PEAKY BLINDERS II Page #3

The pub is wrecked. Tommy walks toward the door with Moss by

his side. They stop outside the door which has been blocked

by rubble.

MOSS:

It happened at exactly seven am.

Tommy peers up at the damage.

MOSS (CONT’D)

Nobody saw anything. Our patrols

were not in the area.

Tommy finds the wheel of a pram in the doorway and studies

it...

MOSS (CONT’D)

Mr Shelby, do you have any idea who

might have done it?

Tommy looks up sharply. He reaches into his pocket and

produces a roll of notes. He hands one to Moss.

TOMMY:

I would say it was something to do

with the gas. It’s just been

fitted.

Moss almost immediately takes the money. We might sense that

Moss is ashamed of himself. When we last saw Moss he was a

deadly enemy of graft and bribery. Two years later he is

taking Tommy’s money (we don’t yet know why). He puts the

note into his pocket without a word. Aunt Polly arrives,

stepping over broken glass...

MOSS:

Madam, the structure is not yet

declared safe...

Aunt Polly totally ignores him (he is on the payroll now).

She walks to Tommy with her hand cupped.

(CONT'D)

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14 CONT'D:
14

AUNT POLLY:

This is all over the street.

Tommy glances at Aunt Polly’s hand.

AUNT POLLY (CONT’D)

Confetti.

Tommy takes a pinch of charred confetti. He turns to Moss.

TOMMY:

Thank you. We’ll be alright now.

Moss almost touches his cap then turns and heads toward his

car. Tommy and Aunt Polly are left alone. Beyond kids are

playing and laughing in the debris. Tommy considers the

confetti. He dusts his hands.

AUNT POLLY:

Tommy, what?

Tommy looks around...

TOMMY:

I think this was somebody’s way of

inviting us to a wedding.

Tommy sets off to leave...

AUNT POLLY:

Who?

Tommy continues to walk and Aunt Polly calls out.

AUNT POLLY (CONT’D)

Tommy, who did this to us?

Suddenly...

15

INT. PENTONVILLE PRISON, CORRIDOR - HALF LIT - DAY 1 15

As if in answer to the question, we are close on a pair of

immaculately polished black brogues. A man walking down the

corridor with barred light coming from on high. He walks with

the aid of a black cane with a silver wolf-head handle.

For now we don’t see a face. Just a black bowler hat, a heavy

black coat and a set of heavy iron keys on a ring being

rhythmically spun around a large hand. The man uses the cane

as much for authority as support.

We see a hand unlocking a heavy door in the corridor. As the

door opens we hear the sound of a man yelling in despair...

16

INT. PENTONVILLE PRISON, PRISON CELL - DAY 1 16

A flurry of arms and legs, snarling and spitting.

(CONT'D)

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16 CONT'D:
16

Inside a bare cell a CONDEMNED MAN is sobbing and fighting.

A PRIEST in black robes and two prison officers are in

attendance.

There is also a middle aged man in a dark suit (THE GOVERNOR)

who is trying to calm the man and stop him fighting...

GOVERNOR:

You must reconcile yourself with

the fate that awaits and make your

peace with God...

The condemned man snatches his arm away and shoves the

priest. The guards step up and the man growls in a Northern

Irish accent...

CONDEMNED MAN:

I demand to speak to a

representative of His Majesty the

King!...

17 INT. PENTONVILLE PRISON, CORRIDOR - DAY 1 17

We hear the voice echoing from inside the cell...

CONDEMNED MAN (OOV)

..a representative of His Majesty

the King!!

The man in the black bowler hat approaches. Still we don’t

see his face. He wraps on the cell door with the silver wolf

head on his cane. After a moment the Governor emerges,

looking anxious.

The visitor removes his bowler hat and we see his face for

the first time, lit by barred light from a high window.

It is MAJOR CAMPBELL.

CAMPBELL (A HALF SMILE)

Someone here has business with the

King?

The Governor closes the cell door behind him and looks

Campbell up and down. He glances at the silver headed cane.

GOVERNOR:

Major Campbell?

Campbell nods gently.

GOVERNOR (CONT’D)

About f***ing time.

Campbell rides the emotion (it seems he was expecting anger)

and busies himself with tapping his pockets, looking for

something.

(CONT'D)

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17 CONT'D:
17

CAMPBELL:

Governor, I am a very busy man.

The Governor is furious and checks his pocket watch...

GOVERNOR:

In seven and a half minutes the man

in that cell is due to be hanged

for murder.

Campbell finds his pipe in a deep pocket.

GOVERNOR (CONT’D)

The murder of an Irish activist in

Whitechapel. Does the case ring any

bells Major Campbell?

Campbell looks mock dumbfounded as he finds tobacco.

CAMPBELL:

No Governor. I hear no bells.

Campbell seems to be amused as he fills his pipe. We hear the

condemned man yelling...

GOVERNOR:

Since yesterday morning he has been

claiming that the murder was

ordered by the British Secret

Intelligence Service.

Campbell chuckles as he finds his box of matches.

CAMPBELL:

It’s a little late to be coming up

with nonsense like that, don’t you

think?

GOVERNOR:

He was told if he kept his mouth

shut there would be a last minute

pardon. Which has not materialized.

CAMPBELL:

Forgive me Governor. What business

is this of mine?

The Governor looks Campbell up and down...

GOVERNOR:

He says the man who hired him was

an Intelligence Service Chief of

Staff.

Campbell takes out a match...

(CONT'D)

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17 CONT'D:
17

GOVERNOR (CONT’D)

An Ulsterman. Carries a cane with a

wolf head handle. A bullet wound in

his left shoulder.

Campbell lights his match on the wall...

CAMPBELL:

Still I hear no bells.

Campbell busies himself sucking the flame of his match into

the tobacco.

GOVERNOR:

Oh it was terribly easy to find you

Major Campbell. I consulted

colleagues in Whitehall. He’s ‘the

new broom’ they said. ‘Quite the

firebrand’.

Campbell gets lost behind a plume of smoke.

GOVERNOR (CONT’D)

You don’t even bother trying to

cover your tracks do you.

Campbell suddenly steps one pace forward and practically pins

the Governor physically against the wall.

CAMPBELL:

Governor, the Secret Intelligence

Service in this country operates

according to carefully defined

rules. Indeed, there is a charter.

He sucks on his pipe like an academic...

CAMPBELL (CONT’D)

But sometimes, especially when it

comes to the difficult situation we

have presently in Ireland, they are

rules which you might describe more

accurately as...

Campbell puts his face close.

CAMPBELL (CONT’D)

...‘guidelines’.

The Governor meets Campbell’s eye and speaks softly...

GOVERNOR (QUIETLY HORRIFIED)

The British Government. Using

criminals as political assassins.

CAMPBELL (STEAM ROLLER)

Governor, you have a very clearly

defined remit.

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