Original subtitles

Where did he say he'd gone?

Er... Crossman's Foundry, he said.

The chap that married Cassie Dent, you know.

What's he gone there for?

Didn't say.

He was on his way out when we came.

You had no chance to ask him, then?

He'll be back before dinner.

What's the rush?

We should ask him about that land.

He's not going to sell ten acres before dinner time, Dad.

You better bloody hadn't.

So what was all that about?

That bit of land is Sam's.

There's a firm that wants to set up a factory here.

They came through council looking for land.

They had a promise of Arthur Corby's, but it's

no use to them without Sam's because of access.

They're trying to get him interested in another

site, but they've come back and said he won't do.

So what's Dad in a sweat for?

It means work, doesn't it?

Oh.

Of course we hope those two get on when we move

in here and Sam goes to live with your dad.

He'll be back to sea before long, won't Sam?

Has he said that to you?

There's nothing to keep him, is there?

Oh, I think they're trying to pick Sam's brains.

That'll give him a lift.

He doesn't think he's got any.

Rubbish.

They all think they're undiscovered geniuses, men.

I know Granny does.

You should see him in front of the mirror when he doesn't think I'm there.

Admiring his genius?

Just wondering if it shows.

Yes.

That reminds me.

I'll go and see to my Ben.

I'll call for you on Sunday.

Yes, sir.

Bye, Cassie.

Bye.

She asked me why they were down at the foundry with Sam.

What did you say?

I changed the subject.

It's embarrassing, isn't it?

For Granny, mostly.

He's Arthur's accountant.

What's happening on Sunday?

Oh, she's just come round.

To get away from Arthur, I suppose.

Granny's getting a bit fed up of it.

Keeps asking me when she's going back to Germany.

To David?

Will she, do you think?

I don't know.

I don't like to ask.

I have a feeling she won't.

Did she see much of Sam?

Who told you that?

You did.

Well, it's no secret, then, is it?

I don't think she can have done lately.

Otherwise she wouldn't come round to see us so much.

I don't think they've got much in common.

With David?

Sam met him when he was in Germany.

You don't know him, do you?

He's supposed to have a massive IQ.

They live in one room in Cologne.

Well, at least she does.

He lives in his head, she says.

He's not there when he is there, if you know what I mean.

What do you mean when you say they've got David in common?

He's the working class lad who got on.

I don't suppose he means to, but... I think he makes them both feel a bit inferior.

It's sad, isn't it, the way life divides us up?

The beautiful and the ugly.

The clever and the stupid.

Fat and thin.

Rich and poor.

Maybe it's the lucky ones who are in the middle.

Oh.

I don't want any Irish pennies, neither.

If I have any Irish pennies, then give them me.

Don't give them to me.

Well, that's it.

Just about.

Now then, George.

Now, George.

Now, Sam.

When's he coming back, then?

You're sick of the sight of me, are you?

Aye.

Aye, go on with you.

It's a blimmin' long holiday you're having, though.

Did a long stint, didn't I?

Three years on the ocean wave.

Ja.

Compared to Pitt, you mean.

One long bloody battle down at Pitt these days.

But only owners to contend with in old days.

Now we're fighting National, bloody Cold War and unions as well.

The whole industry belongs to people now, George.

We wanted it, and we got it.

Hey, Dave.

What?

The only problem is, unions haven't sorted out what you are yet.

A worker or an owner.

Who pays the bloody wages?

You do.

Well, then.

Aye.

It's a problem, George.

You're like a pack of bloody women.

There's so much else to know.

Whose side are they on, eh?

Eh?

Whose side are they on, eh?

You'd better ask Ethel.

I know whose side she's on, I do.

Aye, and it's not mine, I can tell you.

Shall we ask Sam, then?

Nay, not in here.

We'll see him back home.

Not sooner it was anybody but him involved.

Bloody land.

We told me Wilson to thank for that.

Sam will be glad to see back of it.

He's wanting for a factory to bring work.

He'll be as keen as we are.

Will he?

What's this place to him?

He wanted to give it you one time, that land.

Corby will make a fine old profit out of that of his.

And we shall be the means to it.

It's enough to bring tears to your eyes.

I could do to make a profit from what I've heard.

There's no more than half a dozen lads in that factory of his.

I think there used to be 20 or more.

Land!

What are you going to do about it, eh?

When are you getting into that Parliament?

What are you going to do about it?

I'm only on the short list.

I'm not past Selection Committee yet.

I have a ten-minute speech to make on Friday.

See if me face fits.

It'll fit.

You'll be there.

Remember when I wanted you to get away from here?

Sorry, I didn't.

Not now, I'm not.

There'll be nobody else but me left here for long.

They're all leaving that can.

They know soon they'll get the schooling done and feel the wings.

And they're off down south.

They're off to bloody sea.

Don't you want Sam to go, then?

There's work for fitters and such within striking distance of here.

It's them poor sods that can do naught but swing a pick at the queue at the labour.

Work for him?

What's he want to go to sea for?

Ask him.

Aye, I'll not ask him.

I'll not ask.

He can do as he pleases for me.

I'll not ask.

Sam's only got two choices.

To sell the land to you, or to these people Corby's been dealing with.

You need it to expand.

Well, Arthur, he needs it to keep his head above water.

What's the problem, then?

I mean the basis on which he'll decide.

The same?

The kind of labour, as I said, yes.

Work for men from the pits?

Yes.

He'll not go to sea.

He'll not be much of that.

Exactly.

And that's where these people that Corby knows have the advantage.

They'll offer unskilled work and pretty well paid.

You have not heard from the ministry yet?

No, you see.

Did you tell Sam about that?

I did, yes.

He said ministries have never done much for miners, which is...

Of course, there'll be some from the pits

who'll benefit, you know, fitters and so on.

And there's that new pressure die casting machine from the States.

Semi-skilled labour.

Mind you, you need a special dollar import permit.

Yards of red tape there, you know, miles of it.

And a stack full of union problems at the end of it.

No, we'll have to wait to see what the ministry says.

It'd be a stink if it turned our way and the reason leaked out here, wouldn't it?

Well, I think that's what worries Sam.

And you can see the government's problem from a national point of view.

Oh, yeah.

I voted for them in 45.

Well, me too.

It's been a good government.

World War, social revolution in one decade.

A lot to have lived through.

Had enough.

Oh, I don't know.

Where's the next lot going to come from?

These are worn out, worn out giants.

Bevin, little Clematley, Cripps, Morrison, Nye Bevin, my God.

We're going to miss them when they've gone.

Jessie's just called for you over the fence.

Your lunch is ready.

Right.

Thank you, Cass.

I'll have a look at the deeds of the land tonight.

But from your point of view, it's on, though, yes?

I'm willing.

It's by one of Bust, isn't it?

I don't think my dad should act for Sam.

But I'll think it over.

Goodbye, Peter.

All right, see you.

Bye.

Bye, Cassie.

Bye.

Kid's still asleep?

Yeah.

He'll have a quiet meal if the oven hurries up.

What's his business with Sam?

Oh, he owns some land that we need.

You told me about the land.

You didn't say why.

Well, Stainforths in Warwickshire are closing down.

Stainforths?

Yeah.

They make the engines that we cast the locks for.

In fact, half the castings we make go to Stainforths.

Isn't there anybody else you could sell them to?

No.

What are you grinning at?

You.

Straight to the point.

Well, if I ask silly questions, it's because you don't talk to me about things.

I didn't even know Stainforths are.

Well, does it matter?

Why do you want Sam's land?

Well, if we can get the land and build an assembly plant, we can get the

manufacturing rights of the engine from Stainforths and make the lot.

Provided, of course, we can raise the capital.

And will Sam sell?

I hope he will.

My God, I do.

Sam?

Arthur, check up the oven.

Shut up and sit down.

He's cheeky, you know.

Who brought him up?

You know damn well who brought him up.

Sam again, are you there?

Sam says he'll tap no more.

What's he got to do with him?

He's paid for most of them.

Did I ask him to?

No.

And what's he got to do with him?

Note, if you pay for your own.

Festival of Britain here, eh?

Fun, fantasy and colour, they say.

Have you seen the skyline?

Of course, you've got to go down to London to see it.

I've seen it.

It's interesting.

Worth a visit if you can get to see it.

Not bad.

Dome of Discovery.

Very good.

They've got a bit of a pit there.

You can stand up straight and watch two blokes cut a two-foot sling.

Well, I'm up.

Aye, I'll be with you.

Another point of interest.

Apenny short, George?

Oh, come on, that's me profit.

One apenny.

Profit?

That's what's ruining this company, profit.

According to Gateskill, we're not making enough profit.

That's even got through to me and I'm supposed to be stupid.

Brothers have always made a profit.

Thanks to boogers like you.

Take him on, Jack.

He's right for it.

Show me a boozer that never made a profit.

Look in the bloody mirror.

Home, George.

I'm asking about you today.

You were welcome, you know.

She's married, Arthur.

Rubbish.

I met him in Germany.

I liked him.

No accounting for tastes.

Back on the beer again, I see.

You get more than your glass for a tanner.

Yes, Arthur.

I'll come by.

Later, eh?

I've to go home right now.

I'll come later.

I don't want any bloody pity, you know.

I'm not asking you to be sorry for me.

Sorry for you?

You think I'm going down the drain with a dishwasher, don't you?

Move your legs.

Don't be a flaming donkey.

I'm done with it!

What's he on about?

You know... All right.

Enough.

He's gone off his job.

Let's get him into Sam's.

How about some dinner, then?

I'm late, aren't I?

You're mad at me, aren't you?

There's one more today.

David's come back.

Bang goes my bloody appetite.

Where is he?

What's he come for?

Oh, please try to be reasonable, Dad.

His father's ill.

Oh, Arthur.

Oh, Sam, I didn't hear you come in.

George is asleep on your bed.

Why, he got boozed up at Scalf.

They shoved him up there because he wouldn't go home to Ethel.

Been rowing, have they?

I don't know.

She says he's gone a bit queer lately.

Keeps writing on bits of paper.

Like what?

She doesn't know.

He throws them away when he's done.

I bet he's dropped on a new system for the pools.

There's no rush with those cupboards, you know.

We don't move in till Friday.

Nay, I'll get them emptied.

I hope you're doing the right thing.

What?

Moving in with your granddad.

Suppose you don't get on?

We can always get a divorce.

Just think what lovely reunions we'll have when I come home on leave.

Oh, Frank wants to talk to you.

What about?

About paying for this house.

Now look, we've been through all that before.

Sam, we want to pay.

We can afford it.

And how can I afford not to take it?

We want to pay, Sam.

And we're not allowed to pay me debts off.

What debts?

You don't have any debts with us.

Don't forget what's been done for me, you know, Eileen.

Well, when?

By who?

By you two, when I was a lad, both of you.

Oh, rubbish to that.

Anyway, you might need that money someday.

When I get wed, you mean, on my hundredth birthday?

Want to bet on it?

I can work, you know, Eileen.

I'm not bloody useless.

I've got two hands.

You might marry a lass with expensive tastes.

Well, she'll have to love me for what I am, then.

Well, it wouldn't be impossible.

Difficult mind, but not impossible.

Forgiven me, have you?

For Alan.

For all the years I went on at him.

Yes, I've forgiven you.

I shall not forgive meself, have I?

Started when you were a lad.

Not your fault, really, the way things were.

Aye.

So, you'll take that money from Frank and me, then?

You're a crafty one, aren't you?

Sam.

Hello.

Is he afloat yet?

Oh, dead to the world.

But I can't wait.

I'll just go and have to work round him.

That'll be a tight squeeze.

We'd, er, we'd like a word with you, Sam.

You're too late.

It's settled.

Eileen just told me.

Told you what?

You want to pay for the house.

No, no, it's not the house.

It's, er, it's about that land of yours.

We've had word from that firm that wants to set up a factory here.

They'll buy half the Corby's land, provided they can get yours.

I thought they were looking elsewhere.

Well, you told me you got them interested in the piece somewhere else.

It'll not suit them, so they say.

There's drainage problems.

Well, we're going to wait till after the council

meeting, but there's one or two things we need to know.

Like, er, if it's still up for sale, you mean?

Why wouldn't it be?

Well, you told me you'd put them off it.

Hop and I've sold it to somebody else.

Sold it?

Well, I've promised it then.

Who to?

Well, like this other lot with you, I can't say.

You know what it's wanted for, don't you?

To make work round here.

Er, work?

Who cares about work except you and a few others like you?

Who cares, who cares?

You don't bloody care enough, have you?

I pay a lot more than your bloody elected representatives, Grandad.

What do you mean by that?

Find out, Grandad.

There's compulsory purchase, you know.

Compulsory what?

Are you threatening me?

I'm telling you the fact.

I'd have given you that land.

Wish I'd have taken it off you, choose what?

Hang on, Dad.

This argument's getting a bit daft.

Argument?

What argument?

He just told me he'd take it off me, choose what?

You know what he means.

I know what he bloody means, I ought to.

I've had it all my bloody life, ain't I?

Do this, do that, don't do this or else.

I'm saying to him what I'm saying to you.

I'll be asked to do something, but I'll not be told by you or anybody else.

If I want to do it, I'll do it, when asked.

And now listen, Sue, he's a bloody Tory.

Look, if you want to get in that Parliament and my vote, take heed of what I say.

I'll not have this waved at me.

If you think you can make better use of me money, then take it.

Ask me to work overtime on flat rate, I'll likely say no, but...

Only ask me, don't bloody tell me.

Not everybody's like you, Sam.

There's more like me than you think.

They've been shoved around all their lives and they're sick of it.

This control, that control, five years in the

bloody army, years down the pit and no choice.

Happen we'll do more than you think if asked, only ask us straight.

And no bloody name calling, calling me a bloody Tory.

Ask straight, and none of this, eh?

And I've got to live with that.

Where are they going?

Just down the road.

There's twice as much traffic on there since petrol started to come back, you know.

You tell him to keep out of the little lad's hand.

David's not a fool, Dad, whatever else you might think of him.

Can't you be a bit nicer to him?

That is a feel.

What has that done?

It's when you make that fairly obvious what you feel.

When's he going back?

Monday next week.

Are you with him?

They're back, they're here.

I asked you something, you didn't answer me.

I don't know the answer.

Well, what are you looking for?

A red book, got timber prices in it.

Everything's going up, you know, everything.

Well, why don't you let me help you with the books?

It'll take more time to explain it than I'd say it.

I managed all right in the office that time.

These are my own records, I've got my own system.

Nobody knows it but me.

Hey, there he is, come on, dear grandad.

There's a big lad there.

I bet he wondered what I got to.

Used to having me round here, aren't you, eh?

His hands are filthy.

What's he been doing?

Playing.

Give him to me.

There we are.

Come on, Lucent.

I have to learn how to behave, you know, young man.

How was business, Arthur?

Could be a damn sight better.

I thought things were on the upturn.

What with this bloody government.

He tells me that you're going back on Monday.

Yes.

What's so clever about Germany, then?

In what way?

That makes you like it better there than here.

My scholarship's there.

And who pays for it, us or them?

County council.

That means me, I suppose.

In a way.

And what do I get out of it?

Better Anglo-German understanding, perhaps.

You know, if it all works out as intended.

So I'm to pay to be taught to understand the Jerrys, is that it?

I thought you'd have seen that as a good investment, Arthur.

You know, if it helps to stop another war.

I understood the Jerrys very well before the last lot, thank you.

Didn't stop it, did it?

Churchill's your man, I kept on saying, but nobody listened, did they?

You were obviously in advance of your time, Arthur.

What time is it?

You may well ask.

It's just after three.

She's been looking for me.

It's your lucky day.

She was gassing round at Hartley's.

Came round, said she was late for your dinner and had her seen you.

What did you say?

Well, I said you'd been home and she wasn't

there, so I'd fed you and you'd gone off again.

And I hope God forgives me.

Where have I gone?

A walk, I said.

Oh.

I don't feel as if I've eaten.

Well, it's no use looking at me.

I've neither the time nor the patience.

Come to the service, George.

What do you want a stool, Lisa?

Take them round with him.

Oh, just put them out in the passage.

I'm off round to Ethel, see if she's got a use for these.

All right, right then.

What shall I tell her?

You can tell her I'm here.

Fag?

No, thanks.

We nearly come out on strike this week.

Oh, what about?

Oh, for a man chucking his weight about.

They're shoving a new cable belt on main road

in Dollardays to detect coal from all faces.

And there'll be trouble there and all.

They're going to pay us big volume instead of weight.

Cubic feet and so on the nose.

Oh, as long as it works out the same.

A tonne's a tonne.

It's what we've been used to.

It's what we've always been paid by.

Andy Weston says coal from our scene could come out different.

Some of it so many cubic feet to a tonne and some of it more or less according.

Union will sort it out for you.

Oh, will they though?

Last strike we had were against Union, not bloody coal board.

Local branch said one thing and national officials in London said another.

They're devils in London, you know.

They're all ex-colleagues, aren't they?

If you get half a mile from Pit Gates, you'd think they'd never been through.

And a bloody Labour government now.

What's that got to do with it?

Well, we vote Labour, don't we?

What's this inflation then?

Is it this broke Gates girl what's taken Cripps' job home?

It's the Korean War, George.

The what?

It's the Korean War that's caused inflation.

It's now to do with us.

Seems it is, whether we like it or not.

But to live in the world as it is, George, and it keeps on shrinking.

Bloody marvellous, isn't it?

Is it this bother at the pit that's been worrying you, then?

No.

Well, in a roundabout way, I've been... not altogether, though.

It's because I've been thinking, like.

Oh?

I... I've been thinking.

About what?

Oh, me life.

Who knows?

Oh.

It'll be up to thee, won't it?

Me?

When they get in that Parliament, it'll be up to thee.

We know not much about things like that round here.

We shall depend on thee.

Sarah's gone to fetch Arthur.

He's only down at the workshop.

Back for good?

To live in Galwick?

Oh, good heavens, no.

No, I'm just passing through.

For the last time, probably.

My father's dying.

Oh, I'm sorry about that.

He's the last link.

It's people bringing you back to a place like this, isn't it?

Is it?

What else is there?

Childhood memories, roots.

We can live without those.

I'm living proof.

Are you?

What do you think about Arthur?

He's going down the nick.

Aye.

Sarah worried about him.

She said much to you?

I've hardly seen her.

He doesn't like me much.

Thinks I'm against him because I'm against the system.

He lives up here.

He's cut off from people.

The system did that to him, but he'll never admit it.

It's taken him apart from what matters most.

I want a world where people matter to each other, not just to themselves.

You should take her back, will you?

You asking me to practice what I preach?

She's getting sucked into his life, into caring for him.

There's more to her life than to chuck it away on that.

You didn't know her when she was younger, did you?

When I first met her, she was in her last year at Curly Girls High.

You know, I used to wait for her a mile down the road.

I was old enough to be embarrassed by her

wearing a gym slip, carrying the school bag.

And she came back to this.

And I went back to Pretoria Street, a thousand miles away.

That's...

That's something else we never really got over.

Still, it's going now, since the war, don't you think?

I fancied a lass that lived in a big house up this way once.

I used to walk past and wonder what it was like inside.

If they spoke the same language, you know.

It's like the first time you go into a big hotel.

You keep thinking somebody's gonna come up and ask you to leave.

You look in the mirror, there you are, you're all right.

But you can't help feeling your flies open.

Sam.

Sarah, won't you?

And, er, I'll see you again.

A drink in Brown Cow, public bar.

Right.

I've got beer.

What, no scotch, Arthur?

Them bloody days are over, lad.

Sir, tax it and you hard.

You can make fun.

It's not funny when you work for it.

Well, I'm here.

Eh?

You asked me to come, I've come.

Well, I can see who else is here, can't you?

Oh, give him a chance, Arthur.

You know I meet his obligations, you know.

Well, you don't make it any easier for him, do you?

Well, I've got bigger problems than him.

I've heard that Hawkins have turned the noses

up of that land the council offered them.

That means they'll be coming to me again for that bit of mine.

Only it's not worth tootin's to them unless they get yours as well.

Have they been to see you yet?

Not right yet, but they will.

They're bound to.

I'll have to sell it, I've got to.

You see, I've a chance of a contract that'll get

me out of this mess, only I need a bit of capital.

I can't get the credit like I used.

You have been to the council, haven't you?

How would I know?

I'm not on it, am I?

You've got relatives at heart.

All I know is Hawkins turned their nose up at this other lot.

That's as I read it anyhow.

You've had another offer, haven't you?

Oh, it's nothing to do with that, Arthur.

There's something beyond you and me.

Go on then, put it down.

What down?

Double six.

Who says I've got a double six?

I know you bloody got it.

Well, it could be on there, couldn't it?

It could be, aye, only it's not, is it?

How do you know?

Put it down and I'll tell you.

I'm playing for me.

I just put down what I want from what I've got here.

I'm playing for me, not they.

It's as good as I think, shan't I?

You've no choice but to put it down.

Well, you know that and all, don't you?

Aye, I know that now.

You'd be surprised if I put someone else's hat down there, wouldn't you?

Go on then, surprise me.

How can you play bloody dominoes with that thing squawking away?

Aye, well, it's going off now.

It's news.

Oh, is that what you all has come round at this time for?

I don't come round to watch that monstrosity.

Oh, well, that's all right then, isn't it?

Where was you wed?

Chapel.

What is it they say?

If anybody knows just cause or impediment why these two should not lawfully be wed.

Never on us own since we got that thing.

Who's coming tonight?

I'll get seating worked out.

We can have our back stores and a flea pit.

Chucked my money away on somewhere else, have I?

Bought it for you, you know.

No, I...

I only meant it has its drawbacks.

Like that three-piece week what we just finished paying off for?

What's wrong with it?

Who says there's something wrong with it?

Not me.

What?

Colour, isn't it?

Wrong colour.

Green we should have got, you said.

No.

No, I changed my mind, that's all.

No, I quite like it.

Then there's bedroom suite.

Isn't a week passes, is there, without you saying,

Oh, I wish we'd waited and got so much better.

No, I quite like that, really.

Well, I'm glad you quite like it, Ethel.

I'm very glad.

I'm glad you quite like it cause it bloody well cost enough.

Look, what are you going on at me for?

Then there's that dress you wore about four times.

What dress?

That one you bought three years ago, four times you wore it.

That's a quid a time, at my reckoning, cause it'll be dusters next, won't it?

You've got a nasty memory, George.

And kitchen liner doesn't suit, does it?

We didn't pay enough for it.

You don't get good value unless you pay a good price.

By God, I wish we were back to flags and soldiers, they're going to do.

Oh, and there's something else coming in there.

It hasn't been mentioned yet, but it's on its way.

Every time one comes on telly.

Oh, I like that, George.

I like that.

Now, that's nice.

That's nice, George.

I'd like to have one like that, but I'll tell you something for sure.

For sure, Ethel.

We're not in that class, and we never will be.

And you can dream for a hundred years, but

there's no bloody car coming out of my pocket.

George.

What have I done to you, George?

You're a mate of his, you could talk to him.

What did he say to you?

Other considerations, he'd think it over a second.

Did he say what other considerations?

No, he didn't.

Oh, I'm just not at liberty, am I, Arthur?

No, I'm not at liberty either.

I'm changing the bloody facts of life.

Look, if it's another offer he's had, would they want my bit as well?

But not at the price you were probably offered by Hawkins.

There's not much capital available.

Where's David?

I don't know, love.

I don't know where David is.

You got your car with you?

Yes.

I can beg a lift to the car then, can I?

Oh, Maurice!

Do you want me to come and fetch you in the car?

I can walk.

When I were your age, I walked three mile to

work and three mile underground to the face.

I did a day's work and then I walked back again.

Now, you can read all the books that have been written,

but you'll never know that until you've done it.

I'll see you later, David.

Marriage seems to suit him, doesn't it?

Granny?

Yes, that's what everyone says.

Thank God he got rid of that thing he had about me.

Granny had?

You didn't know?

I hadn't a clue.

How long was that going on?

Years.

Poor old Granny.

Poor old Granny, my foot.

He was the lucky one, it was you who got me.

Oh, Sarah, for God's sake.

Stop running yourself down.

Well, that's how you make me feel, David.

Like the bad end of a bargain.

Why?

Why do I make you feel like that?

I'm not saying you mean to.

It's just that we are as we are.

We want different things from life.

Sarah...

What do you want?

Permanence, most of all, I think.

You mean the same kitchen sink for the rest of your life?

No, I don't mean that.

I mean to have people around me who I know and care about.

To have some roots somewhere.

Here, in Galwick?

Perhaps.

You want roots in the past, then?

What's wrong with that?

We've all got them whether we want them or not.

When they keep you tied to a place, it's negative, Sarah.

Well, I must be a negative person, then.

I'm negative and you're positive.

Plus and minus.

Two into three won't go.

There will be nothing to keep me here soon.

I can't go back to that room, David.

You're never there.

And I should turn in on Tom and spoil him.

What are we to do, then?

You're the clever one.

Clever?

What a bloody awful word, Sarah.

It's how I think of you.

Clever.

Bright.

The bright boy, the one who made it.

And yet you weren't bright enough to see that you

should marry somebody who liked the things you liked.

And could talk to you as I never can.

Somebody you were tied to by things you had in common and not by a difference in sex.

What are you looking me like that for?

Remember when I used to meet you outside school?

All the years you've wasted, hooked on love's young dream.

Gone now, hasn't it?

For both of us.

Yes?

Doesn't it make you angry?

The waste?

Angry?

No.

Not angry.

Sad.

Knowing that you're looking at something.

And knowing it's for the last time.

It's the government, is it?

As long as there's pits to be worked, as long as there's coal to be got,

they're not going to let any industry in here

that's going to take men away from the pits.

There've been rumours for a long time now that Goodyear'll close.

Not this year, nor next.

Perhaps Hawkins were banking on that and they found it's not on.

You rarely get these things in writing, you know.

Practical necessities can be political nightmares.

Can't tell me grandad that.

He's lived round here all his life.

He cares about it.

He thinks it's falling apart.

If he thinks the government's turning against him, he'd be lost.

Sir.

I'm not going to try and get you a K-Lite so you'll sell us that land, you know.

Let me take you through.

No, we're an established industry.

They'll let us in.

We can't expand because we shall be using skilled labour.

It's mainly the older end in pits nowadays.

Too late for them to learn a new trade.

We'll be building for the next generation.

We could offer you a job if you're interested.

A job?

Yes, you were a fitter, weren't you?

And you're a marine engineer.

We shall need someone to liaise with a factory in Warwickshire.

Is Cotshaw right?

Aye.

We should be moving their plant up here if it all works out.

How does a six-month stint in Warwickshire feel to you?

I'm off back to sea.

Well, it was just a thought.

Hello, Sam.

Your offspring's come to say goodnight.

Early to bed?

Late, not early.

I'm behind with everything.

I'm sorry I've come at a bad time.

Oh, that's all right, Sam.

It's a topsy-turvy house at any time.

Goodnighty.

Goodnight.

Nighty-Sam.

Won't be a minute.

You're not married, are you?

No, I'm not.

Oh, excuse me.

Hello, look who's here.

Hi, Jess.

Morris.

I'm just off.

Oh, aren't you staying for the party?

Well, you'll be very welcome.

Yes, of course.

She's a smashing cook.

Not like his wife, he means.

No, no, I've something to say.

Enjoy yourselves.

I'll come to the door with you.

Jessie.

Is that your old tinnity out there?

The same.

Do you remember when you used to take my dad around canvassing?

Aye, I remember.

How are you going?

You'll catch cold.

I'm OK.

I was brought up rough like you.

I'm glad you're all right, Cass.

Yes.

Yes, it's nice to be all right, isn't it?

Peter needs that land, Sam.

He wouldn't admit it to me, but I think there's

a chance he might go bust if he doesn't get it.

I won't say any more.

Good night, Sam.

Good night.

You've not got it on.

No, I didn't like it.

What was on?

I didn't like it.

I'm drunk.

Are you?

I've had no good dinner time at all.

I took three bob out of club money.

I should put it back.

Do you want it?

George, no.

What is it?

George!

No, what is it?

It's a bloody millstone, Ethel.

What is love?

Life, Ethel.

What?

Hey, George.

There's no strike yet.

It's been on and off for two weeks now.

It's made me think.

It's done that, it's done that, Ethel.

It's done what?

More going out than we've got coming in.

We can't have love.

We have, you know.

I've done sums to prove it.

Add them up, prove me wrong.

Is this what you've been scribbling at these last two weeks?

Add them up, you'll see.

We've got more going out than we've got coming in.

No, we can't have love.

Add them up, go on.

Now, look, we've paid everybody and you've given me

the same and you've taken your spends, haven't you?

No, I've not.

You've done without your spends?

Well, I've had to, haven't I?

There haven't been any bloody spends.

I've sat in here looking at that woody...

About your sums?

About them and other things.

What things?

I've worked out other things than them, Ethel.

Do you know what I've worked out?

I've worked out what I've earned.

What I've earned since I first went down pit 30 years ago.

Over £6,000 I've earned.

£6,000?

All that money.

Where's it gone?

What have we done with it?

Well, we've lived, George, haven't we?

What are you doing here?

What's it look as if I'm doing?

I'm up for a pint.

Frank and Eileen gone?

They'll be back at Skeleton by now.

She's coming over tomorrow, she said, ready for the move on Friday.

Where am I going to put this lot, eh?

You can store it in the side bedroom, can't you?

It's not use for oak now.

Do you want to store this picture of your mother?

Or will you be taking it with you?

I'm taking it with me.

When will you be going?

Next week sometime, Appen.

Hey!

What about this land?

I suppose you'll be leaving that for somebody else to settle.

I shall decide that before I go.

Is it be too much, I suppose, to ask your intention?

Would it be too much to ask you to trust me, Grandad?

Trust you?

You think I don't care about what happens round here, don't you?

You put me in a class with Corby, don't you?

You think I'm a bloody Tory that'll line his pockets at anybody's expense?

We need to know.

Well, you'll have to go on needing till I'm ready to make up my mind.

By the living daylights.

Make an effort, Grandad.

Trust me.

Trust me, eh?

There's others that have to live here when you've gone.

They can get out if they don't like it, can't they?

Can they?

Can they?

And where do I go, eh?

And your Uncle George?

Where does he go to swing his pick?

We've been chained here all us lives.

They've made us what we are to get the coal.

And we've made us own chains too.

We've chained ourselves to each other for care and for comfort.

It's all we've got.

We'd go naked into that world out there like bairns

at birth without what we've made for each other.

We've lived here and we'll bloody die here before we let them separate us from that.

They say where there's muck there's brass, don't they?

Well, amongst the brass there's a few specks of gold in men.

I know it in them around me.

Them that has it.

Your Uncle Frank is one.

I wanted him to go away and all at one time, but he was wiser than me.

He knew what it's taken me a lifetime to understand.

That it's what you are to each other that counts.

What you make of it.

What you do.

I used to bring your mother here when she was a lass.

I'd tell her tales about how we'd turn them stacks to mountains.

With grass and trees and little white houses for folks to live in.

Tales.

Jerusalem, the golden.

Dreams.

Summit that's in your head.

To be made.

Set where you can see it with your eyes.

There'll be nobody left soon to do it.

To make of it what we wanted before it's too late.

Before them bloody wolves come down from off them hills.

You want me to stay, don't you?