From Darkness Page #8

He rolls over to look not quite at her yet but at the

ceiling.

NORRIE:

He?

CLAIRE:

John.

He turns his back again, pulls the covers around him.

NORRIE:

You two were partners.

CLAIRE:

He was my DS. I...

NORRIE:

Translate for the plebeian

please.

FROM DARKNESS EPISODE ONE

CLAIRE:

Detective Sergeant. I was a rank

below him. He sort of mentored

me.

She feels NORRIE’s dissatisfaction with that.

CLAIRE (CONT’D)

It’s history, ancient history.

BEAT. She looks at him smiles. Moves a little closer.

CLAIRE:

All part of some dark, dismal and

quite frankly boring past that I

have no intention of going back

to ever again. Now can we talk

about something else please?

Norrie...?

BEAT. He looks at her but doesn’t budge.

CLAIRE (CONT’D)

If the mountain won’t come to

Muhammad. Then Muhammad-

She rolls she sits on top of him. He looks at her.

NORRIE:

Who are you calling a mountain?

She smiles.

NORRIE (CONT’D)

I thought you were knackered.

CLAIRE:

I was... Then you started doing

that whole pouty plebeian thing.

He laughs. She smiles and goes to kiss him but NORRIE stops

her, just looking at her for a minute.

CLAIRE (CONT’D)

I love you.

NORRIE:

Good.

She kisses him.

41 INT. JOHN’S HOUSE, KITCHEN - NIGHT 3 (23:31) 41

ON JOHN - staring at the TV screen. It’s late and he has

files on the kitchen table, a bottle of wine and a large

bag of crisps. ON TV LOLA’s pre-recorded appeal is playing

(she stands being interviewed outside the crime scene

tent).

FROM DARKNESS EPISODE ONE

LOLA (ON TV)

Due to the length of time the

bodies have been in the ground

and the violent nature of the

crimes we have yet to establish a

positive identification.

JULIE comes in.

JOHN:

You’re in late.

JULIE:

I had my meeting.

She sits the crisps back up so they don’t just spill out of

the bag. Sees him looking at her completely unaware of what

meeting.

JULIE (CONT’D)

I told you this morning. Martin

Wallis. Chief Executive of MW

Action. I met him at the Gala

evening.

He half acknowledges this but looks back to the TV: adding

with the kind of interest 18 years of marriage gets you.

JOHN:

Go well?

But as he asks he automatically picks up the remote and

increases the volume to listen to what the boss is saying.

LOLA (ON TV)

We are appealing for anyone who

thinks they may have links to the

victims to come forward to the

police with information.

BEAT. JULIE looks at him, taking in that disinterest then

looks to the TV.

JULIE:

You wonder sometimes if it’s

worth it. 16 years. Might just be

better to leave things be.

JOHN:

Let sleeping dogs lie?

He glances at her.

JULIE:

There’s enough now that needs

sorting.

FROM DARKNESS EPISODE ONE

LOLA (ON TV)

Anyone who had or has contact

with any girls who were working

in this area at the time...

JULIE:

Anyway, who’d want to find out

that’s what happened to their

kid.

She gets up.

JULIE (CONT’D)

Maybe some questions are better

left unanswered.

LOLA (ON TV)

...particularly the friends or

relatives of any girls believed to

have gone missing.

She touches his shoulder...

JULIE (CONT’D)

Don’t stay up too late.

She heads upstairs. JOHN turns to see her disappearing and,

once out of sight, can’t help but check his mobile for

messages - nothing. He picks up the glass and drinks,

turning back to the TV.

We hone in on THE BOSS...

LOLA (ON TV)

Sixteen years is a long time...

42 INT. STATION, INCIDENT ROOM - NIGHT 3 (23:33) 42

We pull back from the appeal and see that it is playing on

a screen next to BOYCE who hardly takes it in as he

continues to sift through hours of OLD CCTV footage.

Another late worker leaves their desk in the background.

LOLA (ON TV)

But there must be people out

there...

A WOMAN has just been picked up by a punter in a car. He

tries to hone in on it but just as we get near to seeing

faces/registration plates a WHITE LORRY drives past

obscuring the view.

43 I./E. LORRY, MOTORWAY LAY-BY - NIGHT 3 (23:34) 43

A WHITE LORRY sits in a lay-by at night, being buffeted by

the other traffic - mainly freight and haulage that screams

past in close proximity.

FROM DARKNESS EPISODE ONE 37

Inside the cab we see the lights on, a warm glow from fairy

lights. And a TV. The BOSS’ APPEAL playing on it.

LOLA (ON TV)

...with information still.

THE DRIVER whose face we can not see gets into his sleeping

bag and stretches out on the seat - first having to move a

pile of pornographic magazines.

LOLA (ON TV) (CONT’D)

So please come forward. No matter

how small, no matter how

insignificant that information

might appear to be...

44 INT. LUCY’S BEDSIT - NIGHT 3 (23:35) 44

On the appeal, we pull out this time to see a WOMAN (LUCY

MAXLEY) in her late thirties sat watching an old TV.

LOLA (ON TV)

All calls will be dealt with in

the strictest of confidence. So

ring the information line please.

As she watches silent tears pour down her otherwise

completely static face, her eyes lost in what she is

watching. In her trembling hand, we see that she is

clutching the phone - seemingly about to call the number up

on screen but she seems to have frozen mid action.

45 SCENE CUT - CONTENT HAS BEEN MOVED TO SC46 45

46 INT. PEEP SHOW, BACK STAGE - NIGHT 3 (23:37) 46

Close to the TV screen we see cameras flash as LOLA

finishes her appeal and questions begin. The journalists

all calling to get her attention.

JOURNALIST (O.S)

Do you think you’ll find more

bodies? If the murderer’s still at

large...

ON LOLA as she takes a deep breath.

JOURNALIST (O.S)

...do they still pose a risk?

LOLA (ON TV)

These crimes were committed

sixteen years ago. Nevertheless

we can not discount the

possibility... that the murderer

could still be active. Any

information, any suspicions

please come to the police.

FROM DARKNESS EPISODE ONE 38

The TV is sat on a table at the side of a dingy little room

with no natural light. On a plastic chair in the centre of

the room, sits AGOTA CALGYS (LATVIAN, 19) hunched over her

English Grammar Verb Tense homework with a look of

concentration and effort on her face as she learns, iPod

shuffle headphones in.

ENGLISH LESSON PODCAST

To be - Present, Past, Future. I

am...

AGOTA:

(murmuring to

herself/learning)

I am...

ENGLISH LESSON PODCAST

I was.

AGOTA:

I was.

ENGLISH LESSON PODCAST

I will be...

As she learns, AGOTA bites her nails. Suddenly she realises

what she’s doing and looks down at her nails, dissatisfied

with herself. She reaches to the little table and picks up

a bottle of STRENGTH AND GROW (ANTI-NAIL BITING LACQUER)-

applies some to her fingers as she half glances at the TV.

AGOTA:

...I will be.

Her mobile beeps. She picks it up, opens a text, a troubled

look passes over her face as she reads it then a small RED

LIGHT flashes on the plyboard wall and a little letter box

slit half way up the wall starts to open. AGOTA puts down

her mobile and stands. Stepping out of view, a dressing

gown is placed on the plastic chair, and she goes. We

loiter:
on her gown, text books, pencil case, doodled note

pad, nail-biting treatment, childish cheap mobile bearing

that text:
I’M OFFERING YOU FREEDOM. YOUR CHANCE TO ESCAPE,

before cutting to...

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