London Spy (2015–…): Season 1, Episode 5 - If This Is a Lie - full transcript
He was murdered.
He was murdered, Claire.
Who murdered him?
I don't know.
British MI6, the Chinese
Ministry for State Security,
American CIA, Israeli Mossad...
We're not up against
one intelligence agency,
we're up against them all.
That conversation took
place in my bedroom.
We were face to face!
Why did they murder him?
Alex decided to apply
his concept to speech.
A lie detector.
He did it for me!
He knew you'd find out that he
had lied about much of his life.
He must have worried that
you'd end up hating him.
He must have worried about
that moment every day.
I would like to finish
this particular adventure
with you, Daniel Edward
Holt, if you'll have me?
Scottie?
Danny...
there will be a note.
I have a question.
How do we live without
the people that we love?
I can hear his reply.
"We must figure this
question out for ourselves."
He's right.
He was always right.
Except, my friend...
.. I don't want to know.
I don't want to know
how to live without you.
I don't want to figure out
how to stop feeling this sad.
- Marcus, this isn't the time...
- Yes, it is, Claire.
It's exactly the right time.
I have destroyed my
copy of Alex's research.
You should destroy yours.
You asked for my advice. There it is.
You can take it, or not.
- But I won't help you...
- That's enough.
It was... a nice idea.
Danny!
Come on!
OK.
Sorry. Goodbye.
This is where you two met.
I visited the nurse who
took your blood sample.
I was curious, because it's not procedure.
So, I asked a straightforward question.
"Why did you do it?"
This man was afraid.
Afterwards, I'd barely left
the room, my phone rings.
It's my superiors, demanding to
know why I'm interrogating him.
You know what I said?
"No reason."
It wasn't much.
But it's as far as I'm prepared to go.
Why?
Listen, this is what's going to happen.
You'll be the early, innocent suspect
and I'll be the simple-minded copper.
That's the account that's
going to be written.
With Scottie, we had a chance.
Without him, we haven't.
I don't accept that.
We knew him better than anyone.
What would he do?
You're confused, Danny...
.. between trying to prove
how much you loved him
and trying to prove a conspiracy.
You're confused, and I wonder
if you haven't always been.
What does that mean?
Scottie was...
.. sentimental about you.
You're doing this for him.
He was doing it for you.
Maybe I was doing it for him.
But it's not real, Danny. It won't work.
Whatever you do, whatever
you try, it won't work.
He sent me this.
There was a letter. It read,
"Ambition, but no conviction.
"Love, Scottie".
Walk with me.
I'll be here, when you're ready.
How did you find me?
You gave us this address.
11 years.
A long time.
And now?
Dan, your dad's dying.
We weren't much as parents...
You read about me in the paper?
We read about you.
But that's not why you're here?
You need money?
No.
No?
No!
This was a mistake.
Tell me why.
Why now? Why today?
Weeks --
that's all he's got left.
We've said goodbye.
Want to do a better job of it?
There's something we'd like to show you.
If this is a lie, please
stop the car and let me out.
Because I've been through too
much for this to be another lie.
I won't be angry.
I know it's not your fault,
but just stop the car and let me out.
But if you drive me home, after
I've given you this chance, I...
Mum?
All right if I...?
I wish this could be true.
Shh.
People can change this much, you know?
For real, I mean.
You're not dying.
Not today, not next week.
They're scary people, Dan.
They know everything about us.
Everything we've ever done wrong.
What did you do?
This isn't like pinching
stuff from the shops.
- Why am I here?
- Why are WE here?
Being made to do this? Being threatened?
What have you dragged us into?
How could you do this
to us? To your father?
They gave you this, didn't they?
They told you to take a photo.
Why?
I always wanted to know...
.. wouldn't it have been
easier to have loved me?
I can't say why we never did.
I'm not angry anymore.
Have you been to any forums
on living with HIV before?
- No. - If you take a
seat, maybe over there.
All right? Hi, guys.
I'd like us to welcome Ryan.
A lot of people don't speak
until they've been a few times,
so you shouldn't feel any pressure.
But I wanted to give you the chance.
And remember, there's no point talking
unless you feel able to tell the truth.
Maybe you're not ready?
- I'll go.
- Danny.
My partner, his name was Alex.
He died some months ago
and I've been trying to
find out why he was killed...
Are you OK?
.. and he was working as a spy for MI6.
Although, when we were together...
Get down!
.. An attic in his apartment,
and one of the ways
they did that was to...
inject me with HIV virus.
You have to believe me!
If you don't believe me, I don't
have anyone else, Scottie.
I don't have anyone else.
What are you going to do now?
I'm going to do nothing.
You OK?
'I wish this could be true.'
I rather thought it might be you.
Is it too late to talk?
Too late?
Perhaps it is.
What harm can it do?
What good can it do?
"What good"? What possible good?
What good can any of us do?
Better leave him be. He's just a boy.
Just a stupid boy.
I take it you have something
you wish to discuss?
More than that -- you intend to accuse me?
I have a question.
A question. I'll permit a question.
But just one.
That will be all.
We both loved him.
Yes.
Can't we pretend, for a while,
that's all we need to say?
There was always something
of the mystic about you.
Fortune teller-soothsayer,
a person who knows nothing,
yet sees everything.
Alex was the last person
to hold your hand.
Question?
Statement.
Yes.
Yes, he was.
You blame me for his death.
- Question?
- Statement.
Yes.
Yes, I do.
How can you blame me...
.. unless you know why he was killed?
It is a good question.
For all your efforts,
all your loss, all your
grief and sacrifice...
.. you have nothing.
You accept I'm continuing
this conversation
solely for my own personal reasons?
Which are?
It's very important to me that you
understand how much I loved my son.
Show me his room.
Alistair spent more time
in this room than any other.
How do you know?
How?
No! No, no, no! Stop...
No! No, no, no, no!
Please...
Because he was my spy.
I made him a spy.
I told you, my husband
was an important man.
An important man, with a second-rate mind.
We were together at Cambridge.
The tutor who recruited him
was as blind to my talents...
.. as he was to Charles' flaws.
Nonetheless, in the
gentlemen's club of MI5,
Charles flourished, while
I was relegated to...
.. hosting dinners and
cocktail parties for his spies.
'Three moles at the heart
of his organization...
'.. and Charles didn't see them.'
They were men like him --
talked like him, dressed like him,
fucked like him.
Well, two did, anyway.
They were his friends.
Agents were lost, operations compromised.
When the three finally defected,
we were disgraced,
removed from the service,
exiled from power,
left to rot in this place,
guarded night and day by agents,
for fear that we too might be traitors.
I took to drink, for a while.
I became promiscuous, for a while.
Scandal engulfed me.
I couldn't go on behaving that way.
You either step into the abyss...
.. or step back from it.
You cannot walk along its edge for long.
You know this edge?
Don't you?
- Yes.
- Yes.
Alex was your step back?
He was mine, too.
I decided to have a child.
He'd be my future, my
saviour, my second chance.
I'd make him into the
spy I should've been.
My spy, made by me...
It was a mistake.
Not a lie. Not the truth.
For once, your intuitions let you down.
You decided to have a child?
What, fuck old Charles
and see what happens?
Not much of a plan, considering
how stupid you think he is.
But luck was on your side.
Your child was a genius.
Be very careful what you say next.
I want to tell you a story...
.. about a man.
While other people were
laughing and drinking...
.. this man would just walk.
'.. Until he reached
the exact same spot --
'where he'd sit, with his
back to all those people.'
And while he did everything
to signal to the world
that he wanted to be left alone...
'More than anything,
'he hoped that someone
passing would understand
'that what he really wanted
was the exact opposite.'
And that this someone
would sit next to him...
.. Strike up a conversation.
'I was that man.'
You were that someone.
Why was he so lonely?
I put too much pressure on him.
I made him too important in my life.
It was unfair.
I see that now.
No child can redeem their parents.
Hard to connect to people.
Especially when you're not sure
how they're connected to you.
For an hour or so, I hoped that
my real parents were real parents.
Daniel!
I was in a state.
I didn't deserve to be his mum.
Surely you can't be so
conventional as to think
there's only one way to bring up a child?
We are both his mother.
Neither one less nor
more real than the other.
I took care of his mind and she
took care of his other needs.
He didn't know?
No.
Except he did.
Didn't he? He knew.
On some level, maybe.
He was very young when it happened.
At the time, she was
working for me and stealing.
I went to her house, to
threaten her with the police
if she didn't return the items.
I've never seen anything like it.
No father, no mother to speak of...
She thought the boy disturbed,
damaged by her drink and drugs.
I saw how precious he really was.
We came to an arrangement.
"An arrangement?"
I would be his mother.
I'd be his nanny.
He would be provided for in every way --
every opportunity, every comfort.
- And Charles agreed?
- He resisted, initially.
Then, he was persuaded.
You could persuade anyone...
.. of anything. Couldn't you?
In this society, it's not
enough to be born brilliant.
I opened up a world that
would've been closed to him.
He didn't belong there.
He's not you.
He wasn't like you.
Just a few years, that's all I asked,
then he would be free to
do whatever he wanted.
Such as end all lies?
Oh, such a sentimental, ridiculous notion.
I warned him.
I tried to save him.
I tried...
Sir.
Mrs Turner.
Alistair?
Shh.
Frances!
- Shh.
- Aghh!
Shh... Alistair.
Shh...
Listen, we have very little time.
Listen to me.
You're in a great deal of
trouble, but there is a way out.
Do you understand?
I understand.
It's all been arranged. This is a warning.
You'll go to America, for
a few years, to work.
A new identity. A new life. A new name.
But you must leave everything behind.
This project -- what were you thinking?
All you have to do is say yes.
You'll be flown out tonight.
No belongings. No bags.
Alistair, all you have to do is agree.
All you have to do is agree.
Alistair?
All you have to do is agree.
I agree.
You will go to America?
I'll go.
You must speak clearly.
I will go to America.
You will destroy your research?
I will destroy it.
You'll never work on it again?
I'll never work on it again.
You'll leave it all behind?
Alistair, you must never make contact
with anyone from this life again.
Alistair?
His name is Danny.
Danny.
I'll never speak to him again.
This can be a new start for us, too.
You'll hate me for a while.
But I love you so much.
I love you too.
Get me out of here!
Get me out! Get me out!
'You must be clearer.
'I'll go to America.
'You will destroy your research?
'I'll destroy it.
'You'll never work on it again?
'I'll never work on it again.
'You'll leave it all behind?
'Alistair,
'you must never make contact
with anyone from this life again.
'His name is Danny.
'Danny.
'Alistair?
'I'll never speak to him again.
'Frances! Frances!
'This can be a new start for us too.
'You'll hate me for a while.
'But I love you so much.
'I love you too.
Get me out! Get me out!
'Get me out of here!'
Well, it's wrong. It's wrong!
I'll go back up there. I'll
talk to him. I'll explain.
He'll listen to me. He
didn't understand, that's all.
I can persuade him. Alistair, Alistair...
Listen to me. Listen to me...
Let me speak to him!
Let me speak to my son!
Let me speak to him! Let
me speak to my son...
I know a police officer.
You fail to grasp what
has been done to you.
The fact that you know
the truth is irrelevant.
No-one is going to
publish anything you say.
No-one is going to
investigate your claims.
No-one will believe you.
But they'll believe
you. You're his mother.
What do you owe them?
You gave them your son!
Tell me...
.. were I to agree...
.. what would we do?
We'd tell them the truth.
I can't.
She can't.
- I want to hear it from you.
- You heard it from me.
His name is Alex. His real name.
- The name you gave him.
- She won't help you.
She renamed him, but you let it slip.
- Deliberately?
- She can't help you.
It's time you left.
She's gone.
For her son.
For Alex.
All she can do.
It's all SHE can do!
Just a stupid boy?
Let's burn them down for real.
We'd probably better hurry.
You understand we don't stand a chance?
He was murdered, Claire.
Who murdered him?
I don't know.
British MI6, the Chinese
Ministry for State Security,
American CIA, Israeli Mossad...
We're not up against
one intelligence agency,
we're up against them all.
That conversation took
place in my bedroom.
We were face to face!
Why did they murder him?
Alex decided to apply
his concept to speech.
A lie detector.
He did it for me!
He knew you'd find out that he
had lied about much of his life.
He must have worried that
you'd end up hating him.
He must have worried about
that moment every day.
I would like to finish
this particular adventure
with you, Daniel Edward
Holt, if you'll have me?
Scottie?
Danny...
there will be a note.
I have a question.
How do we live without
the people that we love?
I can hear his reply.
"We must figure this
question out for ourselves."
He's right.
He was always right.
Except, my friend...
.. I don't want to know.
I don't want to know
how to live without you.
I don't want to figure out
how to stop feeling this sad.
- Marcus, this isn't the time...
- Yes, it is, Claire.
It's exactly the right time.
I have destroyed my
copy of Alex's research.
You should destroy yours.
You asked for my advice. There it is.
You can take it, or not.
- But I won't help you...
- That's enough.
It was... a nice idea.
Danny!
Come on!
OK.
Sorry. Goodbye.
This is where you two met.
I visited the nurse who
took your blood sample.
I was curious, because it's not procedure.
So, I asked a straightforward question.
"Why did you do it?"
This man was afraid.
Afterwards, I'd barely left
the room, my phone rings.
It's my superiors, demanding to
know why I'm interrogating him.
You know what I said?
"No reason."
It wasn't much.
But it's as far as I'm prepared to go.
Why?
Listen, this is what's going to happen.
You'll be the early, innocent suspect
and I'll be the simple-minded copper.
That's the account that's
going to be written.
With Scottie, we had a chance.
Without him, we haven't.
I don't accept that.
We knew him better than anyone.
What would he do?
You're confused, Danny...
.. between trying to prove
how much you loved him
and trying to prove a conspiracy.
You're confused, and I wonder
if you haven't always been.
What does that mean?
Scottie was...
.. sentimental about you.
You're doing this for him.
He was doing it for you.
Maybe I was doing it for him.
But it's not real, Danny. It won't work.
Whatever you do, whatever
you try, it won't work.
He sent me this.
There was a letter. It read,
"Ambition, but no conviction.
"Love, Scottie".
Walk with me.
I'll be here, when you're ready.
How did you find me?
You gave us this address.
11 years.
A long time.
And now?
Dan, your dad's dying.
We weren't much as parents...
You read about me in the paper?
We read about you.
But that's not why you're here?
You need money?
No.
No?
No!
This was a mistake.
Tell me why.
Why now? Why today?
Weeks --
that's all he's got left.
We've said goodbye.
Want to do a better job of it?
There's something we'd like to show you.
If this is a lie, please
stop the car and let me out.
Because I've been through too
much for this to be another lie.
I won't be angry.
I know it's not your fault,
but just stop the car and let me out.
But if you drive me home, after
I've given you this chance, I...
Mum?
All right if I...?
I wish this could be true.
Shh.
People can change this much, you know?
For real, I mean.
You're not dying.
Not today, not next week.
They're scary people, Dan.
They know everything about us.
Everything we've ever done wrong.
What did you do?
This isn't like pinching
stuff from the shops.
- Why am I here?
- Why are WE here?
Being made to do this? Being threatened?
What have you dragged us into?
How could you do this
to us? To your father?
They gave you this, didn't they?
They told you to take a photo.
Why?
I always wanted to know...
.. wouldn't it have been
easier to have loved me?
I can't say why we never did.
I'm not angry anymore.
Have you been to any forums
on living with HIV before?
- No. - If you take a
seat, maybe over there.
All right? Hi, guys.
I'd like us to welcome Ryan.
A lot of people don't speak
until they've been a few times,
so you shouldn't feel any pressure.
But I wanted to give you the chance.
And remember, there's no point talking
unless you feel able to tell the truth.
Maybe you're not ready?
- I'll go.
- Danny.
My partner, his name was Alex.
He died some months ago
and I've been trying to
find out why he was killed...
Are you OK?
.. and he was working as a spy for MI6.
Although, when we were together...
Get down!
.. An attic in his apartment,
and one of the ways
they did that was to...
inject me with HIV virus.
You have to believe me!
If you don't believe me, I don't
have anyone else, Scottie.
I don't have anyone else.
What are you going to do now?
I'm going to do nothing.
You OK?
'I wish this could be true.'
I rather thought it might be you.
Is it too late to talk?
Too late?
Perhaps it is.
What harm can it do?
What good can it do?
"What good"? What possible good?
What good can any of us do?
Better leave him be. He's just a boy.
Just a stupid boy.
I take it you have something
you wish to discuss?
More than that -- you intend to accuse me?
I have a question.
A question. I'll permit a question.
But just one.
That will be all.
We both loved him.
Yes.
Can't we pretend, for a while,
that's all we need to say?
There was always something
of the mystic about you.
Fortune teller-soothsayer,
a person who knows nothing,
yet sees everything.
Alex was the last person
to hold your hand.
Question?
Statement.
Yes.
Yes, he was.
You blame me for his death.
- Question?
- Statement.
Yes.
Yes, I do.
How can you blame me...
.. unless you know why he was killed?
It is a good question.
For all your efforts,
all your loss, all your
grief and sacrifice...
.. you have nothing.
You accept I'm continuing
this conversation
solely for my own personal reasons?
Which are?
It's very important to me that you
understand how much I loved my son.
Show me his room.
Alistair spent more time
in this room than any other.
How do you know?
How?
No! No, no, no! Stop...
No! No, no, no, no!
Please...
Because he was my spy.
I made him a spy.
I told you, my husband
was an important man.
An important man, with a second-rate mind.
We were together at Cambridge.
The tutor who recruited him
was as blind to my talents...
.. as he was to Charles' flaws.
Nonetheless, in the
gentlemen's club of MI5,
Charles flourished, while
I was relegated to...
.. hosting dinners and
cocktail parties for his spies.
'Three moles at the heart
of his organization...
'.. and Charles didn't see them.'
They were men like him --
talked like him, dressed like him,
fucked like him.
Well, two did, anyway.
They were his friends.
Agents were lost, operations compromised.
When the three finally defected,
we were disgraced,
removed from the service,
exiled from power,
left to rot in this place,
guarded night and day by agents,
for fear that we too might be traitors.
I took to drink, for a while.
I became promiscuous, for a while.
Scandal engulfed me.
I couldn't go on behaving that way.
You either step into the abyss...
.. or step back from it.
You cannot walk along its edge for long.
You know this edge?
Don't you?
- Yes.
- Yes.
Alex was your step back?
He was mine, too.
I decided to have a child.
He'd be my future, my
saviour, my second chance.
I'd make him into the
spy I should've been.
My spy, made by me...
It was a mistake.
Not a lie. Not the truth.
For once, your intuitions let you down.
You decided to have a child?
What, fuck old Charles
and see what happens?
Not much of a plan, considering
how stupid you think he is.
But luck was on your side.
Your child was a genius.
Be very careful what you say next.
I want to tell you a story...
.. about a man.
While other people were
laughing and drinking...
.. this man would just walk.
'.. Until he reached
the exact same spot --
'where he'd sit, with his
back to all those people.'
And while he did everything
to signal to the world
that he wanted to be left alone...
'More than anything,
'he hoped that someone
passing would understand
'that what he really wanted
was the exact opposite.'
And that this someone
would sit next to him...
.. Strike up a conversation.
'I was that man.'
You were that someone.
Why was he so lonely?
I put too much pressure on him.
I made him too important in my life.
It was unfair.
I see that now.
No child can redeem their parents.
Hard to connect to people.
Especially when you're not sure
how they're connected to you.
For an hour or so, I hoped that
my real parents were real parents.
Daniel!
I was in a state.
I didn't deserve to be his mum.
Surely you can't be so
conventional as to think
there's only one way to bring up a child?
We are both his mother.
Neither one less nor
more real than the other.
I took care of his mind and she
took care of his other needs.
He didn't know?
No.
Except he did.
Didn't he? He knew.
On some level, maybe.
He was very young when it happened.
At the time, she was
working for me and stealing.
I went to her house, to
threaten her with the police
if she didn't return the items.
I've never seen anything like it.
No father, no mother to speak of...
She thought the boy disturbed,
damaged by her drink and drugs.
I saw how precious he really was.
We came to an arrangement.
"An arrangement?"
I would be his mother.
I'd be his nanny.
He would be provided for in every way --
every opportunity, every comfort.
- And Charles agreed?
- He resisted, initially.
Then, he was persuaded.
You could persuade anyone...
.. of anything. Couldn't you?
In this society, it's not
enough to be born brilliant.
I opened up a world that
would've been closed to him.
He didn't belong there.
He's not you.
He wasn't like you.
Just a few years, that's all I asked,
then he would be free to
do whatever he wanted.
Such as end all lies?
Oh, such a sentimental, ridiculous notion.
I warned him.
I tried to save him.
I tried...
Sir.
Mrs Turner.
Alistair?
Shh.
Frances!
- Shh.
- Aghh!
Shh... Alistair.
Shh...
Listen, we have very little time.
Listen to me.
You're in a great deal of
trouble, but there is a way out.
Do you understand?
I understand.
It's all been arranged. This is a warning.
You'll go to America, for
a few years, to work.
A new identity. A new life. A new name.
But you must leave everything behind.
This project -- what were you thinking?
All you have to do is say yes.
You'll be flown out tonight.
No belongings. No bags.
Alistair, all you have to do is agree.
All you have to do is agree.
Alistair?
All you have to do is agree.
I agree.
You will go to America?
I'll go.
You must speak clearly.
I will go to America.
You will destroy your research?
I will destroy it.
You'll never work on it again?
I'll never work on it again.
You'll leave it all behind?
Alistair, you must never make contact
with anyone from this life again.
Alistair?
His name is Danny.
Danny.
I'll never speak to him again.
This can be a new start for us, too.
You'll hate me for a while.
But I love you so much.
I love you too.
Get me out of here!
Get me out! Get me out!
'You must be clearer.
'I'll go to America.
'You will destroy your research?
'I'll destroy it.
'You'll never work on it again?
'I'll never work on it again.
'You'll leave it all behind?
'Alistair,
'you must never make contact
with anyone from this life again.
'His name is Danny.
'Danny.
'Alistair?
'I'll never speak to him again.
'Frances! Frances!
'This can be a new start for us too.
'You'll hate me for a while.
'But I love you so much.
'I love you too.
Get me out! Get me out!
'Get me out of here!'
Well, it's wrong. It's wrong!
I'll go back up there. I'll
talk to him. I'll explain.
He'll listen to me. He
didn't understand, that's all.
I can persuade him. Alistair, Alistair...
Listen to me. Listen to me...
Let me speak to him!
Let me speak to my son!
Let me speak to him! Let
me speak to my son...
I know a police officer.
You fail to grasp what
has been done to you.
The fact that you know
the truth is irrelevant.
No-one is going to
publish anything you say.
No-one is going to
investigate your claims.
No-one will believe you.
But they'll believe
you. You're his mother.
What do you owe them?
You gave them your son!
Tell me...
.. were I to agree...
.. what would we do?
We'd tell them the truth.
I can't.
She can't.
- I want to hear it from you.
- You heard it from me.
His name is Alex. His real name.
- The name you gave him.
- She won't help you.
She renamed him, but you let it slip.
- Deliberately?
- She can't help you.
It's time you left.
She's gone.
For her son.
For Alex.
All she can do.
It's all SHE can do!
Just a stupid boy?
Let's burn them down for real.
We'd probably better hurry.
You understand we don't stand a chance?