Ashes to Ashes, series two, episode three.
Writer: Nicole Taylor
Director: Ben Bolt

xxxx

Alex's flat and she's watching television, glass of wine in hand. There's a brief burst of 'Land of Make Believe' by Buck's Fizz before she switches channels to see TONY HART painting a picture of a tiger.

MUSIC: 'The Great Advance' by Francis Monkman (I think)

TONY HART on TV:
Can you guess, um, what this one is? Something large, I think.

ALEX turns off the television (It's Tony Hart, woman! Are you mad?!) and gets up for a refill. The television turns itself on again and there's a characteristic sound from MORPH, a loud noise and ALEX drops the glass, clutching her chest in sudden pain. MORPH rolls into view on the television and looks sad.

MAN talking to MORPH on television:
Morph, aren't you going to help Alex?

MORPH conveys incomprehension and/or apathy.

ALEX:
Please. Please, help me.

MORPH produces some defibrillator paddles and we hear them charging up.

MEDIC:
Clear!

ALEX is hurled back against the wall as if she's just been shocked.

MAN talking to MORPH on television:
Come on, Morph. Let's try again.

MORPH shakes his head sadly.

ALEX:
No.

MAN talking to MORPH on television:
Why not?

MORPH shrugs and may or may not say 'what's the point?' My ability to interpret Morph has apparently been lost in the intervening years.

ALEX:
Please. Please, listen to him. Please, don't stop trying.

MORPH folds his arms, looks fed up and has a little tirade.

MAN talking to MORPH on television:
What d'you mean 'she's given up fighting'?

ALEX:
No. No. Please, don't give up on me.

MORPH's shoulders sag, he rolls himself into a ball and rolls off screen to reappear as a line indicating heart rate. The beep of a heart rate monitor is audible.

ALEX:
No, don't stop trying to save me. Please, don't let me die.

The MORPH heart rate monitor 'flatlines' and the bleep becomes continuous. MORPH is seen withe defibrillator paddles again, apparently applying another shock, and the screen goes white.



Opening credits:

ALEX voiceover:
My name is Alex Drake. I've been shot and that bullet's taken me back in time. Now I'm lost in 1982 and all I can do is fight, and search and stay alive. Because somehow, I will find a way home.



GENE and ALEX are visiting a prison.

ALEX:
Kevin Hales has been in Belmarsh, Pentonville, Wandsworth, the Scrubs. He gets moved around every couple of days.

GENE:
So, he's the Alan Wicker of remand prisoners. What does that prove?

ALEX:
Well, it proves that someone doesn't want him to be found, doesn't it?

They reach the entrance and GENE flashes his warrant card at the prison officer on the gate.

GENE:
We're here to see Kevin Hales.

PRISON WARDER:
Afraid you won't be seeing him today.

Behind the PRISON WARDER a stretcher with a body bag is being wheeled out.

GENE:
Says who?

PRISON WARDER:
Says him.

The PRISON WARDER indicates heavenwards then nods to the body bag.

PRISON WARDER:
That's Hales, there.

GENE:
Hold up.

GENE goes across and unzips the bag to reveal it is, indeed, KEVIN HALES.

PRISON WARDER:
Hanged himself.

GENE:
Did nobody try to stop him?

PRISON WARDER:
Got there too late. Health and safety, you know. No running down the corridors.



Gene's office. He empties out the envelope of KEVIN HALES' belongings onto his desk and glances through a letter therein. On the envelope is a picture of HALES and the following details, over which the camera lingers:
Name: Kevin Hales
DOB: 22/6/58
CRO No: 6953
Date Taken: 6/4/82



CID. NIGEL PATTISON enters carrying a box, trailed by his daughter CHARLOTTE. RAY is just completing an arm-wrestling victory over POIROT as NIGEL PATTISON thumps the box down on his desk angrily.

NIGEL PATTISON:
I want to see your DCI.

ALEX:
Ah, he's reviewing evidence, at the moment. But, um, I'm DI Drake. Perhaps I can help you?

NIGEL PATTISON:
I would like to see your DCI!

RAY:
Bloody hell, what's that stink?

RAY opens the box and he, VIV and other members of CID make further noises of protestation as the smell obviously intensifies. CHRIS take s a look and we see a very dead rabbit with wires attached to it, blood all over the shop and maggots to top off the loveliness. CHRIS retches and ALEX guides him quickly towards a bin where he throws up.

ALEX:
Hey.

CID laugh. GENE comes out of his office to see what's going on.

ALEX:
Come on, out your head between your legs. All right, Chris.

VIV:
(to GENE) Er, Mr Pattison runs a commercial lab. Uses animals for research.

GENE:
Very thoughtful of you to bring a sample of your work.

NIGEL PATTISON:
You think it's funny my daughter came running down stairs this morning and found this on our doorstep? It's Charlotte's birthday. She opened it thinking it was a present!

RAY:
Maybe she should have asked for a bike.

NIGEL PATTISON:
I came to see you weeks ago, and you told me...

GENE:
Yes, to keep vigilant and tell us about any dodgy-looking mail.

NIGEL PATTISON:
Which I did. Now they know where I live.

ALEX:
Um, I can assure you, Mr Pattison, there's been no intelligence to say any sort of attack has been planned.

NIGEL PATTISON:
Intelligence. Here's some intelligence. There's a new vivisections bill going through on Friday. Surprise, surprise, that's brought all the loonies out in force. I want protection. Couple of guys, round the clock.

RAY:
Hey, you can't hire us by the hour. We're not toms.

CHRSI:
Or pedaloes.

NIGEL PATTISON:
Yesterday a suspicious-looking package. Today, this! God knows what those lunatics are going to bring to me tomorrow.

ALEX:
What did you do with the package?

NIGEL PATTISON:
What d'you mean 'what did I do with it'? I sent it round here!

GENE:
Ta very much. We'll keep a lookout for it, shall we? Oh look, there's the postie now. Eyebrows singed, leg hanging off, but hey, at least he's still bloody whistling.

NIGEL PATTISON:
This is unbelievable!

GENE:
Mr Pattison, they are trying to intimidate you, and you are giving in to them.

NIGEL PATTISON:
Come on, Charlotte.

They leave, not happy.

GENE:
Chris, send a Panda round. Keep an eye on his house.

CHRIS:
Panda?

GENE:
Ray? Get rid of Bugs Bunny and roll your sleeve down. You look like you're about to milk a cow.

CHRIS:
Should I phone the RSPCA?

RAY:
Bit late for that, you twonk.

ALEX:
Guv, can I have a word?

GENE:
Luigi's.

They leave CID and do a bit more walking and talking.

ALEX:
Kevin Hales was not suicidal.

GENE:
Thank you, Miss Marple.

ALEX:
Oh, wake up, Guv. We ask Mac for a meeting with Hales, a couple of days later he disappears and a couple of weeks later he's dead.

GENE:
Detective Superintendents don't go about having junior officers killed, Bolly.

ALEX:
But the closer we get to the centre of this, the more the evidence just seems to melt away.

GENE:
One plus one equals forty-eight. Mac's bent, he's not a murderer.



Outside the police station, a motorbike roars past Gene and ALEX and they watch as it goes past NIGEL PATTISON and CHARLOTTE, turn and come back, the rider lobbing something towards them. There's an explosion, smoke, flame etc and NIGEL PATTISON and CHARLOTTE are knocked to the ground as the motorbike disappears.

ALEX:
Oh my God!

GENE and ALEX runtowards the scene to find NIGEL PATTISON bent over his injured and unconscious daughter.

NIGEL PATTISON:
Charlotte. Charlotte!

ALEX:
Oh God.



CID. On the television there's a news report about the incident.

NEWS REPORT on TV:
A little girl is critically ill in hospital today, after a home-made bomb was hurled from the back of a...

GENE:
Someone has got that envelope. He sent it yesterday, so it must have come in this morning. What's this?

RAY:
This is stuff he sent in weeks ago. There's nothing come in today.

GENE:
Get back on to the post room. Check...

CHRIS:
Bomb fragments have been sent off for analysis. Should be back early next week.

ALEX:
Oh, brilliant.

CHRIS:
That's a list of paid up members of the Anti-vivisection Front and Stop Hackney Animal Cruelty.

ALEX:
Thanks, Chris.

RAY:
Post room definitely haven't got it, Guv, but they're wondering if they should be evacuating?

SHAZ comes in.

SHAZ:
They've cordoned off the whole front. I haven't been able to get back in. I only went out for a Curly Wurly. Sorry. (to CHRIS) You all right?

CHRIS:
Yeah, yeah. Right as rain.

GENE:
Shaz, you come across any correspondence forwarded by Nigel Pattison?

SHAZ:
I picked up the post on my way in.

SHAZ produces a budle of mail from her handbag, which GENE snatches and sorts through, finding a package addressed to NIGEL PATTISON.

ALEX:
Well don't open it! There could be anthrax in there, or more explosives. I'm going to call Special Branch.

GENE:
Listen, Bolly, I have just seen a little girl get blown up like a firework right in front of my face. I do not need Special Branch to tell me how to open a bloody envelope.

He opens the envelope and withdraws a slip of typewritten paper:
'Stop the Bill. Three days, six attacks on the oppressors of non-human animals.'

GENE:
There's going to be six attacks in the next three days. Bastards. Bastards! Right, 'phone your birds, 'phone your mum, tell her you won't be home for tea.

RAY:
Aw, Guv.

GENE:
Shut it! Nobody leaves here, nobody empties their bladder or evacuates their bowels until I say so, is that clear?

RAY:
Yes, Guv.

Chorus of 'Yes, Guv' from the rest of CID. GENE goes back into his office, slamming the door. The television is showing footage of animal rights protests.

NEWS REPORT on TV:
...leading animal rights groups have spoken out against the bill, accusing the government of promoting a charter for cruelty.



CID and time has moved on. GENE's got a flip chart with notes on and everything. I miss the white board.

GENE:
Right, we're looking for a looney cell. Some wacko on the fringes of the mainstream movement. If they go in for six attacks before the vote on Friday, we're looking at two hits a day. Possibly with one this afternoon. Chris, start interviewing anybody who's been vocal in opposing the bill. Raymondo, I want you to start arranging cover for possible targets. Shaz? Black coffee for twenty-five.

ALEX:
D'you think we should issue a warning?

RAY:
Saying what? One attack down, five to go?

GENE:
Any journos phone up, tell them that this was an isolated incident. There's no point in putting the fear of God into the public, not until we've made progress.

SHAZ:
Tens of thousands of signatures on these petitions. Maybe the English really do prefer animals to people.

RAY:
It's not the English, it's the posh. Look at some of the names on there. 'Virginia Hazlegrave', 'Geraldine Wellcroft-Bell'. Poshos. They're the one's that join these animal rights groups.

SHAZ:
So?

RAY pretending to be posh:
'Hello, Virginia. Did you happen to throw a bomb off the back of a motorcycle today? Oh, you didn't? Maybe I'll hang on the phone until you ask Geraldine.'

SHAZ walks away, unimpressed. CHRIS, meanwhile, has been reading up a leaflet.

CHRIS:
Ma'am? Guv. 'Violent attacks on vivisectionists are rare on British soil. The most recent was in 1975...'

GENE:
What is this? Jackanory?

ALEX:
Go on, Chris.

CHRIS:
'...when a home-made bomb was thrown from a moving car killing a researcher.' Guv, it's the same MO.

GENE:
Well, who's the bomber?

CHRIS:
Name's Robin Elliot. He's being held in Felhurst.

RAY has A Thought.

RAY:
Just a minute.

RAY grabs the paper and shows them an article with the headline 'Anti-vivisectionist days from death'.

RAY:
Not for much longer. Says in here he's on hunger strike, protesting the bill.



MUSIC: 'Food for Thought' by UB40

GENE and ALEX are back at the prison.

GENE:
Twice in one day. Let's hope this one's still breathing.

ALEX:
Robin Elliot's the only animal rights extremist ever to be convicted of murder. At his trial he made a speech comparing vivisectionists to Nazis. He certainly knows how to work the publicity machine.

GENE:
D'you think he can scale prison walls as well?



The PRISON WARDER lets GENE and ALEX into ROBIN ELLIOT's cell.

PRISON WARDER:
Forty days without so much as a cup of tea. Internal organs packing up one by one.

ROBIN ELLIOT:
Would you like to sit down?

GENE:
Gene Hunt, Metropolitan Police. Someone threw a home-made bomb at a vivisectionist today, only it missed him. Got his eight year old daughter. Seems you're an inspiration to someone, Mr Elliot. Any idea who?

ROBIN ELLIOT:
Who are you?

ALEX:
I'm DI Alex Drake.

ROBIN ELLIOT:
Alex, d'you believe there's a difference between the moral status of humans and the moral status of animals?

GENE:
This is a police inquiry into an attempted murder, not radio sodding four.

ALEX:
Tell me something. If you're argument is so persuasive, why do you have to throw bombs out of car windows?

ROBIN ELLIOT:
Because fear closes down labs. Not arguments. Fear. That's what happened seven years ago, and you'll see, the same thing will happen again. That's my legacy. That's what I'm leaving behind.

GENE:
The only thing you'll be leaving behind will be a nasty smell. New laws are coming in that are going to shit all over your statue.

ROBIN ELLIOT:
That bill will never become law.

ALEX:
You think starving yourself will stop it?

GENE:
Not exactly Bobby Sands, are you? I mean I don't see you on the news every night. The public have had a bellyfull of hunger strikers.

ROBIN ELLIOT:
Perhaps. But there are other ways of bringing the cause to wider attention. Bombs, arson, assasination...

ROBIN ELLIOT counts them off on his fingers, but continues counting off to six.

ROBIN ELLIOT:
That's three, but I'm sure there are more.

GENE:
Do you know who did this? Fine.

GENE thumps the door and is let out.

ALEX:
I saw you count six. On your hands. Why did you do that? Is that the number of attacks that are planned? You know an eight year old girl was almost burnt alive today. She was on her way to her birthday party.

ROBIN ELLIOT:
D'you have any children, Alex? You do, I think.

ALEX:
I, er... One. A little girl.

ROBIN ELLIOT:
You don't sound very sure. I can feel something from you, Alex. Sadness. You're physically present, but really you're elsewhere.

ALEX:
Elsewhere?

ROBIN ELLIOT:
I understand, 'cos I am too. I'm playing the piano.

Piano music is audible.

ROBIN ELLIOT:
Same piece, over and over and over again, until it's perfect.

ALEX:
You know, you sound to me like someone who wants to live.

ROBIN ELLIOT:
Everyone wants to live, Alex. But who are we to decide who's worth being saved?

The cell door opens and GENE returns, bearing fish and chips and a can of fizzy pop which he plonks down on the table in front of ROBIN ELLIOT. GENE opens the package of food, I salivate like Pavlov's dog and GENE takes the seat opposite ROBIN ELLIOT, sniffing the fish supper appreciatively.

GENE:
Mmmm.

GENE eats a chip and drinks some of the pop with an enthusiasm that bordering on mental cruelty to the viewer, never mind the hunger striker.

GENE:
Who did this?

He eats another chip, then gets a bit cross. No vinegar maybe.

GENE:
WHO DID THIS?!

ROBIN ELLIOT:
We have enslaved the rest of creation.

GENE's had enough, springs up and pushes ROBIN ELLIOT's face into the pile of fish and chips. What a waste.

GENE:
You should be in Broadmoor.

ALEX:
Gene.

GENE and ALEX leave...



... and do a bit more walking and talking through the police station.

ALEX:
I'm sure he knows something.

GENE:
He had his chance to tell us what.

They gather up CHRIS en route.

CHRIS:
Guv, I've been down to Nigel Pattison's lab.

GENE:
Anybody dodgy on the payroll?

CHRIS:
Checked it all out. It's all legit.

CHRIS falls by the wayside.

ALEX:
He knew that more attacks had been threatened and he knew how many. That hasn't even been released to the press yet.

They enter CID.

RAY:
Guv, these are Elliot's telephone records, correspondence records and visitor lists for the last seven years.

GENE looks at some computer print outs with very short lists.

GENE:
Popular bastard, isn't he?

RAY:
Yeah, I spoke to the Governor and he doesn't see anybody, doesn't make or accept telephone calls. He doesn't even send any letters.

ALEX:
Who's Lillian Bloom?

RAY:
It's his old mum. She died three months ago.

GENE:
So much for controlling a cell from the inside.

ALEX:
Guv, I think he knows where the other targets are. We just have keep him alive and we have to keep him talking.

GENE:
Well, whatever he knows or doesn't know, he ain't the bloke who threw that bomb today, and that, DI Drake, is who I'm trying to find. Preferably before he strikes again.



ALEX goes into the CID kitchen to use the drinks machine. Probably hankering after a cup of Oxtail. Two cleaners are in there already.

CLEANER 1:
I can't get those marks out.

CLEANER 2:
Cigarette burns.

CLEANER 1:
I just did that.

CLEANER 2:
Yeah, but without the elbow grease.

CLEANER 1:
Doing it again won't make any difference.

The noise of a heart rate monitor bleeping starts up and CLEANER 1 starts to channel the voice of a MEDIC.

CLEANER 1/MEDIC:
There's no brain activity. She's clinically dead, Mike.

The bleeping stops.

CLEANER 1/MEDIC:
It's not going to work.

ALEX rushes up to CLEANER 1, grabbing her by the shoulders.

ALEX:
No. No. Now, you listen to me.

The monitor noise restarts as a continuous note.

ALEX:
My brain is not dead. It might have slowed, but it hasn't stopped. Please, please, keep trying.

CLEANER 2:
You all right, love?

ALEX leaves, the cleaners exchanging glances.



CID and ALEX is conducting another briefing.

ALEX:
Now, I know you've been working all night, but Robin could be the key. We need to find a friend, a girlfriend, some significant relationship. I need to find out who he was.

CHRIS:
There's so many possible targets.

SHAZ comes round handing out mugs; RAY is combing his moustache, feet up, looking in a hand-held mirror.

SHAZ:
There's thirty-one labs just in London. All the medical ones and all the ones that test consumer goods.

CHRIS:
What, like tellies?

SHAZ:
No, make-up, washing powder, pesticides, food additives.

GENE appears from his office, plucks the mirror from RAY's hand and chucks it in the bin, whereupon it breaks.

GENE:
Sorry, is this an incident room or the make-up counter at Kendals?

CHRIS:
Seven years bad luck, that.

GENE:
What, as opposed to the run of good fortune we're currently enjoying, with no new leads and another attack due in a matter of hours. So raise your ruddy game, you lot.

SUPERMAC enters CID.

SUPERMAC:
Gene, can I have a word? All right, Ray? Keith(?).

CHRIS into the telephone:
DC Skelton, Fenchurch East...

SUPERMAC and GENE go into the latter's office.

SUPERMAC:
This Kevin Hales business. I'm keen to avoid a protracted investigation. Very bad for morale.

GENE:
Sir.

SUPERMAC indicates the file in his hand.

SUPERMAC:
Hales' custody record. For some reason, the fact that he was a potential suicide wasn't noted while he was in your charge. Since he clearly was, we may as well set the matter straight now.

SUPERMAC put the file on GENE's desk, and he picks it up.

SUPERMAC:
Appreciate it, Gene. We're brothers now, as well as colleagues. So if I can do anything for you, you only have to ask.

SUPERMAC leaves, GENE looking a trifle gob-smacked. ALEX enters.

ALEX:
What did he say?

GENE:
He wants me to make a note on Kevin Hales' custody record that he was a potential suicide risk. Close down any investigation.

CHRIS appears.

CHRIS:
Ma'am, I can't find anything about a girlfriend. There's an old lodger in London or a relative in Hull.

ALEX:
Get me the lodger's address, Chris.

CHRIS departs.

GENE:
Robin Elliot is in jail. He has no contact with the outside world. Would you like me to tattoo that onto my testicles and wiggle them about in front of you just in case you're inclined to forget?

ALEX:
Look, something about Robin really bothered me, Guv, and right now he's the only lead we've got.



GENE, ALEX, RAY and CHRIS arrive at a terraced house in a nicer part of town.

ALEX:
His name's Jeremy. He was Robin's lodger in 1975.

GENE and ALEX talk to JEREMY while RAY and CHRIS amuse themselves looking around.

JEREMY:
Please, take a seat.

ALEX:
So, you're a psychiatrist.

JEREMY:
Psychoanalyst.

ALEX:
Right. Um, Mr Hulse, we're investigating the attempted murder of a vivisectionist.

JEREMY:
Yes, I read about it. It was awful.

GENE:
It's a copycat crime for the one Robin Elliot carried out seven years ago.

CHRIS has found a book of interest.

JEREMY:
It's the first thing I thought about.

CHRIS has, in fact, found a copy of 'The Joy of Sex'.

JEREMY:
Is he not still in prison?

RAY looks over CHRIS' shoulder.

RAY:
'Oh, please, Shaz, can we do it with the lights on?' Heh, heh, heh.

ALEX:
We think he knows who did it, and that more attacks are imminent. He could help us, but I need to find a way to appeal to him. Something, um... something he'll respond to.

JEREMY:
You're a psychologist.

ALEX:
Mmm. You know, just a, er, simple humanising detail. Piano music. He told me he likes piano music.

GENE:
Something wrong?

JEREMY:
Er, no, um... just brings back memories. What he did, it was, um... well, it was a long time ago, but, er, it's, er, traumatic. Um, he had a cheap room to rent out, close to where I was finishing my studies. Er, he was a bit nuts but, you know, it was the seventies. Everyone had a cause. Never imagined...

GENE:
Any girlfriends? Friends? Significant relationships?

JEREMY:
Well, not that I can remember. Just his mother. If you want to know what he was like as a man, to be honest that's about as much as I can tell you.

ALEX:
And what if he were your patient?

JEREMY:
If he were my patient?

ALEX:
Mmm.

JEREMY:
I'd probably diagnose narcissistic personality disorder.

GENE:
Sorry, come again?

JEREMY:
He had a wildly exaggerated sense of his own importance. As if only he knew the truth.

GENE looks pointedly at ALEX.

GENE:
Sounds familiar.

JEREMY:
D'you really think he knows something?

ALEX:
Oh, without a doubt. I was wondering if you would come with me to interview him. Um, not be in the room, but it would just be so much easier if somebody was there who knows him, who could maybe filter through what he says.

JEREMY:
Yes, er, of course, if you think it would help...

JEREMY, GENE and ALEX make moves to leave. Meanwhile, back with the literary appreciation...

RAY:
Oh, that's amazing, that is. But not for beginners.

CHRIS:
So when you're, er... Who holds it up?

RAY:
It should stay up itself.

CHRIS:
No, the book.

RAY:
Oh, I dunno.

MUSIC: 'Da Da Da' by Trio

# Uh huh, uh huh, uh huh #

ALEX:
Come on.

# Da, da, da #



GENE, RAY CHRIS, ALEX and JEREMY make their way out of the house to the Quattro.

GENE into the radio:
Viv!

VIV over the radio:
Guv.

GENE:
Anything new come in?

VIV:
There's some vegetarians waiting to be interviewed.

GENE into the radio:
Right, force-feed them some Oxtail soup 'til I get back.

GENE:
(to RAY and CHRIS) And you two, make your own way back to the station.

CHRIS almost drops the copy of 'The Joy of Sex' he's 'borrowed' from JEREMY and ALEX spots it.

ALEX:
Hey.

ALEX grabs the book and flicks through it. JEREMY has written his name and address on the end flyleaf.

ALEX:
Join the library.

CHRIS:
I'll, er, I'll post it back.

JEREMY is standing next to his bright yellow VW Beetle.

JEREMY:
Room for a couple in here.

GENE:
I'm not going in that poof-mobile.

RAY:
I don't mind escorting the old Quattro back, Guv.

GENE:
That's very nice of you, Ray. Then you won't mind escorting the 'bus. (to JEREMY) Oi.

RAY and CHRIS trail off to start their exciting interaction with public transport and JEREMY goes to get in the Quattro.

GENE:
How many psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb?

ALEX and JEREMY respond in unison.

JEREMY:
Psychoanalysts.

ALEX:
Psychologists.

GENE:
Christ.



Back to Felhurst prison, and GENE and JEREMY are installed in the corridor with listening equipment, while ALEX goes to talk to ROBIN ELLIOT.

JEREMY:
This is rather unsettling. I haven't seen the man for seven years and suddenly he's a few feet away from me. It's rather bringing it all back.

GENE:
How much do you charge for listening to this?

ROBIN ELLIOT over the microphone:
You came back.

ALEX takes a seat opposite ROBIN ELLIOT; he's looking at the police appeal poster concerning the attack.

ROBIN ELLIOT:
I wonder if the public ought to be warned.

ALEX:
Warned? Is that what you want, Robin? Your name in the papers?

ROBIN ELLIOT:
My name? But...

ROBIN ELLIOT over the microphone:
...I'm in here. How could I be behind all this?

ROBIN ELLIOT get out his wristwatch and puts it on the table.

ROBIN ELLIOT:
Where's your daughter Alex?

ALEX:
I would hope she's at school.

ROBIN ELLIOT:
What time did she go to bed last night? What time did you get her up for school?

ALEX:
Why are you asking me this?

ROBIN ELLIOT:
What colour are her eyes?

ALEX:
D'you know, I can't remember?

ROBIN ELLIOT:
I wonder, Alex, when was the last time you saw her?

ALEX:
You know, I think you're trying to create intimacy between us by referring to something personal. So, tell me. D'you miss your mother?

ROBIN ELLIOT:
Not as much as calves and lambs miss theirs when they're taken away as soon as they're born.

ALEX:
Don't hide behind doctrine, Robin, I am asking you a question.

ROBIN ELLIOT:
To be fattened and slaughtered...

ALEX:
Do you miss...

ROBIN ELLIOT:
...and packaged and sold...

ALEX:
Do you miss...

ROBIN ELLIOT:
...like they were never living things.

ALEX:
Do you miss your mother? You know, even as you dehumanise yourself, you want to humanise me. I think there's still a spark in you. A spark that wants to reach out to other people, perhaps to be saved.

ROBIN ELLIOT:
Look around you, Alex. There's so much suffering.

ALEX:
And what about your suffering? All life is precious, every single second of it. And you felt that once. I saw when you remembered playing the piano, you remembered what that felt like.

Again the piano music is audible.

ALEX:
I can tell you now, Robin, that your death, more deaths, will achieve absolutely nothing.

ROBIN ELLIOT:
Marches, sit-ins and petitions. What have they achieved?

ALEX:
Things will change. There'll be happy cows and free range and a total ban on vivisection for cosmetics. That's the future, Robin.

ROBIN ELLIOT:
No, Alex. In the future they'll clone animals.

ALEX:
How do you know that? How could you possibly know that? Is it you? Did you send me the roses?

Out in the corridor, still listening in...

GENE:
What's she on about? He's a fantasist. Your bog-standard psychopath seeking attention from a bit of skirt.

JEREMY:
I think you might be right.

ALEX:
What d'you know? What d'you know about me? What d'you, what d'you know about my daughter? Please, tell me. If you know something, please, help me, because I have to remember.

ROBIN ELLIOT looks at the wristwatch.

ROBIN ELLIOT:
I'm tired now, Alex.



ALEX comes out of the room and GENE and JEREMY remove their headphones.

GENE:
Right, I'm going back to base. Even Sigmund Freud here thinks you're wasting your time.

ALEX:
What about all that stuff about the future?

JEREMY:
Er, these Nostradamus fantasies are very much part of his own self image. He thinks of himself as someone of higher powers, as a seer.

ALEX:
He keeps looking at his watch. I think he's waiting for something. I think he's waiting for the next attack.

GENE:
Okay, go back in there, tell him you're done and walk out. Call his bluff. If he's got something to say, he'll say it.

ALEX goes back in and GENE and JEREMY return to their headphones.

ALEX:
I've come to say goodbye.

ROBIN ELLIOT:
You get what you came for?

ALEX:
Thank you for your time, Robin.

ALEX turns to leave.

ROBIN ELLIOT:
Allied City Bank. Essex Road. Two o'clock.

He looks at his watch; it's ten to two.

ROBIN ELLIOT:
I'm afraid you haven't got very long.

MUSIC: 'Eye of the Tiger' by Survivor.

ALEX hurries out to the corridor.

ALEX:
Let's go. Now.

GENE:
How do we know he's telling the truth?

ALEX:
We don't. But if it's happening, it is happening now and we've got ten minutes to get there.

GENE loooks sceptical, but they turn to go.



The Quattro races through (luckily) deserted streets, going a bit faster even than usual, if that's possible.

BOMB SQUAD OFFICER over radio:
Bomb squad heading to Allied City Bank on Essex Road, over.

GENE into radio:
Clear the bank and get it swept. Get everybody out the shops.

ALEX:
We're not going to make it.

VIV over the radio:
Guv, there's been another attack. Not the bank. Lab assistant short at university science lab.

GENE:
Lying bastard's fed us the wrong target.

ALEX:
Oh, shit.

The Quattro does a tyre-destroying U-turn and heads off in the other direction.

# Rising up, straight to the top
# Have the guts, got the glory
# Went the distance now I'm not gonna stop
# Just a man and his will to survive
# It's the eye of the tiger
# It's the thrill of the fight
# Rising up to the challenge of our rival #

The Quattro pulls up outside the university buildings.

# And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night
# And he's watching... #

ALEX:
I'm sorry, I really thought he knew where the targets were.

GENE:
The only thing he knows is how to waste police time. He's no use to anyone. He's better off dead.



GENE and ALEX enter a lab full of the sound of dogs howling, monkeys making whatever noise it is monkeys make, etc. Animals various in cages are dotted about. Ambulance men are wheeling away a young woman with a leg injury. Painted on the wall in green paint is the slogan 'Enslavers of Creation'.

RAY:
Ambulance bloke said if they didn't get her to hospital quick, she'd lose that leg.

ALEX stares at the graffiti.

ALEX:
Robin said that.

GENE:
Probably lifted from the bumper book of terrorist quotes. What else? Paint's leaked. He'll have chucked the can. Mind you, we might get some dabs off it. Right, let's get looking.

In the distance, Alex hears piano music and goes to investigate. CHRIS, meanwhile, is amusing himself talking to one of the dogs in the cages.

CHRIS:
Ahh. Me and Shaz might get a...

The dog barks and has a go at CHRIS' fingers.

CHRIS:
...plant.



ALEX makes her way to the music department down the corridor from the lab, following the sound of the piano music, and finds a piano, metronome and a tape recorder playing the music. There's no-one there.

ROBIN ELLIOT voiceover:
I'll tell you where I am. I'm playing the piano. The same piece over and over and over again, until it's perfect, to the very last note.

GENE off screen:
Bolly!

ALEX goes back into the corridor to find GENE.

ALEX:
Piano music. Robin talked to me about piano music. But it wasn't a memory, it was a clue. He knew that the lab was going to be the next target, and the slogan was...

GENE:
Yeah, shut up. We found the can.



CHRIS has managed to get green paint all over his hands and down his front.

CHRIS:
Aw, this is Shazzer's jacket, she's going to kill me.

RAY:
You're wearing a bird's clothes?

CHRIS:
The shooter, he'll have green hands.

Meanwhile someone is slipping out of the lab behind them.

RAY:
Today a jacket, tomorrow a blouse.

CHRIS holds up his green hands.

CHRIS:
You wouldn't like me when I'm angry.

RAY finally spots the tiptoeing suspicious person.

RAY:
Wait. Oi!

CHRIS:
Stop!

MUSIC: 'Is There Something I Should Know' by Duran Duran.

Suspicious person legs it, RAY and CHRIS in hot pursuit.

RAY:
Guv! He was in the room!

GENE and ALEX join the chase across the university campus.

GENE:
Oi!

CHRIS:
Stop, police!

# I made a break, I run out yesterday #

GENE:
OI!

# Tried to find my mountain hideaway
# Maybe next year, maybe no go
# I know you're watching me every minute of the day, yeah #

The suspicious character disappears into the Student Union bar.

GENE:
Got an ID on him, Raymondo?

RAY:
Yes, scruffy, scrawny bastard.



RAY, CHRIS, GENE and ALEX burst into the bar; the curtains are drawn, Top of The Pops is on the television, a band is on the tiny stage and while there are many students sitting around, no sign of the chase.

RAY:
Bloody students.

GENE:
Right, secure the exits.

ALEX:
Don't tell them he's got a gun, you'll panic them.

GENE turns off the television and yanks open the curtains, to protests from the students.

GENE:
Right, Gene Hunt, Metropolitan Police. We're looking for a scruffy, scrawny bastard wearing a stone-washed denim jacket.

IRISH STUDENT points at CHRIS.

IRISH STUDENT:
There he is, there. You've got him.

The students laugh. CHRIS takes the jacket off hurriedly, revealing the copy of 'The Joy of Sex' still tucked into his waistband.

IRISH STUDENT:
Oh, trouble in the trouser department?

More laughter.

ALEX:
I told you, if I see that again I will confiscate it.

CHRIS:
Sorry, ma'am.

ALEX:
Okay, I want all the men on that side of the room, all the women over there. We'll need to check your pockets, bags, coats.

GENE:
And hands.

The students titter but make no move.

ALEX:
The man we're looking for is an anti-vivisectionist. He's also the chief suspect in yesterday's terror attack. You may have seen it on the news.

GENE:
'K, that's that short programme between The Magic Roundabout and Playschool.

The students roll their eyes, and one raises his hand.

ALEX:
Yes?

STUDENT:
Miss, can I go to the toilet?

Much student hilarity. GENE is not so amused and walks over to the stage and shoos away the band.

GENE:
You lot, mush.

GENE runs the open microphone up against the speaker and the resulting squeal of feedback gets everyone's attention.

GENE into the microphone:
I have been awake now for over fifty hours, and there is nowhere I would rather be less than in here with you lank-haired, four-eyed, spongers. Now somewhere in this room, someone has got a gun and could be about to put a bullet into one of your over-fluffed brains. Now I want all men on this side of the room and all women over there!

GENE points at a Boy George look-a-like.

GENE:
And you... anywhere you like.

With a good deal of muttering, the students do as they're told and the interrogation begins.

ALEX:
Now, where were you this afternoon?

GEEKY STUDENT:
Er...

He turns to the student next to him.

GEEKY STUDENT:
Where were we?

GENE:
Sorry, what d'you think this is? University Challenge? She asked you a question, not him.

CHRIS:
Can you empty your pockets, please, mate. And you.

A blonde student, MANDI, puts a flyer in CHRIS' pocket. He looks at it.

CHRIS:
ABC party? What's that?

MANDI turns the flyer over to reveal her name and phone number on the back.

MANDI:
Anything But Clothes? Or there's a Vicars and Tarts in the Southern Union?

RAY:
I'm a mature student.

MANDI is not impressed and walks away.

MOUSTACHED STUDENT:
What position do you take on animal cruelty?

CHRIS:
I'm against it. I think it's wrong.

Behind the students, the bar is being opened up.

CHRIS:
Well, like them PG Tips ads. Some of them monkeys in dresses are actually blokes. Well, not blokes. Male monkeys. In dresses. It's not natural.

GENE:
Right, you lot, off you go.

GENE heads for the bar.

MUSIC: 'Lies' by The Thompson Twins.

GENE:
Scotch.

The barman, ADRIAN, doesn't turn round.

GENE:
Scotch. Double, no ice.

ADRIAN:
Is that standard? Drinking on the job?

GENE grabs him by the shirt and half hauls him over the bar.

GENE:
What's your name?

ADRIAN:
Adrian.

GENE:
Adrian what?

ADRIAN:
Adrian Mansfield.

GENE:
Well, Adrian Mansfield, when I want your opinion I will ask for it, smart arse. Now, be a good boy and get me a Scotch!

GENE shoves him backwards and ADRIAN goes to get the drink and dumps it in front of GENE gracelesly.

ADRIAN:
Fifty pence.

GENE takes a sip but makes no move to pay.

ADRIAN.
Fifty pence.

GENE hands across a pound note.

GENE:
Aren't you a bit old to be a student?

ADRIAN:
I'm part time, so it takes a bit longer. I've got to work, I don't have a trust fund like most of them do.

GENE:
No, I don't have a trust fund neither, so I'll be having that fifty pence change.

ADRIAN hands over the change.

GENE:
What do you study?

ADRIAN:
Philosophy.

GENE:
What a relief to know, Adrian, that while I'm out there catching scum, you're in here pondering the bigger question.

GENE drains his glass and picks up the fifty pence change. As he turns to go he looks at it and finds it's left green paint on his fingers. Hey, kids, it's A Clue! He turns back and frankly you really wouldn't want to be Adrian just then.



Interview room; ALEX lets RAY and CHRIS handle the opening rounds. RAY holds up an evidence bag with the fifty pence piece in it.

RAY:
Sweat and steel. You thought you'd got it all off your hands before you started setting up the bar, but as soon as you put the change in the till, the hand to metal contact came off on the coin.

ADRIAN:
Philistine.

RAY:
Oh, thanks very much.

CHRIS:
Can you empty your pockets, please, mate.

ADRIAN makes no move.

CHRIS:
Raymondo.

RAY moves suddenly and grabs ADRIAN while CHRIS goes through his pockets. Amongst other things, he finds a leather-bound, monogrammed 'A to Z' map of London.

CHRIS:
'A to Z'. Very flash.

ADRIAN:
It was a gift.

CHRIS:
Motorbike licence. Very handy for chucking bombs off the back of motorbikes.

RAY:
Yeah, that course you're on must be very flexible. A bombing yesterday, a shooting today. We were expecting another little attack this afternoon, but funnily enough, because you're in here, it didn't happen.

ALEX:
Right, you've had your phone call, cup of tea. Let's get down to it, shall we? Where were you around noon yesterday?

ADRIAN:
University. I was working.

RAY:
Bar doesn't open 'til two, that's what time you opened it today. Why would your presence be required at twelve yesterday?

ALEX:
Who saw you there? Who were you with before two o'clock yesterday afternoon?

CHRIS suddenly remembers something and pulls a book from his waistband; 'Animal Rights Today - A Handbook of Ethics and Animal Constructivism' by Patrick Stringer.

CHRIS:
Oh, found this at his digs.

ADRIAN:
Is it a crime to read a book?

ALEX:
Who gave you this?

ADRIAN:
No-one gave me it. Are you going to keep me here all night?

RAY:
Well, let's see. You're an animal rights sympathiser, who's sweats green paint. Mmm, I think we're just about time for going home.

ADRIAN:
Well, go home. Take the book and read it. And it'll blow to pieces how you see the world.

ALEX:
What d'you mean?

ADRIAN:
The working class are bled for profit. So are animals, only the animals have got it so much worse. They're part of the power struggle, and once you see that...



GENE enters his office to find SUPERMAC playing darts. Bloody nerve.

SUPERMAC:
Gene. I'm afraid I have to press you for those Hales papers.

GENE:
Well, what with everything that's been going on, sir, er, I actually haven't...

SUPERMAC:
All that's required is a small amendment together with your signature.

GENE:
To tell the truth, sir, I don't remember Kevin Hales being suicidal. Also he wasn't drunk. So, for that reason, I think we should allow an investigation to run its own course.

SUPERMAC:
Nah, I don't think so, Gene. I don't think that's the best approach. Another attack today?

GENE:
Yes, and I've got somebody in custody, sir.

SUPERMAC:
No doubt. I'm sure you're feeling the pressure to tidy this up. I should be frank, Gene, I know you appreciate frankness. A child almost died on your doorstep. Once you become associated with something like that, it becomes much more difficult to be seen as a safe pair of hands.

GENE:
D'you know, I'm not sure that's fair, sir.

SUPERMAC:
Fair or unfair, you understand, Gene. The public needs a DCI it can trust. Just leave those papers on my desk.

SUPERMAC leaves; GENE is understandably worried.



Interview room.

ALEX:
There's a man in jail who knows what your target was today.

ADRIAN:
What?

ALEX:
Robin gave you this book, didn't he?

ADRIAN:
Who's Robin? You're off your head. Interview paused. I need to go to the toilet.



VIV escorts ADRIAN to the Gents, but they're overtaken by GENE who propels ADRIAN in and slams the door behind them.

ADRIAN:
Didn't know I was living in a police state.

GENE:
Did you not? Well, now you do. You just entered Gene Hunt country.

GENE picks up a bench and wedges it against the door.

GENE:
Head of State, Gene Hunt. Chief of Justice, Gene Hunt. Executioner, Gene Hunt. Shit at football, would never win Eurovision, but can spot a terrorist gobshite from a hundred yard away. So, what are you planning for tomorrow? Are you going to blow up another innocent child?

ADRIAN:
Innocent?

GENE grabs him and smashes him against the wire mesh of the changing room-style benches.

GENE:
Yes, innocent. Blameless. Lacking culpability. Free of wrongdoing. The exact opposite of you.

GENE hauls ADRIAN off the mesh, punches him in the stomach on the way, and slams him against the lockers on the opposite side of the room.

ADRIAN:
And what about monkeys?

GENE:
Monkeys?!

ADRIAN:
Aren't they innocent too? They're starved until they perform tasks. They get it wrong, and they're electrocuted. Aren't they innocent as well?

GENE apparently disagrees, 'cos he punches ADRIAN again and kicks him as he hits the floor.

GENE:
Where do you think you are? The Oxford bloody Union? The only thing I want to hear out of you is are you a solo act or is there some other nutter out there planning on something for tomorrow?

ADRIAN:
You're shitting yourself, aren't you?

GENE puts the boot in again.

ADRIAN:
You're crapping your pants.

GENE slams the locker door shut on ADRIAN's hand and hauls him to his feet.

ADRIAN:
Okay, okay. I'll tell you. I'll tell you. There's thousands of us. A whole army. So you can keep me in here, you can batter me, but what you going to do tomorrow?

GENE chuckles. It's not in a nice way. He propels ADRIAN across the room again, back against the wire mesh.



Outside in the corridor, CHRIS and RAY are waiting and listening. VIV and ALEX run up.

RAY:
Guv's beating him to wallpaper paste in there.

ALEX hammers on the door.

ALEX:
Guv, open this door! Ray, break the door down.

RAY:
You're joking, aren't you?

CHRIS:
She's not joking.

ALEX:
Ray, I am your superior officer. Now, you break that door down right now!

RAY sighs but does as he's told. GENE's bent over ADRIAN, fist raised.



ALEX is giving GENE what for in the corridor.

ALEX:
Deaths in custody very common now, apparently. Is that why Mac popped in? Brief you on his methods?

GENE:
I need to know if he's on his own, and that way works.

ALEX:
Oh, does it. Does it? Was that working? Surely you can see that Adrian is not going to crack. I can see exactly what sort of suspect he is!

GENE:
Young, defiant, brain-washed.

ALEX:
Yes, exactly! He's been radicalised, he is spouting somebody else's ideas! This somebody else's crime!

GENE:
Don't do this to me, Bolly. Do not mention that man's name.

ALEX:
Robin is masterminding this!

GENE:
How? ESP? He doesn't see anybody, doesn't talk to anybody. Exactly how is he doing it?!

ALEX:
I don't know.

GENE:
Why are you so obsessed with keeping him alive?

ALEX:
I think I can get exactly what we need, just give me until tomorrow morning. Robin told me...

GENE:
So you can sit by his bed and wait until he gives you all the answers? What a waste of an expensive education, eh? Dancing with the devil. He leads, you follow.

ALEX:
Robin is controlling this.

GENE:
You. He's controlling you. I've got the bloke who did this two feet away and you are chasing after a dead man.

ALEX:
No. He's not dead. He's not dead yet, Gene.

GENE:
Go home, Bolly. You're no use to anyone.

GENE stalks off.



SHAZ catches ALEX in the corridor as she makes her way home.

SHAZ:
Ma'am? Prison governor called for you. Robin Elliot's still alive, but they've moved him to the prison hospital. They're giving him fluids, but he won't be well enough to talk to anyone 'til tomorrow.

ALEX:
All right. Thanks, Shaz.

SHAZ:
Night, ma'am. Hope you get some sleep.



Alex's flat and she's watching television again, flicking through the channels.

ALEX:
Morph? Anyone? Is anybody out there?

Suddenly the power dies; reflected in the screen of the television is MOLLY, brushing her teeth at the flat's kitchen sink. ALEX goes closer to the television.

ALEX:
Molly.

ALEX turns to look into the kitchen and gets up; unusually MOLLY doesn't disappear.

ALEX:
Molly.

MOLLY turns and smiles.

ALEX:
Molly, you didn't disappear when I looked at you. Well, maybe that means somebody's fighting for me. Maybe that... Maybe that means I'm closer to death. You're bleeding. You're brushing too hard, Molls. Molls.

MOLLY changes to ROBIN ELLIOT, blood spilling from his mouth, spitting out a tooth. The power comes back on and ROBIN ELLIOT vanishes.



ALEX visits ROBIN ELLIOT in the prison hospital; he's in a bad way and a heart monitor bleeps in the background.

ALEX:
You know, I thought you could help me. Probably... I wanted to help you. I think that you haven't been touched since your mother died.

ALEX puts her hand on ROBIN ELLIOT's.

ALEX:
Maybe that's what this is. A physical pain is easier than the... loneliness and the grief. I know what it's like to be separated from someone. I don't know what time my daughter went to bed and I don't know what time that little girl got up, but I feel like you know that? So if you think that nobody cares whether you live or die, you are so wrong. So wrong. Who else is out there? Who else is doing this?

ROBIN ELLIOT:
There's only one person. Just him and me.



GENE enters his office, VIV trailing behind, and answers his telephone. ALEX is calling from the prison.

GENE on the telephone:
This better be good.

ALEX on the telephone:
Yeah. Yeah, he says there's only one person. Adrian's a lone operator. You've got him.

GENE on the telephone:
This come from Skeletor?

ALEX on the telephone:
Yeah.

GENE on the telephone:
How do we know he's not making it up? He's lied once, he could lie again.

ALEX on the telephone:
He gave me the list of targets. Check out Adrian's 'A to Z'. These targets are all over London.

GENE:
Chris! Adrian Mansfield 'A to Z' in here.

ALEX on the telephone:
He'll have marked them or turned down pages or something. If they're in there then we'll know that Robin's telling the truth. Tablets the chemist, Southwell Street.

GENE:
Tablets the chemist, Southwell Street.

CHRIS flicks through the 'A to Z' but can't find it.

VIV:
Let me have a look at that.

GENE:
Come on, hurry up.

CHRIS:
Page is turned over, Guv.

GENE on the telephone:
Give us another.

ALEX:
Hill Road, Hainault.

GENE:
Hill Road, Hainault.

CHRIS:
It's also marked.

ALEX on the telephone:
Target five...

GENE on the telephone:
S'all right, Bolly, I believe you.

ALEX on the telephone:
Um... Guv, if... D'you think, if I've saved some lives, that means I'm worth saving?

GENE on the telephone:
If you say so. Now, get your bony arse back here.



GENE's in the Gents as RAY and CHRIS burst in with a radio.

RAY:
Guv, reports of an arson attack on a shop in Southwell Street. Tablets the chemist.

GENE:
What?

CHRIS:
Adrian's down in the cells, Robin's on his death bed...

RAY:
So it can't be them.

GENE:
Give me that.

GENE on the radio:
Bolly!

ALEX is just coming out of the prison.

ALEX on the radio:
Guv?

GENE on the radio:
He lied to you. Some monkey lover's just set fire to a chemist.

ALEX on the radio:
What?

GENE on the radio:
He lied to you, Alex. Again.

ALEX on the radio:
No. No, he didn't. He wasn't lying, he wasn't.

ALEX races back to ROBIN ELLIOT in the prison hospital.

ALEX:
You said there was only one. One person. Now who else is out there, you tell me. Tell me!

One of the monitors starts to make a continuous note. ALEX turns to get help.

ALEX:
Help me. Someone, help me!

The DOCTOR comes in and checks ROBIN ELLIOT's pulse.

ALEX:
Do something.

DOCTOR:
There really isn't anything we can do at this point.

ALEX:
But he wants to live. Just...

ALEX grabs the paddles from the defibrillator handily placed by the wall and offers them to the DOCTOR.

ALEX:
Just... please, save him. Please.

DOCTOR:
Multiple organ failure. He may want to live, but his body's given up.

ALEX lets the paddles drop; the DOCTOR switches off the heart monitor. A male nurse enters.

DOCTOR:
Approximate time of death 07:12.

The nurse clears away the last of ROBIN ELLIOT's belongings from the bedside cabinet and puts them in a box. ALEX looks through the box contents and finds a birthday card. It's unsigned, but someone has written at the bottom of the verse 'For 7 years'. ALEX has a flashback to looking at the flyleaf of JEREMY's copy of 'The Joy of Sex' - it's the same handwriting.



ALEX goes to JEREMY's house, passing his wife in the front garden unnoticed and letting herself in through the open front door. She's carrying the copy of 'The Joy of Sex' and the birthday card.

ALEX:
Jeremy.

JEREMY slams his desk drawer shut guiltily.

JEREMY:
Alex. What's up? Oh, I wondered where that had got to.

ALEX:
You said you'd had no contact with Robin, but you wrote this and you wrote it recently.

JEREMY:
What are you talking about, Alex?

JEREMY snatches the book from ALEX and goes to replace it in the bookshelf.

ALEX:
Robin said there was one person, but it wasn't Adrian, was it? It was you. He didn't know Adrian. I think you were involved in 1975. I think you collaborated on the bombing but only Robin went down. And he wanted something in return, service to the cause you once believed in.

JEREMY:
No. No.

ALEX:
Yes. Yes, Jeremy. Stop the bill and he wouldn't tell the police that you were involved in '75.

JEREMY:
No.

JEREMY starts to sob.

JEREMY:
I didn't want to do this. He blackmailed me. He sent me a birthday card in January, hand delivered by his mother. He said he wouldn't die until I did it.

ALEX:
Birthday cards. That's how you planned this.

JEREMY:
There was nothing to plan, don't you understand? All the targets had been agreed seven years ago, except Robin got caught after the first one.

ALEX:
Well, why didn't you go to the police?

JEREMY:
And tell them what? That I'd murdered somebody in cold blood?

ALEX:
No, listen to me, Jeremy...

JEREMY:
Oh, don't patronise me, Alex.

JEREMY slams and locks the door to the room.

ALEX;
Unlock the door, please.

JEREMY returns to his desk, gets a revolver out of the drawer and lays it on the desk in front of him.

ALEX:
Look, you were under pressure, he was blackmailing you. It, er... You don't have to do this. Talk to me. Tell me what happened.

JEREMY:
Yes, talking's very effective, isn't it? That's all it takes. Showing them a few videos, a few pictures. Giving them attention, flattering them. Then they're under your spell.

ALEX:
Is that what happened with you and Robin? Is that what happened with... with you and Adrian?

JEREMY:
I went down to the Union bar. My alma mater. We started chatting and I knew he'd do it. I just knew. He reminded me of myself. And he turned out to be just like Robin!

JEREMY sweeps the papers off his desk and stands up, gun in hand and very upset.

JEREMY:
I wanted this to be threats, Alex. No injuries, just threats.

ALEX:
It doesn't have to be like this.

Someone rattles the door handle, trying to get in. JEREMY points his gun at ALEX and indicates she should be quiet.

JEREMY:
Darling, what is it?

The door bursts open; it's GENE. The other door bursts open and it's RAY and CHRIS.

JEREMY:
There was no-one in that shop. No-one got hurt.

GENE:
Well aren't you one of the good guys?

ALEX:
Just put the gun down.

JEREMY puts the gun against his temple instead.

JEREMY:
I'll do it.

GENE:
Well, on you go then.

ALEX:
Just put the gun on the table.

GENE:
Or better still, pull the trigger.

ALEX:
Just stop it, Guv!

JEREMY switches back to pointing the gun towards them.

JEREMY:
Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!

ALEX:
Now, look, I know that you don't want to die, Jeremy.

JEREMY:
Robin crawls into your head. He talks like he can see inside you.

JEREMY starts to sob again.

ALEX:
Yeah.

JEREMY:
I just want to be free of him. I need to be free!

ALEX:
Jeremy, you're free of him. He died.

JEREMY:
What? Stop lying. Don't lie to me.

ALEX:
Yes, he did, he died this morning.

JEREMY:
No.

JEREMY cocks the revolver. As he pulls the trigger, RAY goes for him, knocking his arm to one side so the bullet hits a vases of roses rather than ALEX. GENE, meanwhile, pushes her to the ground. Time slows.

Flashback.
Layton's bullet heading towards us.
Morph 'flatlining'

A blurred image of a PARAMEDIC, voice muffled, and continuous note of a monitor.

PARAMEDIC:
We're losing her. Clear!

ALEX jerks as if she's been shocked again.

Another blurred image of a PARAMEDIC, voice still muffled, monitor bleep still continuous.

PARAMEDIC:
Don't give up, she's a fighter.

Morph's line starts to show a beat, interspersed with the paramedics and ALEX. A bleeping monitor sound starts, increasing in pace, as does a heart beat.

PARAMEDIC:
One more time.

An ambulance siren can be heard.

PARAMEDIC:
And again. Clear!

Suddenly the noises of the monitor and siren are no longer muffled. ALEX jerks again as if shocked and is back in 1982.

GENE:
Bolls.

ALEX:
I'm alive. They saved me.

GENE:
They? They were stood there like lemons, the pleasure was all mine.

GENE hauls ALEX to her feet; RAY is already leading JEREMY away. CHRIS, meanwhile, has found a leather-bound 'A to Z' with JEREMY's initials on the front, just like ADRIAN's.



GENE, ALEX, RAY and CHRIS enter CID to cheers and applause from everyone, except one who's fast asleep and get's shoved in the back with a foot by GENE as he goes by.

CID BLOKE:
Nice one.

GENE:
Oi! Rip Van Wanker! Well done, Shaz.

SHAZ:
Cheers, Guv.

ALEX:
What d'you do?

CHRIS:
She went down Bond Street, took Adrian's 'A to Z' back to the shop.

SHAZ:
Each one's individually numbered and monogrammed, so they still had the order on file. Jeremy Hulse, 20 Lake Street, Hampstead.

GENE:
Right, go home, everyone. Go to the pub. Do what you like.

CHRIS:
I'm going to the toilet, I'm bursting.

RAY:
Heh heh heh heh. You told us all not to go to the toilet until the case had been solved. That pranny must have took it literally.

SHAZ has picked up the flyer for the 'ABC Party' with MANDI's number on the back from CHRIS' desk. RAY takes it from her.

SHAZ:
Who's Mandi?

RAY:
She is the most gorgeous thing you'll ever see on two legs. Not that that woofter would take any notice. He seems to love you more than life itself.

ALEX:
Is there any news about Charlotte?

SHAZ:
Oh, as of this morning she's sitting up, asking when she can open her presents. How you doing, ma'am?

ALEX:
Better now.

ALEX returns to her desk to find a single red rose, no note.

ALEX:
Who left this here?

SHAZ:
Dunno, ma'am. Secret admirer?

CHRIS returns from his urgent visit.

CHRIS:
Ray, about this wedding, mate.

SHAZ leaps up to interrupt.

SHAZ:
D'you want to be Chris' best man?

CHRIS:
What? Well... d'you want to, mate?

Ray:
I do, yeah, but... Well, it's just not how I imagined being asked.

CHRIS starts to go down on one knee but is stopped by SHAZ.

SHAZ:
Chris.

CHRIS:
Er, Ray, d'you want to be my best man?

RAY:
'Course I do, mate. 'Course I do. Delighted. I wish you both the best. Heh heh heh. Oh, brilliant. Me, best man. Heh heh heh heh. Fantastic.



GENE is pouring himself a drink from his hip flask as ALEX enters his office, rose in hand.

ALEX:
It's nine forty in the morning.

GENE rightly ignores such a ridiculous observation.

ALEX:
Er, thanks, for coming to save me.

GENE:
Never trust a man who owns a sex guide. There are some things you should know how to do without reading a manual.

ALEX:
Um, you didn't put this on my, er...?

GENE:
No, I bloody did not. What d'you think I am, the Milk Tray man?

ALEX:
No. No, no, course not, no. Good. Right, Luigi's?

GENE:
Yeah, I'll meet you down there.

ALEX:
Aren't you coming with me?

GENE:
It's not a date, Bolly.

SUPERMAC arrives as ALEX leaves.

SUPERMAC:
You didn't sign the papers.

SUPERMAC shuts the door and goes over to look at the police appeal notice about the bombing pinned to GENE's notice board.

SUPERMAC:
Congratualtions.

GENE:
Thank you.

SUPERMAC:
Perhaps they could roll the celebrations into a bon voyage party?

GENE:
Sorry, come again?

SUPERMAC:
I'm transferring you, Gene. Plymouth. Lovely part of the world, apparently. It's being processed now. Shouldn't take more than a fortnight. Congratulations again.

SUPERMAC leaves GENE with much to think about.



Luigi's and CID are ready to celebrate as ALEX joins them.

RAY:
Oh, I haven't had a wash for three days. Here, get a whiff of that.

Protests and laughter from the others. LUIGI appears with a tray of pints, still in his dressing gown.

LUIGI:
Closed is closed, open is open. When I'm closed I'm not open!

RAY:
All right.

SHAZ dishes out air fresheners to combat the 'man stink'.

SHAZ:
Air fresheners. Job-lot off that petrol station raid off the M25.

ALEX:
Champagne, Luigi! For everyone.

CHRIS:
Why are you so happy today?

ALEX:
Just being alive, mainly.

RAY:
She's gone all Pentecostal lately. All that 'saving me' stuff.

ALEX raises her pint.

ALEX:
Hey, to the best bunch of colleagues a girl could wish to have.

RAY:
Oh, yes.

They cheer, laugh and clink glasses as GENE makes his way in.

ALL:
Cheers!

ALEX:
To the Met, which can only get better.

RAY:
To the Met!

SHAZ:
The Met!

CHRIS:
To the Met.

ALEX:
And to Gene... to Gene Hunt. The Guv.

RAY:
Ahh, the Guv! To the Guv!

ALL:
The Guv!

ALEX:
The lion of Fenchurch East.

GENE gives a vague smile but his mind is elsewhere.

RAY:
Hah hah hah. Come on, Luigi, get that champagne open.

LUIGI:
There you go, eh.

MUSIC: 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight' by Tight Fit

LUIGI:
Hope you enjoy, eh?

RAY:
We'll enjoy it, my friend. Don't worry about that.

GENE sucks his teeth and looks away. He's right in the poo, isn't he, kiddies?

Credits.

# A-wimoweh, a-wimoweh a-wimoweh, a-wimoweh
# A-wimoweh, a-wimoweh a-wimoweh, a-wimoweh
# A-wimoweh, a-wimoweh a-wimoweh, a-wimoweh

# In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight
# In the jungle, the quiet jungle, the lion sleeps tonight

# Woo-oo-oo-ooo... #