In A Family at War Season 1, Episode 12 – If It's Got Your Number on It, the harsh realities of war weigh heavily on the Ashton family. As danger looms over soldiers and civilians alike, the idea of fate—whether survival or loss is a matter of chance—haunts every decision. Emotional strain deepens at home and on the frontlines in this powerful portrayal of life during World War II.
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00:00The
00:30I don't understand how it happened.
00:37Should have all been done already.
00:39She never came in.
00:40What?
00:40Mrs. Hargreaves, she never came in.
00:43I should have been told right away.
00:44She's got an abscess.
00:46What?
00:47Mrs. Hargreaves, an abscess.
00:55You're not going.
00:57I am, you know.
00:58Are you coming for you?
01:00But the men have got to be paid.
01:02Well, that's your worry.
01:03Not missing that last bus, my mother would have kittens.
01:09And you.
01:12Just till I get things straightened out a bit.
01:15And then how will you go?
01:17She's got further than me to go.
01:19Look, could you ring my mother and tell her I'll be late?
01:23I think you want your head red.
01:25Still, give us a tumble, then.
01:27Yes.
01:28Oh, thanks ever so much.
01:31Ciao, Frida.
01:32Bye.
01:34Let's come on.
01:42What the hell's going up in here?
01:43Don't you know there's a war on?
01:44I think she's daft to leave the hotel to work these hours.
01:53She's worse off than she was before.
01:56That's what I told her.
01:58If you must change a job, at least change it for something better.
02:00Oh, bother.
02:04Who would that be?
02:06Oh, well, I suppose I'd better go upstairs.
02:09You stay here.
02:10It's cold up there.
02:11Here.
02:12Here.
02:12Put this round you.
02:13Don't think it when she can't do that.
02:16Here, love.
02:16Can you manage?
02:17Yeah.
02:17Well, that's what the women used to do in our street when I was a lad.
02:21And what's that supposed to prove, eh?
02:23Oh, it's me again, Mr. Ashton.
02:36Sorry to call so late, but your wife knows what I've come for.
02:39Our little salvage effort.
02:40Oh, yes, of course.
02:41I promised you.
02:43Here we are.
02:44Oh, just the one?
02:46I've only got one left.
02:47I gave you two a couple of months ago.
02:50Fair enough.
02:50That splendid.
02:51Mrs. Gordon.
02:52So it's really a matter of life and death for Lord Beaverbrook to get hold of those aluminium pans?
02:57There's one place you haven't thought of looking for them.
02:59Oh, not round here, I think you'll find, Mr. Ashton.
03:02We've been pretty thorough.
03:03Try the iron munkers.
03:04He's got shelves full of them.
03:06Edwin.
03:06Brand new.
03:07Oh, that's different, Mr. Ashton.
03:09That's his livelihood.
03:11Excuse me.
03:13I don't think he did have any clothing.
03:15Not now.
03:16I'll call later.
03:19Yes.
03:19Oh, some of those are vacuines.
03:21It's really horrifying.
03:23They sleep in their vests.
03:24They just don't know any better.
03:26Who is it?
03:27Oh, dearie.
03:27I'm sorry.
03:28I can't hear you.
03:29Some of those young girls have never been taught to use proper sanitary protection.
03:34Philip!
03:34Where are you?
03:35What?
03:36You mean tonight?
03:37For how long?
03:38Wait, listen.
03:39Do you want to work?
03:41Lots of others waiting, he said.
03:42He's coming home.
03:44Now?
03:45Well, he should have been here by six, but the line's blocked.
03:47Yes, that'd be last night.
03:48I heard they'd hit the railway.
03:49Oh, tonight.
03:50What am I going to give him?
03:52I've only got that bit of corned beef left.
03:54Tonight!
03:54Oh, Edwin, why couldn't you have let us know sooner?
03:57Embarkation leave, perhaps.
03:59They don't give them much notice.
04:02Careless talk costs lives, eh?
04:04It doesn't have to be that.
04:05No, but it's a worrying time, though.
04:09You must be very proud of your two boys.
04:11I gave my husband, you know, in the last war.
04:17Well, I expect you'll be wanting to get things ready for him.
04:21I'll let myself out.
04:23Good night.
04:24Good night, Mrs. Gordon.
04:26That's it.
04:29Good night.
04:32Why were you so rude to her?
04:34I gave my husband, she says, to my country.
04:42I gave her I'm sacrificing Isaac to the Lord God.
04:46Anne wants a medal pinned on her for doing it.
04:48She puts in hours of work at it.
04:50Well, she's enjoying this war.
04:51It's a marvellous excuse for pushing people around.
04:54Never gets a penny doing it.
04:56Well, the next time she comes here, I'm telling you,
04:57never mind about evacuees, Mrs. Gordon.
05:00I sleep in me vets.
05:01Oh, don't you dare.
05:04You don't seem to see so much of Frida these days.
05:18Since she doesn't start work till two
05:20and I don't finish till five,
05:22there's not much chance, is there?
05:23Well, she didn't have to take that job in the factory, did she?
05:25She must have known those shifts would be awkward for you.
05:29She's a little bit thoughtless sometimes, isn't she?
05:32She had that good job in that nice little hotel.
05:37Nice place.
05:39Nice class of people.
05:40Depends what you mean by nice.
05:42If you mean well-off,
05:44people who eat out five days a week
05:46so they can save all their rations for the weekend.
05:50Only Frida didn't want to sit out the rest of the war
05:52buttering up that particular nice class of people.
05:55Anyway, it'll do you no harm to see a bit less of her.
05:59Well, I mean, she's a nice enough girl,
06:01but you're too young to go tying yourself down to one person.
06:05I always said the same to Danny.
06:07I expect he's glad he listened to me now.
06:09Why?
06:10Why?
06:11Well, when you see some of the girls around here
06:13with husbands and sweethearts in the forces,
06:15it's a good thing for Danny
06:16who doesn't have that to worry about.
06:17I don't know what gets into them.
06:20What is that you're reading?
06:22Gas.
06:23How to recognise different gases.
06:25Oh, I don't think they'll use gas, do you?
06:29Maybe not.
06:30But it's part of the course all the same.
06:32You know,
06:33I'm all for you doing this ARP.
06:36You need an outside interest.
06:39Especially with Frida out working till all hours.
06:43Margaret!
06:45Margaret!
06:46Are you awake, love?
06:47Margaret!
06:49Oh, just a minute!
06:57Hello, Mum.
06:58Philip!
07:02Everybody okay?
07:03I think so.
07:04When do you go back?
07:05Honest, Mum,
07:05the first thing anybody asks whenever I get home
07:07is when do I go back?
07:08You know what I mean, love.
07:10I've got seven whole days.
07:11You're all right, aren't you?
07:13What?
07:13Yes, I'm fine.
07:15Well, hello there!
07:16Hello.
07:19Here, when do you go back?
07:21Well, I'll be...
07:22Shh!
07:23Well, surely it's a good news if he can sleep through moaning, didn't he?
07:25No, it's not the same thing at all.
07:27It's noises in the same room.
07:31Oh, wake him.
07:34Well, you're looking very fit.
07:36Welcome home.
07:38It's my embarkation leave.
07:40Oh, you don't know when?
07:42No.
07:44Well, we shall just have to make the most of you, won't we?
07:47Let me take the nipper.
07:48Oh, well, it's sleep, you see.
07:50It's not enough of it.
07:52She, er...
07:53She used to lift him up every time the sounds went,
07:55and he'd, er...
07:56He'd wake every time.
07:58He's much better this way.
08:00Here.
08:00Let me take him.
08:02Oh, thanks.
08:03Oh.
08:06Hey, er...
08:07Where's Dad?
08:09He's doing his helping outfit at the ARP with Peter Collins.
08:12Frida's, er...
08:13She's not back from work yet.
08:14Er, hey.
08:15Hey, let's just get him out there first and chat after.
08:18Come on.
08:19Come on.
08:19Come on, love.
08:29Don't stand round like a stale bottle of ours, your father.
08:38Ah.
08:39Oh, dear.
08:41Yeah, I'll have it.
08:43Yeah, you've got a whole lot of me.
08:47Ah.
08:48Uh-oh.
08:53Come on.
08:54You sit down there.
08:58Excuse me.
08:59Hey, hey, hey.
09:01Sorry to disturb you, mate, but, er...
09:03You've been...
09:05Finished?
09:14Good.
09:15I was just saying, you've been talking in your sleep.
09:17But there's a young lady here now, see, and you're giving her the creeps.
09:20Now, I think if you'd just sit up back here in the corner, I can't...
09:24Oops-a-dise.
09:25There.
09:26There you go.
09:27There.
09:28There you go.
09:29There.
09:30There.
09:31That's better.
09:32Cool.
09:33You don't have Pong, though.
09:34He's, er, do-lally, isn't he?
09:36How do you like a couple of strangers come barging into your bedroom?
09:40You all right, love?
09:41Not scared, are you?
09:42No, I'm all right.
09:43Good.
09:44Cigarette?
09:45No, thank you.
09:46I don't.
09:47No, thank you.
09:48I don't.
09:58Cigarette?
09:59Do you mind?
10:00No.
10:01Are you sure?
10:02Go ahead.
10:03Thanks.
10:04Three in a row.
10:05I say I've had three in a row now.
10:08Three what?
10:09Three nights.
10:10Three deliveries.
10:11Two boys and a girl.
10:14And all this business on top of it.
10:21Makes you sick.
10:23You, er, don't mind if I smoke, do you?
10:27She don't mind if you burst into flames.
10:29You'll have to forgive him.
10:30Thinks he's, er, a bit of a comic.
10:32I think his mother got frightened by George Formby.
10:35I think to myself sometimes, what's it all for?
10:38Me struggling to bring them into the world?
10:41And a lot of mad bloody men doing their best to send them out again.
10:45You got far to go?
10:47Oh, me.
10:48About half a mile.
10:50It doesn't sound as though anything's happening.
10:53I've got a good mind to make a dash for me.
10:55No, I wouldn't do that.
10:57Well, it's me mother.
10:58She always waits up.
11:00Doesn't surprise me she's worried.
11:01Pretty girl like you out walking the streets this time of night.
11:04Hey, what do you mean walking the streets?
11:06Okay, Gunga Din, let's have a bit of respect, shall we?
11:09She knows I didn't mean anything by it, don't you?
11:11I mean, she wouldn't be doing it without good reason.
11:14No.
11:15I had to work late.
11:17Mr. Watson did offer to run me home,
11:19but I'd have had to wait another hour before he'd finish the books.
11:22Who's that? Your boss?
11:23Hmm.
11:24I wouldn't let him get too personal.
11:26I dream all the time about aeroplanes. Do you?
11:30Sometimes.
11:32Oh, I wish they'd never been invented.
11:35Don't look at us, missus. We're only a couple of AC plonks.
11:38AC what?
11:39AC one. Aircraft men first class.
11:44Was it you singing out there?
11:46Oh, God, that's his national anthem.
11:48We've got three Aussies.
11:49Whenever they get together with a pint inside them.
11:52It's never waltzy Matilda.
11:54Dogs on tucker boxes.
11:56Five miles from Gundagai.
11:58You ought to think yourselves lucky.
12:01Oh, that was a short one.
12:05I bet Manchester's getting it tonight.
12:07About half a mile, you said.
12:09I'll see you home then.
12:11Hey, look.
12:13I want to get home.
12:15Who's stopping you?
12:17I told them I was bringing you.
12:19They're expecting two of us like the last time.
12:21I'll be all right. There's no need.
12:23Look, give your mother my love.
12:25Tell her I'm doing my good deed for the day.
12:27If she leaves the latch up, I won't make a sound.
12:30Now, look.
12:33I've got a young sister just like you back home.
12:36And I wouldn't like her out this time of night.
12:38Besides, there's always...
12:42Okay, boy-o. It's all yours now.
12:44I'll be all right. Honestly, anyway.
12:46Okay, love. Don't say it.
12:48How do you know I'm all right? That's it, isn't it?
12:50Well, I never said that.
12:52He's all right, as long as you watch him.
12:56Don't you worry, love. You do as your mother tells you.
12:59Told you not to talk to boys in uniform, did she?
13:02Let's go.
13:04Come on then, Oz.
13:18I'll be thinking about you all night now.
13:22Wondering whether you got back safe?
13:24Sure you won't change your mind?
13:26I said, are you coming?
13:27Shh, a minute. She's thinking.
13:35Well, if it isn't too far out of your way...
13:38It'll be a pleasure.
13:45No.
13:47No, me. Right.
13:49He reckons he won't come back tonight, not with all this cloud.
13:53I shall get off home without you.
13:55Yes.
13:56Coming, Peter.
13:58Edwin.
13:59Aye.
14:00If the wife's making Christmas cake this year, say I've still got a few packets of ice in sugar and candied peel for registered customers.
14:10Now, it's last or save them, so tell her.
14:12Right. I'll mention it.
14:13I think Philip will be there, yeah?
14:14Oh, sure to be by this time.
14:16And Frida too, I should hope.
14:18Frida?
14:19Yes.
14:20She had to work on some sort of emergency.
14:24Why don't you come in for a minute on the way back?
14:28Oh, I'd like to if it's not too late.
14:30Mum's gone to the shelter down the road, so she probably won't get in right away.
14:33Even the all clear doesn't seem to stop them talking.
14:36Well, Philip, off maths about you when he writes.
14:41Night, Ted.
14:42Night.
14:43Hope I don't see you again tonight.
14:52Surely they give you some indication, love.
14:54Nope.
14:55Could be Greek.
14:56Or Greece.
14:57Then you'd only be facing Italians.
14:59I shouldn't think it'll be Greece.
15:01Seems to be all over there.
15:02We'll bother shouting.
15:04Yes, he's here.
15:05Hello, Dad.
15:06Hello, son.
15:07Oh, we brought with you.
15:08Oh, Peter, come on in.
15:09Hello, Phil.
15:10How's it going?
15:11Fine, fine.
15:12Been back long?
15:13One hour or so.
15:14You look...
15:15What is different about him, Jean?
15:17You're a bit older.
15:19Yeah, and I'm feeling older, Dad.
15:20And you can blame Margaret for that.
15:22Say night-night to Uncle Philip.
15:24Uncle Philip.
15:25What about old grandfather here?
15:27Watch it.
15:28Is Frida back?
15:29No, not yet, love.
15:30Well, that'll be her.
15:33Oh, hello.
15:34Reception committee.
15:35I came creeping in, thought it'd all be in bed.
15:39What?
15:40What are you doing here?
15:41Why aren't you off winning the war?
15:43Or they're going to try and struggle on without me for a couple of days.
15:45Well, smashing.
15:46How'd you get back?
15:47Oh, you may well ask.
15:49I walked all the way.
15:51I don't know what they're making shoes out of these days, but you can't tell me it's leather.
15:54Looks to me as if you've been running.
15:56Running?
15:57No.
15:58Well, I was hurrying a bit naturally.
16:01I've got to get a book, I promised Doris.
16:04She's waiting outside.
16:05Don't leave her outside.
16:06Ask her to come in.
16:07No, she doesn't want to.
16:09She wants to get off.
16:10Here it is.
16:11It shan't be a sec.
16:12So Nobby strained and broke the yoke and poked out Baldi's eye.
16:21And the dog sat on the tucker box five miles from Gundagai.
16:26Here it is.
16:27Thanks.
16:28I'll see you again then.
16:32Yes.
16:33See you again.
16:35Good night, Freda.
16:37Oh, good night, Mrs. Collins.
16:57Stamp album?
16:59Ah.
17:00Mouth organ.
17:01Oh, thanks.
17:03You sure you don't want this?
17:06No.
17:07Oh, Philip.
17:08You're not throwing all those away, love.
17:11I thought you needed the space.
17:13For the baby stuff, you know.
17:14We seem to be overflowing a bit.
17:16That's your room.
17:17Yours and Robert's always will be.
17:20I only meant, you know, any old papers, magazines for salvage.
17:25There's plenty of those too.
17:26I put those in the shed.
17:28Now then.
17:29Ah.
17:30Martyrdom of man.
17:32Dad gave me that.
17:33Not in your line, is it?
17:35Not really.
17:36No, not the left book club staff either.
17:38Ah, now these penguins I thought you might like.
17:41Thanks.
17:45Great.
17:46When are you leaving, Phil?
17:48If anybody else asks me that, I'll strangle them.
17:52Sorry.
17:53Ken Odding got called up last week, did you know?
17:56Yes, I met his sister.
17:57And Billy Green's gone.
17:58Ah.
17:59Most of the old crowd.
18:01Freddie.
18:02Remember Freddie Wilson?
18:03Yeah.
18:04He's in the Navy.
18:05That's what your brother's in, isn't it?
18:06Yeah.
18:07Well, it was all right for him.
18:09How do you mean?
18:10To go off and be a hero.
18:12Dump it all on me.
18:14Oh, yes, you mean your mother.
18:16I don't see how she'd manage if I was gone as well.
18:19Yeah, but you're a draftsman.
18:20It's a reserved occupation.
18:22I meant of a volunteered.
18:23Why on earth should you want to do that?
18:25It's not that I want to.
18:27I like my job.
18:28I think I can go a long way if I stick at it.
18:30Does anybody say you ought to?
18:32Well, they don't say it exactly, at least not straight out.
18:35Well, there you are, then.
18:37But I know a lot of them resent it.
18:39And their families.
18:41I can see them thinking, look at him.
18:43My boy's apt to go, but he's all right.
18:45He's got it cushy.
18:47The only reason you haven't been called up is because you're more use where you are.
18:51Yeah, that's where I tried to tell Frida.
18:53I shouldn't have thought Frida would need telling.
18:55Does she?
18:56Well, I don't know.
18:57I hardly ever see her on this two till ten shift.
18:59She's on mornings next week.
19:01Is she?
19:02That's how she said at dinner.
19:03I can see her Monday, then.
19:05I wonder, could we get into the Odeon?
19:08Or Gary Cooper's on at the Rex.
19:10She might prefer that.
19:12Ask her.
19:13I'll never see her.
19:14Oh, Peter, you only live two doors away.
19:16You can see her any night when she's got home.
19:18I don't like to barge in at that time of night.
19:21No, she doesn't work this shift all the time.
19:24Now, why don't you go and meet the bossy?
19:26It's the quarter to ten bus, isn't it?
19:28Well, no.
19:29She's been getting in later this week, about half an hour later.
19:32Go on.
19:35Thanks, love.
19:37Mum and Dad have been out there since I was a nipper.
19:43He was a collier on the Rhonda.
19:45Now he works in a flour milling plant in Sydney.
19:47What's it like, Australia?
19:49Why don't you come and try it for yourself sometime?
19:52Well, that way in a boat.
19:54I'd be sick as a dog.
19:56I'd get the collier wobbles if I go to New Brighton.
20:00Are you gonna finish that?
20:02Oh, I don't seem to be very hungry.
20:04No, I'm pretty horrible anyway.
20:06Besides, I've got to go.
20:07Oh, no, please.
20:09It's getting late.
20:11Just ten minutes.
20:13Well...
20:15Ten minutes to wait, so mine's a mire.
20:36It's not lit, is it?
20:37Curses.
20:38Must be sabotage.
20:46I would mess that up.
20:47That was supposed to be dead suave.
20:49I got it out of a film.
20:51What I like about you, really.
20:53Go on.
20:54Don't stop there.
20:58Well, if you try something dead suave, as you call it, that doesn't come off, it never seems to matter.
21:04Some people get all tensed up over it and make everybody feel terrible.
21:08That's this Petey you've been talking about.
21:10Oh, not only him.
21:13Well, I think he's a bit of a pain.
21:14You've never even met him.
21:17No, fair enough.
21:18Let's say I hope he's a bit of a pain.
21:20Why?
21:21I don't know.
21:22What sort of a question is that?
21:24You know why.
21:28Don't finish it if you don't want it.
21:31You tickle the way you hold it.
21:35Why?
21:36Well, how do you expect me to hold it?
21:39Like this?
21:41We've got a tea girl in the factory who holds it like this?
21:43I'd have a fit if she saw me smoking.
21:51Frida.
21:54Frida.
21:57Yes?
21:59I don't quite know how to say this, but...
22:02I've never met anyone quite like you before.
22:05No, no, that's the truth now.
22:07Have you ever felt as if...
22:09I don't know, as if...
22:11from now on everything could be...
22:14different?
22:16Get that out of the film, too.
22:19You just think I'm shooting you a line.
22:23I wish to God we had more time.
22:26I'm going back on Sunday.
22:28You didn't tell me that.
22:29I'm trying to forget it. I don't want to go.
22:32I don't suppose anybody does.
22:34Don't kid yourself.
22:35It's all right if you've got some of your own people to go back to.
22:37Well, haven't you any relatives over here?
22:40Gran and Grandad were living in Cardiff when I left Sydney.
22:43Tickle pink they were when they knew I was coming.
22:45They died within a week of each other when I was on the boat.
22:48Oh, I'm sorry.
22:54Last leave, I couldn't wait to get back to camp.
22:57They're a good crowd, you know, in the ref.
22:59But here in town, just moaching around, YM, pictures, the pubs.
23:03You look for a girl, but they just want to take you down and clean you out.
23:07Buy me this, buy me that.
23:12I'm not just saying this, but you're the only one I've ever met I've really been able to talk to.
23:16We'd better move.
23:25He never goes down there now.
23:29You should have heard him jump down poor old Mrs Gordon's throat the other day.
23:35All about nothing.
23:36What happened in the pub then, Dad?
23:43Hmm?
23:45Oh, nothing.
23:47They've got that card stuck up there, you know, the one you see them all over the place.
23:51In this house, we're not interested in the possibilities of defeat.
23:54They do not exist.
23:56So?
23:57What'd they take us for, morons?
23:59You think Hitler's going to win?
24:00I don't know, but the possibility, of course there's a possibility.
24:04Stalin shaking hands with them.
24:05Joe Kennedy warning the youngster keep out because we're finished.
24:09Half the men our own government pulling their punches because they'd rather be fighting the Reds.
24:15Do you really believe that?
24:16I don't believe anything anymore.
24:18I don't believe the figures they give us about the planes they shoot down.
24:21You add them up.
24:23We've wiped out the whole Luftwaffe twice over.
24:26I suppose it's good for morale.
24:27Not for mine, it's not.
24:30Have you ever read a book called Falsehood in Wartime?
24:34Ponsonby.
24:36That's it.
24:38About the lies they told us in the last war.
24:41And we fell for it.
24:43See?
24:46That's how he goes on.
24:50What rattles me, Phil, isn't anything the Germans might do.
24:54It's what we're doing to ourselves.
24:56People stop thinking.
24:58They just react like animals.
25:01They've smashed up poor old Joe Bracchius Caffey just because he's an Italian.
25:09Yes, that was bad.
25:11It's as if every 20 years or so we go raving mad like lemmings.
25:15But you can't say these things.
25:17People howl you down.
25:18They just don't want to listen.
25:20Isn't that understandable, though?
25:22Does it really help talking like this?
25:25You see, I think it's the wrong time, Dad.
25:27I think we ought to finish this job first.
25:29Yeah.
25:33Is...
25:35Is that what you thought when you went out to Spain?
25:38Yes, it was.
25:39And I wish a few more people had thought the same, too.
25:42See, that's what went wrong in Spain, Dad.
25:44Too many people got carried away by side issues
25:46and they all ended up fighting amongst themselves.
25:50If we do that,
25:52Hitler will have us where he wants us.
25:54Hey!
26:08Do you always wait up for Fred?
26:10She won't be long.
26:12You go on up.
26:14Time's gone like mad, this leave.
26:16I meant to mend that coal out of store for you.
26:19One less job for Dad.
26:20Oh, never mind, love.
26:21Of course you can.
26:22I'm going back to Larry's.
26:23This time of night, this weather.
26:25There's nothing at all wrong.
26:26It's bleeding, isn't it?
26:27I just want to see.
26:28What will I say?
26:30I don't care what they say.
26:31Now go and sit down by the fire.
26:32Where's the first aid box, Mum?
26:34Draw the sideboard.
26:35What's happened?
26:36Who's this?
26:37Accident?
26:38No, it was a fight fool.
26:40Is he drunk?
26:41No, we...
26:42Look, give him a towel or something, will you, Mum?
26:44He'd be better lying flat.
26:45No, that's for nosebleeds, Mum.
26:47And some clean warm water.
26:49Now, tilt your head back.
26:50Let's have a look.
26:51Oh, there's not much of a mark for all that blood.
26:55It's inside my lip.
26:56My tooth cut into it.
26:57Oh, yes, it's swollen.
26:59Who was he fighting?
27:00Peter.
27:01Peter started it.
27:02Oh, no, he said a word.
27:03Peter went at him like a...
27:04Like an I don't know what.
27:05He went raving mad.
27:06Why?
27:07Oh, just because he was...
27:09kissing me.
27:10Oh, Peter was?
27:11No, Owen!
27:12You mean this chap was...
27:13Don't call him this chap!
27:18Oh, don't make me laugh.
27:20Take it away.
27:21It's stopping now.
27:22I suppose I shall get a sensible explanation in due course.
27:25Look, I'm very sorry about all this fuss.
27:37My name's Owen Thomas.
27:39This is my brother Phil.
27:41I've been wanting to meet you.
27:43Never thought it'd be like this though.
27:45Look, what happened exactly?
27:47I mean, what was going on?
27:48I dare say you're his mate and all that, but there was nothing going on that she...
27:52that Frieda didn't want to have.
27:54What was all that racket?
27:55Where's Peter now?
27:56Gone home.
27:57Will somebody introduce me?
27:58Why didn't he come back here?
27:59Didn't you ask him?
28:00No!
28:01For the third time.
28:02Why not?
28:03After the things he's said to me.
28:04Will somebody tell me what's going on here?
28:06Edwin!
28:07Oh, for goodness sake, wipe that toothpaste off your mouth.
28:11And either go to bed or go out and put something on.
28:14Now then, I expect you'd like a cup of tea, wouldn't you, Mr...
28:17Thomas.
28:18Oh, Mr Thomas.
28:19Thanks.
28:20Well, that's better.
28:21I'll go.
28:22You're from Australia, aren't you, Mr Thomas, or is it New Zealand?
28:26Australia.
28:27Well, I knew it.
28:28Must be one or the other.
28:29Well, I'll go and put the kettle on for her, shall I?
28:31Yeah.
28:38Oh, I thought so.
28:39Oh, now look, Peter.
28:40Oh, don't worry.
28:41I wouldn't touch him at the barge pole.
28:43No need for him to hide.
28:45Look, there's furniture in here, isn't there?
28:46If you want to step outside and finish...
28:48You be quiet.
28:49Have you gone mad?
28:50You've got a moken up John and I'll never get him off again.
28:54Peter.
28:55You've hurt your eye.
28:57Frida, get the...
28:58Oh.
29:02No, thank you.
29:03Oh, please yourself.
29:04I came to know what she was telling you, Mr Ashton.
29:06I've got a right to put my side of it.
29:08Oh, for the last time, who is that and what's he doing here?
29:12He's Owen Thomas.
29:13He's a friend of mine and I met him a week ago.
29:17A week?
29:18A week?
29:19You never told me.
29:20Well, I haven't seen you, have I?
29:21Anyway, he was saying goodnight to me when he...
29:23Saying goodnight?
29:24In the shop doorway, in the blackout, like a bloody tar.
29:28Now, look!
29:29Kissing her and mauling her, did she tell you that?
29:31Yes.
29:32Yes, I...
29:33I told them that.
29:34Oh, they're all the same.
29:35Anything in uniform, they don't care who it is.
29:37And the first time you're out with him, that's what gets me.
29:41I've been seeing Freda every night this week.
29:44He meets the bus, we go for a coffee and then he sees me home.
29:48Is that so terrible?
29:49Oh, he seems to have got a long way in a short time.
29:52What do you know, buddy?
29:53It's all the time he's got, isn't it?
29:55He's only on leave, same as Philip.
29:57After tomorrow, I'm in.
29:59I may not see him again.
30:02Freda...
30:04Mr. Ashton...
30:09I know you don't know me, but...
30:12well...
30:14anyone can see what sort of a girl Freda is.
30:17Except him.
30:18Oh, you should have heard the names he called me!
30:21What have I done?
30:22It's not as if I'm engaged to...
30:30When do you go back?
30:32Tomorrow night.
30:34I've been staying with a mate of mine.
30:36Did you say you were being posted?
30:38There's been talk about sending some of us back down south, but well...
30:42you know how it is.
30:43Yes, I know.
30:44I came 13,000 miles to join the raft to see some action.
30:49We have two these last few weeks.
30:51Especially tonight.
30:53Oh, my God.
30:56That first one of yours was a real beaut.
30:59Zonk!
31:00Never knew what hit me.
31:02You don't know a blind thing about him.
31:04Not any of you.
31:05For he's wearing a uniform and that's enough, isn't it?
31:09Lay out the red carpet.
31:11Nothing's too good for him.
31:13Get away with blue murder as long as he's got that on.
31:15You don't know him either.
31:17Oh, you're all the same these days.
31:20Like women in some primitive tribe.
31:23Dress a man in a bit of war paint and you're falling all over yourselves.
31:26No decency, no self-control.
31:29It's disgusting!
31:31I think you're going a bit far, Peter.
31:33Why don't you do like last time?
31:36Start dishing out white feathers.
31:38It's got nothing to do with that, Peter.
31:41Oh, and you.
31:43My pal.
31:45But never mind all that.
31:47Oh, no.
31:48I'm in Civvy Street.
31:49And him.
31:50Two words of shop talk and your comrades in arms.
31:53Why doesn't somebody stop him?
31:55They know I'm telling the truth, that's why.
31:58I could have joined up months ago.
32:00It's easy.
32:01You get out of everything.
32:03Free.
32:04Cut the ropes.
32:05Rat on everybody.
32:06You're a hero.
32:07How do you know what he was running away from?
32:11A wife and two kids, you'd never know.
32:14As God is my witness.
32:15Peter, leave it.
32:16You're going to be sorry in the morning.
32:17Don't worry about me.
32:19I know what I'm going to do in the morning.
32:37Oh, Peter. Don't be silly.
32:49I mean it, Mother.
32:50Join the Navy, whatever for.
32:52You never asked Danny that.
33:07Danny?
33:08Danny's different, dear.
33:10He would have been called up anyway.
33:12Besides, he was the type. You're not.
33:14No, I'm sorry. It's out of the question.
33:16I'm not asking you, Mother. It's what I'm going to do.
33:19I see.
33:21And what about me?
33:23Or doesn't that matter to you any longer?
33:26I suppose you'll get an allotment.
33:28An allotment.
33:29And ten shillings a week widow's pension. Don't forget that.
33:31Now, how can I keep a house this size on that?
33:33Couldn't you let part of it?
33:35Taking lodgers? You want me to do that?
33:39Look, other women manage.
33:40Yes, they've got the husbands behind them.
33:42Not always.
33:43No, no. Some of them have jobs.
33:46It just so happened I never believed in letting my children wander the streets after school.
33:50Maybe I'd be better off today if I had.
33:52Mother, how is it when Danny goes you boast to everybody how brave he is?
33:58But when it's me...
33:59Peter, Danny would never have left me on my own.
34:02No?
34:03He relied on you. I rely on you.
34:06Because I know you won't let me down in the end.
34:09Oh, Mother, there's a war on.
34:11Rubbish. If they'd wanted you, they'd have sent for you.
34:16Has that Frieda Ashton put you up to this?
34:19I know she's never liked me.
34:21Have you liked her?
34:23Liked her?
34:25A girl who'd come strolling home with an airman at one o'clock in the morning.
34:28And I've seen that with my own eyes, don't forget.
34:30Am I wrong to want something better than that for my son?
34:33Oh, it's nothing to do with Frieda.
34:36I'd have joined up months ago if I...
34:39If I'd been free.
34:41Oh, no, Peter.
34:43I'm sorry, but if we're going to be so frank with one another,
34:46it's not for my sake you're not out there with Danny.
34:48It's party to hang around Frieda Ashton,
34:49but it's mostly because you haven't got the stomach for it.
34:53So don't you go trying to shove it all off onto me.
34:57And if I'm like that, who made me like it?
35:00Danny's not like it.
35:03Danny had Dad till he was eight.
35:06I've only ever had you.
35:08That's very unkind.
35:10I'm sorry, but I get a bit desperate about it sometimes.
35:13You know what's happening? You've never spoken to me like this before.
35:16You know you're all I've lived for, you and Danny.
35:19Well, Danny's a man now and he's gone.
35:22And I've got nobody else in the world except you.
35:25I'm sorry.
35:27I'm sorry.
35:28And what if you never came back?
35:30Look, I've tried to be a good mother to you, Peter.
35:33Don't fling it all back in me face.
35:35You've got a good home here. You've got a career, a nice job.
35:39I can't help it!
35:40Peter, I get so frightened when you're not here.
35:43I've never told you this because I try not to show it,
35:45but sometimes, you know, when I'm alone in this house and the planes come,
35:49I'm shaking all over.
35:51Oh, please, don't do that.
35:54Well, could you leave it a bit?
35:57Because I might not be here very much longer.
36:00You know I was never very strong.
36:02Oh, God!
36:04OK, um...
36:10Mmm!
36:11That smells really pre-war, isn't it?
36:14No wonder.
36:15She's out there cooking the whole week's meat ration.
36:17We'll be on herrings and cheese rissoles in Mexico.
36:19And he's put two ounces of butter in the pudding.
36:25Talk about that fatted calf!
36:33There's a nice clean boy.
36:35When you think you're the one who gets spoiled in this house, don't you?
36:39Oh, me spoiled, he says.
36:41A naughty auntie Frieda cashing in on my sweet good bunch.
36:44Oh, yeah, then.
36:45Oh, it's a shame.
36:46Thanks, Fred.
36:47Come along, sleepyhead.
36:48It's all right now.
36:49It's all right now.
36:50All right.
36:51Yes.
36:52There we are, then.
36:53Come on.
36:58I'll bet it's Mrs. Gordon.
36:59She's been snooping around trying to find out who but the rhubarb leaves in the pig bin.
37:04It is Peter, Mrs. Ashton.
37:05He says he's going to join up.
37:06He's going to what?
37:07Join the Navy.
37:08I'm surprised you didn't know.
37:10Oh, I'm so sorry, Mrs. Collins.
37:13Philip, perhaps you could speak to him.
37:15Oh, Philip, would you?
37:16He respects you.
37:17I do think he'd be foolish to do it.
37:19More than foolish.
37:20He's not cut out for it.
37:21He'd be miserable.
37:22Philip, would you?
37:24He might be just as miserable if he stays.
37:26Why?
37:27Stays with me, do you mean?
37:29No, no, but he's been feeling terribly isolated.
37:31Most of his age group are gone and going and I don't think you realise how strong the pressures are.
37:35Look, I'm not the reason he's miserable.
37:36I'm not the one who's made him miserable.
37:38I'm sorry I didn't mean to say this.
37:40It's not what I came here for.
37:41Are you sure, Mrs. Collins?
37:43Oh, Rita.
37:44If anything happens to my son, to my dying day, I shall hold you responsible.
37:49I know what you've done to him.
37:50What I've done to him?
37:51What about you?
37:52Danny.
37:53Danny this, Danny that.
37:55Rita!
37:56All right.
37:57If I'm not allowed to answer, I don't have to stand here and listen.
38:01I'm so sorry, Mrs. Collins.
38:04Tell him not to do it.
38:06Tell him not to go.
38:12Mrs. Collins, I'll speak to him.
38:15Look, um, ask him to come and see me later today.
38:19All right?
38:20Yes.
38:21Well.
38:22Well.
38:23Well.
38:24It's difficult to know what to say, isn't it?
38:35You know what I was thinking of when she was talking?
38:40You and your three sons.
38:42Me?
38:43You've got a lot of guts, Gene Ashton.
38:47Do you know that?
38:48Oh, nonsense.
38:50We're all different, that's all.
38:52Yes.
38:53Well, you may not say it, but you feel it, don't you?
38:56I'd be a funny sort of mother if I didn't, wouldn't I?
38:59Where's Maggie?
39:16She's taken the baby to see the porters.
39:19Why?
39:20Well, I've had my last pair of silk and they say there won't be any more.
39:23Well, wear your Lyle, it's cold enough.
39:25I can't wear Lyle tonight.
39:27Look, if she asks, just tell her I borrowed them.
39:32You see, Phil, I can't forgive Churchill for what he did to the miners.
39:36My father's a miner and Churchill called the troops out.
39:39All they asked for was a living.
39:42And you can't easily forget something like that.
39:46And why should you?
39:47Yes, I know, Dad.
39:48But I dance like rather have him than Chamberlain.
39:50At least he won't do a pay time.
39:51Oh, he'll fight.
39:52Well, that's good enough for me.
39:54Things haven't changed, you know.
39:56There's enough wangling going on even now.
39:59The hard-faced bosses don't go without much.
40:03Rations or no rations.
40:05Well, okay, but let's sort that out when we finish this job.
40:08It was the same ones who made all the sacrifices last time.
40:11Han got sold down the river when it was all over.
40:15Hey, have you been reading The Daily Worker?
40:18Me?
40:19Hmm.
40:20I never see the thing.
40:21But have you read last week's New Statesman?
40:24No.
40:27Wait there a minute.
40:28I'm so afraid he'll say these things outside.
40:38You know what people are about defeatists.
40:41Defeatists?
40:42That's not a defeatist, Mum.
40:45Just doesn't intend to go through with his eyes closed, that's all.
40:48Doesn't like the line-up.
40:49Well, with the Tories on our side calling the tune
40:51and the Russians shaking hands with Hitler.
40:54Well, naturally, he feels there's something wrong somewhere.
40:57Do you?
40:58Oh, yes, I do.
41:00I'm sorry, Mum, I've got to say this.
41:03People like Uncle Sefton,
41:05well, they're just interested in their own skins.
41:08It's a bit more than that to Dad, and I hope to me.
41:11But, er, I'll settle for seeing the fascists stopped at the moment.
41:14And after that,
41:16there'll be another sort of war, that's all.
41:21Well, I'll be off then.
41:23We're only going two doors up to see Philip.
41:26Mother, I don't know what act this is you're putting on,
41:29but it's not going to make any difference.
41:32I know what you're doing.
41:34You gave the game away, I don't know if you realise.
41:37Danny's a man now, you said.
41:39As if that was some sort of tragedy,
41:41so you're trying to stop the same thing from happening to me.
41:46Look.
41:48What do you want me to say?
41:51I'm sorry?
41:53OK.
41:55I've got to do this.
41:58But if it helps you at all, then I'm sorry.
42:05I didn't mean all I said.
42:07But me and Danny, we didn't want to be all you had.
42:11You should have...
42:13I don't know.
42:15Got out more.
42:17Made more friends.
42:20Only nobody around here was good enough for you, were they?
42:27Peter!
42:29I'm going up the road to see Philip.
42:33I can't do anything about joining up until tomorrow.
42:36Oh, no, not now.
42:49Don't worry.
42:50I just wanted to say...
42:53I'm sorry.
42:54It's all right.
42:56And goodbye.
42:57Oh, you mean this joining up business.
43:01Well, it's Sunday.
43:02You can't join up on a Sunday.
43:03I'm going in the morning.
43:05First thing.
43:06Why are you supposed to be doing it?
43:10She thinks I'm making you do it.
43:12I never said that.
43:14Well, then why?
43:16Surely you didn't think it would make any difference.
43:19I used to be good enough for you.
43:21Oh, Peter.
43:23I haven't changed.
43:26The only thing is everybody else has changed.
43:29And I'm still here in Sivvy Street.
43:31People grow out of each other, Peter.
43:34It's nothing to do with the war.
43:36Isn't it?
43:38That man last night.
43:40What about him?
43:42If you'd have met him in his everyday clothes, you wouldn't have looked at him twice.
43:45Now, how could you possibly know that?
43:46You only have to listen to him.
43:48I mean, would you call him educated?
43:50Look, I'm not all that intellectual.
43:53There are other things.
43:55What other things?
43:58What do you see in him, Frieda?
44:00Oh, for one thing, he doesn't go on and on like this as if everything I do is the end of the world.
44:05You mean he doesn't care as much as I do?
44:08Maybe not.
44:10Maybe I'm not ready for this life and death thing anyway.
44:13But I think he's basically nice.
44:16He's fun to be with.
44:17And everyone else does nothing but grouse about Hitler and rationing and the raids and I get so bored.
44:23Are you seeing him tonight?
44:25Yes, it's got to be tonight.
44:27He's going back.
44:28I see.
44:30Look, what are you trying to do?
44:33Spike me?
44:34Like, wait till I'm dead and it'll be your fault and then you'll be sorry.
44:37Is that what you're trying to say?
44:38No.
44:39Your mother's breaking her heart over it.
44:44You know that.
44:45But you're the one who's always going...
44:47Oh, yes, I know.
44:48I know.
44:49I called her things but all the same.
44:52It's one of the best things about you.
44:54You don't break people's hearts.
44:59Don't turn yourself into a tough guy, Peter.
45:02You're much nicer as you are.
45:05Oh, Peter.
45:06Are you going down to the post, love?
45:08Only Edwin's left his flask.
45:10Oh, yes, okay.
45:11I'll take it.
45:12Oh, and Frida.
45:13Yes?
45:14Don't be too late, love.
45:17Okay.
45:18And Frida.
45:20Yes?
45:22I don't know.
45:25Just don't do anything stupid, love.
45:33Hello, Peter.
45:34Oh, hi, Phil.
45:35Let's go into the back room, shall we?
45:44Look, about last night...
45:46Oh, forget about last night.
45:47Sit down.
45:48Did you want a fact?
45:49Yes, thanks.
45:50Oh, yeah.
45:52Help yourself.
45:56They, er...
45:57They tell me you're thinking you're running away to sea.
46:01Well, that's one way of looking at it, yeah.
46:03A childish prank.
46:04Well, don't you think it's a bit corny?
46:06I don't see how this concerns you.
46:09Peter.
46:10This is a war of technologies.
46:12You're needed where you are.
46:14If there's any amount like me.
46:16Fine.
46:17I'll wear a label around me neck.
46:18Technologist.
46:19Then everybody will salute.
46:20So who are you trying to impress, anyway?
46:23Our Frida?
46:24Your mum?
46:25All the nice girls that love a sailor?
46:26No.
46:27What, then?
46:28Are you afraid people will think you're scared?
46:32I'm afraid they'd be right.
46:34Oh, for God's sake, Peter.
46:35Everybody's scared.
46:36Well, except those with no imagination at all.
46:39Do you think I'm not?
46:41Mum's been out in that kitchen, killing the fatted calf for me,
46:45whopping great meals.
46:46Frida wonders where I'm putting it all.
46:48If only she knew it was all turning into diarrhoea whenever I think of going out there.
46:52Out where?
46:53I thought you didn't know.
46:54Well, no, but rumour has it Africa, with lurid accounts about what the burbers do to you
46:59if you get into the wrong bit of the desert.
47:00You don't believe that.
47:02Not rationally, I suppose.
47:03It's just nightmare fodder.
47:05What are you trying to do?
47:07Scare me?
47:08I bet I scare a lot more easily than you do, chum.
47:11You tell me you've got cold feet after wading into a bloody great earth
47:15that looks like something out of the great Australian outback.
47:17Yes, I did, didn't I?
47:20Only because I was too mad to think straight.
47:23If you ask me, that's how half the VCs pull it off.
47:26Think about it, eh?
47:28Well, I was skintsy, dead broke.
47:33Too much poker.
47:34Next time I'll save up and take you somewhere really posh.
47:38Like where?
47:40Somewhere with waiters and stiff white tablecloths.
47:44I suppose they'll still have waiters.
47:47Very ancient ones, I expect.
47:53Well, this is it, love.
47:57You gonna write to me?
47:59I'm coming to the station.
48:01Sure you want to?
48:02Mmm.
48:04Cold feet again tonight, I suppose.
48:07I'm gonna worry like mad thinking about you.
48:10While I'm selling myself in some tropical clime far away from the war.
48:15Oh.
48:16We'll be all right, love.
48:18And I'll be all right.
48:19You'll see.
48:20Comforter.
48:21Come on.
48:22Some bloody fool down the end of the street there.
48:30Two great upstairs windows.
48:32Lights full on.
48:33What do you tell him?
48:34Couldn't get an answer.
48:35There's a little back window, but it's too small for me.
48:38Looks like a job for you, Peter.
48:40Right.
48:41You know, I want you to go back to the shelter.
49:01We'll say goodbye now, just in case.
49:07If there's nothing doing, I'll come back and join you.
49:13We met at the shelter.
49:16That's what we did.
49:18You're right.
49:20Me too.
49:22Well, goodbye then.
49:29Goodbye.
49:45Go on.
49:52Go on.
50:22You were sick.
50:23Go on.
50:25THE END
50:55THE END