Original subtitles

...favourite person, razzmatazz and all crazy.

Lady, beautiful lady, terribly happy I met you.

People, you'd better be careful, nobody's going to get you.

Never had a feeling quite as good before, and I

have had others too, but me, you're far from all.

Why do you have to talk to Sam?

Because we're to go on talking if and after we're married.

You don't want to cut yourself off from him, do you?

No chance, Charlie.

I know that.

That's why I've got to get it straight.

Agree to disagree, on politics at least.

Was that a proposal just now, that bit about after we're married?

We have to find out where I stand first.

We'd better leave it, then.

I know the answer already.

I'll live with it, but it seems you'll not.

What's the time?

Eileen will be wondering where I've got to.

You don't want me to talk to her, then?

There's no point, Charlie.

No point at all.

Oh, Charlie,

terribly happy I met you.

People, you'd better be careful, nobody's going to get you.

HE HUMS Hi, Cass.

Where's Tony?

He's upstairs, I think.

I just got back from Sheffield.

There was a message on my desk saying he wanted to see me.

What's this?

A barbecue.

Tony's just bought it.

He's going down to London tomorrow, by the way.

I'm staying on for Pat's wedding.

Where is it?

I forgot to ask.

Registry office.

A vicar at Galwick wouldn't marry him because Richard's divorced.

How's Ethel taking it?

Well, you know Ethel.

She'll not let Richard sleep with Pat tonight,

even though they've lived together for two years.

He's to stop at our house till she gets her marriage lines.

And how's Tom after his hernia?

Nursing his stitches still.

Sam!

Go away!

The woman across there watches us through binoculars.

You'd think we were married the way he behaves.

Come in and have a scotch.

You'll have to take a leaf out of Pat's book and get married, won't you?

Are you telling me I should, or asking me if I'm going to?

Industry.

Application.

The exercise of the mind towards the practical betterment of society.

You've had your hair cut.

Pretty.

Sorry.

If I'm not prepared to graft myself, the least I can do is let you get on with it.

Keep the wheels turning, as you'd say.

He's not back yet, is he?

I'm supposed to be getting his tea while Mrs Marsh is off.

You'll have to tell him what Mum used to say.

We're both late again.

Do you want an orange, Pat?

Yeah.

What does he do these days?

An hour away, such a lot.

Now you and Deborah, what do you mean?

As a matter of fact, we started playing chess.

Together?

No, no.

No, we'd sit in separate rooms and call the moves to each other.

You nearly believed that, didn't you?

Yeah, well, you know, the way you two tiptoe round each other.

Trying not to get the fence, you mean.

Turned to be his mum would have wanted us to be.

I feel sorry for him, as a matter of fact.

He's more turned away now than he was just after she died, even.

We've learned to cope.

He just gets worse.

He forgets things.

I leave notes for him on the table.

Remember this, remember that.

You can't feel inferior to somebody when you've to coddle them.

Ah, now when did you ever feel inferior to Dad?

Only the last 20-odd years.

It's illusion, of course.

Psychological blockage or some such crap.

Tom, why is it always you and not me?

That's what I used to say when I was at that school.

And you and Deborah at home.

Why them and not me?

Oh.

Are your stitches pulling?

Yeah.

Mind you.

You know when you had your appendix out?

Yeah.

Wasn't there some problem with the anaesthetic?

Yeah, they had a bit of a job bringing me round, I think.

Something like that.

It was years ago.

What made you remember?

I remember Mum writing and telling me when I was at school.

It seems you'll have to have a blood test.

Why?

You could be sensitive to what they call... scoline.

They had the same problem with me.

McAllister wants you and Sam to have a blood test.

Sam?

Well, Sam can't be involved if it's something passed on to both you and me, can he?

Now, why didn't my brilliant mind fasten on to that one?

It's inherited.

It must have come through Mum.

Why hasn't Cartwright told McAllister that Sam's not your dad?

Well, why should he?

He probably doesn't know.

He's only been here a couple of years.

McAllister wasn't too keen to go into the drug question anyway.

Especially somebody with my background.

Sounds like Sam's car.

Put your apron on, brother.

Yes.

Get sweating over that stove.

It must have come through Mum.

Unless my old man nipped it on one night and... That's not... Sorry.

I forgot what we were talking about for a minute.

When it comes to jokes about sex, we've one standard for the people we care

about and another for the rest of humanity.

I wonder what the book says about that one.

Anybody in?

It's Pat.

And the ageing lover.

Shh.

We're in here.

Nicely put.

Richard?

Yes.

You've had your hair cut.

Pretty.

You know Richard, don't you?

Yes, we met at Cassie's party last month.

Hi.

Hello.

Dad won't be long, I'm just getting his tea ready.

Do you want a hand?

Oh, no.

I'm getting very good at it these days.

If he hadn't had his hair cut, he'd have made somebody a lovely wife.

Belt up.

You're only jealous.

We bought Richard's case for tonight.

Hmm?

Well, Richard's staying here tonight.

Richard.

Tonight.

Right.

You ought to get your hair cut, maybe hear people talking.

That's why I grew it long.

I'll take it upstairs.

No, no, I'll... No, I've not made the bed up yet.

Talk to Tom about your project.

Pat.

It looks as though we're going to be related, loosely.

Loosely.

Loosely?

Yeah.

Loosely.

Are you... Is, um...

I'm an anthropologist.

Yeah, we were told.

We were informed that you were.

I want to, um, make a study of the area.

Write a book.

About Galwick?

Yes, Galwick, skeleton, the pits, depression and so on.

It's a marvellous area.

It's a fantastic subject.

I want to talk to the old man, actually, after the wedding, of course.

Greg Rando.

Not many of them left, his generation.

I want to get it before it's too late, all gone.

Record it.

Put him on tape?

Yes, well, I've brought a tape recorder with me, as a matter of fact.

I haven't approached him yet, he's a bit, um... Well, someone like me.

Please.

Do you think...?

You'll love it.

You think so?

Love it.

There's no need to make a racket, I urge you.

What's this?

It's what it looks like.

On rations, are we?

I usually have some at Tate at tea time.

It's to put you on till our Pat and Richard get here.

And then we can all eat together, can't we?

It's Richard now, is it?

No, he's still wetter.

It were him before, him.

It'll be Richard Love next.

Come in, Richard Love.

Get your feet under the table, Richard Love.

He's doing the right thing.

I don't like him.

Oh, well, you'd better start getting to like him,

then, and be one of the family this time tomorrow.

I don't like him, and I shall not like him.

You've got no right to say that, you don't know him.

Some I like and some I don't, and I don't like him.

He lets a right rough shot on him.

He's not a man, he's a bloody mouse.

I don't like him.

He's clever.

He writes books.

Muckians like, you know, that she used to know.

Where does she find them?

No, schooling books.

Not that sort.

Now, she was explaining it to me the other day.

He's an... he's an anthropodist, or some such.

Anthropodist?

Aye.

Well, the Ripes is anthropoids.

Apes?

Are you sure about that?

Anthropoids is apes.

Oh.

Well, that means he studies apes, then.

Only, she was telling me the other day, he, er, he wants to do a study on you.

In your environment, she said.

Well, er, what's it for, anyway?

What, the barbecue gear?

Er... Well, for a barbecue, probably.

Yeah, well, I've probably asked for that.

No, I saw it and I thought, we ought to have a barbecue sometime, and I bought it.

Ah.

Sam doesn't approve.

He thinks he's chucking money away, don't you, Sam?

He's a Yorkshireman.

Well, I've been known to chuck me money away, Cass.

Now and then.

Ah.

But not on something you might use sometime, maybe never.

Well, it's his money.

It's not up to me to tell him what to do with it.

I just wonder sometimes, that's all.

What?

It's how I was brought up, Appen.

Waste not, want not.

It's like that cartoon they had during the war, the squanderbug.

What happens when the kids run out because we've squandered?

You don't believe that science will provide, then?

Oh, science will provide, as long as it's there.

Suppose it's not.

Suppose we've used it up.

Can science turn stocks and shares into good, usable metal, then?

Water into wine.

You're a pessimist, Sam.

Have to believe it can to be an optimist, have I?

Confident, Sam.

Confident.

Spend it while you've got it.

Live for today and tell with tomorrow, eh?

My godfathers, you really don't like my lifestyle, do you?

Well, maybe I'm not all that keen on it myself.

But like a lot of other people, I'm stuck with it.

You see, I'm what the 20th century made me.

Like Charlie Tripp.

It made me a capitalist and him a Marxist.

Pro tem.

It was Charlie I wanted to talk to you about, actually.

He came to see me today.

He wanted to know if you'd made a decision about him joining you in the works.

Why didn't he ask me?

He sees me often enough.

I don't know.

You tell me.

He didn't ask me because he knows what the answer would be.

No.

If he thought I'd said yes, he wouldn't have brought it up in the first place.

You're like old Amos that used to stand outside Skeleton

Workingmen's Club of a Sunday night looking for converts.

Since I found the saviour, he'd shout, I've come up twice and the treble chance.

Charlie's not for sale, Tony.

He just wants us to think that he is.

Yeah?

Why?

Well, we'll have his reasons.

You know he's seeing Deb again?

Yeah, I know, Cass.

She told me.

Happy about it?

No.

Why not, then?

For the same reason.

I'd not wanted to marry a jerry soldier 30 years back.

We're at war.

Oh, come on, sir.

Goes on all the time, that war, Tony.

Back of the joking, back of the fact that he's not a bad bloke.

If it ever comes out into the open, she'll be split between us.

Do you expect me to be happy about that?

All right, supposing he told you he wanted the job for the job's sake.

Now, there's a limit to how far he can get with what he's doing.

Now, supposing he told you that.

You see, he must realise that he'll never get what he wants politically in this

country, so he's said to himself what a lot of other people have said.

If you can't beat them, join them.

Oh, Tony, Tony, you don't know, do you?

You only know your own side of the fence.

Tell him, Cass.

Tell him what?

Tell him about your dad walking the streets in winter, canvassing when he

should have been in his sick bed, turning his back on her, cutting his rent

when he didn't have two pence to rub together because

he thought it might compromise what he believed in.

What did it add up to, Sam?

What difference did it make in the world?

Peter did more than Dad, expanding Crossman's, making work.

It's all behind you, isn't it, Cass?

If all the bosses were like Peter Crossman, there'd be no Charlie Tripps.

They weren't, and they aren't.

I'm not at war with Charlie to protect you, you

know, Tony, and it's you he's after, not me.

I'm at war with the idea that you've just got to swap one lot of bosses for another.

Hand over the stocks and shares to another lot.

It's not what comes after capitalism I want to know, it's what comes after Marx.

Do you want me to put this on the table?

Ginger cake.

Homemade.

We don't eat cake.

We're slimming.

So I'd noticed.

You don't look like a couple of Skellingtons.

I bet he'd eat in there, if you hadn't got your eagle eye on him.

Bossy.

Erm... have you told him?

Told him what?

You know.

I know?

I haven't a clue what you're talking about.

You know all right.

You don't have to tell me, but he's got a right to know.

If you don't tell him, you'll live to regret it, I promise you.

He'll never forgive you.

Chew your end on that.

Well, I'll get off then, Cass, thanks for the drink.

Aren't you going to wait for Tony?

He's only getting dressed.

You haven't sorted it out yet, have you?

You mean I didn't back down?

That's what you mean, isn't it?

Did you expect me to?

No, not necessarily.

But Tony does.

He stands where Morris used to stand, in charge.

Because of me, you mean?

Who was it who asked me not to sell out to the Dusseldorf firm when Morris said I

must do as I felt fit because he'd lost interest?

I did.

And did I?

No.

You were in charge then, Sam.

You could have stayed in charge.

Could I?

You asked me not to, I didn't, and that was that.

You just took it for granted.

What did you want, Cass, a 21-gun salute?

I wanted some of your time.

I wanted the sort of help that Morris used to give.

I know you've never been interested in the money side

unless it affected the works, but I've had to be interested.

I'm stuck with it.

It's how things are.

What was it, Sam?

Afraid to be tainted by association, were you?

Pretend she's not with us.

Morris didn't have a family.

I gave them little enough of me time as it was.

I'm a slave to work, Cass, I have been all my life.

It's like a disease, and it springs from another disease.

Empty bellies, the door, pits closing, the means-test maester, and all the other

bloody indignities I shouldn't have to remind you of.

It's grained me to look, and every month's pay is the last.

I'm gut-rotted with insecurity.

I'm like a starved rat that's got his belly full and

can't stop eating in case there's no more to come.

Do you really think I've forgotten all that?

How could I?

But it's behind us.

What are you afraid of, Sam?

Of losing what I value most.

The right to speak as I feel, not the right to be boss.

When I argue against the union on an overmanning dispute, I do it because I

know the job doesn't justify it, and if the job doesn't justify it,

sooner or later somebody's going to be out of work.

I'm a manager, Cassie, not a boss.

No man's got the right to be another man's master.

Tony could be right about Charlie, you know.

Aye, it's easier to believe that than believe me, isn't it?

You've never forgiven me, have you, Cass?

For what?

For being a fly-by-night in the old days.

I need somebody to lean on, Sam.

I always have done, though I've not always admitted it.

You always came too late, Sam.

Always too late.

I happen.

Even now.

Oh, you're leaving, Sam?

Aye, I'll see you at the works on Monday.

See you, Cass.

Bye.

I've...

been trying to change his mind for me.

He'll not do that, I think.

Well, he'll have to in the end.

Have to?

Well, not have to so much as perhaps we're...

Well, let's say it'll happen without him.

When he goes to Portugal in September to set up that assembly

plant, Ted Fawcett and I are planning a few sweeping changes.

We're going to split the works on the production side,

separate engines from the rest, bring in some new blood.

Does Sam know about this?

In general terms, yes, he does.

Does he approve?

Good Lord, no.

Sam hates delegation.

It's his little kingdom that works.

He works too damn hard anyway.

Takes too much on himself, you know he does.

It's time he let go a bit.

Trouble is, he won't be helped.

I shall have to do it for him.

Don't I come into this?

What, do you want to?

I thought you wanted to leave that sort of thing to me.

Well, maybe yes.

It wouldn't work half and half, you know, Cass.

You told him we're getting married?

No.

You've known him a long time, haven't you?

All my life.

Well, then you must know that he can be very bloody minded at times.

And that's bad, is it?

When you're trying to run a works, yes, it is.

Trying to run it to your way, you mean?

Well, I am in charge.

Aren't I?

Look, you can help me take that through.

I'll wash up.

Oh, I haven't quite finished.

He says he's not finished.

What?

His cup of tea.

He's not finished it.

Well, it looks finished to me.

Well, if he doesn't know whether he's finished or not, who does?

Do you want it?

No, no, it doesn't matter.

One up to the woman.

Well, I'd more or less finished, actually.

They'd have a clean shirt off your back and into

the set pot if you don't watch them women, you know.

They've itchy fingers, women have.

Set pot, did you say?

Aye.

You said set pot.

What about it?

I don't know what it means.

It's what we used it for, washes coming.

Ah.

Copper, as some call them.

There was set pots, dolly tubs, rubbing boards, potters.

They'll not starch collars for you these days, women, you know.

Well, if you don't, not.

It must have been hard work.

Hard work, they don't know the bloody ball these days.

All right, Grandad.

All right, all right, for some you mean.

They knew the rightful place did women in them days.

Drawers off.

You what?

It's an expression I heard in the pub when we were over here last.

Some sort of job in the pit, is it?

Oh.

Rippers, pan-turners.

It's all double-dutch to me, of course.

It's common sense no more.

Drawers off.

Drawers off.

Oh.

Drawers off supports from waste.

You Sylvester's.

It's common sense, that's all it is.

It stands to reason.

Drawers off.

Drawers off.

That's what drawers off do.

Oh, dear.

How long will it take to write the Bible, eh?

It's going to take you a dumb sight longer to write this book.

It's all right for you, you've known him all your life.

I get all screwed up because I'm middle class and educated.

Well, that's supposed to make you feel superior, isn't it?

To him, you must be joking.

I squirm in here with respect.

Ah, well, he'd hate that.

Yes, I know he would.

He's not perfect, you know.

He's a fighter.

But he can be more bigoted, wrong and generally bloody awful than anybody I know.

You respect him, though, don't you?

Oh, yes.

Yes.

But the kind of life... What?

The kind of life that produced him, that shaped his character, his guts,

his spirit, his bloody-mindedness...

You want that done away with.

You want the fight taken out of life, don't you?

Of course.

Well, where are they going to come from, then, the characters, the giants?

A race of pygmies, that's what we'll breed.

Did you see Tony Parker today?

Aye.

I told him you were interested in a job in technical space.

What did he say?

He asked me why you talked to me and not to Sam.

I told him you wanted to do it off your own bat.

So I've got to talk to Sam?

Aye.

Why don't you?

I looked it up today, the word nepotism.

Favouritism given to a relative.

You know how I got into Crossman's, don't you?

Sam promised my old man he'd see me all right.

But you're not a relative.

What's flesh and blood?

Anyway, you're not.

Sam's not your father.

So it wouldn't worry you if someone came up to you

in the street and said his father got him a job?

Look, I told you before, I want to change the whole set-up.

If I don't agree with the law, I'll break it if I can get away with it.

A bit of a bandit, are you?

Living off the fat of the land on somebody else's toil, that's what I call banditry.

I don't know any law against it.

He's back.

Do you fancy a pint when you've done?

Er, lime juice and soda.

Oh, I've got a union meeting at eight.

To be dedicated, to have a purpose in life.

You think I'm in politics for kicks, don't you?

Hello, Charlie.

Sam, you're late.

Why?

Chris has got your tea ready.

His cross.

I'll see what I can do.

Debbie's out shopping, Charlie.

Yes, I know her.

I wanted to have a talk with you before she came back.

Do you want a drink, scotch, gin?

No, I don't.

Oh, that's right, you don't, do you?

Your dad did.

Mild beer.

I used to tell him he had hollow legs.

Aye, well, he's entitled to a couple of vices.

You don't feel you are?

I don't feel the need.

Well, he did.

Mild beer and hobby.

Always something out of the way.

Painted, sang, read a lot, played the corner at one time.

He was doing a tapestry at a work in classes once.

I got it at home.

Five foot by two foot he was going to be.

He only did the first two couple of square inches.

Aye, he was a great starter.

He never finished much.

He'd always find new interests along the way.

Life ran too fast for him.

Maybe you would have done something with it if things were different.

I liked him as a starter.

Do you know why I reckon he never finished anything, Charlie?

Because he'd seen it in his head before the end.

Imagination.

It'd be a bit boring just getting there after

that, so he'd move on to something else.

He was a bit like that in politics.

On the road to nowhere, is that what you mean?

No, no, that's what you mean, Charlie.

There has to be a road for you, doesn't there?

The straighter, the better.

Billy tried it like that at first, and then he sat on a

wall for a bit and watched everyone else go trotting by.

What do you want to see me about, Charlie?

This as much as anything?

This.

If I'm to marry Deb, I'll need to know where we stand, for her sake.

You and Mina, I mean.

Marry her?

I shall ask her.

Will she say yes?

She'll want to, but... I've said nothing to make her say any different.

You don't have to, it seems.

Look, it's not all cut and dried.

She feels it between us.

Feels what?

No trust.

From me, you mean?

It can't be from you, can it, Charlie?

Because you know where I stand, out in the open.

You don't, do you, Charlie?

You seem to think not.

Look, this never mattered before, either way.

You keep funny company because you have to.

But you're on my side of the fence in the end.

You say you're out in the open, but you're not.

Stand up and be counted, Sam.

Stand where you belong.

I'll stay where I belong, Charlie.

I'll not have anyone say it for me.

Look, there's a war coming, Sam.

In a war, you have friends and you have enemies.

Why?

Like Spain, you mean?

Lost to the fascists because the communists split their ranks?

Is that what you mean, Charlie?

With friends like that, who needs enemies?

We've seen it all before, Charlie.

My generation, your dad's generation.

Spain, Hungary, Czechoslovakia.

You wonder why I'm sparing with trust, do you?

Parker tells me you've been to see him.

Aye.

He told me it was up to you whether I was to go on the work side.

It is.

Is it?

The way I read him, it's up to you in the first place.

And his decision in the end.

What are you trying to do, Charlie?

Set me against him?

You heard that already.

Look, Charlie, just because I'm against Parker doesn't mean to say I'm for you.

You've joined the Labour Party, but you're a communist, aren't you, Charlie?

And that's a crime in your book, is it?

Er, no.

No, no.

It's me that's the criminal in your eyes.

I don't give a bloody damn what you are, as long as you come out and say it.

What sort of communist are you, Charlie?

There's 57 varieties these days.

There's some like me that aren't in the party

because they want to speak as they feel.

I know why you've lodged your card, Charlie.

You'll deny it because that's the way you play it.

You've watched your vote drop from nothing to less than nothing over the years,

so you tag on to Labour because that's where the votes are, the way to power.

You do what you did in Spain, you split the ranks.

You ask for trust and you play a dirty game, shake hands and come out fouling.

Drop dead, Charlie.

As far as, er, Parker's concerned, well, if he

wants to go against me, that's his business.

Look, I'll fight the bloody pair of you.

As for Deb, well, it's up to her.

You find she's coming round to think as I do, Sam?

What'll the last Labour government do to us to put us one step forward?

Oh, not much, I'll grant you.

What'll you do that'll not put us two steps back?

Be a man, Charlie.

Stand up in the open and slog it out.

Don't hide up alleys and sneak round corners.

Don't give me the old excuse.

Excuse?

You said it in the beginning, you said it in Spain, you're saying it today.

The end justifies the means.

Drop dead, Charlie.

The strike began a week ago over a who-does-what maintenance row involving three men.

A National Coal Board spokesman said there would

be no discussions until normal work was resumed.

Well, all this week Britain's miners have been in conference in Morecambe and their

president, Joe Gormley, has cautioned them

against rushing into another militant campaign.

Their General Secretary, Lawrence Daly, has warned that there is no room for any

co-operation with a Tory government which has ruthlessly

attacked the living standards of the working classes.

And the delegates have voted for the following wage demand.

I miss the fire in summer.

It's one of the compensations of winter, Dad.

You can't have it both ways.

Enjoy your tea.

I got it down, didn't I?

Oh, that's something, I suppose.

No, I enjoyed it.

I'd keep quiet about it, though, if I were you.

Keep quiet about it?

That you're good in the kitchen.

When you're wed.

Keep quiet about it.

I thought you were a better deal for women sort of bloke.

Oh, I am.

Better stoves, better sinks.

Every labour-saving gadget you can imagine, I'm for it.

No, I want a better deal for women.

Better deal for everybody, come to that.

Where's Tom?

I ran him to the pub.

I said I'd go back in about an hour.

His stitches are pulling.

He can't stop at home two minutes, can he?

He's got a woman.

Only one?

Yeah, same one he had six months ago.

I call that a record.

There's been a few others he's knocked about with at the same time, of course.

Hey, like that one at Cassie's party.

Never brings her home, does he?

You've met her?

At Crossman's sports.

The quiet one with the little lad?

Yeah.

Divorced, isn't she?

No, she's just not married.

There's a few like that on the estate.

This one's serious, is she?

I don't know.

Could be.

I can't see Tom married though, somehow.

Mum would have liked her.

Well, that's in her favour, eh?

Fancy some more coffee?

Oh, I'm not saying no.

I'll put the kettle on.

Oh, Tom's his MacArthur, wants you to have a blood test.

Me too.

I've had one.

He called me the day I went to fetch Tom, sent me down to pathology.

Wasted time.

It was negative, wasn't it?

Well, they have to send it away to be done.

What makes you think it's negative?

You fall into the same trap as Tom.

If he's got the same thing as I have, it must have come through Mum.

Let's go and fetch young Tom, then.

He's staying the night there.

He's not going to be disturbed.

Right, I'll fetch him myself.

Then I'll go and tell him to show you the door.

I'm his mother.

Who's his father, Sarah?

And how long's that been going on up there?

On and off.

You went straight from me to David.

Do you want me to go into the details?

Spare me those.

Who is it, Sarah, this lot or the other lot?

Oh, did it hurt?

Then I meant it to.

Who's Sarah?

Does it matter?

It matters.

It matters to me.

Why?

You care about him, do you?

You know I do.

Because you think he's yours.

Because when he's hurt, it's your own flesh and blood that's hurt.

Is his hurt any less, then, if he's not your flesh and blood?

Are kids that have no mother and no father less vulnerable to pain, then?

Less in need?

You should know the answer to that, if anybody does.

What?

I want to marry you, Sarah.

And you better have a blood test first to make sure he's yours.

Large-scale comic spectaculars and musicals are planned

for a new jumbo-sized stage at Batley Variety Club.

Well, we can't sit watching that all night.

We've a wedding tomorrow.

Well, we're interested in that.

You can watch telly any time.

You've a visitor tonight, haven't you?

Do you always have a fire in summer, Mr Barraclough?

We have a fire...

when we feel the need of a fire.

That's when we have a fire.

Yes.

Well, I think I'll get myself a glass of water, if that's all right.

You can be a miserable old devil when you really put your back into it, can't you?

What have I done now?

Well, you're not exactly making him feel at home, are you?

Like you do, you mean.

By God, you've got your thumb on him, haven't you?

So that's what's offending you, is it?

A free and equal relationship between man and woman.

You like a man to be a master, don't you, Grandad?

I like a man that's a man.

That's what it takes to be a man.

That's very natural.

Oh, he's a man, I promise you.

He's natural.

You don't rule over us any more, Grandad.

Those were the bad old days.

I borrowed these from Eileen.

They're what she got from us when she was wed.

You weren't drinking water the last time I saw you drinking, were you?

Oh, when was that?

Cossie Crossman's party.

Oh, yes.

You weren't dancing with her in there, neither.

Not most of the time, you weren't.

Trying to make her jealous.

Did you succeed?

Oh, I doubt it.

It's the other way round most of the time.

I've been asking her to marry me for a long time, you know.

No.

I've been telling her she should for a long time and all.

She can be a madam, you know.

Yes, yes.

Well, I'm well aware of that.

She hasn't told you, has she?

She hasn't.

I can see she hasn't.

She should have.

She should have told you.

Sorry, I don't... I suppose I shall have to do it.

No, it wouldn't make any difference.

She can't go into marriage, give anything like that to herself.

She's pregnant.

Oh.

Uh... Oh, she's told you?

No.

She never tells me anything.

Uh, that... No, I belong to a generation that's got eyes in the back of its head.

It's a surprise.

I can see it is.

It's to shop.

We always took...

uh... care to, uh... well, not...

Oh, it's all science and nonsense these days, it seems.

If we can't do it ourselves, I can't be bothered.

We put our hands in our pockets or look round for someone to do it for us.

Nobody can bake bread no more.

Break their backs to do a day's washing with a posser.

They get the cars out to go a hundred yards down the road.

Put your foot caught in the blankets, did you?

It seems we did.

Oh dear, I'm so sorry.

We're not supposed to know about things like that, are we?

Old folk and children.

I'm not far off 70.

You'd be surprised what I know that's not to be read in books.

You have not lost your colour any, Rhode.

Not too upset, then?

No.

Oh, no.

Except, um... she didn't tell me.

They usually can't tell you fast enough, can they?

Especially when they're not wed.

Why shouldn't she tell you?

There's always all going on about honest relationships and such.

Is there no trust?

I don't know.

I don't know.

It's Cass.

I'll just step down the pub and get Tom.

Now, Cass, leave something behind, did I?

No.

I didn't know you played chess.

I don't.

Chris indulges me.

It's another kind of game we play.

It's called enjoying each other's company.

Ah.

Well, I suppose I'm reaping the benefit now.

Of what?

Of the years from changing their nappies to finding out they

can run rings round you in most things except your job happen.

Maybe finding out you didn't do such a bad job with

them after all, or at least it could have been worse.

They appreciate it, you think?

Chris does.

Deb does.

Tom.

I never know anything about him.

And mine are all in Australia.

They've got a good start in life.

Because I married money, you mean.

Oh, a bit more than that, I'd say, Cass.

They don't write much.

Less as time goes on.

You know, when I left school to look after the kids when Mum

died, I had people all round me, looking to me for everything.

Help me, Cass.

What shall I do, Cass?

I'm lost, Sam.

Nobody needs me anymore.

Tony.

Tony?

God.

Tony doesn't need anybody.

Tony's got it all worked out.

He hasn't, you know.

He just thinks he has.

He lives on confidence.

And what do you live on, Sam?

Facts.

Facts.

You could have pushed your way up and taken over from Morris if you wanted to.

Why didn't you, Sam?

Yeah, I'm farther along the road than I want to go now.

I'm as haggard and bitter past as you are, Cassie.

Guilt-ridden, you once called it.

It might be a load of nonsense, but it's there.

You should have thrown it off... and married money like I did.

You reckon?

Sarah...

Sarah always said you worked too hard.

Yes, she did.

Yes, well...

I'd better get back and see if he's got that barbecue thing working.

He's still trying it, is he?

I think he got under his skin.

Maybe he's a bit guilt-ridden, very deep down.

You keep at him, Cass.

It could be the making of him.

Yes.

Well, I'll see you at the wedding tomorrow, then.

All right.

See you, Cass.

You're not wearing that tomorrow, are you?

What do you think I'm doing all this to it for?

What's wrong with it?

Well, it's old-fashioned.

I am old-fashioned.

Fashioned a long time ago, I was.

So is she, only she'll not admit it.

I beg your pardon?

I think she's a trendy young lefty, Syl.

Good at paying lip service.

Says one thing, does another.

They're all like that these days.

Get back to sleep, Blunder.

Cheeky and all, he's right.

He is not.

Oh, yes, I am.

Why can't you settle into middle age comfortably?

Enjoy it.

You get this straightened out, love.

What have I said?

What's brought all this on?

You're always going on about honesty, total exposure, nothing hidden.

What you really mean is for everybody else except you.

They all do.

Well, thanks very much.

That was a lovely eve of wedding speech, that was.

Some wedding.

Even our friends haven't been told.

You're ashamed of marrying me, aren't you?

We're not married yet, you know.

My God, that were overdue, that were.

Shut up, you.

Don't aggravate things.

Now, I don't disagree with what you've said, but I'll take it no further.

It's a long time since I've seen her that close to tears.

By the living daylights.

What does it mean?

Eh?

By the living daylights, what does it mean?

What's it mean?

Oh, it means what it says, I suppose.

What are you on asking me all these questions for?

I want to write a book.

Apes, she said.

Apes?

You make a study of apes, she says.

I'm an anthropologist.

A man in his environment.

She knows nought.

She thinks she knows it all, but she knows nought.

We've had books written about us before.

They were mucky.

Mucky?

One of them were.

It were mucky.

Maybe the truth is mucky.

Not that kind of muck.

Well, you could write it yourself, then.

I left school when I was 12 years old.

Don't you muck fun of me.

No, I mean talking to this.

In your own words.

You lived it.

It's all up there in your head.

Nobody knows it like you do.

It's important.

Important?

Yes, we can learn from the past.

You reckon I can learn you something, do you?

By God, you can say that in front of her.

I can't learn her nought.

She knows it all.

I'm nought to her.

It's a yardstick, you see.

Where are we going?

Have we moved forward or have we moved back?

Moved back?

I could tell you a thing or two.

I could buy the living daylights.

I could.

But you won't.

Will you?

Man in his environment, eh?

I come in here a cart when I were eight.

You know how many pits we had here once?

Three pits we had.

You know why we went on strike last winter when we had the blackouts and such?

It goes back to the twenties and beyond.

General strike.

I know.

I could tell him why they stood fast.

By God, I could.

Tell me.

How's it work?

A young contraption.

Hello.

Good shopping?

Not bad.

Deb asked me if I'm in for a cup of tea on my way.

Then she run me back.

Tired you out?

Oh, no, no.

She's very considerate.

She didn't have to take me.

She did it out of the kindness of her heart.

There's a lot of good in her generation.

She was what some folks say.

Some of the buggers in between don't want to know you when you're old.

Well, they'll behold themselves one day, Eileen.

That'll learn them.

It'll learn them too late, though, won't it?

I'm glad Sarah saw yours grow up into what they are.

Tom.

Oh, Tom will be all right.

Here's your shirt.

Thanks.

Deb says he's looking for a better job so he can get married.

Does she?

Didn't you know?

I didn't know about the job bit.

She'll not get married, she says.

She's a bit like Pat in many ways.

Always set for politics.

Pig sick of politics, she says.

Well, they didn't ruin my life, I told her, and I was married to them.

What did she say to that?

Our generation doesn't understand.

Ah.

It's a question of ends and means, she says.

It's a question of ends and means.

Why do you have to talk to Sam?

Because we're to go on talking if and after we're married.

You don't want to cut yourself off from him, do you?

No chance, Charlie.

I know that.

That's why I've got to get it straight.

Agree to disagree.

On politics, at least.

Was that a proposal just now, that bit about after we're married?

We have to find out where I stand first.

We'd better leave it, then.

I know the answer already.

I'll live with it, but it seems you'll not.

What's the time?

Eileen will be wondering where I've got to.

You don't want me to talk to her, then?

There's no point, Charlie.

No point at all.

Hi, Cass.

Where's Tony?

He's upstairs, I think.

I just got back from Sheffield.

There was a message on my desk saying he wanted to see me.

What's this?

A barbecue.

Tony's just bought it.

He's going down to London tomorrow, by the way.

I'm staying on for Pat's wedding.

Where is it?

I forgot to ask.

Registry office.

A vicar at Galwick wouldn't marry him because Richard's divorced.

How's Ethel taking it?

Well, you know Ethel.

She'll not let Richard sleep with Pat tonight,

even though they've lived together for two years.

He's to stop at our house till she gets her marriage lines.

And how's Tom after his hernia?

Nurse and his stitches still.

Sam!

Go away!

The woman across there watches us through binoculars.

Do you think we were married the way he behaves?

Come in and have a scotch.

You'll have to take a leaf out of Pat's book and get married, won't you?

Are you telling me I should?

Or asking me if I'm going to?

Industry.

Application.

The exercise of the mind towards the practical betterment of society.

You've had your hair cut.

Pretty.

Cheers.

Sorry.

If I'm not prepared to graft myself, the least I can do is let you get on with it.

Keep the wheels turning, as you'd say.

He's not back yet, is he?

I'm supposed to be getting his tea while Mrs Marsh is off.

You'll have to tell him what Mum used to say.

We're both late again.

Do you want an orange, Pat?

Yeah.

What does he do these days?

Now we're away such a lot.

Now you and Deborah are away, you mean?

As a matter of fact, we started playing chess.

Together?

No, no.

No, we sit in separate rooms and call the moves to each other.

You nearly believed that, didn't you?

Yeah, well, you know, the way you two tiptoe round each other...

Trying not to get the fence, you mean.

Trying to be as Mum would have wanted us to be.

I feel sorry for him, as a matter of fact.

He's more turned away now than he was just after she died, even.

We've learned to cope.

He just gets worse.

He forgets things.

I leave notes for him on the table.

Remember this, remember that.

You can't feel inferior to somebody when you've to coddle them.

Ah, now when did you ever feel inferior to Dad?

Only the last 20-odd years.

It's illusion, of course.

Psychological blockage or some such crap.

Tom, why is it always you and not me?

That's what I used to say when I was at that school.

And you and Deborah at home.

Why them and not me?

Oh.

Are your stitches pulling?

Yeah.

Mind you...

You know when you had your appendix out?

Yeah.

Wasn't there some problem with the anaesthetic?

Yeah, they had a bit of a job bringing me round, I think.

Something like that.

It was years ago.

What made you remember?

I remember Mum writing and telling me when I was at school.

It seems you'll have to have a blood test.

Why?

You could be sensitive to what they call...

scoline.

They had the same problem with me.

McAllister wants you and Sam to have a blood test.

Sam?

Well, Sam can't be involved if it's something passed on to both you and me, can he?

Now, why didn't my brilliant mind fasten on to that one?

It's inherited.

It must have come through Mum.

Why hasn't Cartwright told McAllister that Sam's not your Dad?

Well, why should he?

He probably doesn't know.

He's only been here a couple of years.

McAllister wasn't too keen to go into the drug question anyway.

Especially somebody with my background.

Sounds like Sam's car.

Put your apron on, brother.

Yes.

Get a sweater over that stove.

It must have come through Mum.

Unless my old man nipped her one night and... That's not...

Sorry.

I forgot what we were talking about for a minute.

When it comes to jokes about sex, we've one standard for the people we care

about, and another for the rest of humanity.

I wonder what the book says about that one.

Anybody in?

It's Pat.

And the ageing lover.

We're in here.

Nice to look at.

Richard.

Yes.

You've had your hair cut.

Pretty.

You know Richard, don't you?

Yes.

We met at Cassie's party last month.

Hi.

Hello.

Dad won't be long.

I'm just getting his tea ready.

Do you want a hand?

Oh, no.

I'm getting very good at it these days.

If he hadn't have had his hair cut, he'd have made somebody a lovely wife.

Belt up.

You're only jealous.

We've brought Richard's case for tonight.

Hmm?

Well, Richard's staying here tonight.

Richard.

Tonight.

You ought to get your hair cut.

Maybe you'll hear people talking.

That's why I grew it long.

I'll take it upstairs.

No, no, I'll do it.

I've not made the bed up yet.

Talk to Tom about your project.

Er...

It looks as though we're going to be related, loosely.

Loosely.

Loosely?

Yeah.

Loosely.

Are you... Is, um...

I'm an anthropologist.

Yeah, we were told.

We were informed that you were.

I want to, um... make a study of the area.

Write a book.

About Galwick?

Yes.

Galwick.

Skeleton.

The pits.

Depression and so on.

It's a... It's a marvellous area.

It's a fantastic subject.

I want to talk to the old man, actually.

Um, after the wedding, of course.

Greg Grandin.

Not many of them left, his generation.

I want to get it before it's too late, all gone.

Record it.

Put him on tape?

Yes.

Well, I've... I've brought a tape recorder with me, as a matter of fact.

I haven't approached him yet.

He's a bit, um... Well, someone like me's...

Do you think... You'll love it.

You think so?

Love it.

There's no need to make a racket, I urge you.

What's this?

Here's what it looks like.

On rations, are we?

I usually have some of tea to teach her.

No, it's to put you on till our Pat and Richard get here.

And then we can all eat together, can't we?

It's Richard now, is it?

No, he's to wed her.

It were him before.

Him.

It'll be Richard Love next.

Come in, Richard Love.

Get your feet under the table, Richard Love.

He's doing the right thing.

I don't like it.

Oh, well, you'd better start getting to like him, then.

And we're one of the family this time tomorrow.

I don't like him and I shall not like him.

You've got no right to say that.

Some I like and some I don't.

And I don't like him.

He lets her ride roughshod on him.

He's not a man, he's a bloody mouse.

I don't like him.

He's clever.

He writes books.

Muckians, like your mother, she used to know.

Where does she find them?

No, schooling books.

Not that sort.

She was explaining it to me the other day.

He's an... he's an anthropodist.

Or some such.

Anthropodist?

Aye.

Ripes is anthropoids.

Apes?

Are you sure about that?

Anthropoids is apes.

Oh.

Well, that means he studies apes, then.

Only, she was telling me the other day, he wants to do a study on you.

In your environment.

She said.

So, er, what's it for, anyway?

What, the barbecue gear?

Er, well, for a barbecue, probably.

Yeah, well, I've probably asked for that.

No, I saw it and I thought, we ought to have a barbecue sometime.

And I bought it.

Ah.

Sam doesn't approve.

He thinks he's chucking money away, don't you, Sam?

He's a Yorkshireman.

Well, I've been known to chuck me money away, Cass.

Now and then.

Ah.

But not on something you might use sometime, maybe never.

Well, it's his money.

It's not up to me to tell him what to do with it.

I just wonder sometimes, that's all.

What?

It's how I was brought up, Appen.

Waste not, want not.

It's like that, er, cartoon they had during the war, the squanderbug.

What happens when the kids run out because we've squandered?

You don't believe that science will provide, then?

Oh, science will provide as long as it's there.

Suppose it's not.

Suppose we've used it up.

Can science turn stocks and shares into good usable metal, then?

Water into wine.

You're a pessimist, Sam.

Have to believe it can to be an optimist, have I?

Confident, Sam.

Confident.

Oh, spend it while you've got it.

Live for today until we're tomorrow, eh?

My Godfathers, you really don't like my lifestyle, do you?

Well, maybe I'm not all that keen on it myself.

But like a lot of other people, I'm stuck with it.

You see, I'm what the 20th century made me.

Like Charlie Tripp.

It made me a capitalist and him a Marxist.

Pro tem.

It was Charlie I wanted to talk to you about, actually.

He came to see me today.

He wanted to know if you'd made a decision about him joining you in the works.

Why didn't he ask me?

He sees me often enough.

I don't know, you tell me.

He didn't ask me because he knows what the answer would be.

No.

If he thought I'd said yes, he wouldn't have brought it up in the first place.

You're like old Amos that used to stand outside Skeleton

Workingmen's Club of a Sunday night looking for converts.

Since I found the saviour, he'd shout, I've come up twice and the treble chance.

Charlie's not for sale, Tony.

He just wants us to think that he is.

Yeah?

Why?

Well, we'll have his reasons.

You know he's seeing Deb again?

Yeah, I know, Cass.

She told me.

Happy about it?

No.

Why not, Sam?

For the same reason.

I'd not wanted to marry a jerry soldier 30 years back.

We're at war.

Oh, come on, Sam.

Goes on all the time, that war, Tony.

Back of the joking, back of the fact that he's not a bad bloke.

If it ever comes out into the open, she'll be split between us.

Do you expect me to be happy about that?

All right, supposing he told you he wanted the job for the job's sake.

Now, there's a limit to how far he can get with what he's doing.

Now, supposing he told you that.

You see, he must realise that he'll never get what he wants politically in this

country, so he's said to himself what a lot of other people have said,

if you can't beat them, join them.

Oh, Tony, Tony, you don't know, do you?

You only know your own side of the fence.

Tell him, Cass.

Tell him what?

Tell him about your dad walking the streets in winter, canvassing when he

should have been in his sick bed, turning his back on her, cutting his rent

when he didn't have two pence to rub together because

he thought it might compromise what he believed in.

What did it add up to, Sam?

What difference did it make in the world?

Peter did more than Dad, expanding Crossman's, making work.

It's all behind you, isn't it, Cass?

If all the bosses were like Peter Crossman, there'd be no Charlie Tripps.

They weren't, and they aren't.

I'm not at war with Charlie to protect you, you

know, Tony, and it's you he's after, not me.

I'm at war with the idea that you've just got to swap one lot of bosses for another,

hand over the stocks and shares to another lot.

It's not what comes after capitalism I want to know, it's what comes after Marx.

Do you want me to put this on the table?

Ginger cake.

Homemade.

We don't eat cake.

We're slimming.

So I'd noticed.

You don't look like a couple of Skellingtons.

I bet he'd eat in there, if you hadn't got your eagle eye on him.

Bossy.

Erm... have you told him?

Told him what?

You know.

I know?

I haven't a clue what you're talking about.

You know all right.

You don't have to tell me, but he's got a right to know.

If you don't tell him, you'll live to regret it, I promise you.

He'll never forgive you.

Chew your end on that.

Well, I'll get off then, Cass, thanks for the drink.

Aren't you going to wait for Tony?

He's only getting dressed.

You haven't sorted it out yet, have you?

You mean I didn't back down?

Did you expect me to?

No, not necessarily.

But Tony does.

He stands where Morris used to stand, in charge.

Because of me, you mean?

Who was it who asked me not to sell out to the Dusseldorf firm when Morris said I

must do as I felt fit because he'd lost interest?

I did.

And did I?

No.

You were in charge then, Sam.

You could have stayed in charge.

Could I?

You asked me not to.

I didn't, and that was that.

You just took it for granted.

What did you want, Cass?

A 21-gun salute?

I wanted some of your time.

I wanted the sort of help that Morris used to give.

I know you've never been interested in the money side, but I've had to be interested.

I'm stuck with it.

It's... What was it you used to say?

It's how things are.

What was it, Sam?

Afraid to be tainted by association, were you?

Pretend she's not with us?

Morris didn't have a family.

I gave them little enough of me time as it was.

I'm a slave to work, Cass.

I have been all my life.

It's like a disease, and it springs from another disease.

Empty bellies, the door, pits closing, the means test, Maester, and all the other

bloody indignities I shouldn't have to remind you of.

It's grained me to look, and every month's pay is the last.

I'm gut-rotted with insecurity.

I'm like a starved rat that's got his belly full and

can't stop eating in case there's no more to come.

Do you really think I've forgotten all that?

How could I?

But it's behind us.

What are you afraid of, Sam?

Of losing what I value most.

The right to speak, as I feel, not the right to be boss.

When I argue against the union on an overmanning dispute, I do it because I

know the job doesn't justify it, and if the job doesn't justify it,

sooner or later, somebody's going to be out of work.

I'm a manager, Cassie, not a boss.

No man's got the right to be another man's master.

Tony could be right about Charlie, you know.

Aye, it's easier to believe that than believe me, isn't it?

You've never forgiven me, have you, Cass?

For what?

For being a fly-be-night in the old days.

I need somebody to lean on, Sam.

I always have done, though I've not always admitted it.

You always came too late, Sam.

Always too late.

I haven't.

Even now.

Oh, you're leaving, Sam?

Aye, I'll see you at the works on Monday.

See you, Cass.

Bye.

Been trying to change his mind for me?

He'll not do that, I think.

Well, he'll have to in the end.

Have to?

Well, not have to so much as perhaps we'll...

Well, let's say it'll happen without him.

When he goes to Portugal in September to set up that assembly plant.

Ted Fawcett and I are planning a few sweeping changes.

We're going to split the works on the production side.

Separate engines from the rest.

Bring in some new blood.

Does Sam know about this?

Um, in general terms, yes, he does.

Does he approve?

Good Lord, no.

Sam hates delegation.

It's his little kingdom that works.

He works too damned hard anyway.

Takes too much on himself, you know he does.

It's time he let go a bit.

Trouble is, he won't be helped.

So I shall have to do it for him.

Don't I come into this?

What, do you want to?

Thought you wanted to leave that sort of thing to me.

Well, maybe yes.

It wouldn't work half and half, you know, Cass.

You told him we're getting married?

No.

You've known him a long time, haven't you?

All my life.

Well, then you must know that he can be very bloody-minded at times.

And that's bad, is it?

When you're trying to run a works, yes, it is.

Trying to run it your way, you mean.

Well, I am in charge.

Aren't I?

Look, you can help me take that through.

I'll wash up.

Oh, I haven't quite finished.

Sorry?

He says he's not finished.

What?

His cup of tea.

He's not finished it.

Well, it looks finished to me.

Well, if he doesn't know whether he's finished or not, who does?

Do you want it?

No, no, it doesn't matter.

One up to the woman.

Well...

I'd more or less finished, actually.

They'd have a clean shirt off your back and into

the set pot if you don't watch them women, you know.

They've itchy fingers, women have.

Set pot, did you say?

Aye.

You said set pot.

What about it?

I don't know what it means.

Well, it's what we use before washes come in.

Ah.

Copper is some gold.

Hmm.

There was set pots, dolly tubs, rubbing boards, potters.

They'll not starch collars for you these days, women, you know.

Well, if you don't, not.

It must have been hard work.

Hard work?

They don't know the bloody ball these days.

All right, Grandad.

All right, all right for some, you mean.

They knew the rightful place did women in them days.

Drawers off.

You what?

It's an expression I heard in the pub when we were over here last.

Some sort of job in the pit, isn't it?

Oh, ah.

Rippers, pan turners.

It's all double Dutch to me, of course.

It's common sense in them all.

Drawers off, drawers off.

Oh.

Drawers off supports from waste.

You Sylvester's.

It's common sense, that's all it is.

It stands to reason.

Drawers off.

Drawers off.

That's what drawers off do.

Oh, dear.

How long till you take to write the Bible, eh?

It's gonna take you a damn sight longer to write this book.

It's all right for you, you've known him all your life.

I get all screwed up because I'm middle class and educated.

That's supposed to make you feel superior, isn't it?

To him?

You must be joking.

I squirm in here with respect.

Ah, well, he'd hate that.

Yes, I know he would.

He's not perfect, you know.

He's a fighter.

But he can be more bigoted, wrong and...

generally bloody awful than anybody I know.

You respect him, though, don't you?

Oh, yes.

Yes.

But the kind of life... What?

Nothing.

The kind of life that produced him, that shaped his character, his guts,

his spirit, his bloody-mindedness... you want that done away with.

You want the fight taken out of life, don't you?

Of course.

Well, where are they gonna come from, then, the characters, the giants?

A race of pygmies, that's what we'll breed.

Did you see Tony Parker today?

Aye.

I told him you were interested in a job in technical specs.

What did he say?

He asked me why you talked to me and not to Sam.

I told him you wanted to do it off your own bat.

So I've got to talk to Sam?

Aye.

Why don't you?

I looked it up today, the word nepotism.

Favouritism given to a relative.

You know how I got into Crossman's, don't you?

Sam promised my old man he'd see me all right.

Well, you're not a relative.

What's flesh and blood?

Anyway, you're not.

Sam's not your father?

So it wouldn't worry you?

I mean, if someone's to come up to you in the

street and say, oh, his father got him a job.

Look, I told you before, I want to change the whole set-up.

If I don't agree with the law, I'll break it if I can get away with it.

Bit of a bandit, are you?

Living off the fat of the land on somebody else's toil, that's what I call banditry.

I don't know any law against it.

He's back.

Do you fancy a pint when you're done?

Er, lime juice and soda.

Oh, I've got a union meeting at eight.

To be dedicated, to have a purpose in life.

You think I'm in politics for kicks, don't you?

Hello, Charlie.

Sam?

You're late.

Why?

Chris has got your tea ready.

He's cross.

I'll see what I can do.

Debbie's out shopping, Charlie.

Yes, I know.

I wanted to have a talk with you before she came back.

Do you want a drink?

Scotch, gin?

No, I don't.

Oh, that's right, you don't, do you?

Your dad did.

Mild beer.

I used to tell him he had hollow legs.

Well, he's entitled to a couple of vices.

You don't feel you are?

I don't feel the need.

But he did.

Mild beer and hobby.

Always something out of the way.

Painted, sang, read a lot, played the corner at one time.

He was doing a tapestry at her working classes once.

I got it at home.

Five foot by two foot he was going to be.

He only did the first two couple of square inches.

He was a great starter.

He never finished much.

He'd always find new interests along the way.

Life ran too fast for him.

Maybe you would have done something with it if things were different.

I liked him as a starter.

Do you know why I reckon he never finished anything, Charlie?

Because he'd seen it in his head before the end.

Imagination.

It'd be a bit boring just getting there after

that, so he'd move on to something else.

He was a bit like that in politics.

On the road to nowhere, is that what you mean?

No, no, that's what you mean, Charlie.

There has to be a road for you, doesn't there?

The straighter, the better.

Billy tried it like that at first, and then he sat on a

wall for a bit and watched everyone else go trotting by.

What do you want to see me about, Charlie?

This as much as anything?

This.

If I'm to marry Deb, I'll need to know where we stand, for her sake.

You and me, I mean.

Marry her?

I shall ask her.

Will she say yes?

She'll want to, but... I've said nothing to make her say any different.

You don't have to, it seems.

Look, it's not all cut and dried.

She feels it between us.

Feels what?

No trust.

From me, you mean?

It can't be from you, can it, Charlie?

Because you know where I stand, out in the open.

You don't, do you, Charlie?

You seem to think not.

Look, this never mattered before, either way.

You keep funny company because you have to,

but you're on my side of the fence in the end.

You say you're out in the open, but you're not.

Stand out and be counted, Sam.

Stand where you belong.

I'll stay where I belong, Charlie.

I'll not have anyone say it for me.

Look, there's a war coming, Sam.

In a war, you have friends and you have enemies.

Why?

Like Spain, you mean?

Lost to the fascists because the communists split their ranks.

Is that what you mean, Charlie?

With friends like that, who needs enemies?

We've seen it all before, Charlie.

My generation, your dad's generation.

Spain, Hungary, Czechoslovakia.

You wonder why I'm sparing the trust, eh?

Parker tells me you've been to see him.

Aye.

He told me it was up to you whether I was to go onto the work side.

It is.

Is it?

The way I read him, it's up to you in the first place, and his decision in the end.

What are you trying to do, Charlie?

Set me against him?

You heard that already.

Look, Charlie, just because I'm against Parker doesn't mean to say I'm for you.

You've joined the Labour Party, but you're a communist, aren't you?

That's a crime in your book, is it?

Er, no.

No, no.

It's me that's the criminal in your eyes.

I don't give a bloody damn what you are, as long as you come out and say it.

What sort of communist are you, Charlie?

There's 57 varieties these days.

There's some like me that aren't in the party

because they want to speak as they feel.

I know why you've lodged your card, Charlie.

You'll deny it because that's the way you play it.

You've watched your vote drop from nothing to less than nothing over the years,

so you tag on to Labour because that's where the votes are, the weight of power.

You do what you did in Spain, you split the ranks.

You ask for trust and you play a dirty game.

Shake hands and come out fouling.

Drop dead, Charlie.

As far as, er, Parker's concerned, well, if he

wants to go against me, that's his look-out.

I'll fight the bloody pair of you.

As for Deb...

well, it's up to her.

You find she's coming round to think as I do, Sam?

What did the last Labour government do to us to put us one step forward?

Oh, not much, I'll grant you.

What'll you do?

They'll not put us two steps back.

Be a man, Charlie.

Stand up in the open and slog it out.

Don't hide up alleys and sneak round corners.

Don't give me the old excuse.

Excuse?

You said it in the beginning.

You said it in Spain.

You're saying it today.

The end justifies the means.

Drop dead, Charlie.

The strike began a week ago over a who-does-what maintenance row involving three men.

A National Coal Board spokesman said there would

be no discussions until normal work was resumed.

Well, all this week Britain's miners have been in conference in Morecambe and their

president, Joe Gormley, has cautioned them

against rushing into another militant campaign.

Their general secretary, Lawrence Daly, has warned that there is no room for any

cooperation with a Tory government which has ruthlessly

attacked the living standards of the working classes.

And the delegates have voted for the following wage demand.

I miss the fire in summer.

It's one of the compensations of winter, Dad.

You can have it both ways.

Enjoy your tea.

I got it down, didn't I?

Oh.

That's something, I suppose.

No, I enjoyed it.

I'd keep quiet about it, though, if I were you.

Keep quiet about it?

That you're good in the kitchen.

When you're wed.

Keep quiet about it.

I thought you were a better deal for women sort of bloke.

Oh, I am.

Better stoves, better sinks.

Every labour-saving gadget you can imagine, I'm for it.

No, I want a better deal for women.

Better deal for everybody, come to that.

Where's Tom?

I ran him to the pub.

I said I'd go back in about an hour.

His stitches are pulling.

Can't stop at home two minutes, can he?

He's got a woman.

Only one?

Yeah, same one he had six months ago.

I call that a record.

There's been a few others he's knocked about with at the same time, of course.

Hey, like that one at Cassie's party.

Never brings her home, does he?

You've met her?

At Crossman Sports.

The quiet one with the little lad?

Yeah.

Divorced, isn't she?

No, she's just not married.

There's a few like that on the estate.

This one serious, is she?

I don't know.

Could be.

I can't see Tom married, though, somehow.

Mum would have liked her.

Well, that's in her favour, eh?

Fancy some more coffee?

I'm not saying no.

I'll put the kettle on.

Oh, Thomas McAsda wants you to have a blood test.

Me too.

I've had one.

He called me the day I went to fetch Tom, sent me down to pathology.

Wasted time.

It was negative, wasn't it?

Well, they have to send it away to be done.

What makes you think it's negative?

You fall into the same trap as Tom.

If he's got the same thing as I have, it must have come through Mum.

Let's go and fetch young Tom, then.

He's staying the night there.

He is not going to be disturbed.

I'll fetch him myself.

Then I'll go and tell him to show you the door.

I'm his mother!

Who's his father, Sarah?

And how long's that been going on up there?

On and off.

You went straight from me to David.

Do you want me to go into the details?

Spare me those.

Who is it, Sarah, this lot or the other lot?

Oh, did it hurt then?

I meant it to.

Who's Sarah?

Does it matter?

It matters.

It matters to me.

Why?

You care about him, do you?

You know I do.

Because you think he's yours.

Because when he's hurt, it's your own flesh and blood that's hurt.

Is his hurt any less, then, if he's not your flesh and blood?

Are kids that have no mother and no father less vulnerable to pain, then?

Less in need?

You should know the answer to that, if anybody does.

I want to marry you, Sarah.

And you better have a blood test first to make sure he's yours.

Large-scale comic spectaculars and musicals are planned

for a new jumbo-sized stage at Batley Variety Club.

Well, we can't sit watching that all night.

We've a wedding tomorrow.

Oh, we're interested in that.

You can watch telly any time.

You've a visitor tonight, haven't you?

Do you always have a fire in summer, Mr. Barraclough?

We have a fire...

when we feel the need of a fire.

That's when we have a fire.

Yes.

Well, I think I'll get myself a glass of water, if that's all right.

You can be a miserable old devil when you really put your back into it, can't you?

What have I done now?

Well, you're not exactly making him feel at home, are you?

Like you do, you mean.

By God, you've got your thumb on him, haven't you?

So that's what's offending you, is it?

A free and equal relationship between man and woman.

You like a man to be a master, don't you, Grandad?

I like a man that's a man.

That's what it takes to be natural.

Oh, he's a man, I promise you.

He's natural.

You don't rule over us any more, Grandad.

Those were the bad old days.

I borrowed these from Eileen.

They're what she got from us when she was wed.

You weren't drinking water the last time I saw you drinking, were you?

Oh, when was that?

Cossie Crossman's party.

Oh, yes.

You weren't dancing with her in there, neither.

Not most of the time, you weren't.

Trying to make her jealous.

Did you succeed?

Oh, I doubt it.

It's the other way round most of the time.

I've been asking her to marry me for a long time, you know.

No.

I've been telling her she should for a long time and all.

She can be a madam, you know.

Yes, yes.

Well, I'm well aware of that.

She hasn't told you, has she?

She hasn't.

I can see she hasn't.

She should have.

Sorry, I don't... I suppose I shall have to do it.

It'll make no difference.

She can't go into marriage, give anything like that to herself.

She's pregnant.

Oh.

Oh, she's told you?

No.

She never tells me anything.

Oh, that... I belong to a generation that's got eyes in the back of its head.

It's a surprise.

I can see it is.

Mr Shoff.

We always took...

care to... well, not to... It's all science and nonsense these days, it seems.

If we can't do it ourselves, they can't be bothered.

We put our hands in our pockets or look round for someone to do it for us.

Nobody can bake bread no more.

Break their backs to do a day's washing with a posse.

They get their cars out to go a hundred yards down the road.

Put your foot caught in the blankets, did you?

It seems we did.

Oh, dear, I'm so sorry.

We're not supposed to know about things like that, are we?

Old folk and children.

I'm not far off 70.

You'd be surprised what I know that's not to be read in books.

You have not lost your colour, any road?

Not too upset, then?

No.

Oh, no.

Except, um... she didn't tell me.

They usually can't tell you fast enough, can they?

Especially when they're not wed.

Why shouldn't she tell you?

There's always all going on about her honest relationships and such.

Is there no trust?

I don't know.

I don't know.

It's Cass.

I'll just step down the pub and get Tom.

No, Cass, leave something behind, did I?

No.

I didn't know you played chess.

I don't.

Chris indulges me.

It's another kind of game we play.

It's called enjoying each other's company.

Ah.

Well, I suppose I'm reaping the benefit now.

Of what?

Of the years from changing their nappies to finding out they can run rings round

you in most things, except your job happen.

Maybe finding out you didn't do such a bad job with

them after all, or at least it could have been worse.

They appreciate it, you think?

Chris does.

Deb does.

Tom.

I never know anything about him.

And mine are all in Australia.

They got a good start in life.

Because I married money, you mean?

Oh, a bit more than that, I'd say, Cass.

They don't write much, unless his time goes on.

You know, when I left school to look after the kids when Mum

died, I had people all round me, looking to me for everything.

Help me, Cass.

What shall I do, Cass?

I'm lost, Sam.

Nobody needs me any more.

Tony.

Tony?

God.

Tony doesn't need anybody.

Tony's got it all worked out.

He hasn't, you know, he just thinks he has.

He lives on confidence.

And what do you live on, Sam?

Facts.

You could have pushed your way up and taken over from Morris if you wanted to.

Why didn't you, Sam?

Eh, I'm farther along the road than I want it to go now.

I'm as aggridden by the past as you are, Cassie.

Guilt-ridden, you once called it.

It might be a load of nonsense, but it's there.

You should have thrown it off...

and married money like I did.

You reckon?

Sarah...

Sarah always said you worked too hard.

Yes, she did.

Yes, well...

I'd better get back and see if he's got that barbecue thing working.

He's still trying it, is he?

I think he got under his skin.

Maybe he's a bit guilt-ridden, very deep down.

You keep at him, Cass.

It could be the making of him.

Yes.

Well, I'll see you at the wedding tomorrow, then.

All right.

See you, Cass.

You're not wearing that tomorrow, are you?

What do you think I'm doing all this to it for?

What's wrong with it?

Well, it's old-fashioned.

I am old-fashioned.

Fashioned a long time ago, I was.

So is she, only she'll not admit it.

I beg your pardon?

I think she's a trendy young lefty, Syl.

Good at paying lip service.

Says one thing, does another.

They're all like that these days.

Get back to sleep, Blunder.

Cheeky and all he's wrong.

He is not.

Oh, yes, I am.

Why can't you settle into middle age comfortably?

Enjoy it.

You get this straightened out, then.

Well, what have I said?

What's brought all this on?

You're always going on about honesty, total exposure, nothing hidden.

What you really mean is for everybody else except you.

They all do.

Well, thanks very much.

That was a lovely eve of wedding speech, that was.

Some wedding.

Even our friends haven't been told.

You're ashamed of marrying me, aren't you?

We're not married yet, you know.

By God, that were overdue, that were.

Shoot up, you.

Don't aggravate things.

Now, I don't disagree with what you've said, but I take it no further.

It's a long time since I've seen her that close to tears.

By the living daylights.

What does it mean?

Eh?

By the living daylights.

What does it mean?

What's it mean?

It means what it says, I suppose.

What are you on asking me all these questions for?

I want to write a book.

Apes, she said.

Apes?

You make a study of apes, she says.

I'm an anthropologist.

A man in his environment.

She knows nought.

She thinks she knows it all, but she knows nought.

We've had books written about us before.

They were mucky.

Mucky?

One of them were.

It were mucky.

Maybe the truth is mucky.

Not that kind of muck.

Well, you could write it yourself, then.

I left school when I was 12 years old.

Don't you make fun of me.

No, I mean talking to this.

In your own words.

You lived it.

It's all up there in your head.

Nobody knows it like you do.

It's important.

Important?

Yes, we can learn from the past.

You reckon I can learn you somewhat, do you?

By God, you can say that in front of her.

I can't learn her nought.

She knows it all.

I'm nought to her.

It's a yardstick, you see.

Where are we going?

Have we moved forward, or have we moved back?

Moved back?

I could tell you a thing or two.

I could.

By the living daylights, I could.

But you won't.

Will you?

Man in his environment, eh?

I come in here a cart when I were eight.

Do you know how many pits we had here once?

Three pits we had.

Do you know why we went on strike last winter when we had the blackouts and such?

It goes back to the twenties and beyond.

General strike.

I know.

I could tell him why they stood fast.

By God, I could.

Tell me.

How's it work?

A young contraption.

Hello.

Good shopping?

Not bad.

Deb asked me in for a cup of tea on my way.

Then she run me back.

Tired you out?

Oh, no, no.

She's very considerate.

She didn't have to take me.

She did it out of the kindness of her heart.

There's a lot of good in her generation.

She was fat for some folks, say.

Some of the buggers in between don't want to know you when you're old.

Well, they'll be old themselves one day, Eileen.

That'll learn them.

It'll learn them too late, though, won't it?

I'm glad Sarah saw yours grow up into what they are.

Tom.

Oh, Tom will be all right.

Here's your shirt.

Thanks.

Deb says he's looking for a better job so he can get married.

Does she?

Didn't you know?

I didn't know about the job bit.

She'll not get married, she says.

She's a bit like Pat in many ways.

Always set for politics.

Pig sick of politics, she says.

Well, they didn't ruin my life, I told her, and I was married to them.

What did she say to that?

Our generation doesn't understand.

Ah.

It's a question of ends and means, she says.

♪♪♪