Survivors (1975–1977): Season 2, Episode 5 - Face of the Tiger - full transcript
- My stomach thinks my throat's cut.
- Yeah, well, let's pack it in.
Sorry.
Well, my roof's still letting wet in.
As soon as we've done this stockade,
I'll do your roof, all right?
I can feel my rheumatics coming on.
Is all this more important
than my health?
Yes.
Well, I shan't be much use
to you laid up, will I?
You're not too much use anyway.
- Now look...
- Look, it's entirely up to you.
You can either help us build
this stockade to keep the sheep in,
or you can sit up at night
and beat the dogs off.
Not much in it with
the way my roof leaks if you ask me.
Well, I'm not asking you,
I'm telling you.
You could have got all this done
instead of gallivanting off to London.
Don't push your luck, cock.
That trip to London was no picnic.
Where do you suppose
that wire came from anyway?
- What are you doing?
- Reducing fat.
- Yeah, well, that's not your job.
- No, but we're getting short.
- Let Hubert do the damn thing.
- It's not enough.
- Ruth wants to make more soap.
- Ruth can go and...
She's done nothing but talk about soap
since you got back from London.
Will you see it doesn't...
All right, all right. I'm coming.
- Three?
- Go on. I made one extra.
What have we done to deserve this?
Jenny's got enough on her plate already.
- Well, thanks, Pet.
- Where's Charles?
We must have charcoal.
Hello, Greg. How's Jenny?
Well, since you're asking,
I think she's doing too much.
You're blaming me?
We've gone long enough without soap,
we can go without it for a while longer.
No, sorry.
We keep clean, we keep healthy.
It's as simple as that.
- Yeah, with one notable exception.
- What does that mean?
Hubert. I mean,
those stinking clothes are stuck to him.
It's not funny.
Oh, come on, Greg,
you're overprotective about Jenny.
I don't see why
she should work like a slave
while Hubert does sweet FA.
That applies to all of us,
not just Jenny.
Well, of course it does!
So what are we going to do about it?
I'll get you!
No, you won't.
Come back.
You'll never catch me.
- I will.
- You won't!
- Yes, I will.
- Oh, no, you won't.
What's the matter?
We can't go near strangers.
You might not be well.
Oh, yes. Yes, of course.
It's all right, they've not been
in contact with me.
I'm Alistair McFadden.
Have you been ill?
- What?
- The disease.
Oh, yes. Yes, a long time ago.
Must be over a year now.
- By the way, what month is it?
- Well, it's March.
- Where have you come from?
- Nowhere.
I mean, I've been on the move since
I left the bunker about a week ago.
- Bunker?
- Nuclear testing bunker.
At least that's what I think it was.
They're all over the country
if you can find them.
Well, I'm afraid if you want to join us,
you'll have to go
into quarantine for 10 days.
- Ten days?
- Yeah, well, I'll take you down.
Well, there it is.
The house that Jack built.
There's a stove in there. It's a lot
more comfortable than it looks.
Three of us were in there
only a fortnight ago.
Well, that's marvellous.
- You built it?
- With my own fair hands.
Not just for people like me, surely?
No. We had this guy
who had to go into Birmingham
and he caught the plague
or something bad.
Well, he was quite a fella.
So I built this as a sort
of practical memorial to him.
We got to be careful.
You seem a very friendly
and sensible people.
Well, we haven't taken
to cannibalism yet.
No.
Anyway, you can incarcerate
yourself now.
Well, see you all in 10 days, then.
Don't worry, we'll feed you.
Of course, we might come and stare
at you as there's no zoos left.
Well, it's all very peaceful.
Hubert!
- Yeah, yeah.
Well, shut the door.
- Now, Hubert...
- Look, I've got one loaf. Look.
- Greg got three today.
- For the four of them.
Look, soon as we finish that fence,
I'm going to fix your roof for you,
all right?
Out there in all weathers.
I need more bread than him or anyone.
You're in one of your pigheads today,
ain't you?
- It's damp in here.
- Well, you wanted to live here.
- You said you felt shut in.
- I did not! I was put in here!
From now on,
I do as much as anybody else.
Which isn't much.
Well, it may be a big room,
but I'm not having Hubert in with me.
- Come on, Arthur, give him a chance.
- He smells.
He's a malcontent,
he's got appalling manners,
he's idle and he annoys me.
He's outside in all this weather.
Well, it's mainly that he smells.
I tried to talk to him about it,
but he wouldn't listen.
It's no excuse for him.
Those of us who've achieved
a certain standard of hygiene
are not going to put up with less.
You can tell him that.
Keeping warm?
Yes, thanks.
- What are you reading?
- Poetry. Wordsworth.
Oh!
- "A host of golden daffodils. "
- A little more than that.
He was a great philosopher.
Like Rousseau.
- Nature poetry?
- Yes.
Well, he really believed
that nature was a force
that ran through everything.
Man, beasts, plants...
I'm sorry. I'm being pompous.
Oh, no, no, not at all.
No, read me some.
- Really?
- Yes, go on.
"Once again I see these hedgerows,
hardly hedgerows,
"little lines of sportive wood run wild.
"These pastoral farms green
to the very door.
"And wreaths of smoke sent up
in silence from among the trees
"with some uncertain notice,
as might seem of vagrant dwellers
"in the houseless woods,
"or of some hermit's cave,
where by his fire,
"the hermit sits alone. "
Go on.
"These beauteous forms,
through a long absence,
"have seemed to me
as is a landscape to a blind man's eye.
"But oft, in lonely rooms
amid the din of towns and cities,
"I have owed to them
in hours of weariness, sensations sweet,
"felt in the blood
and felt along the heart,
"and passing even into my purer mind
with tranquil restoration. "
Oh, shut up!
Jenny said I've got to tell you
your meal's ready this time.
If you don't hurry, it'll get cold!
- Women.
- Can't live without them, Jack.
Some of us have to.
Just in time.
- How's Alistair getting on?
- Oh, he seems fine.
He's reading poetry.
It's a bit cold in that tree house
for him though, isn't it?
No, he seems warm enough.
He's got a sleeping bag and a stove.
Ow!
You know, you'd think he'd suffer more
from loneliness.
Says he hasn't spoken
to a living soul till he came here.
Well, what's he in quarantine for?
- Ten days. We made it a rule.
- I know.
But for people who have been in contact
with other people.
Well, I better see him.
I mean, there's no point in being
stuck out there just for a rule.
Lizzie!
Lizzie!
- Have you seen Lizzie?
- No. I thought she was with you.
- Ruth's letting the man out.
- What man?
- Oh, the new man. Letting him out?
- Yes.
- But he's only been here one night.
- I know, but that's what I said.
But Ruth said I was to mind
my own business.
Oh, did she? Well, I'm going down there.
Now listen, will you stay here
and keep an eye on Paul?
And don't make a noise and wake him up.
- But what about Lizzie?
- Oh, never mind about Lizzie.
She's probably with George
and the others.
McFadden. M-C-F-A-D-D-E-N.
- How old are you, Alistair?
-44.
- What was your previous job?
- Librarian.
- Any practical skills?
- Not really.
Who told you about us?
I thought you said you'd not been
in contact with anyone.
Well, I hadn't. We spoke over a hedge.
He was on horseback.
- When was this?
- About a week, 10 days ago.
- Where?
- I'm not sure exactly.
About 100 miles away.
The time it took for me to get here.
He said he was looking
for his wife and child.
Wife and child?
Well, I assumed he was talking
about his wife.
- Did he mention any names?
- No.
Yes, yes, he said the boy's name
was Peter.
Which way did he go?
I'm not sure.
I'd say he was making for the coast.
Said something about
a house being burnt down.
Jimmy Garland!
- He saw the message Charles left.
- Well, why hasn't he come along here?
He must have got another lead on Abby.
These are people you know?
- Yes.
Oh, Jenny. You haven't met
Alistair McFadden, have you?
Well, we've waved at each other. Hello.
- How do you do?
- It's all right, he's well enough.
Alistair was directed here
by Jimmy Garland.
Jimmy? Well, where is he?
He's not sure, but they met 10 days ago.
Well, then why hasn't he come here?
Don't know. We think he must
have got some news of Abby.
Oh, good. Are you going to stay?
- Well, I hope so. If you'll have me.
Not much doubt about that.
You couldn't have come at a better time.
- I've put that fat in the outhouse.
- Thanks.
I know it's tough, but it's worth it.
- At least you're spared the potash bit.
- Hmm. That's what you think.
How many times is the wind in the east?
You want to try working on top of it.
No, thank you. It's worse than being
downwind of Hubert.
- You're making soap?
- However did you guess?
It's odd that something that smells
so awful can make one clean.
That's life.
- Oh, hello.
- Hello.
How about a cup of tea?
- Tea?
- Carrot tea.
Have you tried clover and marjoram?
- No.
- Well, it's delightful.
- Really?
- And there's tansy, thyme,
filarian, rosemary, chamomile, nettle,
marigold tea.
They're all remedial recipes as well.
I ought to warn you,
Ruth used to be a medical student.
You know something
about herbal cures?
Well, I...
- Go on, there's no competition.
- Except for Mina.
- Who?
- Mina.
She lives in a cottage in the woods.
She goes in for herbs and things.
- Go on.
- Well, peppermint is very good
if you feel sick or have indigestion.
And you can make a herbal ointment
out of dandelions, plantain,
yellow dock leaf.
I cured a festering cut on my arm
that way last month.
He said he had no practical skills.
I think he's got a job, don't you, Ruth?
Absolutely. You and I have got
to get together, Alistair.
- Mmm. Think how much soap you can make.
- Oh, come on, Jenny.
You've been obsessive about this soap
ever since you got back from London.
- Well, someone's got to do it.
- Yes, why does it always have to be me?
- Jenny, that is not fair.
- No, it isn't. I agree.
I'm just making a cup of tea.
Alistair here is an expert
on herbal cures.
Is he? Good.
Now, look.
Greg and I have just been talking.
It's no good people complaining
about their jobs.
Now this community is run
on the basis of everybody
doing what they are best at.
Now, if Alistair here knows about herbs,
then obviously he'll want
to do something about it.
And that's what we must have
because we benefit by it.
Yes.
All right, Ruth, Jenny?
Yes.
Ruth?
Yes!
Look, I'm sorry if some of the jobs
are hard.
We just haven't got the technology
to make them easier.
- Who are you getting at, Charles?
- I'm not getting at anybody.
- 'Cause I wasn't complaining.
- Oh, come on, Ruth, you were.
You said you wanted to make more soap
and I wasn't producing enough fat.
No, I said there wasn't enough,
- not that you weren't...
- That's exactly the same thing.
- No, it isn't.
- All right, all right, all right.
Let's stop bickering.
In fact, who was complaining
about Pet not making enough bread?
- Hubert was.
No, it wasn't Hubert.
Hubert hasn't said anything.
It was you who told Charles.
We were given
three loaves yesterday.
- Now Jack said Hubert was complaining...
Greg!
Look, I think it's a good idea
to clear the air.
It's no good us all just bottling it up.
Does everybody agree with the principle
that we each do what we are best at?
Oh, yes, I was always
a marvel at making soap.
I never ever used a supermarket.
Oh, dear. A year ago,
we were just happy to be alive.
It's all right for you two.
Keep warm, running about.
- Any more?
- Any more what?
Dogs.
Oh, no, they know what's good for them.
They keep clear of me.
- Ask him.
- No, you.
- No, you.
- No, you ask him.
Hey, hey, hey. What, what?
Jack says if you look at the face
of a tiger, into its eyes,
it won't attack you.
Well, there ain't no tigers around here.
Unless they come from them wild zoos.
- Is it true, though?
- I don't know.
- Find one and try it.
- I told you it isn't true.
I don't know what
he's filling your head with.
If I saw a tiger, I'd run, wouldn't you?
We don't bicker, do we?
There are times when
I could bash your face in.
- Yes, me too.
- Yours or mine?
- Yours of course.
- Well, I'd like to see you try.
- Oh, Greg.
- Hey, hey, hey. What's this?
- I'm sorry.
- What for?
- Carrying on like this, all weepy.
- Well, there's nothing like a good cry.
I don't think I've got over you
going off like that to London.
Well, there was nothing for it,
I'm afraid.
I know. But it showed me
what life would be like without you.
I couldn't go on.
I wouldn't want to go on.
Well, you haven't got rid of me yet.
- Promise me you won't go away again.
- Now, you know I can't promise you that.
Yes.
You know what you need is a holiday.
- A what?
- Well, a change.
A break from Paul, the kids and me.
Oh, no.
Look, why don't you go off
with Arthur and the others?
He's going to Northwich next week
to get some salt. You could go with him.
- No, Greg.
- Go on.
Pet will look after the kids for a week.
- No.
- Why not?
No!
- Well, will you think about it?
- No.
Please.
Please, Jenny.
All right, I'll think about it.
Hello.
I don't think we've met.
I'm Alistair McFadden.
Hubert.
- What's in the bag?
- I'm collecting herbs.
- Herbs?
- For medical purposes.
You haven't seen any holly up here,
have you?
Holly?
The leaves are good
for coughs and colds.
- You make a drink from them.
- Oh!
Sounds as if it was made for me, then.
I'm out in all weathers.
You're not ill, are you?
Oh, well, I shall be,
the way my roof lets the water in.
I'll press on, then.
- Where are you staying?
- In the white house.
- With Arthur Russell.
- Thought so.
So what's the trouble?
It's that new Alistair fellow,
he's in Arthur Russell's place.
Well, he's in the same house, yes.
It strikes me them's last in
is best served.
Hubert, I can't order people
to go inviting everybody...
Look, living together is a matter
of personal agreement.
It's not his place.
It belongs to all of us.
Look, we established somebody
responsible for each place.
No, what I mean is,
them who get here first get the best,
them who come here last get the best,
and I'm in the middle.
What I've got is no good,
the roof leaks.
Jack's gonna fix that just as soon as
he's finished with the stockade.
Fix it? I'm frozen to death up there.
Got no one to look after me.
- Well, go on.
- Well, it's not fair, is it?
So, you're not the only one out
in the cold, you know, Hubert?
Would you rather be in here making soap?
Let somebody else look after the sheep?
She's not outside, is she? She's
supposed to be looking after the pigs.
You don't have to be with the pigs
every minute.
But I do with the sheep.
I can't let them roam,
not with them wild dogs about.
So you want to be taken off the sheep
all together, is that it?
Even off the slaughter,
getting oil for the lamps?
And out of that room.
Look, Hubert.
We each have jobs.
Now your job is just as important
as everybody else.
You're the only one who knows
about sheep.
You can't work out a roster
for a shepherd
any more than you can
for a carpenter or a mechanic.
You can't swap those jobs now, can you?
You can houses, though.
Why couldn't that Alistair fellow
be put in with me?
What's wrong with me?
Have I got the Death on me or something?
I just wondered
what you thought, that's all.
Well, first of all,
I'm not having Hubert in here with me.
- He's dirty and he's objectionable.
- Thank you.
What's all the fuss about anyway?
While he's out, he gets his food
brought to him.
His job was being a shepherd, wasn't it?
Well, he thinks Alistair,
being educated, is part of an elite.
He means Alistair being clean.
I don't know.
Hubert sees Alistair gathering herbs,
and to Hubert that's a cushy number.
- Hubert is a damn nuisance.
- Oh, well, I don't know.
Who would have thought
we'd have Ruth and Jenny arguing?
Now we've got Hubert grousing
over this new man.
Oh, these last few days,
it's been one bone after another.
Okay.
- Let me give you a hand.
- No, it's all right, we can manage.
- I'd rather.
- Look, don't worry, we're all right.
Would you like me to stay and help?
No, it's all right.
Thanks, Alistair. We can manage now.
Is there anything I can do?
That's all right, sunshine,
you've done enough.
Why don't you go and pick me
some dandelion and burdock?
My throat's parched.
Thanks.
It is him, innit?
Where did you find this?
I told you, on the way up the top
where he was herb picking.
- What's the matter?
- Nothing.
- Hubert...
- I done the right thing, haven't I,
- bringing it?
- Yes, yes, you have.
If he goes, can I have his room?
Well, first we'll have to establish
whether it is him, Hubert,
and then we'll decide what to do.
Oh, I see. If you don't want him to go,
you want it to be kept quiet.
Well, I can keep things quiet
if I'm treated proper.
Nobody can say I haven't acted
for the best now, can they?
I have a complaint to make.
Something has been taken from my pocket.
Are you Andrew McAlister?
Yes.
I was in the hospital, prison,
when the Death came.
The keys stopped turning
in the big locks
and the bangings and the shoutings went.
When I got better, I took the minibus,
filled it with food from the kitchens
and I left.
I found a house, a large house,
empty, by the river.
It had a library.
And I caught fish.
There was plenty of food.
I lit fires and I read books.
Why did you keep this?
Because it's real.
Tells me who I am and what I did.
- What did you do?
- I killed a child.
- Why?
- Because she was looking at me
and she was frightened.
I was angry that
she should be frightened,
there was no reason why.
And that frightened me.
That in me,
there was something frightening.
I couldn't tolerate a small child
frightening me,
and in my rage, I killed her.
Did a psychiatrist tell you this?
Psychiatrists tell you nothing.
They ask questions to write reports
so that they can file judgements.
Then how do you know?
Because I thought about it
when I got better.
And how did I get better?
Well, first, because everyone
I knew was dead.
I'd seen their bodies.
Even in my persecuted state,
I knew that.
At first, I was glad they were dead.
I thought I'd killed them.
No one came near me,
no one threatened me.
The locks had gone, the drugs,
the questions.
I read the poetry I found in the house.
Couldn't read the novels, they were
about people and things and places.
But the poetry I understood.
I used to sit by the river
and look at the water and the trees.
I was calm and peaceful.
And then it was there,
in the poem in front of me.
"Nature and language has a sense,
the anchor of my purest thoughts,
"the nurse, the guide,
the guardian of my heart and soul
"of all my moral being. "
The Death had cured me.
I believe there are people who are
not meant to live in crowded towns
or suffer the corruption of
commercial pressure
because it moves them away
from themselves,
from the reality of their own existence.
They are unable to feel, to express,
to know who they are.
And so they become tortured
and frightened.
And like an animal that's cornered,
they strike out.
And so they have to be locked away
with other frightened creatures,
to be treated with drugs
and electric shock
and the kindly understanding you reserve
for naughty children, but not love.
Not love because that means sharing.
And how can you share
with an animal in a cage?
You're quite sure you know
what you're doing, Ruth?
It's not what I'm doing,
we all decided by majority.
No, no. It's just the majority
of the people who were here.
What about the others,
Peggy, Maureen, Mina, Alan, Lewis?
You're going to convince
everybody in the community?
If I can see each of them
individually, yes.
- What about Hubert?
- I'll see Hubert.
Hubert was trying to blackmail me,
either keep quiet about it
or kick Alistair out.
- Either way, he wants Alistair's room.
- Well, he's not getting that.
I'll simply tell him that
if he breathes a word to anyone
before Ruth's had a chance
to speak to them,
he's going to be the one
who's out on his neck.
What happens if he falls ill again?
After all, he's done it once.
Arthur, weren't you listening to him?
He has total clear insight
into what he did and why he did it.
That's the whole point of psychoanalytic
treatment, if a patient knows himself.
That's why he carries the cutting,
'cause he's not afraid any longer.
That is the cure. He knows who he is.
I thought perhaps he carried it
to remind himself
in case he felt like doing it again.
Go home, you old reactionary.
- Good night.
- Good night.
Well, we may be primitive
by circumstance,
but we're civilised by choice.
I think that's what matters.
You know, Hubert was quite prepared
to keep it quiet
- as long as he was all right.
- Mmm.
Maybe he thought a child-killer
was no threat to him.
Exactly. And that is even worse.
He's a murderer and he's got
a better place to live than what I have.
Hubert, I want you to promise you
won't say a word about this.
Give Ruth a chance to speak
to everyone, all right?
What did he want to come here for in the
first place? That's what I want to know.
Well, he came here
for the same reasons we all did.
For food, shelter and safety.
But he was on his own
for a year you said.
I said he was on his own
till he was cured.
And when he was cured,
he wanted to be with people again.
Now for God's sake,
will you give this man a chance?
You promise?
All right, I promise.
If I get a better place.
Hubert, if I hear you've been spreading
stories, you won't have anywhere.
- Have Greg and Jack gone up?
- Yeah.
Hey, come here.
- You want to be careful.
- Why? What's happened?
You see him?
That's Alistair.
Yeah. Remember what I was
telling you about tigers?
Well, if I told you some
people could be like tigers,
you know, dangerous, kill people,
you wouldn't hang about and wait for it
to happen, would you? You'd run away.
Well, if he asks you to help him
or do anything, don't, understand?
Off you go. Hey, now don't tell anybody
I told you because if he finds out...
- But that's Alistair.
- Yeah, he looks harmless, doesn't he?
Ever seen a smile
on the face of a tiger?
Tigers can look nice,
but they can tear you to bits.
How you getting on?
- What's the matter?
- Ran into Hubert.
- Uh-huh. And what did he have to say?
- Something about wasn't I being silly.
- About what?
- Being out on my own
and leaving the baby.
Well, go on.
Oh, for goodness sake, Greg,
you know what he meant.
I can't stand the man.
He frightens me and he enjoys doing it.
Yes, but he didn't actually mention
Alistair by name, did he?
No, he didn't produce a pencil and paper
and write it out for me.
If anything goes wrong
in this settlement,
you can guarantee Hubert's
got something to do with it.
He's got to needle and probe
until he gets exactly what he wants.
Well, I can't see why somebody
can't mend his roof.
Jack's got an important job
to do finishing that stockade.
- Once he's done that, he can help.
- Till somebody mends his roof,
why can't somebody else
put up with the smell?
All right, I'll have a word
with Charles in the morning.
- They're not here.
- I'm going back to feed the pigs.
I'll wait here for them.
Hubert, can I have a word?
Greg and Charles have asked
if you can move into my place
while your roof's being mended.
Well, I'm not prepared to do that,
but I am willing to give you a hand
to get the roof repaired.
Shouldn't be too difficult.
Lots of tiles that will fit
from those old outhouses.
Well, at least it'll reduce the leak
until it can be done properly.
Well, we'll get somebody else
to look after the sheep
while we're doing the roof.
We're supposed to have
our own jobs, aren't we?
I got enough to do out here
without bothering about roofs.
All right.
Well, don't say I didn't offer to help.
Oh, no, plenty of people
get your offers of help.
Them who come here last
get the best places to live.
It was the same before the Death.
Privilege for the few.
It'll always be the same.
John.
John.
John!
John!
- Alistair... Are you going?
- I shouldn't have come.
- Where will you go?
- I'll find a house by a river somewhere.
- Is it because of Hubert?
- Not especially.
Or because of what
you think we might be thinking?
Well, I admit I was suspicious,
but I suppose you wouldn't expect people
- like Hubert to understand.
- No, it's not that. Not in itself.
When I was in business, before,
I used to sack people.
I never saw them again,
never gave them a second thought.
But now, everybody, even Hubert,
seems significant.
I'm sorry you're going.
I thought the Death would
change everything. It saved me.
When I heard about this place
and all of you...
You thought we would be changed as much?
I thought we'd all be changed,
completely.
Well, maybe it will be one day.
You see, I came out
of a nightmare into reality.
And it's reality which is so wonderful.
Just living without people.
Can you understand that?
So I thought... I didn't think,
but I expected to find people
that didn't argue and bicker
over petty things like soap.
Oh, I'm sorry.
Maybe I am only able to exist
in a vacuum, without people.
Anyway...
The only reason we're all here together
is that we couldn't survive on our own.
- I did.
- Till your food ran out.
I'll go to the town and get food.
One of our lot went to a town
to get medicine. He died.
Three of them went up to London.
There are 500 people in London trying
to get away before they're wiped out.
There are many ways of dying.
Yes, but when, Lizzie? How long ago?
One hour? Two hours?
Did he definitely say
he'd stay up there, Lizzie?
- Until Greg came. Is that what he said?
- Yes.
Lizzie, now listen, love,
have you seen John
since you came down from the top?
- No.
- Well, he's not up there now.
Hubert said he hadn't
seen him come down.
Did say he'd seen Alistair go up
there and come down since then.
- Where's Alistair now?
- Well, I think I can tell you that.
It's rather sad news, really.
Alistair's had enough of us. He's gone.
Well, I did try to persuade him...
- Look, when did he go?
- About five minutes ago. Why?
- What's happened?
- John's disappeared.
And Alistair was the last one seen near.
I don't believe it.
I've just been talking to him.
He was just explaining
how good everything was.
Yes, without people.
He told us all that, didn't he?
See my baby, I must see my baby.
Did you follow him at all?
- No.
- Why not?
- Because I was angry.
- Angry with John?
I didn't touch him.
When were you angry?
Before he ran away or after?
When he looked at me.
- How did he look at you?
- He was frightened.
- Why was he frightened?
- I don't know.
- But you remembered...
- Yes.
- You remembered...
- The child I killed, yes.
Did you feel there was
something in you to be frightened of?
I couldn't understand why he was
frightened unless someone had told him.
- And that made you angry?
- Yes.
We've been all over. Nothing. I've got
three men on horses on the road.
Alistair, a child is missing.
You were the last person to see him.
You were seen going up to the fences.
Lizzie came down from it.
Do you understand why
we have to ask you these questions?
Oh, yes, I understand.
Well, we can't drag the canal
or the lake, we haven't got a boat.
We can stretch a rope across,
with men on either side.
Weight it so it sinks.
Do you also understand
why we brought you back?
- And why we've got to keep you here?
- Yes, for my own protection.
It used to always be like that.
Anything yet?
- Is Charles back?
- No.
What are we going to do?
We haven't any proof.
We haven't got a prison.
We can't just lock him up
with someone standing over him.
We may as well let him go.
I mean, what can we do?
I don't know. I've just been back
past our house. Hubert's sounding forth.
It's all too simple
to someone like Hubert.
- You shoot wild dogs.
- We're not shooting anyone, Greg.
No. No, I've already decided
to let him go.
- When?
- At first light.
- Where is he?
- He's through there.
- Is he alone?
- He's asleep.
What if they find something tomorrow?
I mean, what about Charles?
Shouldn't you ask?
What if you're wrong, Greg?
What if they do find something tomorrow?
Well, then I'm wrong
and Charles is right.
And I'm not going through
a murder trial again.
Again?
Ah, it was a long time ago.
We got an engineer, an architect,
a carpenter, shepherd and a doctor.
But we haven't got any policemen.
Until we do have, I think we should
all just stick to our own jobs.
All right, all right, I'm coming.
All right.
- What do you want?
- Who was right, then?
You been drinking?
Where did you get that from?
Same place Ruth got hers.
You didn't know about that, did you?
While I'm up there...
If that's what I think it is,
you'll kill yourself.
It's methyl alcohol, you idiot. It's
an antiseptic. You'll poison yourself.
It tastes all right. It's nice in here.
- Nice and warm and dry.
- What do you want?
- We both saw it, what he did.
- What are you talking about?
You and me saw that Alistair hit John.
- We damn well did not.
- I say we did.
What are you trying to tell me, Hubert?
The man's a murderer.
He shouldn't be allowed to be here.
- What do you want, Hubert?
- If I say I saw him hit John,
more likely to believe that
than if you say he didn't.
- Oh, for God's sake...
- No, what I'm trying to say is,
if you say nothing about
what you saw him do to John,
you can let me have his room.
Favour is a favour.
Oh, get out.
Oh, all right, I'm going,
but I'll get a big stick,
and I'll do what Greg
said he'd do to me.
And I'll find him,
and if don't find him...
Hubert's roaming around drunk.
He says he's going to...
That's all right,
he's not going anywhere.
- Shouldn't we tell Charles?
- No, he's asleep.
Don't you worry, Arthur,
I'll take care of it.
It's all right, it was only Arthur.
Go on back to bed.
- Are you sure?
- Yeah, I'm sure.
Shouldn't you have someone outside
if you fall asleep?
I won't fall asleep.
Go on, back to bed, Charles.
All right.
Go on, drink it up.
It's going to be a cold day.
I'll take you as far as the reservoir.
Where have you been?
- I went on the road.
- Well, why didn't you come back?
- It's the rule.
- What rule?
If you go out and come back,
you have to stay here.
It's quarantine.
He's all right now.
He stopped shivering
hugging the hot water bottle.
Well, Hubert's a mess.
He actually tried to get me to admit
that I saw Alistair hit John.
Yeah, and what's worse is
him actually frightening the boy.
Well, I warned him.
- Well, what do we do with him?
- What can you do?
If you throw him out,
he'd die through self-neglect.
You couldn't persuade Alistair to stay?
No.
Where is Hubert?
Hubert.
- Hubert's knockout drops.
- Oh, no.
- Is it your stuff?
- No, no. It's not methyl alcohol.
But it's the rest of the brandy
I'd saved.
For the same purpose, medicinal.
That man is a thief, Charles,
he has to go.
Hear, hear.
- How's John?
- He's fine.
He's just got a little chill,
that's all. He'll be all right.
What was that herbal drink
that Alistair suggested for colds?
- Do you remember, Ruth?
- Yes. Holly leaves.
- But we don't know how to make it.
- Oh, I don't know. Complete herbal.
The other one's not so useful,
poetry by Wordsworth. Selected works.
Let's have a look.
Poor man, first we hound him out
and put him through all of that,
and then he leaves his books behind.
Well, he's marked this one.
I think he meant us to have it.
Listen. "'Tis nature's law that none,
the meanest of created things,
"of forms created the most vile
and brute, the dullest or most noxious,
"should exist divorced from good,
"a spirit and pulse of good,
"a life and soul to every mode of being,
inseparably linked. "
"The meanest of created things. "
Obviously, he means Hubert.
I'm going to miss Alistair.
Well, he left us something useful.
Why should we be stuck with Hubert
and that man out there?
Come on, we've all got work to do.
How do you know it was Hubert
that told John
when he marked that book last night?
Who did he mean, then?
Well, I think he meant everyone,
including himself.
And by the way, Greg, took a chance
last night, didn't you?
Letting him go without consulting me?
Would it have made any difference?
"'Tis nature's law that none,
the meanest of created things,
"of forms created the most vile
and brute, the dullest or most noxious,
"should exist divorced from good,
"a spirit and pulse of good,
"a life and soul to every mode of being
inseparably linked. "
- Yeah, well, let's pack it in.
Sorry.
Well, my roof's still letting wet in.
As soon as we've done this stockade,
I'll do your roof, all right?
I can feel my rheumatics coming on.
Is all this more important
than my health?
Yes.
Well, I shan't be much use
to you laid up, will I?
You're not too much use anyway.
- Now look...
- Look, it's entirely up to you.
You can either help us build
this stockade to keep the sheep in,
or you can sit up at night
and beat the dogs off.
Not much in it with
the way my roof leaks if you ask me.
Well, I'm not asking you,
I'm telling you.
You could have got all this done
instead of gallivanting off to London.
Don't push your luck, cock.
That trip to London was no picnic.
Where do you suppose
that wire came from anyway?
- What are you doing?
- Reducing fat.
- Yeah, well, that's not your job.
- No, but we're getting short.
- Let Hubert do the damn thing.
- It's not enough.
- Ruth wants to make more soap.
- Ruth can go and...
She's done nothing but talk about soap
since you got back from London.
Will you see it doesn't...
All right, all right. I'm coming.
- Three?
- Go on. I made one extra.
What have we done to deserve this?
Jenny's got enough on her plate already.
- Well, thanks, Pet.
- Where's Charles?
We must have charcoal.
Hello, Greg. How's Jenny?
Well, since you're asking,
I think she's doing too much.
You're blaming me?
We've gone long enough without soap,
we can go without it for a while longer.
No, sorry.
We keep clean, we keep healthy.
It's as simple as that.
- Yeah, with one notable exception.
- What does that mean?
Hubert. I mean,
those stinking clothes are stuck to him.
It's not funny.
Oh, come on, Greg,
you're overprotective about Jenny.
I don't see why
she should work like a slave
while Hubert does sweet FA.
That applies to all of us,
not just Jenny.
Well, of course it does!
So what are we going to do about it?
I'll get you!
No, you won't.
Come back.
You'll never catch me.
- I will.
- You won't!
- Yes, I will.
- Oh, no, you won't.
What's the matter?
We can't go near strangers.
You might not be well.
Oh, yes. Yes, of course.
It's all right, they've not been
in contact with me.
I'm Alistair McFadden.
Have you been ill?
- What?
- The disease.
Oh, yes. Yes, a long time ago.
Must be over a year now.
- By the way, what month is it?
- Well, it's March.
- Where have you come from?
- Nowhere.
I mean, I've been on the move since
I left the bunker about a week ago.
- Bunker?
- Nuclear testing bunker.
At least that's what I think it was.
They're all over the country
if you can find them.
Well, I'm afraid if you want to join us,
you'll have to go
into quarantine for 10 days.
- Ten days?
- Yeah, well, I'll take you down.
Well, there it is.
The house that Jack built.
There's a stove in there. It's a lot
more comfortable than it looks.
Three of us were in there
only a fortnight ago.
Well, that's marvellous.
- You built it?
- With my own fair hands.
Not just for people like me, surely?
No. We had this guy
who had to go into Birmingham
and he caught the plague
or something bad.
Well, he was quite a fella.
So I built this as a sort
of practical memorial to him.
We got to be careful.
You seem a very friendly
and sensible people.
Well, we haven't taken
to cannibalism yet.
No.
Anyway, you can incarcerate
yourself now.
Well, see you all in 10 days, then.
Don't worry, we'll feed you.
Of course, we might come and stare
at you as there's no zoos left.
Well, it's all very peaceful.
Hubert!
- Yeah, yeah.
Well, shut the door.
- Now, Hubert...
- Look, I've got one loaf. Look.
- Greg got three today.
- For the four of them.
Look, soon as we finish that fence,
I'm going to fix your roof for you,
all right?
Out there in all weathers.
I need more bread than him or anyone.
You're in one of your pigheads today,
ain't you?
- It's damp in here.
- Well, you wanted to live here.
- You said you felt shut in.
- I did not! I was put in here!
From now on,
I do as much as anybody else.
Which isn't much.
Well, it may be a big room,
but I'm not having Hubert in with me.
- Come on, Arthur, give him a chance.
- He smells.
He's a malcontent,
he's got appalling manners,
he's idle and he annoys me.
He's outside in all this weather.
Well, it's mainly that he smells.
I tried to talk to him about it,
but he wouldn't listen.
It's no excuse for him.
Those of us who've achieved
a certain standard of hygiene
are not going to put up with less.
You can tell him that.
Keeping warm?
Yes, thanks.
- What are you reading?
- Poetry. Wordsworth.
Oh!
- "A host of golden daffodils. "
- A little more than that.
He was a great philosopher.
Like Rousseau.
- Nature poetry?
- Yes.
Well, he really believed
that nature was a force
that ran through everything.
Man, beasts, plants...
I'm sorry. I'm being pompous.
Oh, no, no, not at all.
No, read me some.
- Really?
- Yes, go on.
"Once again I see these hedgerows,
hardly hedgerows,
"little lines of sportive wood run wild.
"These pastoral farms green
to the very door.
"And wreaths of smoke sent up
in silence from among the trees
"with some uncertain notice,
as might seem of vagrant dwellers
"in the houseless woods,
"or of some hermit's cave,
where by his fire,
"the hermit sits alone. "
Go on.
"These beauteous forms,
through a long absence,
"have seemed to me
as is a landscape to a blind man's eye.
"But oft, in lonely rooms
amid the din of towns and cities,
"I have owed to them
in hours of weariness, sensations sweet,
"felt in the blood
and felt along the heart,
"and passing even into my purer mind
with tranquil restoration. "
Oh, shut up!
Jenny said I've got to tell you
your meal's ready this time.
If you don't hurry, it'll get cold!
- Women.
- Can't live without them, Jack.
Some of us have to.
Just in time.
- How's Alistair getting on?
- Oh, he seems fine.
He's reading poetry.
It's a bit cold in that tree house
for him though, isn't it?
No, he seems warm enough.
He's got a sleeping bag and a stove.
Ow!
You know, you'd think he'd suffer more
from loneliness.
Says he hasn't spoken
to a living soul till he came here.
Well, what's he in quarantine for?
- Ten days. We made it a rule.
- I know.
But for people who have been in contact
with other people.
Well, I better see him.
I mean, there's no point in being
stuck out there just for a rule.
Lizzie!
Lizzie!
- Have you seen Lizzie?
- No. I thought she was with you.
- Ruth's letting the man out.
- What man?
- Oh, the new man. Letting him out?
- Yes.
- But he's only been here one night.
- I know, but that's what I said.
But Ruth said I was to mind
my own business.
Oh, did she? Well, I'm going down there.
Now listen, will you stay here
and keep an eye on Paul?
And don't make a noise and wake him up.
- But what about Lizzie?
- Oh, never mind about Lizzie.
She's probably with George
and the others.
McFadden. M-C-F-A-D-D-E-N.
- How old are you, Alistair?
-44.
- What was your previous job?
- Librarian.
- Any practical skills?
- Not really.
Who told you about us?
I thought you said you'd not been
in contact with anyone.
Well, I hadn't. We spoke over a hedge.
He was on horseback.
- When was this?
- About a week, 10 days ago.
- Where?
- I'm not sure exactly.
About 100 miles away.
The time it took for me to get here.
He said he was looking
for his wife and child.
Wife and child?
Well, I assumed he was talking
about his wife.
- Did he mention any names?
- No.
Yes, yes, he said the boy's name
was Peter.
Which way did he go?
I'm not sure.
I'd say he was making for the coast.
Said something about
a house being burnt down.
Jimmy Garland!
- He saw the message Charles left.
- Well, why hasn't he come along here?
He must have got another lead on Abby.
These are people you know?
- Yes.
Oh, Jenny. You haven't met
Alistair McFadden, have you?
Well, we've waved at each other. Hello.
- How do you do?
- It's all right, he's well enough.
Alistair was directed here
by Jimmy Garland.
Jimmy? Well, where is he?
He's not sure, but they met 10 days ago.
Well, then why hasn't he come here?
Don't know. We think he must
have got some news of Abby.
Oh, good. Are you going to stay?
- Well, I hope so. If you'll have me.
Not much doubt about that.
You couldn't have come at a better time.
- I've put that fat in the outhouse.
- Thanks.
I know it's tough, but it's worth it.
- At least you're spared the potash bit.
- Hmm. That's what you think.
How many times is the wind in the east?
You want to try working on top of it.
No, thank you. It's worse than being
downwind of Hubert.
- You're making soap?
- However did you guess?
It's odd that something that smells
so awful can make one clean.
That's life.
- Oh, hello.
- Hello.
How about a cup of tea?
- Tea?
- Carrot tea.
Have you tried clover and marjoram?
- No.
- Well, it's delightful.
- Really?
- And there's tansy, thyme,
filarian, rosemary, chamomile, nettle,
marigold tea.
They're all remedial recipes as well.
I ought to warn you,
Ruth used to be a medical student.
You know something
about herbal cures?
Well, I...
- Go on, there's no competition.
- Except for Mina.
- Who?
- Mina.
She lives in a cottage in the woods.
She goes in for herbs and things.
- Go on.
- Well, peppermint is very good
if you feel sick or have indigestion.
And you can make a herbal ointment
out of dandelions, plantain,
yellow dock leaf.
I cured a festering cut on my arm
that way last month.
He said he had no practical skills.
I think he's got a job, don't you, Ruth?
Absolutely. You and I have got
to get together, Alistair.
- Mmm. Think how much soap you can make.
- Oh, come on, Jenny.
You've been obsessive about this soap
ever since you got back from London.
- Well, someone's got to do it.
- Yes, why does it always have to be me?
- Jenny, that is not fair.
- No, it isn't. I agree.
I'm just making a cup of tea.
Alistair here is an expert
on herbal cures.
Is he? Good.
Now, look.
Greg and I have just been talking.
It's no good people complaining
about their jobs.
Now this community is run
on the basis of everybody
doing what they are best at.
Now, if Alistair here knows about herbs,
then obviously he'll want
to do something about it.
And that's what we must have
because we benefit by it.
Yes.
All right, Ruth, Jenny?
Yes.
Ruth?
Yes!
Look, I'm sorry if some of the jobs
are hard.
We just haven't got the technology
to make them easier.
- Who are you getting at, Charles?
- I'm not getting at anybody.
- 'Cause I wasn't complaining.
- Oh, come on, Ruth, you were.
You said you wanted to make more soap
and I wasn't producing enough fat.
No, I said there wasn't enough,
- not that you weren't...
- That's exactly the same thing.
- No, it isn't.
- All right, all right, all right.
Let's stop bickering.
In fact, who was complaining
about Pet not making enough bread?
- Hubert was.
No, it wasn't Hubert.
Hubert hasn't said anything.
It was you who told Charles.
We were given
three loaves yesterday.
- Now Jack said Hubert was complaining...
Greg!
Look, I think it's a good idea
to clear the air.
It's no good us all just bottling it up.
Does everybody agree with the principle
that we each do what we are best at?
Oh, yes, I was always
a marvel at making soap.
I never ever used a supermarket.
Oh, dear. A year ago,
we were just happy to be alive.
It's all right for you two.
Keep warm, running about.
- Any more?
- Any more what?
Dogs.
Oh, no, they know what's good for them.
They keep clear of me.
- Ask him.
- No, you.
- No, you.
- No, you ask him.
Hey, hey, hey. What, what?
Jack says if you look at the face
of a tiger, into its eyes,
it won't attack you.
Well, there ain't no tigers around here.
Unless they come from them wild zoos.
- Is it true, though?
- I don't know.
- Find one and try it.
- I told you it isn't true.
I don't know what
he's filling your head with.
If I saw a tiger, I'd run, wouldn't you?
We don't bicker, do we?
There are times when
I could bash your face in.
- Yes, me too.
- Yours or mine?
- Yours of course.
- Well, I'd like to see you try.
- Oh, Greg.
- Hey, hey, hey. What's this?
- I'm sorry.
- What for?
- Carrying on like this, all weepy.
- Well, there's nothing like a good cry.
I don't think I've got over you
going off like that to London.
Well, there was nothing for it,
I'm afraid.
I know. But it showed me
what life would be like without you.
I couldn't go on.
I wouldn't want to go on.
Well, you haven't got rid of me yet.
- Promise me you won't go away again.
- Now, you know I can't promise you that.
Yes.
You know what you need is a holiday.
- A what?
- Well, a change.
A break from Paul, the kids and me.
Oh, no.
Look, why don't you go off
with Arthur and the others?
He's going to Northwich next week
to get some salt. You could go with him.
- No, Greg.
- Go on.
Pet will look after the kids for a week.
- No.
- Why not?
No!
- Well, will you think about it?
- No.
Please.
Please, Jenny.
All right, I'll think about it.
Hello.
I don't think we've met.
I'm Alistair McFadden.
Hubert.
- What's in the bag?
- I'm collecting herbs.
- Herbs?
- For medical purposes.
You haven't seen any holly up here,
have you?
Holly?
The leaves are good
for coughs and colds.
- You make a drink from them.
- Oh!
Sounds as if it was made for me, then.
I'm out in all weathers.
You're not ill, are you?
Oh, well, I shall be,
the way my roof lets the water in.
I'll press on, then.
- Where are you staying?
- In the white house.
- With Arthur Russell.
- Thought so.
So what's the trouble?
It's that new Alistair fellow,
he's in Arthur Russell's place.
Well, he's in the same house, yes.
It strikes me them's last in
is best served.
Hubert, I can't order people
to go inviting everybody...
Look, living together is a matter
of personal agreement.
It's not his place.
It belongs to all of us.
Look, we established somebody
responsible for each place.
No, what I mean is,
them who get here first get the best,
them who come here last get the best,
and I'm in the middle.
What I've got is no good,
the roof leaks.
Jack's gonna fix that just as soon as
he's finished with the stockade.
Fix it? I'm frozen to death up there.
Got no one to look after me.
- Well, go on.
- Well, it's not fair, is it?
So, you're not the only one out
in the cold, you know, Hubert?
Would you rather be in here making soap?
Let somebody else look after the sheep?
She's not outside, is she? She's
supposed to be looking after the pigs.
You don't have to be with the pigs
every minute.
But I do with the sheep.
I can't let them roam,
not with them wild dogs about.
So you want to be taken off the sheep
all together, is that it?
Even off the slaughter,
getting oil for the lamps?
And out of that room.
Look, Hubert.
We each have jobs.
Now your job is just as important
as everybody else.
You're the only one who knows
about sheep.
You can't work out a roster
for a shepherd
any more than you can
for a carpenter or a mechanic.
You can't swap those jobs now, can you?
You can houses, though.
Why couldn't that Alistair fellow
be put in with me?
What's wrong with me?
Have I got the Death on me or something?
I just wondered
what you thought, that's all.
Well, first of all,
I'm not having Hubert in here with me.
- He's dirty and he's objectionable.
- Thank you.
What's all the fuss about anyway?
While he's out, he gets his food
brought to him.
His job was being a shepherd, wasn't it?
Well, he thinks Alistair,
being educated, is part of an elite.
He means Alistair being clean.
I don't know.
Hubert sees Alistair gathering herbs,
and to Hubert that's a cushy number.
- Hubert is a damn nuisance.
- Oh, well, I don't know.
Who would have thought
we'd have Ruth and Jenny arguing?
Now we've got Hubert grousing
over this new man.
Oh, these last few days,
it's been one bone after another.
Okay.
- Let me give you a hand.
- No, it's all right, we can manage.
- I'd rather.
- Look, don't worry, we're all right.
Would you like me to stay and help?
No, it's all right.
Thanks, Alistair. We can manage now.
Is there anything I can do?
That's all right, sunshine,
you've done enough.
Why don't you go and pick me
some dandelion and burdock?
My throat's parched.
Thanks.
It is him, innit?
Where did you find this?
I told you, on the way up the top
where he was herb picking.
- What's the matter?
- Nothing.
- Hubert...
- I done the right thing, haven't I,
- bringing it?
- Yes, yes, you have.
If he goes, can I have his room?
Well, first we'll have to establish
whether it is him, Hubert,
and then we'll decide what to do.
Oh, I see. If you don't want him to go,
you want it to be kept quiet.
Well, I can keep things quiet
if I'm treated proper.
Nobody can say I haven't acted
for the best now, can they?
I have a complaint to make.
Something has been taken from my pocket.
Are you Andrew McAlister?
Yes.
I was in the hospital, prison,
when the Death came.
The keys stopped turning
in the big locks
and the bangings and the shoutings went.
When I got better, I took the minibus,
filled it with food from the kitchens
and I left.
I found a house, a large house,
empty, by the river.
It had a library.
And I caught fish.
There was plenty of food.
I lit fires and I read books.
Why did you keep this?
Because it's real.
Tells me who I am and what I did.
- What did you do?
- I killed a child.
- Why?
- Because she was looking at me
and she was frightened.
I was angry that
she should be frightened,
there was no reason why.
And that frightened me.
That in me,
there was something frightening.
I couldn't tolerate a small child
frightening me,
and in my rage, I killed her.
Did a psychiatrist tell you this?
Psychiatrists tell you nothing.
They ask questions to write reports
so that they can file judgements.
Then how do you know?
Because I thought about it
when I got better.
And how did I get better?
Well, first, because everyone
I knew was dead.
I'd seen their bodies.
Even in my persecuted state,
I knew that.
At first, I was glad they were dead.
I thought I'd killed them.
No one came near me,
no one threatened me.
The locks had gone, the drugs,
the questions.
I read the poetry I found in the house.
Couldn't read the novels, they were
about people and things and places.
But the poetry I understood.
I used to sit by the river
and look at the water and the trees.
I was calm and peaceful.
And then it was there,
in the poem in front of me.
"Nature and language has a sense,
the anchor of my purest thoughts,
"the nurse, the guide,
the guardian of my heart and soul
"of all my moral being. "
The Death had cured me.
I believe there are people who are
not meant to live in crowded towns
or suffer the corruption of
commercial pressure
because it moves them away
from themselves,
from the reality of their own existence.
They are unable to feel, to express,
to know who they are.
And so they become tortured
and frightened.
And like an animal that's cornered,
they strike out.
And so they have to be locked away
with other frightened creatures,
to be treated with drugs
and electric shock
and the kindly understanding you reserve
for naughty children, but not love.
Not love because that means sharing.
And how can you share
with an animal in a cage?
You're quite sure you know
what you're doing, Ruth?
It's not what I'm doing,
we all decided by majority.
No, no. It's just the majority
of the people who were here.
What about the others,
Peggy, Maureen, Mina, Alan, Lewis?
You're going to convince
everybody in the community?
If I can see each of them
individually, yes.
- What about Hubert?
- I'll see Hubert.
Hubert was trying to blackmail me,
either keep quiet about it
or kick Alistair out.
- Either way, he wants Alistair's room.
- Well, he's not getting that.
I'll simply tell him that
if he breathes a word to anyone
before Ruth's had a chance
to speak to them,
he's going to be the one
who's out on his neck.
What happens if he falls ill again?
After all, he's done it once.
Arthur, weren't you listening to him?
He has total clear insight
into what he did and why he did it.
That's the whole point of psychoanalytic
treatment, if a patient knows himself.
That's why he carries the cutting,
'cause he's not afraid any longer.
That is the cure. He knows who he is.
I thought perhaps he carried it
to remind himself
in case he felt like doing it again.
Go home, you old reactionary.
- Good night.
- Good night.
Well, we may be primitive
by circumstance,
but we're civilised by choice.
I think that's what matters.
You know, Hubert was quite prepared
to keep it quiet
- as long as he was all right.
- Mmm.
Maybe he thought a child-killer
was no threat to him.
Exactly. And that is even worse.
He's a murderer and he's got
a better place to live than what I have.
Hubert, I want you to promise you
won't say a word about this.
Give Ruth a chance to speak
to everyone, all right?
What did he want to come here for in the
first place? That's what I want to know.
Well, he came here
for the same reasons we all did.
For food, shelter and safety.
But he was on his own
for a year you said.
I said he was on his own
till he was cured.
And when he was cured,
he wanted to be with people again.
Now for God's sake,
will you give this man a chance?
You promise?
All right, I promise.
If I get a better place.
Hubert, if I hear you've been spreading
stories, you won't have anywhere.
- Have Greg and Jack gone up?
- Yeah.
Hey, come here.
- You want to be careful.
- Why? What's happened?
You see him?
That's Alistair.
Yeah. Remember what I was
telling you about tigers?
Well, if I told you some
people could be like tigers,
you know, dangerous, kill people,
you wouldn't hang about and wait for it
to happen, would you? You'd run away.
Well, if he asks you to help him
or do anything, don't, understand?
Off you go. Hey, now don't tell anybody
I told you because if he finds out...
- But that's Alistair.
- Yeah, he looks harmless, doesn't he?
Ever seen a smile
on the face of a tiger?
Tigers can look nice,
but they can tear you to bits.
How you getting on?
- What's the matter?
- Ran into Hubert.
- Uh-huh. And what did he have to say?
- Something about wasn't I being silly.
- About what?
- Being out on my own
and leaving the baby.
Well, go on.
Oh, for goodness sake, Greg,
you know what he meant.
I can't stand the man.
He frightens me and he enjoys doing it.
Yes, but he didn't actually mention
Alistair by name, did he?
No, he didn't produce a pencil and paper
and write it out for me.
If anything goes wrong
in this settlement,
you can guarantee Hubert's
got something to do with it.
He's got to needle and probe
until he gets exactly what he wants.
Well, I can't see why somebody
can't mend his roof.
Jack's got an important job
to do finishing that stockade.
- Once he's done that, he can help.
- Till somebody mends his roof,
why can't somebody else
put up with the smell?
All right, I'll have a word
with Charles in the morning.
- They're not here.
- I'm going back to feed the pigs.
I'll wait here for them.
Hubert, can I have a word?
Greg and Charles have asked
if you can move into my place
while your roof's being mended.
Well, I'm not prepared to do that,
but I am willing to give you a hand
to get the roof repaired.
Shouldn't be too difficult.
Lots of tiles that will fit
from those old outhouses.
Well, at least it'll reduce the leak
until it can be done properly.
Well, we'll get somebody else
to look after the sheep
while we're doing the roof.
We're supposed to have
our own jobs, aren't we?
I got enough to do out here
without bothering about roofs.
All right.
Well, don't say I didn't offer to help.
Oh, no, plenty of people
get your offers of help.
Them who come here last
get the best places to live.
It was the same before the Death.
Privilege for the few.
It'll always be the same.
John.
John.
John!
John!
- Alistair... Are you going?
- I shouldn't have come.
- Where will you go?
- I'll find a house by a river somewhere.
- Is it because of Hubert?
- Not especially.
Or because of what
you think we might be thinking?
Well, I admit I was suspicious,
but I suppose you wouldn't expect people
- like Hubert to understand.
- No, it's not that. Not in itself.
When I was in business, before,
I used to sack people.
I never saw them again,
never gave them a second thought.
But now, everybody, even Hubert,
seems significant.
I'm sorry you're going.
I thought the Death would
change everything. It saved me.
When I heard about this place
and all of you...
You thought we would be changed as much?
I thought we'd all be changed,
completely.
Well, maybe it will be one day.
You see, I came out
of a nightmare into reality.
And it's reality which is so wonderful.
Just living without people.
Can you understand that?
So I thought... I didn't think,
but I expected to find people
that didn't argue and bicker
over petty things like soap.
Oh, I'm sorry.
Maybe I am only able to exist
in a vacuum, without people.
Anyway...
The only reason we're all here together
is that we couldn't survive on our own.
- I did.
- Till your food ran out.
I'll go to the town and get food.
One of our lot went to a town
to get medicine. He died.
Three of them went up to London.
There are 500 people in London trying
to get away before they're wiped out.
There are many ways of dying.
Yes, but when, Lizzie? How long ago?
One hour? Two hours?
Did he definitely say
he'd stay up there, Lizzie?
- Until Greg came. Is that what he said?
- Yes.
Lizzie, now listen, love,
have you seen John
since you came down from the top?
- No.
- Well, he's not up there now.
Hubert said he hadn't
seen him come down.
Did say he'd seen Alistair go up
there and come down since then.
- Where's Alistair now?
- Well, I think I can tell you that.
It's rather sad news, really.
Alistair's had enough of us. He's gone.
Well, I did try to persuade him...
- Look, when did he go?
- About five minutes ago. Why?
- What's happened?
- John's disappeared.
And Alistair was the last one seen near.
I don't believe it.
I've just been talking to him.
He was just explaining
how good everything was.
Yes, without people.
He told us all that, didn't he?
See my baby, I must see my baby.
Did you follow him at all?
- No.
- Why not?
- Because I was angry.
- Angry with John?
I didn't touch him.
When were you angry?
Before he ran away or after?
When he looked at me.
- How did he look at you?
- He was frightened.
- Why was he frightened?
- I don't know.
- But you remembered...
- Yes.
- You remembered...
- The child I killed, yes.
Did you feel there was
something in you to be frightened of?
I couldn't understand why he was
frightened unless someone had told him.
- And that made you angry?
- Yes.
We've been all over. Nothing. I've got
three men on horses on the road.
Alistair, a child is missing.
You were the last person to see him.
You were seen going up to the fences.
Lizzie came down from it.
Do you understand why
we have to ask you these questions?
Oh, yes, I understand.
Well, we can't drag the canal
or the lake, we haven't got a boat.
We can stretch a rope across,
with men on either side.
Weight it so it sinks.
Do you also understand
why we brought you back?
- And why we've got to keep you here?
- Yes, for my own protection.
It used to always be like that.
Anything yet?
- Is Charles back?
- No.
What are we going to do?
We haven't any proof.
We haven't got a prison.
We can't just lock him up
with someone standing over him.
We may as well let him go.
I mean, what can we do?
I don't know. I've just been back
past our house. Hubert's sounding forth.
It's all too simple
to someone like Hubert.
- You shoot wild dogs.
- We're not shooting anyone, Greg.
No. No, I've already decided
to let him go.
- When?
- At first light.
- Where is he?
- He's through there.
- Is he alone?
- He's asleep.
What if they find something tomorrow?
I mean, what about Charles?
Shouldn't you ask?
What if you're wrong, Greg?
What if they do find something tomorrow?
Well, then I'm wrong
and Charles is right.
And I'm not going through
a murder trial again.
Again?
Ah, it was a long time ago.
We got an engineer, an architect,
a carpenter, shepherd and a doctor.
But we haven't got any policemen.
Until we do have, I think we should
all just stick to our own jobs.
All right, all right, I'm coming.
All right.
- What do you want?
- Who was right, then?
You been drinking?
Where did you get that from?
Same place Ruth got hers.
You didn't know about that, did you?
While I'm up there...
If that's what I think it is,
you'll kill yourself.
It's methyl alcohol, you idiot. It's
an antiseptic. You'll poison yourself.
It tastes all right. It's nice in here.
- Nice and warm and dry.
- What do you want?
- We both saw it, what he did.
- What are you talking about?
You and me saw that Alistair hit John.
- We damn well did not.
- I say we did.
What are you trying to tell me, Hubert?
The man's a murderer.
He shouldn't be allowed to be here.
- What do you want, Hubert?
- If I say I saw him hit John,
more likely to believe that
than if you say he didn't.
- Oh, for God's sake...
- No, what I'm trying to say is,
if you say nothing about
what you saw him do to John,
you can let me have his room.
Favour is a favour.
Oh, get out.
Oh, all right, I'm going,
but I'll get a big stick,
and I'll do what Greg
said he'd do to me.
And I'll find him,
and if don't find him...
Hubert's roaming around drunk.
He says he's going to...
That's all right,
he's not going anywhere.
- Shouldn't we tell Charles?
- No, he's asleep.
Don't you worry, Arthur,
I'll take care of it.
It's all right, it was only Arthur.
Go on back to bed.
- Are you sure?
- Yeah, I'm sure.
Shouldn't you have someone outside
if you fall asleep?
I won't fall asleep.
Go on, back to bed, Charles.
All right.
Go on, drink it up.
It's going to be a cold day.
I'll take you as far as the reservoir.
Where have you been?
- I went on the road.
- Well, why didn't you come back?
- It's the rule.
- What rule?
If you go out and come back,
you have to stay here.
It's quarantine.
He's all right now.
He stopped shivering
hugging the hot water bottle.
Well, Hubert's a mess.
He actually tried to get me to admit
that I saw Alistair hit John.
Yeah, and what's worse is
him actually frightening the boy.
Well, I warned him.
- Well, what do we do with him?
- What can you do?
If you throw him out,
he'd die through self-neglect.
You couldn't persuade Alistair to stay?
No.
Where is Hubert?
Hubert.
- Hubert's knockout drops.
- Oh, no.
- Is it your stuff?
- No, no. It's not methyl alcohol.
But it's the rest of the brandy
I'd saved.
For the same purpose, medicinal.
That man is a thief, Charles,
he has to go.
Hear, hear.
- How's John?
- He's fine.
He's just got a little chill,
that's all. He'll be all right.
What was that herbal drink
that Alistair suggested for colds?
- Do you remember, Ruth?
- Yes. Holly leaves.
- But we don't know how to make it.
- Oh, I don't know. Complete herbal.
The other one's not so useful,
poetry by Wordsworth. Selected works.
Let's have a look.
Poor man, first we hound him out
and put him through all of that,
and then he leaves his books behind.
Well, he's marked this one.
I think he meant us to have it.
Listen. "'Tis nature's law that none,
the meanest of created things,
"of forms created the most vile
and brute, the dullest or most noxious,
"should exist divorced from good,
"a spirit and pulse of good,
"a life and soul to every mode of being,
inseparably linked. "
"The meanest of created things. "
Obviously, he means Hubert.
I'm going to miss Alistair.
Well, he left us something useful.
Why should we be stuck with Hubert
and that man out there?
Come on, we've all got work to do.
How do you know it was Hubert
that told John
when he marked that book last night?
Who did he mean, then?
Well, I think he meant everyone,
including himself.
And by the way, Greg, took a chance
last night, didn't you?
Letting him go without consulting me?
Would it have made any difference?
"'Tis nature's law that none,
the meanest of created things,
"of forms created the most vile
and brute, the dullest or most noxious,
"should exist divorced from good,
"a spirit and pulse of good,
"a life and soul to every mode of being
inseparably linked. "