He's going to be my apprentice. Everyone take something they need.
Where are we? End of the road.
No. No!
Get down! Tom, no!
Tom Price goes on trial tomorrow. Guilty.
This court sentences him to seven years.
You're not going to ask about the conditions he'll be kept in?
No.
Let him go!
When I said "put it down", I meant drop it. Take them both.
Where are they?
This is a coal mine. Work hard, survive.
You can't do this.
Yes, we can.
Look, mate, if we don't work, we don't eat.
I'm not your mate.
Pull!
Once we've filled six wagons, we get allowed to rest.
Six?
MAN: Hey! Another load ready!
What kind of people are you?
MAN: Get back to work.
What's your name? Get back to work!
Who were you a year ago? Did you have a home, a family?
No-one has the right to treat a fellow human being like this.
Any exceptions to that rule, Greg?
What's that supposed to mean?
You voted to put me in here.
I also came back for you, remember? If I hadn't, I wouldn't be here now.
The irony's killing me.
We're going round in circles.
We'll go down every bloody road in England. We don't give up on our own.
Which way? We have to find Billy. If anyone knows where they are, he will.
MAN: Come on, all of you out!
How long do they give us? About half an hour.
Sometimes more.
MEN COUGHING Come on!
What the hell is this? Move along.
And the next, come on!
Argh! Don't move faster. We all choke. Quiet!
Hold him down. Hold him.
Get his hands. Cuff him.
Come here.
Get up there. Come on.
Come on.
MAN: Punish him.
He has to learn who is master here.
If you don't, he will master you.
Good. And again.
GREG: Leave him alone! MAN: Shut up. Get in line.
You are all responsible for each other's welfare.
That's enough!
You see?
You are in control.
Now wipe that blood off your nose.
You look like a savage.
Never get quite used to it, do you?
The emptiness.
No-one left.
I think about things differently now everyone's gone.
All my girlfriends going on all the time about getting married,
having babies, settling down.
It all seemed so boring.
Now I think... I'd like to one day.
You know...
.. maybe with someone. Have kids.
I didn't mean with you!
Why not?
Hey.
We will find Tom, you know.
Tomorrow or the day after.
We'll find out where they took him.
But will he want to see us...
after what we did to him?
We have to sleep with these things?
They only unlock us when we're down the mine.
TOM: Where do they keep the keys?
The guards have a set.
Smithson too.
GREG: We need to get hold of those keys.
If we all got loose, we could overpower them easily.
You reckon, Greg?
If we're going to get out of here, we've got to work together.
Well, I've had enough working with you.
Votes,
debates...
.. juries. All right.
If you want to have a go at me, fine. Bring it on.
But let's get out of here first.
I'll look after myself, thanks.
Someone's coming!
It's Billy.
Stop. Stop!
Come on. Quick!
That's him over there.
Blimey. It's you lot.
Didn't you see us on the road back there?
No. World of me own behind the wheel.
Look, we need your help. Come indoors, then.
Meet my old lady.
The good thing about the virus, the bar's always open.
No breathalysers either.
Do you fancy a real cup of tea? That would be amazing.
Just let me find the old girl. .. Sally?
Where's the daft cow gone?
Sally?
Sally, where are you?
Sally?
Oi, where've you been? Sorry, Billy. I was just...
Never mind. We've got company.
You'll need to handle this lot carefully. They caused a ruckus at Willis's place
and Smithson's got their mates down the mine, so keep them happy.
Aren't you staying, Bill? I spotted kids on the road. I don't want to let them slip away.
Now, John and the lads will be over for lunch any minute.
They can take it from there. What if they don't want to stay?
Just keep them talking. You're no fool.
Smile, love. It might never happen.
Hiya. Hi, one and all. Ready for a nice cuppa, are we?
I'm Sally, by the way.
Sally... I can't remember. Doesn't really matter now.
I'll never remember all your names straight off.
I've just got something to drop off. I'll see you later.
Listen, Billy, we've got something to ask you.
Can you think of anywhere you've passed there might be a prison? Prison?
I can't, no. I mean, I pass the old prisons
now and again, but there's no-one left in there.
No-one alive anyway.
No. I tell you what, I do have a few contacts here and there.
I could ask around, see what turns up.
You sit tight here. How's that? OK, that would be great. Thank you.
Right then, tea.
We're wasting time.
Something isn't right here.
No. I'd better take a look.
Naj, let's go for a walk.
Where are you going?
Oh, we're just going to stretch our legs a little.
Don't stray too far because it's easy to get lost around here.
MAN: Come on! Move it.
Come on.
Ow!
I think I know how to get us out of here.
It would mean me getting out first.
That's a slice of luck.
And then I'd come back for the rest of you.
Of course you will.
What, do you think I'd just look out for myself?
You can't get us out of here, Greg. Haven't got the bollocks for it.
Look out!
MAN GROANS
Someone help me down here. We've got a man injured!
Are you all right?
No.
My stomach! It really hurts.
OK, we need to get him out of here.
Get someone to have a proper look at him.
Have you got any bright ideas? Yeah, as it happens.
Everyone, stop! Don't move.
No-one move. Careful no-one makes a spark.
What's going on down there?
We've hit a gas pocket.
So what? Dig the coal. Are you crazy?
One spark could blow us all up. You too.
Who the hell's in charge around here?
Oh! Me stomach's bad. You'll be all right.
It's lucky Greg smelt that gas. There is no gas.
He's just at it, trying to get a chance to leg it.
Smart idea, that.
Yeah.
MAN: You men, out now. All of you!
Nice place. Mm.
Do you think anyone lives here? I don't know.
Let's just wait here.
Naj! Which part of "wait here" do you not understand?
It's Greg.
What's that thing around his neck?
NAJ: He's a prisoner.
Come on!
Any scraps, if you just put them in there for the pigs.
You have pigs as well? Yeah.
Not just Billy, then?
Pigs have got better manners!
How did you meet him, anyway?
He found me...
you know, in the road, crying.
I'd lost everyone.
It was the same for all of us. Even my little ones.
Both of them.
And their dad and my mum, his mum, both my sisters, all their kids...
Imagine that, all of them.
It was horrible.
You are going to have me crying in a minute.
Tears won't bring them back.
Right, anyone for more tea?
Expecting someone?
Not Billy?
You think you owe him, don't you?
He brought me here.
You don't owe him more than thanks.
The things we have to do now just to survive,
we'd have been ashamed back then, wouldn't we?
Come on. Let's go.
Wait there.
The Anabasis.
Do you know Xenophon?
Great Athenian warrior writer.
"The sea, the sea. " It's a quotation.
Thalatta! Thalatta!
100 years ago, every reasonably well-read schoolboy in Britain
would have been able to identify it.
One can't help admiring the Greeks.
So many of their thinkers were men of action.
If you've grown work-shy, that's fine.
But you will be given no more food. You've a fire-damp down there.
Have you any idea what that means? I'm afraid not.
There's a large pocket of methane gas trapped in your seam.
It's highly volatile. One spark from a pickaxe
and it could go up like a bomb and kill everyone down there.
Oh, that would be a pity. Labour is very difficult to get these days,
as you know from personal experience.
You think it's funny to put men in chains and make them slaves?
Got to get our world working again, haven't we?
Scavenging is fine while summer lasts, but when winter comes...
we'll soon learn who the real survivors are.
If the damp combusts, it'll bring the entire gallery down with it.
You know something about this?
I studied geology for a couple of years. Where?
Greenwich University. Huh! Former polytechnic, I believe.
Why on earth do you think I would believe this arrant pack of lies?
Do you want to take a chance?
It's the men who had Greg. We've got to warn Abby.
Hey, hey, hey! They'll see us, you idiot.
Stay down.
You've got to hide. What's happening?
What? In the kitchen, while you still can.
You're so nice, I can't let them take you.
Who? I can't bear this any more.
What's going on? Just stay quiet.
MAN: Spitting feathers... All right, lads? Pints all round?
What's for lunch, gorgeous? Pork casserole.
Billy been back, has he? Came and went. You know Billy.
No deliveries for us today?
No. No, he said it was pretty quiet on the road.
We've had to bring all the prisoners above ground.
The mine's shut down at the moment. Gas scare.
Come on, I'm dying for a drink.
Well, I don't smell any gas.
Methane is odourless. Convenient!
So how do you know it's there?
I heard it escaping.
HE SIGHS Lend me your cigarette lighter.
Methane is lighter than oxygen.
As I raise the flame, it'll leap and turn blue if the gas is present.
But won't that cause an explosion?
It could do.
All right. There's no need for that.
So what do we do?
Fill a wagon with earth, shovel it in,
pack it down hard and that should cap it off.
Great. Well, do that, then get that lot up there to help
and you'd better come back to the house.
I think we should talk further.
Go!
We know where Greg is. They're both here, both your friends.
Oh, I'm sorry.
They've been made to work at Mr Smithson's coal mine.
Billy brings them here...
.. people that he finds on the road.
It's my job to keep them happy until the men take them.
I was so lost and lonely, so grateful to see a friendly face.
I'm so ashamed.
Then why do you do it? What choice have I got?
At least it's safe here. There's food to eat.
Mr Smithson, he looks after us.
I only do the cooking. I'm not as bad as some of them.
Sally, we are going to get our friends back.
You can't... And you are going to help us.
We'll find a room for you here.
It'll be pleasant to have some civilised company.
That can't be very comfortable.
I suppose you haven't had a hot shower since the plague hit?
You have one here?
Coal-fired.
Get yourself scrubbed up and we'll talk further.
You have to take me with you. I can't stay here.
Of course we will. Promise?
And no more Billy. I'd like that.
Come on. Let's go.
OK, Anya and I will keep Smithson busy as long as we can.
Al, you and Naj go to the mine and wait for Sarah to bring you the keys.
Release Tom and Greg and meet us on the motorway.
What about the other prisoners?
We'll do what we can, but... Tom and Greg come first.
Keep down. There are guards.
Woah!
Slow it down.
I found these charts of the old mine workings.
They mean anything to you?
Oh, yes, this is very, very useful.
From this it seems the vein is still pretty extensive.
Prove to me you can get the coal out efficiently
and you can join me as a stakeholder.
Which is worth what, exactly?
For now, a warm bed and three good meals a day.
But when winter comes and we really start to sell,
we'll name our price.
KNOCK AT DOOR
Excuse me, Mr Smithson.
There's two ladies at the door. They say they've got a business proposal.
Well, tell them I'll be there in a moment.
We need to drill boreholes through here and here. That way...
Well, tell John what you need. Excuse me a moment.
What a delightful surprise.
Survivors who don't look like they've gnawed their way here.
We drove. It was easier.
Henry Smithson. Abby Grant.
And this is Anya Raczynski.
We heard you had coal here.
That's quite correct. We'd like to barter with you.
We have vegetables and pigs and chickens too.
MAN: In line! Shut up!
How many of you are there in your group? Over 30 now.
Ah! Well, I was just about to have dinner.
Why don't you join me and we'll talk about it further?
Great.
John, these ladies will be joining us for dinner.
Would you let Sally know? Of course, Mr Smithson.
So, this group of yours, it's a commune, no doubt?
Fluffy chicks and earnest discussions about democracy?
We don't have time for politics. We're just trying to stay alive.
Ah! You're there. We were just going up for dinner.
You... You know each other?
No. This is my new mining manager.
You've chosen your moment wisely.
We were just discussing how to raise our productivity, weren't we?
Sally.
They've just gone up to dinner.
Where does he keep the keys?
In his desk in the study.
It's off the main hall at the top of the stairs.
OK, wait till it's safe, then go get them, bring them to me.
You can do it.
What are you doing?
Mr Smithson's ready for his dinner now and there's three extra.
Three?
SARAH: I'll meet you back here in ten minutes. Go on, Sally.
Argh!
Arghh!
Somebody help!
Please. It's killing me.
Please! Shut that bloody noise up!
Ow! Arrgh!
If he doesn't shut up...
Argh!
.. none of you eat tonight.
Good lad.
So this commune of yours...
.. where is it? The Wye Valley.
Ah, you have come a long way.
How did you find out about us?
Billy told us.
Ah, of course.
Our window on the world. There are people joining us all the time.
I suppose you have to be careful about the sort of person you let in.
Yes, it's a concern.
I'm sure.
Please...
I'm afraid it's only simple fare
but at least the wine won't disappoint. Thank you, Sally.
Say what you will about the virus, but it did offer me
a pretty free run at the St John's College cellar.
So you weren't in mining before, then? No.
I was professor of classical history at Oxford.
My colleague here, he worked in mining.
Not really, um...
I studied geology at university. Yes, Norwich.
Greenwich.
Of course, the polytechnic.
Still, you had the benefits of some sort of education,
unlike the rest of our happy band. Most of them barely read or write.
Take John, for example, he flogged motor insurance.
I was senior broker.
Cold calling over the telephone. I was bloody good at it.
Now you're a coal miner?
I'm not one of them losers, I'm the foreman.
Good for you.
No-one's looking. I could get into the hut and get the keys.
Just sit still and wait for Sarah, OK?
The best way for a plan to go wrong is to change it midway.
It could have gone wrong already.
Tom...
It's going to be OK, isn't it?
Sure is. I'll see you.
MAN: One of the prisoners has escaped!
Right, there he is.
Come on! It's Tom!
Get round the back. We need to help him.
Stay there!
You leave him alone.
Get off! Stay there.
SMITHSON: Our life here is hard, of course,
but we like to think of ourselves as a small outpost...
More wine?
Sally?
Where's Sally? Sally!
Sorry. Gently there, Sally. Gently.
And how do you get the coal out?
It can't be an easy job.
We have a system. Tried and test over millennia.
What system?
We use a form of... slavery.
It's cheap...
and effective.
And immoral.
Depends on the morality you choose, doesn't it?
Well said, that man.
Most choose a moral code which chimes with their own survival needs.
And who are these slaves? Criminals, thieves...
The detritus of our new society.
Well, they can't all have done something wrong.
Not all of them, no, some of them are just unfortunate.
Tell me, would you haul coal all day if you had a choice?
Of course you wouldn't. You'd have to be forced.
And we need that coal.
Our future depends on it.
DOGS BARK
We need to reinvent our society, don't you agree?
Yes, yes, of course.
But you can't have society without an economy.
ANYA: Aren't you ashamed of what you are doing?
Not in the least. All civilisations in their formative years
were built on slavery.
Later they gave the slaves wages and later still
holidays and home loans,
but the principle remains the same.
Which is what? Never let them look up.
Oh! Sorry.
Oh, Sally, you are fingers and thumbs tonight.
Here, let me give you a hand.
I'm sorry. Thank you, Mr Smithson.
Thank you.
You know, what you are doing is cruel. Men are going to die in these conditions.
They're dying anyway out there.
Killing each other over a litre of petrol or a carton of baked beans.
It is cruel, the facts are cruel.
Our species is nearly extinct.
I suppose you won't be wanting our coal now, will you?
We still have to keep warm in winter.
Yes.
Yes, she's right, we, um...
we need the coal.
So, how long have you been manager, Greg?
Not long at all.
Um, it'll be dark soon, I won't be able to survey the ground until morning
if I don't do it right away. You want to leave us now?
I've got a lot of work to do. Of course.
I'll get a couple of chaps to take you out...
No, I can find my own way. Not at all.
I'll bring the car round to the front.
Delightful company, don't you think?
Yes, they seem very nice.
It's strange, but for a moment there,
I could have sworn that you and Mrs Grant recognised each other.
No, she reminded me of someone.
Oh, I do know, we all live in a world of ghosts now.
This way.
Ah, your escort.
I don't think you and Mrs Grant were introduced, were you?
Odd that she should know your name.
It is a pity.
I could have really done with someone who knew about mining.
So...
Mrs Grant,
how long have you known Greg?
You know, we have a chance to start civilisation all over again,
and of all possible courses, you choose slavery.
I'm sure our descendants will look back on us
with shame, but from what I remember of the old world,
as long as it happens out of sight, no-one cares too much.
Well, you seem to have found a set of people who agree with you.
Who wouldn't rather be a master than a slave...
if that were the only choice?
He must have stolen the key when I tried to help him.
Get off him!
Get back!
Aaargh!
Aargh! Aargh!
We just came here for our friends.
Just let us collect them and we'll leave and never come back.
Sorry, my dear, I really can't spare the manpower.
Let go! SALLY WHIMPERS
Oh, do stop whimpering, Sally. I'm not going to harm you.
Just remember whose side you're on in the future.
Tell me exactly where it hurts.
Everywhere.
You'll be all right, mate.
No problem.
At least Tom got away.
He'll come back for us.
Except he doesn't know you're here.
He knows you are.
Oh, come on, he wouldn't abandon you.
Mm, you think...? I know! Get real, Abby, he's not coming back.
Hi, mate. Need a hand?
Help!
You can shout all you want,
no-one's going to hear you.
Don't leave me here. I'll die.
Help!
ENGINE RUNNING
ENGINE STOPS
BANGING AND SHOUTING
BANGING AND SHOUTING CONTINUES
Get out. Come on.
Scarper!
Whatever he told you, he was lying, now let's go.
Don't take sweets from strangers.
Where's Billy? Go on, hop it.
RADIO PLAYS
# I turned 21 in prison doing life without parole
# No-one can steer me right But Mama tried... #
MAN: Come on, move it.
I've got a critically injured boy here. I want him taken somewhere
where I can look after him properly. Get to work, all of you!
Poor boy. What happened to you?
Stop looking at me!
What did I tell you, John? Don't talk to them.
Human contact loosens control.
Not him.
Both the Spartans and the Athenians were as one
on the remedy to a slave rebellion.
The punishment should be so draconian...
.. that no slave would dare show resistance again.
Hang him.
Greg!
SHOUTING AND SCREAMING
Go on, John. Just get on with it.
No! No!
ALL SCREAMING AND SHOUTING
No!
You heard what Mr Smithson said.
No!
ALL SHOUTING
What's Billy doing down here?
Where is he, then?
The hands.
Let's go.
No, Abby's here with the others. Come on.
Abby? Abby!
Grab your P45s, lads!
Come on!
Abby, are you OK?
What the hell are you lot doing here? Looking for you.
Well, you're mugs, then.
Go on, get him!
From now on we stick together, no matter what.
What's going on? The mine's closing down.
Come on, let's get him in the truck.
We can't just let them kill everyone.
They'll kill us if we try to stop them, now let's go! What about Sally?
We can't save everyone.
TOM: He's right. We have to look out for ourselves now.
No, we get Sally and then we leave. Come on.
KEVIN GROANS
SHOUTING AND SCREAMING
Sally?
Sally!
SMITHSON: You think anarchy is better for anyone?
Well, we'll all starve now!
All of us!
Even you!
You'll starve now!
You'll starve! We need control!
Abby...
We need control!
Sally!
Come on! We won't let them hurt you. Come on.
Let's get you out of here, come on. Come on, quickly.
Back the way we came.
In the car, come on.
KEVIN GROANS He's bleeding internally.
I think his spleen is ruptured. There must be something you can do.
KEVIN SOBBING Oh, help me, please.
I can't stand it any more. Just...
Please, just finish it.
Argh!
Oh! Argh!
It's just a case of waiting now.
But he's in so much pain.
Can't you do anything? SCREAMING CONTINUES
There's no morphine in the truck, nothing to make it...
easy, and...
.. anyway, I... don't know if I could.
You all right, mate?
I want to go home.
I know, mate.
Mam...
I was in the garden
and Mam was...
just feeding the birds
and she was telling me all their names,
like the sparrow and the thrush and all that, and...
.. and I like it when they come up close and they eat out of my hand.
TOM: I'll sit with him.
Go on. It's OK.
Argh!
Hey...
You see in the trees...
over there?
See the birds?
What birds?
Them with the bright feathers.
Up in the branches.
Can you see them?
Maybe, yeah.
Just keep looking.
You'll see them.
Who we were before, all the things we did, it doesn't matter any more.
All that matters...
is who we are now.
It's Billy.
Give us a hand, son.
I wasn't going to hurt you.
I was taking you somewhere nice.
Oh.
Good lad.
I'll see you all right for this.
What's your name, son?
Peter.
Peter Grant.
Peter Grant?
You stick with me, Peter.
I know some people who have been looking for you.
Get down. On your knees!
Just cos you're in love doesn't mean everyone else has to be.
You like her, don't you?
I'm glad you came.
I'm not scared of you. Are you scared of me?
I love you. It can't happen.
ABBY: It feels blessed, this place.
Oh, my God!
You shouldn't be here.
Where's Sarah?
I'm Mr Stevens.
You haven't come for me, have you?
I'm going back to the lab. The virus finally broke through their defences.
Abby?
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