1 SUMMER. POSY DRAWING 1

2 EXT. DAY. STONEFIELD - THE GROUNDS. 2

Andy Cobb, early thirties, is digging an English garden inthe hot sun. He is lean, naked to the waist. It’s hard to

tell which century he inhabits. Only when he stops to drinkfrom a plastic bottle do we realise he is of our time.

TESS (V.O.)

And love slipped the bonds ofrestraint...

At a table under a willow tree sits Tess - early fifties,

funky specs - at a laptop. She pauses in her typing, staringat Andy.

TESS (V.O.)(CONT'D)

His touch was like a cosmic ‘yes’.

Underneath a converted barn, cross-legged on a bench in abikini top, sits Eustacia. She is hunched over a note pad,

writing at tremendous speed, oblivious to all but her work.

EUSTACIA (V.O.)

‘Fuck you,’ screamed Kelly, ‘Fuckyou to hell!’ Scott stepped back

from the cell door as the gob ofspit flew.’

1A INT. DAY. GLEN’S ROOM. 1A

Sitting at a barn window is American academic Glen McCreavy ;

a physically awkward man, more at home with his intellectthan his body. He is surrounded by foolscap, post-it notes,

books and markers - dominated by a poster of a dour Victorian- Thomas Hardy. He is writing. *

GLEN (V.O.)

This complex contemporary matrix iswhat Hardy meant by ‘the ache of

modernism.’

*

*

*

*

He regards it. *

Crap.

GLEN:

He deletes it. He looks at his blank screen, breathingdeeply. The only words left say ‘Chapter Six’.

NICHOLAS (V.O.)

Inchcombe had seen it all before.

He’d seasoned it: the metallic

smell of blood and gunshot;

forensics hunched like vultures.

The dreadful mundanity of murder,

he thought.

GOLDENROD REVISIONS 20.10.09 2.

3 INT. DAY. STONEFIELD - NICHOLAS’ SHED. 3

Nicholas Hardiment writes fluidly with pencil and paper. A

good-looking man of fifty. Dark hair, strong figure.

NICHOLAS (V.O.)

He approached Patel, who was

stricken. She was one for whom a

corpse was still an obscenity.

Inchcombe realised a disturbing

truth. His lack of feeling was

almost...

(He stops writing. Sighs)

NICHOLAS (CONT'D)

Pathological...

4 EXT. DAY. EWEDOWN - THE PLAYGROUND. 4

A playground on the edge of an idyllic English village. Jody

Long - fourteen, skinny, restless - is lying at the bottom of

the slide gazing at the clouds. Casey Shaw, her shy, placid

best friend, is sitting on a toddler toy, reading aloud from

a magazine.

CASEY:

‘I’ve been wearing the wrong size

all my life,’ said Katie. ‘I was

always popping out. Turns out I’m a

30GG,’ she says. ‘Now my bras

finally fit - though Simon prefers

me without one.’

Jody checks to see if her breasts have grown. She sighs.

4A INT. DAY. KITCHEN. 4A

A woman in an upmarket apron is taking a tray of scones and

biscuits out of the aga. It’s Beth Hardiment. Once pretty,

she’s now mumsy and countrified.

She examines her baking, satisfied with its perfection.

Mary, the help, is doing the washing-up.

BETH:

Do you think I should be reminding

them to drink enough? It’s very hot

out there...

MARY:

Beth - they’re writers, not babies.

You run round after ‘em too much.

GOLDENROD REVISIONS 20.10.09 3.

5 EXT. DAY. STONEFIELD - THE GROUNDS. 5

Glen walks outside, breathing in the fresh air. Beth

approaches with her tray of scones and biscuits.

BETH:

Can I tempt you, Glen?

GLEN:

Wow, thanks.

Glen picks up a scone.

BETH:

I often take something snacky down

to Nicholas at this time of day. I

know how the brain needs feeding.

How are you settling in?

GLEN:

Great. The last writer’s retreat I

stayed at kind of froze my balls off,

you know?

BETH:

Oh.

GLEN:

Screeching firedoors, curried

lasagne and a needy poet - from whom

I still bear the scars.

Rate this script:(0.00 / 0 votes)