JOHN 2
I thought I said to stay put. MOTHER 2
Well you know what he’s like. JOHN 2 Dad! MOTHER 2 What’s that? JOHN 2 Where? MOTHER 2
I thought I saw something – down in the dip.
JOHN 2
Careful – it’s slippy. There’s an old pillbox round here somewhere. Maybe he’s found that.
The green light flashes just as JOHN enters the control room and whispers in MOTHER’s ear. SALLY’s voice is heard over the speakers.
SALLY
Okay. I’d like to go once again straight away. And this time if we could have more panic from you, Robin, once you realize Father’s missing.
SIMON Stand by for a green.
INT. BBC CORRIDOR DAY
MOTHER looks anxious as she follows JOHN down the corridor.
JOHN
I think he’s had an accident. He won’t let me in.
MOTHER Trouble is, he forgets.
JOHN knocks on the toilet door.
JOHN
Dad. Mum’s here. Come on - open the door.
The door is unlocked from the inside and MOTHER slips in, quickly closing it behind her again. As JOHN waits in the corridor BECKY emerges from the control room.
BECKY Everything alright?
JOHN
Fine. Listen – about last night. BECKY
Forget it. Honestly. JOHN Really? BECKY I have already. JOHN Right. BECKY
I think we’re breaking for lunch in a minute. I’m doing a sandwich run if anyone wants anything.
JOHN
I think we’ll go to the canteen. But thanks.
BECKY Cool.
BECKY leaves. The toilet door opens. MOTHER
He’s going to need another pair of trousers. There’s some at the
hotel.
JOHN
Okay. Give me ten minutes.
MOTHER Lucy can go.
INT. HOUSE DAY - FLASHBACK
JOHN finds LUCY stripping the sheets off FATHER’s bed. JOHN
What are you doing? LUCY What’s it look like?
JOHN
I didn’t realize he was that bad. LUCY
If he gets any worse he’ll have to go into a home.
JOHN Mum won’t like that.
LUCY There’ll be no choice.
JOHN
Have you’ve talked about it? LUCY
Not properly. She just starts crying.
LUCY
So long as I’m here to mop up. JOHN
Is there anything I can do? LUCY
You can put these in the wash.
INT. BBC CANTEEN DAY
JOHN leads FATHER, MOTHER and LUCY through the canteen. FATHER is wearing a different pair of trousers. LUCY is clearly not happy.
JOHN
You can have either hot or cold. I’ll grab a tray.
FATHER What’s that?
JOHN Chilli con carne.
FATHER Never heard of it.
JOHN
I don’t think you’d like it. Soup. MOTHER What sort? JOHN Minestrone, or carrot. FATHER I’ll have carrot.
JOHN
You get a bit of baguette with it as well.
MOTHER
Oh he won’t manage that with his teeth.
JOHN
LUCY
What about you, Mum? There’s sandwiches. Jacket potato with various fillings.
MOTHER reads off the menu board on the wall.
MOTHER
I think I might try a Panini. Someone at embroidery was talking about them the other day – they’re supposed to be very nice.
JOHN
Why don’t you go and find a table I’ll bring the food.
MOTHER
You can’t manage on your own. I’ll help you.
LUCY
Come on then, Dad. Where do you want to sit? By the window?
LUCY steers FATHER towards a table by the window whilst JOHN and MOTHER queue for food.
JOHN
One soup and one cheese Panini please.
CANTEEN WOMAN Help yourself to soup – bowls at the end.
JOHN ladles soup from a pan into a bowl. MOTHER
All that business on St. Martha’s. I don’t remember any of that. He was only gone five minutes.
JOHN I know.
MOTHER
And there is no pillbox – not
there anyway. It’s round the other side.
JOHN
It’s what you do though, writing – take bits from all over – and
cobble them together. MOTHER That’s dishonest.
JOHN
Not really. People do it all the time.
MOTHER
He was just watching a squirrel. JOHN
Look - don’t worry about it. MOTHER
Do they think it’s true? JOHN Who?
MOTHER
Sally – all of them. Should I keep quiet?
JOHN It’s fine.
MOTHER
I wouldn’t want you getting into trouble…
JOHN I won’t – really.
MOTHER Even if you are lying.
JOHN
Look just forget it. Okay? It’s drama.
MOTHER
I’m sure Robert Dougall wouldn’t lie.
JOHN
It’s not lying and anyway Robert Dougall’s dead.
MOTHER
Richard Baker then. You know what I mean. People trust the BBC to get it right.
The CANTEEN WOMAN passes JOHN a hot Panini on a plate.
CANTEEN WOMAN There you go love.
JOHN
Thanks. There you are - one Panini. MOTHER That’s a cheese-toastie. JOHN Same thing. MOTHER
Then why don’t they just call it that?
JOHN
Panini sounds better. Continental. MOTHER
I think I’d rather have the soup.
INT. CONSERVATORY DAY – FLASHBACK
JOHN looks out into the garden as LUCY hangs sheets on the line. They blow about in the wind – wrapping around her – completely obscuring her from time to time.
FATHER (O/S) Tell me again.
JOHN
Last time. I want you to look at the tray – okay?
FATHER Right.
JOHN
Have a proper look. Then you’re going to shut your eyes and while they’re closed I’m going to take one of the objects away. And you have to tell me what’s missing. Clear?
FATHER Right.
FATHER looks at the objects on the tray.
JOHN Ready? Close your eyes.
FATHER closes his eyes as JOHN removes a seashell from the tray.
FATHER Can I open my eyes yet?
JOHN Yep.
FATHER opens his eyes. JOHN studies his face as he carefully examines each object – a clothes peg, an egg cup, a matchbox car…
FATHER
Well there’s nothing missing – it’s all still there.
JOHN
Look carefully – you have to try and remember.
FATHER Are you playing?
JOHN No. I’m just watching.
FATHER
That doesn’t seem very fair. JOHN
The doctor wanted you to do it. FATHER
Why?
JOHN
Come on. Concentrate. One thing. FATHER
That’s not there? JOHN That’s right.
FATHER
Well how am I supposed to know? JOHN
(FRUSTRATED) Because it was there before and now it’s gone.
FATHER Matthew.
INT. BEDROOM NIGHT - FLASHBACK
JOHN sits at his laptop writing. He presses the ‘Play’ button on the tape machine. He listens to a conversation with FATHER.
JOHN
You were playing in the sand. FATHER
No.
FATHER I don’t remember.
JOHN
There’s a picture - a photograph – in the album.
INT. CUTTING ROOM DAY
The image of a brain scan fills the screen – the folds of the cerebral cortex curve like patterns in the sand. Waves, seen in negative (white on black), wash over the sandy ridges. Frames flicker as a boy runs towards the camera - grinning - holding a multi-coloured plastic windmill that spins in the wind.
The picture cuts to a shot of FATHER in a pair of shorts and T-shirt holding a garden spade. The camera follows him as he traces a line in the sand with the edge of the spade.
The picture cuts again. He is digging a hole – cutting into the wet sand and piling it up in a mound - the mound gets higher until it eventually fills the frame.
INT. UNIVERSITY SEMINAR ROOM DAY
Black screen. The same voices are heard as the WRITER defends his idea.
TUTOR 1
Can you talk to us a bit about the ending? Or rather, the movement towards the end.
WRITER
I’d always imagined Father being unconscious throughout and that by the end we finally catch up with ourselves.
TUTOR 1
So thinking about the different layers you’ve got here - the recursive nature of this whole thing - you’ve got Father,
unconscious throughout - and we see flashes - a train track hurtling through frame. This
recurring image and all the while we feel that we’re somehow getting closer to the truth perhaps?
TUTOR 2
Just like the rear gunner in Catch 22.
WRITER Exactly.
TUTOR 1
So that initially we see, say the first ten seconds of it and then you see a bit more each time so that by the time we get to the end we are thoroughly prepared for it - primed, if you like.
WRITER
Yes. That’s the way I’m thinking. Because originally, as you know, I had it that the cutting room was inside Father’s head - that as he lies unconscious we see him
piecing together what happened - prompted by watching the home- movies - by talking to John.
TUTOR 1 Right.
TUTOR 2
But then I wondered whether, in fact, it’s John who is assembling these fragments of memory in his own mind - not Father.
WRITER
So he’s piecing things together for himself?
TUTOR 2
Based on what he’s been watching and what he thinks he remembers - what he thinks he knows of the past.
WRITER Right.
TUTOR 2
So we have John on several levels then - we see him in the present recording the play and in the past in flashback where he’s looking after his father and showing him the home-movies.
TUTOR 1
And we also see his other self, The Writer, it seems, disappearing into a studio.
WRITER
Yes. I wondered in fact whether to make more of that - to introduce another layer to this recursive structure, so that I refer to the PhD itself - so that the whole thing is framed within the context of the PhD.
TUTOR 2