What did you tell him? - Nothing.

- Except we might have expected something like that. - Oh, might you?

- I'm as predictable as that then am I? - Look...

- Can we just have our breakfast. - You don't have to defend him.

He's always been old enough to look after himself,

Now, that's right.

Ever since I was turned out, I've been able to look after myself.

- But you weren't turned out. - No, no.

Draw back into the fold, now, eh?

I remember.

Here's Steven.

Looking as bright as a Christmas penny.

Good morning, love. How are you?

Well, thanks.

Aren't you going to give your mother a birthday kiss?

41st year of marital bliss, we're moving into.

Colin's got an announcement to make.

Oh aye?

What's that?

Nothing calamitous, Steve.

Don't worry.

What he's trying to say, love...

I don't know whether you can tell,

but Colin here is going to get married.

Oh.

Galvanized him into action, look.

- Congratulations, Col. - Thanks.

I must say!

What's got into you all this morning?

I think it must be the atmosphere up here.

Industrial pollution.

It's noticeable, the moment you step off that train.

We'll be going in a few minutes.

As soon as that?

Important meetings. Destiny of the nation.

Steve and I can prop our feet up a little longer.

- Keep things ticking over. - I thought you were coming back with me.

I'm not leaving at this hour. Damn it all. I've only just got up.

If you were an artist, you'd understand these things.

As for me, you can stay all day. You know that.

We see so little of you.

You're very kind. And we appreciate it. Don't we lads.

I don't know...

Next time we have one of these...

I'll see you don't drink so much for a start.

Aren't you eating anything, Steve?

No... I.

- This tea's fine. - Well...

If that's all you're having, I might just as well start clearing away.

- Sorry... I'll give you a hand. - Thank you love.

Well, I'll... get my work things out.

What on earth's the matter with you?

You're not going to work, for what? Another ten hours yet.

The way you're looking, I think you ought to stay home another day.

I've told you before, once you start...

you just don't know how much you're drinking.

I've played one night.

I can't play another.

I think it'd be better Dad...

if you retired altogether.

My mother was saying before, it doesn't do any good,

all this digging, digging, digging.

- What you trying to dig out anyway? - Look!

I was just asking.

For his own good, Colin.

I'm not trying to dig out anything.

No. No, you'd be silly if you were, wouldn't you?

There's nothing down there is there? Except lumps of bloody coal.

Well I'll er... Go up and get dressed.

You are dressed.

- It's time I was leaving. - What on earth...

- Well, the trouble is Mother... - That's enough.

We had a little argument last night.

After you'd gone to bed.

One of the usual Shaw domestic tourneys.

Nothing to get excited about.

You were probably too replenished to hear our little contretemps.

But one or two people here, unless I'm very much mistaken,

got very worked up indeed.

What was all that about then?

You'd be very interested to hear, Ma.

Politics.

I should have thought you'd have all been on the same side.

What with your background and experience.

We are... We are.

Only Steve, unbeknown to us...

had some very unusual opinions to express.

And what opinions were those then Steve?

Nay, love. If you don�t want me to hear that's quite alright.

I'm broad minded enough I think, for most things.

That's what she says.

I appreciated what you said last night.

- Look I... - No!

Dad.

Judgments in certain situations come very easily to hand.

You've got to make a decision, sometimes, Steve.

- I've made my decision. - Decision!

- Steve! - I've made my decision.

You of course, can ignore it if you like.

But actually, I've made it.

- I too then have a choice. - Yes?

Vengeance is mine then,

I don't want you doing any damage here.

Here...

I don't want you doing any harm.

Harm.

Is it true, your father was a breeder?

A breeder?

- Of livestock, and the like? - Oh, yes.

- He had a few.. - Now look!

I remember...

- Kept them all in little pens. - Pigs. - That's right.

I remember you telling us, often.

Not dirty animals at all, unless their environment was allowed to become polluted.

- Yes, that's right. - He kept them very clean.

- Oh he did. He looked after them very well. - A habit.

What?

I say, a habit.

Cultivated by his daughter.

Look...

- Would you mind? - What?

- Warming up the engine. - What?

Go on then Col. Go on.

Well, I don't know.

- I've always said we were a funny family. - I think we are.

A family of comedians.

Clowns.

Excruciating tricks.

And all for your amusement, Ma.

- The drink's done him no harm at all. - No.

The harm that I was done, was done a very long time ago indeed.

Andy!

Remember when I used to cry outside that door: Let me in! Let me in!

Oh, now...

- Why wasn't it ever opened? Why? - Andy!

Why wasn't it ever opened, Steve?

Andy...

Why wasn't it ever opened, Steve?

Shall we dance?

Honestly, I don't know what we're all coming to.

Salvation.

I can feel it in my bones.

Well then. All up.

Thought I should have to come round and ring a bell.

We're on our way. About to take our leave.

The others, as you can see, are somewhat overwhelmed.

I too, have been, overrun.

Encapsulated.

Caught, well before my time.

I don't know.

It's some joke of theirs.

Left over from last night.

If you want a bit of fun, you know which house to come to,

Look...

I'll, just pop up.

I'm sorry you've got to go so soon, love.

They've all got their work to go to.

Except Andrew of course.

Always the sole exception.

- Men of the world. - That's right.

I wish I had my time to come over again, I do.

- The opportunities around them. - Right!

Well, then.

All set.

Buy a car like that, you think you'd have no trouble.

Yes.

Well then. Are you ready?

Steve's just packing his few things together.

Right.

- Goodbye Mother. - Bye then, love.

And I'm very pleased about, you-know-what.

- Mrs. Burnett. - Goodbye.

Goodbye, Dad.

Goodbye, lad. And congratulations.

Look after them, Mrs. Burnett.

They're very precious. Keep an eye on them you know.

She kept an eye on me at one time, when I was little.

- Never looked back since then. - I wouldn't claim any credit for that.

But I'll watch them.

- Goodbye Mother. - Goodbye then, love.

Bye, Dad.

Remember now when you're down that pit. Dig one out for me.

- Remember now. - I'll remember.

Right then. Best be off.

- Bye mother. - Bye, love.

And take care.

Aye, I will.

- Goodbye, Mrs. Burnett. - Goodbye.

Remember the future's all in front of you, Steven.

He's four of his own to remind him.

- Goodbye, Dad. - Goodbye, lad.

Give you a kiss and all, shall I?

Off again, then?

- After you. - No. Youngest first, always will be.

- After you, old pal. - Aye, right.

First time I've seen him without a shave.

Are you coming love?

No, Dad. You go.

Come on, Mrs. Burnett. We'll give them a shove off.

These big town lads will probably need it.

Bye, Dad.

Mind how you go.

Subtitles: Corvusalbus