Happy Valley Page #3

Season #2 Episode #1

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HAPPY VALLEY SERIES TWO. EPISODE ONE. GREEN SCRIPT. 11.

We see the instant shock and panic register on JOHN’s face.

(No-one else does, they’re all too preoccupied with their own

stuff).

AMANDA:

And it’s not just “what your mother

says”! Your dad says it as well!

BEN:

This is just sh*t, living here.

AMANDA:

What have I just said about

swearing?

AMBER:

Dock his pocket money!

BEN:

You’re just annoying, you. You

don’t even exist.

JOHN checks that nobody’s been that interested in him

checking his phone (no-one is) and as unobtrusively as he

can, he leaves the room.

AMANDA:

I don’t know why you can’t take it

in turns! We used to have a proper

system, and when people stuck to

it, it worked.

BEN:

We still have!

JACK:

It never worked, Mum.

BEN:

I don’t even want any tea.

AMBER:

Mum, when I’m sixteen can I get a

tattoo?

AMANDA:

No.

AMBER:

Well a monkey then.

BEN:

Do I have to have any tea? If I’m

not hungry.

HAPPY VALLEY SERIES TWO. EPISODE ONE. GREEN SCRIPT. 12.

Etc etc, but it was JOHN’s quiet, unobtrusive departure we

were interested in.

CUT TO:

EXT. JOHN’S HOUSE/STREET. DAY 1. 18.40

21 21

Panicking, irritated JOHN comes out of his house (anxious to

look casual) and looks up and down the road. Parked

discreetly just round a corner he sees a vehicle that’s

instantly familiar to him. As he approaches, the passenger

side window goes down, and across on the driver’s side, he

sees VICKY FLEMING (53, dressed smartly after a day in the

shop). Irritated, JOHN heads over.

VICKY comes across as needy rather than manipulative, and

this is perhaps what unnerves JOHN most; how flaky and

unpredictable she could be.

JOHN:

What’re you doing here?

VICKY:

I’ve phoned you sixteen times in

the last five days. I’ve left

messages, I’ve left texts, I’ve

JOHN:

You can’t come here.

VICKY:

I thought you’d died, I thought

you’d been in an accident.

(JOHN doesn’t respond to

that, he just wants her

to go)

You know, I don’t like doing this,

John, I don’t like coming here

threatening to knock on your door,

but if you don’t return calls or

answer messages, what do you

expect? People will read things

into things, you know. People

aren’t stupid.

JOHN:

Look. Work’s mad. We’re

understaffed. I’m doing fifteen

people’s jobs. I don’t even know

what week it is. You can’t be here. *

HAPPY VALLEY SERIES TWO. EPISODE ONE. GREEN SCRIPT. 13.

VICKY *

(she glances in the

direction of the house:

the biggest threat to her

happiness is the fact

that he might never leave

his wife and kids)

I’ve not seen you for three weeks!

Not properly. And then nothing!

Jack sh*t for five days.

JOHN:

You’re over reacting, you’re

reading too much into stuff.

VICKY:

Yes well people will.

JOHN:

Who are these people?

VICKY:

Me.

JOHN makes a concerted effort to calm himself down.

JOHN:

I should’ve rung, I should’ve

texted, I’m sorry.

VICKY:

As long as you’re okay. As long as

there’s nothing up.

JOHN:

I’m fine. Nothing’s up. I’m just

snowed under, that’s all. I’ll ring

you in the morning. All right?

First thing in the - well it’ll

probably be the afternoon.

VICKY lingers. She knows something is up. In her heart. But

she can’t bring herself to broach the matter any more

directly than she already has. Eventually she turns the car

engine over.

VICKY:

I’m missing you, that’s all. I love

you.

Words that might’ve once delighted him now fill JOHN with

dread. But we can only see it in his eyes, he can’t exhibit

it to her.

JOHN:

I’ll ring you.

HAPPY VALLEY SERIES TWO. EPISODE ONE. GREEN SCRIPT. 14.

She accepts that at face value (she so wants to believe it)

and pulls away in her car. JOHN watches her go, then glances

around to make sure no-one saw any of that. He looks haunted.

CUT TO:

22 INT. HOSPICE, HELEN’S ROOM. DAY 1. 19.31 22

CLARE, NEVISON and ANN sit with HELEN who is deeply

unconscious, pumped full of morphine, clearly in the last

stage of her illness. Flowers, cards, chocolates, fruit

everywhere. CLARE, NEV and ANN aren’t clustered awkwardly

around HELEN’s bed as per a normal hospital visit: they’ve

been obliged to make themselves at home here over the two

weeks that HELEN’s been in. We discover them lounging around

in silence, the conversation lapsed. ANN’s languidly studying

the menu from a huge box of chocolates. Eventually, venturing

to break the silence

CLARE:

Our Catherine had an exciting day

at work.

ANN:

Did she?

CLARE:

Yeah, she

(mouths it so HELEN

doesn’t pick up on

anything)

Found a dead body.

ANN and NEV are intrigued. The fact that this might have been

an insensitive thing to say doesn’t appear to occur to them.

NEV:

Well is that unusual? For a copper.

Isn’t it sort o’ thing they do

every day?

CLARE:

No, not really. To actually find

one. I don’t think she’s ever

actually found one before.

(then she mumbles selfconsciously

as she

remembers - )

Well... except when our Becky died.

And even then it was Richard

actually found her.

An ORDERLY appears at the door with an incredibly luxuriant

and well-stocked drinks trolley.

HAPPY VALLEY SERIES TWO. EPISODE ONE. GREEN SCRIPT. 15.

ORDERLY:

(discreet, cheerful)

Can I get anyone a drink? A gin and

tonic, or a glass of wine? I’ve got

a very nice rioja.

They all shake their heads and politely murmur “No

thanks/No/No thanks love”. The ORDERLY smiles and moves along

to the next room. Then back to the gossip

ANN:

Who was it?

CLARE:

(shrugs, shakes her head,

no idea)

I think it was so badly decomposed

they couldn’t even tell what sex it

was. Have you thought any more

about tomorrow?

ANN opens her mouth to speak.

NEV:

(at ANN)

I think you’re making a mistake.

ANN:

Yeah, we know what you think.

NEV:

You’re starting a new job, you want

your mind on it.

ANN:

(to CLARE)

This is the fella that didn’t want

me to join up. I’ve been training

for seven weeks, I just wanna

(to NEV)

get on with it.

CLARE:

They’d let you have compassionate

leave surely. If you wanted to

delay your start date.

ANN:

I don’t want to.

Obviously these voices aren’t raised, even if they’re

passionate. NEV gives CLARE a look: you can’t tell her

anything.

CUT TO:

HAPPY VALLEY SERIES TWO. EPISODE ONE. GREEN SCRIPT. 16.

23 INT. HOSPICE, VISITORS’ KITCHEN. DAY 1. 19.40 23

Ten minutes later. NEV and CLARE wait for the kettle to boil,

they’re making three mugs of tea.

NEV:

Body shuts down. T’doctor popped in

this aft. He said one by one, the

organs, they just... they give up.

He said it could be tomorrow, it

could be another week but you see I

just think she should be here. Not

for my sake, for her sake. I just

think it’s summat she might regret.

After. If she wasn’t here. When

t’time comes.

NEV has tears in his eyes. CLARE gets it.

CUT TO:

24 INT. HOSPICE, HELEN’S ROOM. DAY 1. 19.41 24

ANN, alone with her mother, also has tears in her eyes. She

gazes at her mother with so much love. But we also see in her

eyes a steely determination that she is going to start her

new job tomorrow, come hell or high water.

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