The Passing Bells (2014–…): Season 1, Episode 2 - Episode #1.2 - full transcript
Tommy and his friends are ordered forward wearing cumbersome gas masks which they tear off as they restrict their vision. However there is a gas attack and, having being rescued by a married soldier who takes a bullet, Tommy recuperates in a field hospital where he falls for Joanna, a Polish nurse. After hand to hand fighting against the Russians on the Eastern front Michael returns for a three day leave with his parents, who are suffering the privations of the war. He marries his sweetheart Katie but is soon back in France and for him, as with Tommy, the respite is over.
Whatever you have to do,
~ you come back to me, do you hear?
~ I'll be all right, Mum.
~ Stop worrying. ~ You don't have to be
a hero, you know.
We're going! We're actually
bloody well going!
Germans won't know what hit 'em!
~ Gas released!
~ Gas released!
~ Gas released!
~ Masks on!
~ Masks on!
~ Masks on!
It's going to hit their trenches
in three minutes.
.. hit their trenches
in three minutes!
Tuck those bloody masks in!
Come on, boys! Next wave!
~ Next wave! ~ Next wave!
Move, move, move!
Keep moving forward!
Can't see a thing!
Fogging up! I can't see!
Can't breathe.
Take them off, there's no gas here.
Shit.
It's coming back at us!
Put your masks back on!
~ Take cover!
~ Better put your mask back on.
TOMMY STRUGGLES FOR BREATH
Stick together!
Take cover! Take cover!
Get down! Get down!
~ Tommy! ~ Tommy!
Stay with us, Tommy!
Take cover!
THEY COUGH AND SPLUTTER
Not much use, are they? Cough it up!
And no water for a bit -
makes it worse.
We can't stay here, we've got to
keep moving. Upwind of the gas.
~ No, I'm all right here!
~ It's not safe!
~ I'm not leaving! ~ What's your name?
What's your name?
~ Tommy. ~ Have you got a dad, Tommy?
~ Yes. ~ Well, he'll never forgive me
if I let you.
EXPLOSIONS
GUNFIRE
We'll be all right here.
Gas cloud's moving.
No! No!
No! No...
Bastard.
Pocket...
AN EXPLOSION HITS
I've got three pairs of socks on
and I still can't feel my feet.
Welcome to the Eastern Front, boys.
I heard the shells here
are ten times worse.
There's no mud to absorb the impact,
the ground's so hard.
I heard your hands get
so cold you can't fire your rifle.
I heard they have trench
parties every night,
more beer than you can drink
and three women for every man.
~ I like his version. ~ And me.
Let's get inside, light a fire.
~ Oh, I can smell bacon.
~ This morning it was sausages!
Think it's a Russian
secret weapon?
Send over smells to distract us?
Don't see how, if you're the only
one who can smell it.
~ So why they picking on me? ~ No idea.
THEY CHUCKLE
~ GUNFIRE
~ Freddie! ~ Ambush! Russians!
My rifle!
Mikey!
Let's get out of here!
Mikey, come on!
There's a ceasefire so both sides
can tend to the wounded.
Move up!
Ceasefire! Tend to the wounded!>
Ceasefire! Tend to the wounded!
Move!>
Ceasefire! Tend to the wounded!>
COUGHING
HE GROANS
SOLDIER QUIETLY WEEPS
I don't think I've ever been
that scared.
I thought we'd had it.
I would have done
if it hadn't been for you.
He would have killed you, too.
HE SIGHS DEEPLY
SHELLING AND GUNFIRE
The new kids that
got here yesterday
said that last Christmas, on the
Western Front, some of the British
and German troops came out of their
trenches and played football.
Well, do you believe it?
It's not much of a war
if we don't hate each other.
I don't think I did
when we got here.
When it started,
I just thought of them as
hats on sticks.
Like a game at the fairground.
When you see people
actually die...
.. people who, the day before,
were telling you about their home,
and their family,
about a book they liked...
.. or the food they were going to eat
when they got home.
Then they're dead.
It's hard not to
hate the people that did that.
Have you been writing home?
When I can.
After a year, it's hard to say
anything new.
Well, it is if you leave out
the mud, rats,
shells and dead people.
You need a system.
When you write to your parents,
you tell them that you're bored.
That there's nothing to do,
but you're safe,
and there's lots of food
and clean blankets.
So they don't worry.
Then to your girlfriend,
if you ever get one...
.. you tell her you're fighting the
French and British single-handed.
You don't mind lying
to your parents?
Do you think I should tell them that
I'm freezing to death
on the Eastern Front?
That I can't feel my hands or feet?
No.
I tell them I'm proud to be fighting
for my country.
~ We're getting leave. ~ When? ~ Soon.
We're getting moved back to
the Western Front and they're giving
us four days leave before we go.
SOLDIERS CHATTER EXCITEDLY
HORSE WHINNIES
Do you know where you are?
You've been hurt. Do you remember?
Thomas, try and stay with me.
~ Welcome back. ~ Where am I?
We got the shrapnel out in one piece
and they say your lungs look clear.
Was anyone else hurt? My friends...
I'll ask.
Stop.
Your mum said I could come
and meet you
if I promised to bring you
straight home.
People are struggling.
Things aren't so easy to come by.
But no-one complains.
They say the food's all going
to the soldiers fighting.
If it is, I haven't seen it!
Sometimes the bread's so hard,
if we threw that at the Brits
instead of bullets,
we might cause more damage.
Mikey!
Oh! Thank God!
Welcome home, Michael.
~ HORRIFIED SCREAMS
~ Come on, let's get you back.
~ Sshhh. ~ You're all right.
Nearly there. OK, there we go.
You'll be all right.
Don't worry.
Will he be all right?
We can only fix bodies.
Don't go.
I don't know anyone else.
Two minutes.
I always thought my first
time in hospital would be...
falling out of a tree or something.
Not being gassed or blown up.
You were very lucky.
Yes, I am.
Do you know how long I'll be here?
That's up to the Medical Officer.
I've finished with you.
I thought...
I just do X-rays.
My hospital is
very small and parked outside.
The truck...
The soldiers call them
"Little Curies".
After my boss, Marie Curie.
~ Where are you from? ~ Krakow.
That's in Austria...
I thought we were fighting you.
I'm Polish. We're fighting everyone.
Our country was stolen from us
a long time ago,
and then shared between
the Austrians,
the Germans and the Russians.
And now there is a war,
we're on different sides.
They make us
fight against each other.
Pole against Pole.
That's terrible.
My father and brother are fighting
with the French.
They say this is the war
we've been waiting for.
The one that will give us
back our homeland.
It's funny to think of someone
actually wanting all this to happen.
I must go.
You should get some sleep.
I'd rather keep talking to you.
Will I see you tomorrow?
Wasn't that long ago
I had to remind you to
fetch your plate from the table.
Now look at you,
washing them yourself.
Let's get some air.
He seems so much older.
He's home.
That's all that matters.
~ And we haven't got enough food
to feed him. ~ We'll manage.
You've been so quiet since you got
back. Is everything all right?
Between us?
Of course.
It's just strange being back here
again, that's all.
You can... You can talk to me,
you know.
I know you don't want me to worry.
There's really not much to tell.
Liar.
That worries me even more.
How bad must it be
to make you lie to me?
I don't know how to explain it.
The words...
How could you understand? There's
nothing I could I compare it to.
Tell me how you live,
where you sleep.
We live in trenches.
Underground, most of the time.
Like rabbits.
And it's cold and dark and...
.. noisy and wet,
and you just spend every second
wishing you were somewhere else.
But there's a now-ness
to everything.
It's like you're seeing it
for the first time.
Like a blade of grass in the mud,
or...
.. colours.
The sky is amazing.
You can smell the air.
Everything's just more intense.
It's like your brain's
taking it all in...
.. knowing it might be the last cloud
or blade of grass you'll ever see.
You mustn't say that.
It's hard not think that way,
though.
You see life...
disappear in front of you.
And, as it goes...
.. you realise
just how precious it was.
That's why I want us
to get married.
~ What? ~ Look, I, I don't have
the ring that I promised you,
but will you just marry me anyway?
Now?
There's no rush,
we've got three days.
HORSE WHINNIES
Where are we going?
Where are we going?
BIRD CHIRPS
~ We're with you, Son. ~ Bye.
Bye-bye.
Farewell!
You know, I could tell them
I wasn't happy with your X-ray,
and they'd keep you here longer,
maybe even send you home.
I can't do that.
Not with my mates still there.
MEN WHOOP AND WHISTLE
~ You mean she wasn't pregnant? ~ No!
Then why marry her?
~ Why limit yourself to one woman?
~ He might have a point.
One woman's enough for me.
So, do we know where we're going?
They just said west.
~ Here he is!
~ We thought they'd sent you home!
I told you, he's got nine lives,
this one.
You lost! He's back. Pay up!
~ So, how's it been? ~ Well,
the neighbours are a bit noisy,
but we're all still here.
So come on, tell us -
any pretty nurses?
There might have been.
~ Didn't bring one back, I suppose?
~ Couldn't fit her in the bag.
Stand to!
Come on, boys, get a move on!
Hurry up!
Step up! Step up!
Go, go, go, go, go!
I don't know where we're going,
but they don't normally move this
many people without good reason.
Have you seen how many big guns
are moving forward?
Yeah, well, the more the merrier,
as long as they're on our side.
Whatever happens here,
it'll be the end of it.
This is it. It's over.
Everyone will remember
that this is where we won the war.
Here, at the Somme.
~ you come back to me, do you hear?
~ I'll be all right, Mum.
~ Stop worrying. ~ You don't have to be
a hero, you know.
We're going! We're actually
bloody well going!
Germans won't know what hit 'em!
~ Gas released!
~ Gas released!
~ Gas released!
~ Masks on!
~ Masks on!
~ Masks on!
It's going to hit their trenches
in three minutes.
.. hit their trenches
in three minutes!
Tuck those bloody masks in!
Come on, boys! Next wave!
~ Next wave! ~ Next wave!
Move, move, move!
Keep moving forward!
Can't see a thing!
Fogging up! I can't see!
Can't breathe.
Take them off, there's no gas here.
Shit.
It's coming back at us!
Put your masks back on!
~ Take cover!
~ Better put your mask back on.
TOMMY STRUGGLES FOR BREATH
Stick together!
Take cover! Take cover!
Get down! Get down!
~ Tommy! ~ Tommy!
Stay with us, Tommy!
Take cover!
THEY COUGH AND SPLUTTER
Not much use, are they? Cough it up!
And no water for a bit -
makes it worse.
We can't stay here, we've got to
keep moving. Upwind of the gas.
~ No, I'm all right here!
~ It's not safe!
~ I'm not leaving! ~ What's your name?
What's your name?
~ Tommy. ~ Have you got a dad, Tommy?
~ Yes. ~ Well, he'll never forgive me
if I let you.
EXPLOSIONS
GUNFIRE
We'll be all right here.
Gas cloud's moving.
No! No!
No! No...
Bastard.
Pocket...
AN EXPLOSION HITS
I've got three pairs of socks on
and I still can't feel my feet.
Welcome to the Eastern Front, boys.
I heard the shells here
are ten times worse.
There's no mud to absorb the impact,
the ground's so hard.
I heard your hands get
so cold you can't fire your rifle.
I heard they have trench
parties every night,
more beer than you can drink
and three women for every man.
~ I like his version. ~ And me.
Let's get inside, light a fire.
~ Oh, I can smell bacon.
~ This morning it was sausages!
Think it's a Russian
secret weapon?
Send over smells to distract us?
Don't see how, if you're the only
one who can smell it.
~ So why they picking on me? ~ No idea.
THEY CHUCKLE
~ GUNFIRE
~ Freddie! ~ Ambush! Russians!
My rifle!
Mikey!
Let's get out of here!
Mikey, come on!
There's a ceasefire so both sides
can tend to the wounded.
Move up!
Ceasefire! Tend to the wounded!>
Ceasefire! Tend to the wounded!
Move!>
Ceasefire! Tend to the wounded!>
COUGHING
HE GROANS
SOLDIER QUIETLY WEEPS
I don't think I've ever been
that scared.
I thought we'd had it.
I would have done
if it hadn't been for you.
He would have killed you, too.
HE SIGHS DEEPLY
SHELLING AND GUNFIRE
The new kids that
got here yesterday
said that last Christmas, on the
Western Front, some of the British
and German troops came out of their
trenches and played football.
Well, do you believe it?
It's not much of a war
if we don't hate each other.
I don't think I did
when we got here.
When it started,
I just thought of them as
hats on sticks.
Like a game at the fairground.
When you see people
actually die...
.. people who, the day before,
were telling you about their home,
and their family,
about a book they liked...
.. or the food they were going to eat
when they got home.
Then they're dead.
It's hard not to
hate the people that did that.
Have you been writing home?
When I can.
After a year, it's hard to say
anything new.
Well, it is if you leave out
the mud, rats,
shells and dead people.
You need a system.
When you write to your parents,
you tell them that you're bored.
That there's nothing to do,
but you're safe,
and there's lots of food
and clean blankets.
So they don't worry.
Then to your girlfriend,
if you ever get one...
.. you tell her you're fighting the
French and British single-handed.
You don't mind lying
to your parents?
Do you think I should tell them that
I'm freezing to death
on the Eastern Front?
That I can't feel my hands or feet?
No.
I tell them I'm proud to be fighting
for my country.
~ We're getting leave. ~ When? ~ Soon.
We're getting moved back to
the Western Front and they're giving
us four days leave before we go.
SOLDIERS CHATTER EXCITEDLY
HORSE WHINNIES
Do you know where you are?
You've been hurt. Do you remember?
Thomas, try and stay with me.
~ Welcome back. ~ Where am I?
We got the shrapnel out in one piece
and they say your lungs look clear.
Was anyone else hurt? My friends...
I'll ask.
Stop.
Your mum said I could come
and meet you
if I promised to bring you
straight home.
People are struggling.
Things aren't so easy to come by.
But no-one complains.
They say the food's all going
to the soldiers fighting.
If it is, I haven't seen it!
Sometimes the bread's so hard,
if we threw that at the Brits
instead of bullets,
we might cause more damage.
Mikey!
Oh! Thank God!
Welcome home, Michael.
~ HORRIFIED SCREAMS
~ Come on, let's get you back.
~ Sshhh. ~ You're all right.
Nearly there. OK, there we go.
You'll be all right.
Don't worry.
Will he be all right?
We can only fix bodies.
Don't go.
I don't know anyone else.
Two minutes.
I always thought my first
time in hospital would be...
falling out of a tree or something.
Not being gassed or blown up.
You were very lucky.
Yes, I am.
Do you know how long I'll be here?
That's up to the Medical Officer.
I've finished with you.
I thought...
I just do X-rays.
My hospital is
very small and parked outside.
The truck...
The soldiers call them
"Little Curies".
After my boss, Marie Curie.
~ Where are you from? ~ Krakow.
That's in Austria...
I thought we were fighting you.
I'm Polish. We're fighting everyone.
Our country was stolen from us
a long time ago,
and then shared between
the Austrians,
the Germans and the Russians.
And now there is a war,
we're on different sides.
They make us
fight against each other.
Pole against Pole.
That's terrible.
My father and brother are fighting
with the French.
They say this is the war
we've been waiting for.
The one that will give us
back our homeland.
It's funny to think of someone
actually wanting all this to happen.
I must go.
You should get some sleep.
I'd rather keep talking to you.
Will I see you tomorrow?
Wasn't that long ago
I had to remind you to
fetch your plate from the table.
Now look at you,
washing them yourself.
Let's get some air.
He seems so much older.
He's home.
That's all that matters.
~ And we haven't got enough food
to feed him. ~ We'll manage.
You've been so quiet since you got
back. Is everything all right?
Between us?
Of course.
It's just strange being back here
again, that's all.
You can... You can talk to me,
you know.
I know you don't want me to worry.
There's really not much to tell.
Liar.
That worries me even more.
How bad must it be
to make you lie to me?
I don't know how to explain it.
The words...
How could you understand? There's
nothing I could I compare it to.
Tell me how you live,
where you sleep.
We live in trenches.
Underground, most of the time.
Like rabbits.
And it's cold and dark and...
.. noisy and wet,
and you just spend every second
wishing you were somewhere else.
But there's a now-ness
to everything.
It's like you're seeing it
for the first time.
Like a blade of grass in the mud,
or...
.. colours.
The sky is amazing.
You can smell the air.
Everything's just more intense.
It's like your brain's
taking it all in...
.. knowing it might be the last cloud
or blade of grass you'll ever see.
You mustn't say that.
It's hard not think that way,
though.
You see life...
disappear in front of you.
And, as it goes...
.. you realise
just how precious it was.
That's why I want us
to get married.
~ What? ~ Look, I, I don't have
the ring that I promised you,
but will you just marry me anyway?
Now?
There's no rush,
we've got three days.
HORSE WHINNIES
Where are we going?
Where are we going?
BIRD CHIRPS
~ We're with you, Son. ~ Bye.
Bye-bye.
Farewell!
You know, I could tell them
I wasn't happy with your X-ray,
and they'd keep you here longer,
maybe even send you home.
I can't do that.
Not with my mates still there.
MEN WHOOP AND WHISTLE
~ You mean she wasn't pregnant? ~ No!
Then why marry her?
~ Why limit yourself to one woman?
~ He might have a point.
One woman's enough for me.
So, do we know where we're going?
They just said west.
~ Here he is!
~ We thought they'd sent you home!
I told you, he's got nine lives,
this one.
You lost! He's back. Pay up!
~ So, how's it been? ~ Well,
the neighbours are a bit noisy,
but we're all still here.
So come on, tell us -
any pretty nurses?
There might have been.
~ Didn't bring one back, I suppose?
~ Couldn't fit her in the bag.
Stand to!
Come on, boys, get a move on!
Hurry up!
Step up! Step up!
Go, go, go, go, go!
I don't know where we're going,
but they don't normally move this
many people without good reason.
Have you seen how many big guns
are moving forward?
Yeah, well, the more the merrier,
as long as they're on our side.
Whatever happens here,
it'll be the end of it.
This is it. It's over.
Everyone will remember
that this is where we won the war.
Here, at the Somme.