The Night Watch Page #2

Synopsis: In post-war London, Viv Pearce is dating Reggie and runs a dating bureau with Helen Giniver, who lives with her older lover, authoress Julia Standing. Viv's younger brother Duncan, a gay man made to feel ashamed of his orientation, has been in prison and is sought out by his ex-cell-mate, Robert Fraser, who served time as a conscientious objector and is now concerned for the young man's welfare. Viv encounters Kay Langrish, a wealthy, reclusive, butch lesbian and for both women this evokes memories of the period three years earlier (1944) when Kay was an heroic ambulance driver in a happy, loving relationship with Helen -- before Kay introduced her to her ex-lover Julia. At that time, Viv and Reggie are forced to procure the services of a dentist moonlighting as an abortionist. About to die from blood loss, and having been abandoned by Reggie, Kay saves her from prosecution by claiming she was a married woman who had miscarried. Three years before that (1941) Kay and Julia are still an
Genre: Drama, Romance, War
Director(s): Richard Laxton
Production: British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
  1 win.
 
IMDB:
6.7
Year:
2011
89 min
228 Views


Do you suppose he

takes it out at night?

West End Introduction Agency?

Hello, gorgeous. Listen, it has

to be Thursday instead of tonight.

The wife's roped me into some damn

cocktail do with the neighbours.

What time Thursday sir?

Seven o'clock, usual place?

I'm counting the

minutes, my love.

Daddy! Daddy!

Do you have an appointment?

You need to fill this in,

as much detail as you can.

Actually, I'm not here after

a date, it's you I want.

Viv, isn't it?

Robert Fraser?

I shared a cell with your

brother in the Scrubs.

I ran into him the other day.

I'm concerned about him.

As I'm sure you are.

The cafe, at the top

of Poland Street.

I finish in 20 minutes.

I'll see you there.

Duncan never said

you were married.

I'm not.

Look, I know it's queer,

me dropping into your life out

of the blue like this, but...

when I saw Duncan with

Mundy the other night...

You went to their house?

I mean, Mundy, of all people!

Didn't he get enough

of him in prison?

A boy like Duncan, it's...

just not right is it?

A boy like him!

Why not just say what you mean?

And why do you suddenly

care so much about him?

About who he lives with or...

Oh, I see!

It's not like that.

I'm not like that.

Is that what you think?

Maybe he went to Mundy's because

he had nowhere else to go.

He couldn't come home, "Never

return to the scene of the crime",

isn't that what you cons say?

Sharing a cell...

like we did...

The truth is, I wasn't always as

kind to him as I should have been.

I want to do right

by him now, if I can.

I used to watch you,

in that visiting room.

When you walked in, it was like

in The Wizard Of Oz, you know...

when suddenly it all

goes into Technicolor.

Just for a few minutes,

things didn't seem so...

utterly, bloody bleak.

I'd like to call you

sometime, may I?

There's someone

else, of course.

As if I'd ever get that lucky.

Hello?

Wait. Please!

Hello! Wait, please?

PLEASE!

I knew it was you.

You did me a great kindness in

the war. You loaned me this?

I saw you near here last week.

I've been back every

day, hoping to find you.

You shouldn't have

gone to the trouble.

I'd forgotten all about it.

I'll never forget it.

What you did for me.

God bless you!

PHONE RINGING:

Streatham 212?

Viv, Viv it's me!

Where are you, love?

I'm here waiting for ya! Viv?

Viv, I can't stop much longer,

one of the kids is ill. Viv?

Viv?

Viv, are you there?

Answer me, Viv!

AMERICAN RADIO SHOW

Hello?

It was an accident! I'll retype

it for you. I'll start on it now!

What were you doing

in here anyway?

I waited supper for you.

I was at a concert.

God, what a mess.

What was it?

The concert?

Mozart.

You were with

Ursula, weren't you?

Fine, it's her birthday,

she had a dinner party.

She asked me if I'd

help her with it.

Satisfied?

I suppose there were

others like her there.

You mean like us?

Yes, a matter of fact.

As it happens she

invited you too.

I told her you

were unavailable.

Because you still can't cope with

being around queers, can you?

You can't deal with it.

That's not true!

So why is I never meet your friends?

Or you never want to meet mine?

When I do go out, or

anything on my own,

I have to come back to

another of your inquisitions

because I'm so bloody

irresistible that even if a

girl isn't a raving

lesbian when she meets me,

she will be by the time

I've got my hands on her.

You know why I do it.

Because I'm afraid you

no longer love me.

If you ever did.

It wasn't just about revenge?

God, must it always

come back to that?!

We can't go on

like this, Helen.

Torturing each other

over the past.

You need to find a

place of your own.

Sort out who you are,

what it is you want.

It's you I want

Remember when we met?

You loved me then!

I can be that

person again, I can!

I want to be that person!

One sugar.

Just as you like it.

Sit a minute.

How was your day?

CLOCK CHIMES SOFTLY

The usual.

Nothing more from Fraser?

We're better off

without him, lad.

Dial needs a bit of a clean,

if you've a mind.

CONVERSATION:

SPILLS ONTO STREE SIREN GETS LOUDER

SIREN QUIETENS:

AIR RAID SIREN IN DISTANCE

PHONE RINGS:

You're up, girls. Another

guest house in Joswick Street.

WHISTLING, EXPLOSION

SHOUTS AND EXPLOSIONS ECHO

SIREN RINGS:

More round the corner!

Two walking wounded, one fatality,

one still unaccounted for.

Bloody hours, digging

around, looking for him.

So much for a quiet night.

I had in mind a couple

of fractures, maybe

a nice old lady

with a broken ankle.

A nice YOUNG lady, you mean.

Women's work, Harry?

People will talk.

You'd know all about that.

Sticks and stones.

I've heard it all before,

lived to tell the tale.

Not if Hitler gets his way.

He'd have you lot

strung up by your tits.

Just another reason

to bash the Bosch.

Break it up, you two.

He started it, Mummy.

BOMB EXPLODES:

SECONDARY EXPLOSION

PHONE RINGS:

Here we go, stand by your beds.

You're up, Hughes. Brandon Place,

corner of Levington Street.

Come on.

Don't get too

comfortable, Langrish.

Night's not over yet.

I suppose you don't hear much of

the bombs, down in your shelter?

We're not allowed

in the shelters.

Only the guards are.

Still, safer here than you

would be at the front, eh?

Hardly. They say, er,

Pentonville got hit by an

incendiary bomb the other day.

Your cell mate, isn't it?

The one who was at university?

You can tell just

by looking at him

he doesn't belong here.

Meaning I do?

He didn't say that, Duncan.

I thought the chap at the

end was due for release?

They're letting him out next week.

Going to the army.

Good on him.

What, so there's no shame in the

army making you into a murderer?

It's all right to have blood on

your hands for King and Country?

For heaven's sake, Duncan!

You want to talk about shame?

You wait until you're out

of here and you can't walk

down the street without

people pointing at you,

whispering about

you and that boy.

If you're so ashamed, why

bother coming to see me?

You're my son.

No need for that.

Be a man, eh?

KNOCK AT DOOR:

Bloody chambermaid's on the prowl,

had to play hide and seek with her.

Oh...

Jesus, what a dump! I should

have come ahead, checked it out.

I just thought it would be a

change from our Paddington one...

I have something for you!

Not much...

They grow in the

woods by the base.

Every time I see them

they remind me of you.

So unspoilt. Beautiful.

Oi! Keep it down in there!

These walls are like paper.

THEY LAUGH:

AIR RAID SIREN BLARES

Hey.

Perfect timing for once.

EXPLOSIONS AND SCREAMING

Langrish! Langrish!

What the hell are you doing?

Go the other way!

Through Dean Street.

Stay back! Another one

over here. Stay back!

Get back!

I hear you've been up to

your heroics again, Langrish.

Putting out incendiaries? How many

times? It's not our responsibility.

So, let an entire street

get reduced to ashes?

You know the procedure.

Either stick to it

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Paula Milne

Paula Milne is a British screenwriter. Her works include The Politician's Wife, The Virgin Queen, Chandler & Co, Die Kinder, Second Sight, Driving Ambition, Small Island and Endgame. Her first single drama was A Sudden Wrench, after working on titles such as Coronation Street and Juliet Bravo. She also devised the BBC medical drama Angels. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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