PEAKY BLINDERS II Page #4

(CONT'D)

PBII - Ep 1 - Steven Knight - SHOOTING SCRIPT - 20/02/14 p.14

17 CONT'D:
17

CAMPBELL (STEAM ROLLER) (CONT'D)

Part of that remit is to oversee

the smooth completion of executions

sanctioned by the Crown. In the

next four and a half minutes it is

your job to escort the man in that

cell...

Campbell uses his free hand to hammer on the cell door with

his fist.

CAMPBELL (CONT’D)

...to the gates of hell. And as a

fellow civil servant I would ask

that you do not interfere in the

work of other Government

departments.

The two men stare at each other, close up.

CAMPBELL (CONT’D)

And should you ever feel the desire

to discuss this matter with anyone

else...

Campbell hisses...

CAMPBELL (CONT’D)

Firebrand I am. And I know where

you live.

The locks on the cell door are being turned in response to

Campbell’s fist and Campbell lets the Governor go. The cell

door creaks open. A guard appears in the doorway. The

Governor is still reacting with shock.

The Governor takes a while to recover but finally nods his

head. The guard turns back into the cell...

GUARD:

Let’s go.

There is an ugly scrum inside the cell. The condemned man

begins to yell. Campbell fits his bowler hat back on his

head.

CAMPBELL:

Good day to you Governor.

He turns to leave. The Governor calls out...

GOVERNOR:

So now you go off to choose another

poor wretch to do your dirty work.

Campbell turns...

CAMPBELL:

Trust me. The next poor wretch is

already chosen...

PBII - Ep 1 - Steven Knight - SHOOTING SCRIPT - 20/02/14 p.15

18 INT. PEAKY BLINDERS HEADQUARTERS/BETTING SHOP - DAY 1 18

Frantic industry.

Smoke, voices, odds being yelled, money changing hands,

ticker tape machines chugging.

It is an echo of the moment when we were first introduced to

the betting shop in 1919 (the echo is deliberate) but now the

shop has been expanded and improved hugely.

A street door opens and Polly enters, shaking an umbrella.

She also has a small black silk bag. She walks through the

shop and we follow her as she leads us through the new world

of the Peakies.

The whole operation looks much slicker than when we left it.

The bare brick has been painted and the walls finished.

There are proper boards for runners and riders and lots of

telephones.

Among the staff we see some of the faces we know and some new

faces. There are more women working here now and they are

young and good looking and in positions of authority. They

wear loose clothes and smoke cigarettes like the men.

Through the smoke and activity, we see John in a large office

with glass partitions and doors. He has a typewriter and a

chalk board (and a gramophone player). He is waiting on the

phone for odds.

Beside John’s office is Arthur’s office but this is smaller

and unoccupied. Beside Arthur’s office there is a men’s

toilet and a women’s toilet.

But we dwell only briefly on the business we already know.

Within a few moments Jimmy Jesus walks through shot carrying

a heavy wooden crate. He is followed by his son, who is also

carrying a crate and then three other boys in their mid-

teens, all laboring under similar wooden boxes. Finn carries

a box too. (In time these mid-teens will become the next

generation and will feature soon).

As the boys march through the chaos of the shop we glimpse

words sprayed on one of the boxes. It reads ‘Rolls Royce-

Paint shop’.

Jimmy Jesus uses his box to open the door and sees Polly

walking by. He calls out...

JIMMY JESUS:

Polly? Do we know who did it yet?

PBII - Ep 1 - Steven Knight - SHOOTING SCRIPT - 20/02/14 p.16

19 INT. DOORWAY TO THE ANNEXE OF PEAKY BLINDERS HEADQUARTERS,

SPARES ROOM - DAY 1

19

We are half in the shop and half in the annexe. Through the

open door we see that the business has expanded into yetanother house. The interior has been knocked through to makea clear space of floorboards.

Lots of wooden crates are stacked in the empty space. Thereare large signs hanging from a wall. ‘Rolls Royce’,

‘Daimler’, ‘Austin’ and the boxes are stacked beneath the

signs in rows.

Polly slows and looks through the open door as shereplies....

AUNT POLLY:

Tommy says to say it was gas untilwe know.

Jimmy nods and walks on into the room. Polly watches theprocession of crates pass by into the annexe with a sour

look.

AUNT POLLY (CONT’D)

We’re making no bloody money out ofthis.

Jimmy calls out from inside the room.

JIMMY:

Tommy says automobiles are thefuture.

Polly watches Finn, the last in line walk by and she tickleshim under the arm to make him react.

AUNT POLLY:

Tommy says a lot of things.

Doesn’t mean they’re true.

Jimmy and his boys now march out the way they came pastPolly. The pace picks up again as Polly follows anddisappears into the betting shop...

20 INT. PEAKY BLINDERS HEADQUARTERS/BETTING SHOP - DAY 1 20

Aunt Polly walks fast through the betting shop.

her and leaps to his feet. He catches her up...

John sees

JOHN:

Pol. Did he say who did it?

AUNT POLLY:

He’s gone to the Black Lion.

Aunt Polly walks toward a heavy door.

(CONT'D)

PBII - Ep 1 - Steven Knight - SHOOTING SCRIPT - 20/02/14 p.17

20 CONT'D:
20

JOHN:

On his own?

AUNT POLLY:

He does everything on his own.

Aunt Polly has taken out a key and unlocks the heavy door.

They both go through into...

21 INT. SHELBY HOME, PARLOUR - DAY 1 21

...the parlour of the house. Peace.

The border between the home and the business end of things is

still as abrupt, but there is a solid and secure door now.

We will find that the house has been ‘improved’ too, to the

point where it couldn’t contain another ounce of brass or

gold or horse harness.

Aunt Polly locks the door to the betting shop behind her.

The sound of the chaos disappears. Near to the betting shop

door there are five large safes, all of different makes, with

combination locks. The glossy pain on the safes glistens.

Aunt Polly goes to the largest of the safes. John is anxious.

JOHN:

Should I go to the Black Lion?

AUNT POLLY:

No.

JOHN:

Where’s bloody Arthur?

AUNT POLLY:

Protecting the Garrison’s stock of

whisky from the police.

Aunt Polly begins to feed in a combination.

JOHN:

Pol, it’s like things are getting

out of hand.

AUNT POLLY:

So get ‘em in hand.

Aunt Polly opens the safe and puts the diamonds inside. We

glimpse lots of other silk bags. She closes the door and

spins the combination.

JOHN:

This morning, Ada said we all look

like we work in a factory under the

ground. She said we look like

ghosts.

(CONT'D)

PBII - Ep 1 - Steven Knight - SHOOTING SCRIPT - 20/02/14 p.18

21 CONT'D:
21

Aunt Polly straightens.

AUNT POLLY (CERTAIN)

She’ll be back.

JOHN:

When?

AUNT POLLY:

When she needs us.

JOHN:

And anyway, who the f*** would blow

up our pub?

AUNT POLLY:

That’s six.

Aunt Polly’s stare makes John shrink a little...

JOHN:

Six what?

AUNT POLLY:

Six questions since I walked

through the door.

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