Line of Duty Page #5

FLEMING:

You wanted to see me, sir?

HILTON:

You’ve been here, what, 6 weeks,

Kate?

FLEMING:

A month, sir.

HILTON:

There’s a crime number, DCI Gates’s

double-arrest outside a cafe in

Kingsgate.

FLEMING:

I processed the arrests, sir.

HILTON:

(Shows file.)

Robbery, assault with weapon with

intent to rob, possession of

prohibited weapon, resisting

arrest, all times-two.

FLEMING:

Yes, sir.

HILTON:

Two offenders, but only one knife --

you see my point, Kate? -- they

didn’t both use a knife.

(MORE)

"Line of Duty" Episode 1 Shooting Script 18.08.11 26.

HILTON (cont'd)

There was an opportunity here with

one of the offenders to miss out

the knife altogether.

FLEMING:

I took the view they were both

involved, sir.

HILTON:

Divisional commanders are on notice

to reduce knife crime. They say

Hillside Lane have already achieved

5 per cent.

(Offers her the file.)

FLEMING:

You want me to recrime it, sir?

HILTON:

It’s not my policy to intercede in

individual offences.

(Passes her the file with

a sly look.)

CID has an unacceptable detection

rate. Your case this morning is a

prime example.

FLEMING:

The multiple domestic burglaries?

HILTON:

We pursue two out of three reported

crimes. We down-process anything

that won’t quickly lead to an

offender.

FLEMING:

Are you ordering me to put it on

the back-burner?

HILTON:

You’re not the new girl any more,

Kate.

He holds his look on her. She looks bitter.

CUT TO:

1/51 INT. CID/TO-20. MOMENTS LATER. DAY 4.

Fleming slumps down at her desk in CID. A shoestring budget’s

been stretched to the limit to provide scuzzy desks, cheap

phones, out-of-date IT etc.

"Line of Duty" Episode 1 Shooting Script 18.08.11 27.

DC DEEPAK Kapoor (late 20s, Asian) strolls past her carrying

a tray of posh takeaway coffee. He enters an area divided off

by a glass partition signed TO-20. It’s like another world --

gleaming new kit, detectives in designer suits.

Inside are Gates, DETECTIVE SERGEANT MATTHEW “Dot” Cottan

(early 30s) and DETECTIVE CONSTABLE NIGEL MORTON (late 40s,

uses walking stick), shuffling through case files.

MORTON:

Officer of the Year isn’t enough

for the boss. He’s after the

middleweight title.

Laughter. Gates throws a combination. Laughter.

COTTAN:

I heard they gave you more than a

free breakfast.

Cottan gestures a hand-job/blow-job. Laughter, while Kapoor

distributes the coffees.

MORTON:

Ta, Deepak.

COTTAN:

Cheers, mate.

Fleming watches. Gates sees her and turns away aloofly.

Cottan takes the next case file off the top of the pile

COTTAN:

ABH. Alcoholic IP -

Morton imitates a buzzer that ends an act on a talent show.

COTTAN:

-- doesn’t remember a thing about

the offender except he might’ve

been called “Pete”.

KAPOOR:

Brilliant.

COTTAN:

No other witnesses.

GATES:

Twist.

Cottan chucks the file on a tall pile and takes the next.

"Line of Duty" Episode 1 Shooting Script 18.08.11 28.

COTTAN:

Car-jacking. CCTV showing

registration plates; reliable

witnesses.

GATES:

Aggravated vehicle-taking, going

equipped to steal, causing danger

to road users, criminal damage,

affray, putting people in fear of

violence.

MORTON:

It’s a full house, boss.

KAPOOR:

Nice one.

COTTAN:

Stick.

That file goes on a short pile. Cottan takes the next one.

COTTAN:

DOA found by dog-walker early this

morning, side of the road.

MORTON:

Bound to be a hit-and-run. Turf it

to Traffic, boss?

GATES:

(Edgy. Beat.)

Where was the body found?

COTTAN:

Edge Park.

(Looks it up.)

Back road off Millionaires’ Row.

GATES:

(Beat.)

Twist.

Cottan chucks it on the tall pile and reaches for the next

file.

But Gates’s eyes stay on the DOA file -

-- a photo clipped to the front

-- a middle-aged Asian man, his corpse crumpled in the verge.

CUT TO:

"Line of Duty" Episode 1 Shooting Script 18.08.11 29.

1/52 OMITTED 1/52

1/53 EXT. EDGE PARK. LATER THAT MORNING. DAY 4. 1/53

A back road in the vicinity of a well-to-do area.

Gates gazes at the body of the middle-aged Asian man lying

crumpled against the foot of the hedge. Gates looks like his

whole world has caved in.

A police traffic patrol vehicle blocks the road, engine off,

lights flashing. A uniformed Traffic officer takes a

statement from a distressed late-middle-aged middle-class

woman holding a dog on a lead; a female Traffic Officer, PC

Powers, approaches Gates.

DOG WALKER:

Can’t someone take him away?

TRAFFIC OFFICER:

I’m sorry, madam, our Forensic

Scene Investigators haven’t clocked

on yet.

POWERS:

There was a Range Rover abandoned

in a lay-by about half a mile down

the road. The owner reported it

stolen last night. Signs at the

property suggest they put a rod

through the window to fish up the

keys.

GATES:

Witnesses, CCTV?

POWERS:

Not a dicky bird, sir. Just this

woman walking her dog.

GATES:

What about the DOA?

POWERS:

No ID on his body.

A bird flutters down towards the body -- Gates shoos it away.

POWERS:

Any reason for the interest, sir?

"Line of Duty" Episode 1 Shooting Script 18.08.11 30.

GATES:

We got a tip-off it might be

connected to one of our

investigations.

POWERS:

Is it?

Gates hasn’t made up his mind yet.

CUT TO:

1/54 INT. KINGSGATE. GATES’S CAR. LATER THAT DAY. DAY 4. 1/54

Gates wears a pensive expression as he pulls up sharply

alongside a line of parked cars on a busy high street.

Jackie jumps out of her roadster and into the passenger seat.

Gates pulls away quickly.

JACKIE:

Tony -

GATES:

You didn’t kill a dog. You killed a

man.

JACKIE:

Oh, my God, oh, my God ...

He momentarily softens. He reaches out and grips her hand.

Then returns it to the steering wheel to make a hard left.

GATES:

You go to a station today. You tell

them exactly what you told me.

JACKIE:

Tony, I can’t -

GATES:

Yes you bloody can, Jackie! A man

is dead. That’s one problem -

covering it up is a whole bigger

one. You understand me?

Gates makes another hard left, accelerating on quickly. She’s

anguished, conflicted.

GATES:

YOU UNDERSTAND ME?

"Line of Duty" Episode 1 Shooting Script 18.08.11 31.

JACKIE:

Yes, Tony, yes!

GATES:

You tell the fewest lies possible

but you say you panicked and now

you want to come clean. Got it?

JACKIE:

Tony -

GATES:

GOT IT?

JACKIE:

Okay, Tony, okay.

He makes a third hard left, completing a tour round the block

back into the high street where he picked her up.

GATES:

Don’t call me, and don’t bottle it

-I’ve put the case right where I

can keep an eye on it.

He brakes hard alongside her roadster. She gets out and he

speeds on, his face a grim mask.

CUT TO:

1/55 INT. CID/T0-20. LATER THAT DAY. DAY 4. 1/55

Kapoor dumps the big pile of cases on a desk.

KAPOOR:

Sorry.

Exit Kapoor.

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