The Missing

1 EXT. LEICESTER SCHOOL. PLAYGROUND - DAY 3 1

It’s lunch break, and a mass of children are running around,

playing football, laughing, and generally letting off steam.

A shrill whistle. A TEACHER waves them in and the pupilscollectively start to make their way back inside. And slowlythe concrete area is emptied.

When they’re all inside, we PAN BACK - a way away - rightover to the back of the playground. Past some trees lies theschool wall. And here, behind a clump of oak trees, standsYOUNG ALICE (around 11). Awkward and overweight with agoth/emo vibe about her. A bag’s slung over her shoulder and

she’s smoking a cigarette, lost in thought. A small boy,

YOUNG MATTHEW, approaches (around 8/9). She doesn’t hearhim. He looks at something on Alice’s wrist, which she’sstaring at, lost in thought. A tattoo of a spider’s web.

It’s crude, all in black. Definitely not professionallydone.

YOUNG MATTHEW:

I still can’t believe Dad didn’t

kill you for doing that.

Alice jumps - surprised to see him there.

YOUNG ALICE:

Bloody hell, midget, you shouldn’t

creep up on people.

YOUNG MATTHEW:

Did it hurt?

YOUNG ALICE:

Not really.

YOUNG MATTHEW:

Can I have one?

YOUNG ALICE:

No.

YOUNG MATTHEW:

Mum and Dad are going to kill you

if you keep bunking off.

(beat)

Is Sally Cranham picking on you

again?

Alice sighs, annoyed.

YOUNG ALICE:

Just go away.

She starts walking off through the trees. Matthew watchesher go then heads over to the fence, pulling open a smallarea that has come loose. He wriggles underneath it, backinto the playground.

THE MISSING II EP 1 FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 20/07/16 2.

2 EXT. MILITARY CAMP - LATER - DAY 3 2

YOUNG ALICE sneaks past a sign that reads “WELCOME TOECKHAUSEN, HOME OF THE 14th ARMOURED BRIGADE”. A convoy of

military vehicles are heading up the road as she ducks intothe woods.

3 EXT. ROAD - LATER - DAY 3 3

YOUNG ALICE makes her way down an empty road. She’s smoking,

lost in the music playing through her headphones. From aWIDE, a way back, we see a yellow VW campervan roll into

view behind her. It slows briefly. Then picks up its pace.

We’re with Young Alice, side on, as she walks along in herown world. The frame is wiped by the yellow van, which stopsbeside her and comes to a standstill.

We can’t see anything, because our view is obscured by thesoft-focus foreground of the van. But we can hear a muffledsound, the slamming of the van door, and the noise of theengine being restarted.

Back to the WIDE. The camper-van drives off, but Young Aliceis not there anymore. The road looks empty and stark -

suddenly an altogether more sinister and disturbing place.

4 INT. VAN - DAY 3 4

We’re inside the van. All we can see are YOUNG ALICE’S legs,

lying there motionless and limp. The only movement comingfrom the bumping and turning of the van.

5 EXT. ROAD - DAY 3 5

We PULL BACK now, following the van down a long windingroad, down from the base, as we pull back, back on asuperzoom lens, to take in the town of Eckhuasen below.

CAPTION:
Eckhausen, Germany. 2003.

6 EXT. FOREST - DAY 3 (2003) 6

The sound of breathing. We hear it before we see it

A naked MAN runs as fast as he can through the forest,

breathing hard. We can’t see what he’s running from, justthe grim determination in the set of his jaw.

He crests the hill, and we hear a raucous cheer, and reveal

ten men in Army uniform standing there. One has a camera andis filming the naked man. Another, SAM, steps forward.

Ruggedly handsome, mid 30s. He’s wearing a Staff Sergeant’s

uniform. He takes out an Army insignia badge.

(MORE)

THE MISSING II EP 1 FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 20/07/16 3.

6 CONTINUED:
6

SAM:

Trooper, raise your right hand.

The TROOPER, shivering, raises his right hand.

SAM (CONT’D)

Do you pledge to do what yoursuperior officer asks you to doeven when he’s talking out of hisarse? Do you pledge to keep your

feelings to yourself and not tocomplain? Do you pledge not to letrip when you’ve got the top bunk?

TROOPER:

YES, SIR!

SAM:

Then welcome to the 14th, the best

Brigade in the British Army. Thefood’s crap and you have to live inGermany but look on the plus side -

now and then you get posted to anactive warzone.

He sellotapes the badge to the trooper’s left upper arm and

the other squaddies cheer and applaud. Sam smiles and claps

the man on his shoulder. The trooper stands there shiveringand Sam takes pity.

SAM (CONT’D)

You can put your clothes on now.

Off-screen we hear a shout. A woman’s voice

GEMMA (O.C.)

Sam! SAM!

Sam frowns and turns to see his wife GEMMA running towardshim. An intelligent, if a little highly strung, woman in her30’s with a natural warmth about her. Sam moves away from

the group, concerned.

SAM:

Gem, what’re you doing, are you

okay?

GEMMA:

Alice. It’s Alice. She’s not...

SAM:

What? What about Alice?

Gemma’s breathing hard - the shock, the speed with which sheran here... and the horror of what she has to say.

(MORE)

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6 CONTINUED:
(2) 6

GEMMA:

She didn’t come back to school this

afternoon. None of her friends know

where she’s gone. No-one... I mean,

where did she go, no-one’s seen

her...

SAM:

She’s cut class before...

GEMMA:

Not this long. I drove into town,

she wasn’t at any of the shops, she

wasn’t in the park...

SAM:

Let’s go home. We’ll wait for her

there. She’ll come back, love.

She’ll be okay.

Gemma nods, reassured, as Sam hugs her. He whispersreassuringly in her ear -

SAM (CONT’D)

This is just like her, isn’t it?

She’s never been one to make our

lives easy, has she?

But we can see in his eyes - he’s not as confident as he’smaking out. He’s worried.

7 INT. BASEMENT - DAY 3 7

Back with YOUNG ALICE, CLOSE IN on her eyes as they flickeropen. She looks groggy and confused. Like she’s beendrugged. It takes a while for her to focus on hersurroundings, but slowly we come to see she’s in a dark,

grubby basement. The only light comes from underneath adoor, at the top of a flight of decrepit stairs.

The feeling of terror grows as Alice realises what’s

happened. She tries to stand, but the drugs are still in hersystem, and she stumbles, falling back to the ground. Shefeels a hand on hers and whimpers, scared, turning

-to see another GIRL. The same age. A similar look, butpale, and tired, and dead-eyed. She tries to smilereassuringly. To make Alice feel better. But the sight onlyterrifies Alice further. As if she’s looking right at herown fate. Just as she’s about to let out a scream we HARD

CUT TO:

TITLES:

EPISODE ONE:
“COME HOME”

THE MISSING II EP 1 FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 20/07/16 5.

EXT. JULIEN’S COTTAGE - DAY 5 (2014)

88

CAPTION:
Bretoncelles, France. 2014.

It’s dull and cold in France. Not snowing here, but grey.

Outside the familiar cottage, JULIEN is staring at hisbeehive, sombre. And then he lifts an axe and brings it downwith an almighty blow. Each swing rips into the structureand sends shards of wood flying off it. Over this we hear

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