Luther Page #6

Season #1 Episode #1

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LUTHER:

Am I wrong?

REED:

You’re not wrong.

Teller enters. Reed returns to his own work.

RIPLEY:

There’s really nothing we can find to

charge her with?

TELLER:

Such as? Being a space oddity?

LUTHER:

Such as, she killed them.

LUTHER by NEIL CROSS Episode 1 Page 29.

TELLER:

Right now - she’s little girl lost.

We’ve got no real motive.

LUTHER:

She hated her parents.

TELLER:

Seriously, who doesn’t? There’s no

forensics, no witnesses. Timeline

alone gets it laughed out of the CPS.

LUTHER:

You saw her in there! It excites her,

that we know she did this.

TELLER:

So prove it. Bring me something of

substance. Find me the gun, put it in

her hand. Until then - cut her loose

and take her home.

50 INT. SCU, INTERVIEW ROOM - NIGHT 3 - 18.49 50

Alice looks up as Luther enters.

LUTHER:

Thanks for your help. You’re free to

go.

She smiles, stands. Perfectly composed. Walks to the door.

Luther steps aside. Instead of leaving, she steps up to him.

Very close. Very intimate.

ALICE:

I enjoyed our chat.

LUTHER:

Me, too.

ALICE:

You’re very interesting. I might

decide to keep you.

Luther breaks eye contact and steps aside.

Alice walks away. Luther follows with his eyes. Troubled.

51 EXT./INT. LUTHER’S CAR - NIGHT 3 - 21.16 51

Luther drives. Watching the city go by.

51A EXT./INT. POLICE CAR - NIGHT 3 - 21.32 51A

Alice in back of a police car. Watching the city go by.

LUTHER by NEIL CROSS Episode 1 Page 30.

52 EXT. LUTHER HOME - NIGHT 3 - 22.21 52

Luther walks from his car to the door.

53 EXT. ALICE’S PLACE, MAIN ENTRANCE - NIGHT 3 - 22.21 53

Alice walks to her door.

54 INT. ALICE’S PLACE, HALLWAY/LIVING ROOM - NIGHT 3 - 22.22 54

Alice lets herself in. Closes the door. The flat is graceful,

austere, almost Japanese. Except for the walls, which are hung

with FRAMED IMAGES FROM THE HUBBLE TELESCOPE - both gorgeous

and forbidding:
VAST GALAXIES, EXPLODING STARS. The only human

images are ALBERT EINSTEIN and ROBERT OPPENHEIMER.

She enters the LIVING ROOM. Looks at the emptiness. Takes

comfort from it.

55 EXT. LUTHER HOME - NIGHT 3 - 22.23 55

Luther rings the bell. He’s agitated. He waits there for a

moment. Then Zoe answers the door. Doubly devastating in an

evening dress.

LUTHER:

Wow! New dress!

(realising it’s not for his

benefit)

Oh - you had a dinner. Of course. You

look nice!

ZOE:

Come in.

56 INT. LUTHER HOME, LIVING ROOM - NIGHT 3 - 22.24 56

Luther follows her into the living room. She doesn’t sit. Just

picks up a glass of wine - not her first - and stands there,

anxious and tense.

LUTHER:

What’s wrong?

ZOE:

You look tired.

LUTHER:

I’m all right. What’s the matter?

ZOE:

John, I know what you came here to

discuss. But before you say anything,

you need to know: I met somebody.

LUTHER:

I’m sorry?

LUTHER by NEIL CROSS Episode 1 Page 31.

ZOE:

I met someone.

LUTHER:

What do you mean? Met who?

ZOE:

I met someone.

LUTHER:

Who?

ZOE:

Someone.

LUTHER:

What do you mean? When?

ZOE:

A while ago.

LUTHER:

Who?

ZOE:

It doesn’t matter.

He stands there, stunned. Trying to work it out, work it

through.

LUTHER:

Of course it matters. Are you sleeping

with him?

ZOE:

Yes.

He’s wounded, stunned, helpless. He paces the floor as if

seeking escape - an outlet - but there’s none -

-until he explodes with rage - kicks the door - shatters the

panels - punches the door - once, twice - and again - and again

- finally RIPS IT FROM ITS HINGES and Stops.

Sees Zoe. Looking at him. Not with anger, not even fear - but a

sadness that is unendurable.

ZOE:

Just go home, John.

LUTHER:

This is my home.

Long beat.

ZOE:

No.

LUTHER by NEIL CROSS Episode 1 Page 32.

Luther exits. Zoe picks up her mobile phone and dials.

ZOE:

Ian, it’s Zoe.

57 EXT. LUTHER HOME - NIGHT 3 - CONTINUOUS 57

Luther crosses to his car. He gets in. Sits. Lost.

SCENE 58 - 59 INCLUSIVE OMITTED

60 INT. BAR - NIGHT 3 - 23.48 60

A late night bar. Almost deserted. Luther drinks in silence,

toying with his wedding ring. Finally he removes the ring andpockets it.

Reed enters, signals the barman for a drink and sits downbeside Luther in companionable silence. A beat.

LUTHER:

Are you going to say anything?

REED:

Anything you’d like me to say?

LUTHER:

Nope.

REED:

Then why say it?

Luther nods. Drinks.

60A SCENE 60A OMITTED 60A

60B INT. ALICE’S PLACE, LIVING ROOM - DAY 4 - 06.55 60B

Alice drinks coffee, watches 24 HOUR NEWS. Bored, she turns off

the TV. Goes to her laptop.

ANGLE ON THE SCREEN: A RAPID-FIRE COLLAGE AS -

She Googles JOHN LUTHER + POLICE. Flicks through MULTIPLE

HEADLINES about Luther’s arrest of HENRY MADSEN: SERIAL KILLER

MADSEN “MAY HAVE KILLED MORE” - MADSEN “MAY NEVER WAKE” FROM

ARREST COMA...MADSEN DETECTIVE SUSPENDED IN “TORTURE”

INQUIRY...MADSEN INQUIRY CLEARS DETECTIVE...

She focuses on a TEXT FRAGMENT reading “DETECTIVE JOHN LUTHER,

38”. Googles WWW .GRO.GOV.UK. Pulls up LUTHER’S MARRIAGE

CERTIFICATE. On which is listed HIS WIFE - ZOE GILLIAN LUTHER,

NEE CORNELL.

SHE GOOGLES ZOE GILLIAN CORNELL . FINDS A LEEDS UNIVERSITY

ALUMNUS WEBSITE - ZOE CORNELL, HUMANITARIAN LAW. She Googles

ZOE LUTHER + HUMAN RIGHTS + LONDON. Arrives at the website of

FORD AND VARGAS.

LUTHER by NEIL CROSS Episode 1 Page 33.

Prints it all off. Begins to read. MADSEN “MAY NEVER WAKE” FROM

ARREST COMA.

She smiles. Sips coffee. The sun coming up.

61 EXT. BAR, STREETS - DAY 4 - 07.41

Reed and Luther step out, wincing in the DAYLIGHT. Luther

straightens his tie. He’s been in these clothes since we met

him. He looks like he’s been awake since Christmas.

REED:

Where you going?

LUTHER:

You ever get a song stuck in your

head? It goes round and round?

REED:

T’Pau. China in Your Hand. Deep

strangeness, that song. High

weirdness.

LUTHER:

So I keep thinking. She’s a narcissist

She needs constant recognition, needs

to exaggerate accomplishments. How

does somebody like that keep secret

the best, the most perfect thing she

ever did?

REED:

You don’t need to be thinking about

Alice Morgan right now.

LUTHER:

Why? What do you suggest I think

about. Henry Madsen? My wife?

REED:

I dunno. Normal stuff. Breakfast.

LUTHER:

Thing is, the way Alice sees it, the

world is full of people who’ve

offended her, embarrassed her, let her

down - and those people deserve to be

punished. She got away with it once.

She’s already eyeing her next victim.

And she won’t stop until somebody

stops her.

REED:

So be patient. Build a case.

LUTHER:

There is no case! She didn’t leave

one. She didn’t leave anything.

LUTHER by NEIL CROSS Episode 1 Page 34.

REED:

Then what are you thinking?

LUTHER:

She’s compelled to impress - people ingeneral, but right now me inparticular. She needs to show me howbrilliant she is. She needs to be

admired.

REED:

And -?

LUTHER:

I give her what she needs. Then takeit away. Make her angry. See howcareless it makes her.

He walks off.

REED:

John LUTHER

What?

REED:

Slow down.

Luther just gives him a look. Shrugs. Walks off.

61A INT. PET CREMATORIUM - DAY 4 - 07.55 61A

The Morgans’ dog being wheeled on a gurney.

61B INT. PET CREMATORIUM, INCINERATOR - DAY 4 - 07.55 61B

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