Hotel Folly - Folie a Deux Storyville

This programme contains some strong language.

Magnificent Gray's Court was built in the 11th century, has been

the home of kings and queens and archbishops.

Here, in this very courtyard, in 1764, a duel took place between

John Jennings and Lord Aislabie over the honour and love of Miss Mallorie.

BELL RINGS

On the toll of the cathedral bell, a shot rang out across the streets of

York, and Aislabie was killed and bled to death in his lover's arms.

They say, that the ghost of Miss Mallorie

still haunts Gray's Court to this day.

APPLAUSE

Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen, thank you.

"One of York's most prestigious period buildings.

"Attractive and prestigious Grade I listed building.

"Gray's Court in York.

"Landscaped gardens backing onto the city walls."

Just the most amazing place! God, look at that.

MUSIC: "Hush Little Baby" sung by Lucy Ward

# Hush little baby

# Hush your mouth

# Mummy's gonna buy you a grand old house

# And if that house isn't built to last

# Mummy's gonna borrow loads of cash

# And if that money turns blood red

# Don't you... #

This house, Gray's Court, which is one of the most historic

houses in the country, certainly one of the oldest,

it's basically...everybody who has a place in English history

has had a foot in this house.

Yes, the first plebs to move in Actually, yes!

I mean, we are, as John so eloquently put it,

the first commoners to live here, um...

Yeah.

I sat down and looked at the plans,

and I counted through all of the rooms, and I think if I was

counting toilets and small drawing rooms and stuff, it got to over 70

and then I was losing count.

# ..For if all you have... #

We kind of pitched in and put a bid in for this,

and it was successful, so we went ahead and bought it

1.6 million.

It's all we've got.

It's all we HAVEN'T got.

It's all we...

HE LAUGHS

Because it was there to be climbed, wasn't it?

Yes, yes, I think that was it. We had to do it.

Well, there's a theory that when... You can have two people who are both

mildly loony in their own right but when they come together, they both

egg each other on.

I think, medically, it's called a folie a deux. Yes

# ..But give in to the madness

# Made of two. #

Oh, no!

Why are you so keen for this?

Why?

BOY SHOUTS

Wow, what a big, strong boy, aren't you?

I advertised for a man.

OK? There you go, I am out, out of the closet.

Yeah!

Of course, it wasn't.

No, it was the Times, I wanted somebody who would read.

I've...not... I can't remember

..ish?

I think I was 43, single, independent means.

And it was just somebody to go out with to...

It was actually a companion, it wasn't a lover.

# ..For if all you have just ain't enough... #

BOY CRIES

..So many women who say,

"I've got two children, I am so busy." And...how?

I mean, how do you fill your day?

Oh, seven.

CHILD SCREAMS

You've bitten her, you've really, really hurt her. She is crying

What is it, Oliver?

Then come here and say sorry to Kendal,

and then you can come through and then we'll be fine.

You have to say sorry, otherwise you'll go back on the stairs.

You have to say sorry. She was crying.

If you don't say sorry, you have to go back on the stairs.

Yeah, all right. Leave my little bastard out of it, please!

Yeah, and she will be married for all of them, I hope.

I love you, Mum.

Look at that. They're all so individual.

OK, well, put quite simply,

my partner and I purchased a house in the centre of York with

the intention of opening it as a hotel, very sort of upmarket

but a small hotel. I hesitate to use the word "boutique"

but, you know, that kind of thing.

So, if I kick off with where we are up to...

We have now appointed a full design team..

We've got a quantity surveyor, we've got M consultants,

we've got acoustic consultants we've got interior designers

and we've got an architect, which is me.

And these are just some sort of examples of, you know,

the kind of style we're thinking about.

That's fine. That's beautiful. That's wonderful. Look at that

I see that working.

We'll probably do a feature wall, so it could be that

or it could be that.

Like a kid in a candy shop at the moment.

LAUGHTER

And then that sort of level of nice simplicity.

That's beautiful. Yeah, that would be fantastic.

And you know, we've got a really nice bathroom

for the Minster Room, which... this is a fabulous room.

I'm very happy with that. I think it works really well.

We need to be terribly exclusive,

almost like a wonderful secret. This place has got to be the best-kept

little place that the hoi polloi don't know about.

We are steering clear of branding it as a hotel or a bed and breakfast,

or boutique this or boutique that.

We are just simply going to call it Gray's Court.

Yes, we are at risk. The bank isn't at risk, I don't think.

We are at risk, because if it fails dismally,

we'll stand to lose everything invested and our home.

I mean, I don't think we'd come out...we'd come out with nothing.

BOY SCREAMS

It's not...

I was in this position when I had a good income, no mortgage,

no debts, didn't have to worry about anything.

I had it, I got there, I'd done it.

..And suddenly has taken their security away?

Yes, I do.

I've had the accusation levelled at me

by more than one cross teenager that, how could you have done

this to us? I needed another challenge, I think.

I needed more.

Oh, that's her, leaving the bin out all the time.

You know how she used to leave the bin in the courtyard all the time,

outside her door, her gate. She did it, and I thought, "Sod this!"

She is doing it to be annoying. So I sent John out to move it.

Put it round the front. In the front door.

The number of times we've had this.

MUSIC: "Sway" sung by Lucy Ward

I am sure you... John.

I am sure, you can just not leave it here.

# ..Like a lazy ocean hugs the shore

# Hold me close, sway me more

# Like a flower bending in the breeze

# Bend with me, sway with me

# When we dance he'll have a way with me

# Stay with me, sway with me... #

No, you're not doing this.

You are either putting it in your yard.

You're not leaving it in my property.

You're not leaving that bin on my property.

Are you taking it through there now?

Please take that bin through to your courtyard.

Is that what you're doing now?

# ..Make me thrill as only you know how

# Sway with me, sway me now... #

My dear, why are you doing this

You're not leaving that bin here.

You've no right to do so.

I've had to call the council about you leaving it out to be annoying.

I will give you five minutes. If it hasn't gone, I am phoning

the police, and I will remove it again, and put it on your property.

This is absolutely unbelievable isn't it?

That this is the level we're reduced to.

The worst kind of neighbour dispute And you really,

really wouldn't expect it from these people.

No.

What? Do you mean with her?

We've got 11 months.

You know, we are on countdown to opening day.

You know, really, we are looking at 11 months.

We've said to him, you know, we are on, we are on a roll, we are

spending money, we cannot stop now.

We are looking at the quotes from the interior decorator,

and they are horrific.

?50,000. 50,000 plus per room.

And that's not even the bathrooms, that is just the bedrooms.

We have, yes, yes.

We did owe a relatively small amount, that won't be

so relatively small by the time we've borrowed the extra million.

But, we're confident, confident enough that it's worth it.

And I mean, we've got very, very good, you know...

The bank have been brilliant, I have to say.

We'll end up, perhaps,

getting on towards ?2 million in debt when this is over.

So, it's up to me to make it work from that point in.

I mean, having persuaded John to do all of this.

I'd already sold my main properties, where I was living before.

I used to have a couple of holiday cottages

and my house, all of which I'd sold.

So, I had the capital from that to put into this.

TV: Britain's second biggest bank, the Royal Bank of Scotland,

which owns NatWest, has just announced

a loss of ?691 million in the first half of the year.

RBS wrote down a further ?5.1 billion linked to the banking crisis,

that started in the United States.

I mean, it was just splashed all over the papers - RBS massive

losses, losses, you know? Biggest in banking history.

And NatWest is under the RBS umbrella.

Our borrowing is going to be sort of

basically ?1 million more than we thought we were going to want.

So, it's not as if we're going back for ?200,000 or ?300,000 contingency,

we're actually doubling the amount we need to borrow.

It's a, "How much do you need? I think...I mean,

when do you know when to stop?

It's like me with children, I suppose.

There's always room for one more!

I never did know when to stop. That's our trouble.

Excuse me! Excuse me!

Can you get that van out of here, please?

You're not allowed in here, this is private.

I don't know why you have been told to come in here again.

This is not National Trust property, this is our garden.

They might say you can park in here.

They have no right to say you can park here, I am really sorry.

Our neighbours are the National Trust,

and they like to use our courtyard for parking and deliveries.

If the bank manager wasn't here I'd park across the entrance now

and they would not be leaving.

The main issue with our neighbours is

that they're trying to colonise our land.

I'm glad that you find it amusing!

Will you please give me your company's name,

so I can get in touch with your boss?

Because if you do come in here again, I will barricade you in Do you understand that?

Are you or are you not going to give me a number I can call?

Will you give me a number I can call, please?

I take it no.

Please be aware that if you come in here again

you will not be leaving these premises. Is that clear?

Have you seen this prick out here? Refused to move!

Just completely blanked me and barged past with his boxes

No, he won't give it to me.

I've asked him several times and he just won't give it to me.

He says he's been instructed to come in here. Here he is.

It's just becoming insufferable This is increasing,

that's the third one today. Is it? Yeah.

CHATTER OVER THE PHONE

1895? Mmm.

Once you get lawyers involved, there is no simple answer, is there?

We could spend our entire budget on defending our position,

and we cannot do it.

We own the courtyard, we own the freehold of it.

The National Trust are claiming prescriptive rights over

the courtyard.

That means it's like a right of way.

If you've walked along a footpath unopposed for 20 years or more, and

you can prove that you have, then you can claim the right to do it.

It becomes a right of way.

They are claiming they've done that for 20 years -

they've parked cars along there for 20 years.

Although, I wonder how much car usage there was 20 years ago.

This is typical of their parking.

We come into our lower gallery which is our entrance hall,

and it's rather like being an inspection pit.

It's a row of cars.

But they are told, "You park here." Yeah.

And it's...inflammatory.

Equally, we couldn't sell the house at the moment.

It is unsaleable due to this action.

We're trapped, so, yes, it does keep me awake

We're trapped in this nightmare .. situation

when we could lose everything.

BOY SHOUTS

Our guests will come up, they will come up the stairs, which is

a wonderful staircase, and then you know, while you are standing

there, looking at this fabulous hallway, and then, they'll go

through to the gallery, and that's the bit that takes your breath away.

So, it's a lead-up. I think the whole thing is like a stage setting.

It just builds up until you come into the gallery

I am quietly confident this place will be a success.

I am absolutely convinced it will, barring some disaster.

The chancellor, Alistair Darling has said Britain is facing

arguably the worst economic downturn in 60 years.

The situation is more profound and long-lasting

than people were expecting...

PHONE RINGS

Oh, hello!

Me? No! Why would he say that? Michael?

Gosh, no, not at all, I can't imagine why he'd say such a thing.

He's told the teachers I've been run over,

I'm in hospital in Leeds,

probably won't walk, it's dubious

as to whether I'll even live, and John is looking after them all

at home, and this is why he hasn't handed a piece of homework in.

Why are you doing this?

Because your brother has been incredibly naughty.

I'll get your brother to lift that up, because I can't carry it.

I've been hit in a car crash, I can barely walk. Did he not think

I'd be, you know, for six months in a wheelchair or something?

I've got parents' evening, for God's sake, on Monday.

Was I going to get better by Monday?

Michael told you this?

He lied, so he didn't get told off about the homework,

and he stole your homework and handed that in.

Go to your room now! Get your school clothes off!

And handing in Morgan's homework as yours!

Shut up and get your school clothes off

Don't! Don't tell me it was a mistake.

Michael, you lie and you're stupid with it.

And then you came out with this ridiculous story.

Do you know what could have happened?

Had they believed it, they could have called the social services

and they would have come in... Yes!

Yes, you are, Michael! Just stop lying!

You are demented, Michael. Why would you act like this?

I don't beat you, I don't abuse you. All I ask you is that you behave

yourself, act decently, do your homework and keep your room tidy.

We are going out.

PHONE RINGS

Well...he has phoned up telling us not to worry,

which in itself sets off alarm bells.

They're basically looking at the entire loan again.

He's saying things like we are going to treat it as a completely

new application.

Yes, of course, you know, we both are sort of sitting there

with a cold chill running down the back of our necks.

What if, God forbid, they should turn around

and say, "We've actually changed our mind about the whole project"? We've got the loan offer, we've got

the letter in our hot little hands, but if they're going to sort of

go back and revisit the entire thing, of course we're alarmed

WHISTLING

Good heavens! Oh, God, who is this? Oh, delightful!

They're spitting in the yard. Smoking! Oh, it's the convicts

You know, I don't know what these people have been imprisoned for

and the National Trust bring them in through our property,

and they won't have them in their front garden.

And, you know, I am all for community service,

but do it on your property, not mine.

I don't want them here.

I need to take a photo.

Sorry about this.

It's difficult when it's right in your face every flaming day

Well, everyone needs to have a copy.

The bank now come back saying that in the light of the current

financial climate, they want us to deliver the whole project for 1 2,

to build and fit out the project.

So we've got to look to save ?340,000 in round terms.

I know.

The bank have kind of taken a sharp intake of breath

and they're reviewing all of their lending commitments.

They can't... Well, they can give us nothing at all

but that leaves us in a position when we're not able to earn a penny.

The interest rolls up,

and you know, at the moment we're not able to pay anything back.

We're just accumulating debt.

If we could get the funding, it's a great time,

if we can just get the funding You know, for some people, recession is the time to expand.

You know, the bank own your house, everybody has this,

but somehow you maintain the fiction that until...that it's yours.

Of course, it's not yours until the last payment has been made.

Because that's what they do.

This is quite serious, you know We owe a lot of money, and we've got

to... If we don't do anything, if we do nothing, the interest will

keep on rolling up, and the bank will own the house anyway.

BBC News.

TV: You do have to go back to the late '20s, to '29, the great crash,

to come across, you know, a combination of events on this scale.

I mean, what we've seen is Lehman Brothers, a 150-year-old

investment bank, one of the best known names on Wall Street,

collapsing.

He said the market's just completely crashed.

These people normally have 100 lenders they can go to

and they're down to two!

She said...everything. Swiss, Sharia, Saudi banks. Nobody...

Nobody is lending.

And it's worldwide, she said. There's just two banks lending

Lloyds and Barclays

If we could find another lender who will give us what we want...

'Yes. Did you get... You've got Barclays on Wednesday.'

Super, that's fine. I'll tell John. He will be thrilled by that.

He can stay here for that perhaps. 'And then you've got, Thursday Lloyds TSB.'

We've got meetings with Barclays and Lloyds next week.

Yes.

Well, I mean, it couldn't have happened at a worse time,

as far as all the banks stopping lending.

They are not lending to each other, and they are not lending

to the public, but nevertheless we have made some preliminary

enquiries of other banks and, in principle, they've shown interest.

So, all we can do is discuss it with them, and see if we can get somebody

else lined up in case our present funders decide to pull the plug

Seriously worried?

Well, yes, because... Yes, if the bank withdraw support,

frankly we'd be left with having to sell the building,

and we'd take a huge hit on it

It's not particularly sellable

I'd still go, yeah. Sorry! I'm not going to say no!

CHILD: Ow! Ow!

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight...eight cars.

It's just obscene.

This, of course, won't have any effect, this sign,

but you never know.

It's going to be clamping next, I think.

I had a huge row with one of them yesterday.

Just come forward a bit. That will do, that should do it

I hope that works. I doubt it, of course.

What I'm going to do now is take the other ones off.

There, that should do...there.

I'll get it cleared with the solicitors that

I can put it in the middle of the drive,

so they can't get in and out, and he'll probably say no.

They can get past.

But why shouldn't I?

I don't want them touching it. I don't think they should touch it.

DOG BARKS

Would you please leave that sign alone? Do not do that!

You have absolutely no right to behave like that.

That sign is there to alert the public not to come in here

No, not at all. I don't need alerting.

You absolutely do. This is private property, and you're on there.

Would you please pick my sign up? You're not...you have no...

Send another policeman round.

You have a duty to put that sign back.

No, I haven't. Get away! You have no duty to put it there.

Of course I do. Stay there! Oliver, stay!

Stay there!

The idea is that you move it to one side, you pull through,

and then you put it back.

That's not my idea. My idea is to stop you preventing us

from escaping. I'm not preventing you from escaping.

Yes, you are. You can sue us for trespass.

Exactly what we're doing. No, you are not.

What do you mean, we are not? Oh, no, you are not.

This has nothing to do with you You are just a tenant.

It's that lot...trespassing.

He is a barrister. He is a QC. He is a QC, retired QC.

I'm going to phone the solicitor's. Oh, for God's sake, who is that

If I just leave a message, it's about Mr Gray.

It's a trespass issue.

He is continuing to... I need to have a word with him, to ask him

just to call the other party's solicitors, and tell him to stop.

Here we are. There she is, yeah

Thousands.

I would think, yeah. Here he is ..

Well, actually, strictly speaking, we are

not having a battle with him at all.

He is a tenant of the Trust.

I mean, it's bad enough taking on the National Trust,

but taking on the National Trust with a very,

very angry QC on their side, somebody with a personal

interest in making us suffer..

..yeah, of course it's a worry.

We have a loan offer, but we revisited the project,

and we've been told to cut right back.

The costings have gone up to 1.4 million to renovate

the property, to turn it into a 12-bedroomed hotel.

Our fear is that they

are actually going to...that they don't want to do it any more.

About three weeks ago, we had a rather curt letter

saying that we had to keep within budget.

The letter we got the week after that Alistair Darling pronouncement,

and we just have this sense of doom.

So, this is going to be the main suite.

So, just a really, really fabulous bathroom in here.

Oliver put his fingers in the man's ear.

He's crept up behind the sofa,

and the next thing you know, there's a finger being shoved in his ear.

And they were so enthusiastic about the whole thing.

You know they were just... Really, really good feeling about this

What a good day this has been.

But touch wood, touch wood. And all that.

Things might possibly be on a turn.

TV: 'Since August 2007,

'the industrialised world has been engulfed by financial turmoil.

'And following the failure of Lehman Brothers on 15th September

'this year, an extraordinary,

'almost unimaginable sequence of events began.

'Not since the beginning of the First World War

'has our banking system been so close to collapse.'

Fucking hell! Fuck, fuck, fuck

It's just stopping.

The entire economy is just grinding to a halt.

Yeah, I mean, fortunately, York as a city,

hasn't been hit as badly as the rest of the country.

Yeah, of course, I am not denying that, John.

It's a bad time. Everything is a bad time at the moment.

It's not much fun. Not really, not now.

What? Just walked in and done it?

And turned it over? Fucking hell!

Fucking hell!

What? What?

What, Mum?

We are going to phone the other banks today

because we've not heard back from Barclays.

Lloyds... I'm just praying something comes up there.

Hope you've got a long tape.

Hello, Nick. It's Helen Heraty here from Gray's Court in York

I saw you at the bank last week

We are with NatWest, you see, and it's RBS, as you know.

We've got a loan agreement, we've got everything there,

but they kind of stopped giving us any more money.

That's Barclays, that's that, Lloyds...

The total cost of the job is 1.1 million, of all the work

We've brought it right down to 1.1 million.

We wanted to spend more. It's not a colossal amount.

How secure are we? We are not.

Hotel sector is difficult at the moment.

Completely new territory, isn't it? Nobody knows.

Even the banks, I don't think know, so...

SHE SIGHS

Jesus.

They're in on Monday. Nobody is there till Monday.

OK.

All right then. OK. Bye.

Fairly abrupt.

Maybe this is it. This is the pits...

and it'll all get better from now on.

Hmm...

I can't even afford a decent bottle of wine.

He says, "It's very detailed, it's absolutely transparent."

Yeah, but what does that mean?

We don't need details, we just need the money.

But he kept saying they're fully behind the project, and he is..

We just need the money. I realise that.

Maybe I'm just the eternal optimist.

Pessimist, so...

Maybe we'll meet in the middle and we will get going.

I don't know. But he's so worried. He's not sleeping.

Neither am I.

Oh, God!

The business manager for Lloyds I'm prevaricating.

I don't want to make the damn phone call, that's what it is.

Bite the bullet.

I've got butterflies.

What kind of things are problematic?

All right. OK.

He said that it's projection led, it's...

..it's the times, it's the times.

Oh, for goodness' sake!

Hi, Roger, it's Helen here.

Hi. Well, Lloyds are not keen.

I mean, NatWest haven't said no but John is just anxious that they

will string us along, as they have done for so long.

Gilbert Gray. It is Gilbert Gray. Be quiet.

Be quiet, Oliver.

Bastard! I didn't get it, I'm so sorry.

I need to show it to the police

Absolute idiot! Here, take him Don't let him get squashed.

Move your car, please. That is vandalism.

What is? What you have just done is just vandalism.

Kicking that sign over like that. Would you move your car?

I'm going to have to get out later to pick up my kids from school

No. I can park where I like on my property.

Move your car, please.

You act like a vandal.

You act as if you had been brought up on some kind of sink estate

I wouldn't expect this kind of behaviour. And you, of all people...

I beg your pardon?

You come onto my property, you are abusive, you are unpleasant.

I should not have to tolerate that several times a day.

Yeah, well... I'll call John now.

I've spoken with Lloyds, and it's not altogether good news.

The bank said no.

The finance people have come back with a couple of issues.

One is that it's largely projection led.

No. What do we do?

Bye.

We are not dead in the water, we've still got NatWest.

But I just... I just...

Something makes me

think it's really not going to be very good.

Yeah, yeah, big time.

I'm going to have to think about putting people down to

a three-day week after Christmas.

All the people are going to lose their jobs,

then they'll have to go on the benefits.

And where is that going to come from?

What happens when everybody runs out of money?

SHE LAUGHS

Well, I think when you first asked me

that question - if I had my time again - things were different.

The banking crisis hadn't... kicked off.

Oh, hand on heart, I mean if I was in the same position now...

I would have to think... I don't know.

I still can't categorically say no.

But you know...

..for the children's security,

I would perhaps say...I wouldn't have done it now.

Oliver, I need to make a phone call,

and I can't have you crying. All right?

Well, you're not going to have any.

And if you keep on asking, you'll end up on the stairs.

You've got to eat something.

No, sweets aren't on offer.

HE CRIES

You are not having some sweets

I can't do this with you...

How about a yummy hot omelette?

I think I'm going to have a yummy hot omelette.

Sweetie, come on now.

TV: 'We're taking action to respond to the immediate financial crisis,

'so we in Britain, have the strength and we have everything

'it takes to face the global storm and to emerge as a country stronger.

'Thank you very much.'

But the banks aren't lending, they're just not doing it.

Doesn't matter what happens, the banks are not doing anything.

They're just not playing ball.

Yeah, into recession all through 2009.

It's deeply worrying.

I was quite shocked, though, when I heard Gordon Brown's

idea about getting out of this problem was to borrow more.

I was thinking, "Why?" You know, you don't want to borrow more.

We are in trouble, because we've borrowed so much

Says me, trying to borrow ?2 million.

I've written one cheque. That's it. But I can...

Oh, shit.

Have they paid it, or is it bouncing?

Oh, my God. Left us... Shit.

Can't bounce cheques on them. Any of them.

We're sinking. It's, you know.. Financially, it's not good.

It's a black hole at the moment

What's happening is that every month,

every quarter, the interest rolls up and it goes onto the loan,

and it just gets larger and larger, and it's snowballing.

About 10,000 a month.

No.

PHONE RINGS

Oh.

I've just had a phone call from these people.

The sound engineer's being really, really abusive, incredibly abusive.

Shouldn't have to put up...

Yeah.

We've got a bill we have to pay and if we don't pay it today,

we're going to get taken to court.

It's simple as that.

So, what I've got to do now is put a rocket under the bank manager

You know...I mean, we've gone into this, we've gone into this whole

partnership with the bank's backing, and now the goalposts are shifting.

We're being pressed by everybody.

It's... We can't answer the phones any more.

Well, again, we came to see you about this.

You know, we did this. We gave the new costings in months ago.

You know, we're just being stalled here.

OK...right.

All right. We'll do that.

All we can do is issue that cheque.

But it's just one of a...

PHONE RINGS

We can pay that cheque.

All right, and what about the others?

Nothing...on the others.

I said, that, you know,

I covered the point that we went into it as a partnership.

We felt that we've been strung along for the best part of the year.

Every time we get to the prescribed goalposts,

they're taken further away.

We're going to be absolutely ruined by this.

We feel that we've been left hung out to dry.

He can't have failed to get that we're deeply,

deeply concerned and disillusioned.

SHE SIGHS

PHONE RINGS

THUNDER CLAPS

Maybe they just...

..haven't got it.

I can't believe that, though, somebody has got it all.

Where's the money gone?

I thought I had a 50p. Is there 50p loose in the bottom of my bag?

20, 50, ?1.

They always have been. They've always known it's been difficult.

When Amber gets cross, she sort of hurls it back at me

How I should never have done this to them.

VIDEO GAME SOUND EFFECTS

I mean, John is...

He puts a very brave face on it

We were talking this weekend. He has terrible, terrible problems with his work

He just needs that to go. Incredibly precarious.

Everybody has been encouraged over the last ten years.

Property has always been pushed forward as the way to wealth.

You know, you couldn't open a newspaper,

or look at the TV without things like Location

and Do Up Your House, Buy A House And Do Better(!)

Why, Mummy?

PHONE RINGS

Hi, John.

Really?

Oh, Jesus.

So where does that leave us?

Oh, Christ.

So, Sarah, Lisa has gone... Sarah...I know, but what can we do?

There's no work. There's nothing coming in.

Mum?

Mum!

HE CRIES

Just another nail in the coffin isn't it, really?

He's had to lay the staff off.

Yeah.

It's extremely worrying. Yeah.

PHONE RINGS

I know.

I know.

# In the bleak midwinter... #

No.

It always does this.

Every single time something important happens, it just dies

Our boiler's stopped working this morning.

It's worked perfectly all year...until now.

Helen says, "Oh, it's fine, nothing is wrong with this boiler."

Every time there's a significant event, like Christmas, it fails

That's it. I'm not doing it. I did this last Christmas.

I hate it.

Well, this morning the meeting is with the bank to discuss

the funding.

Bloody boiler. What am I going to do with that damn boiler?

The banks are all behaving in a slightly unpredictable

way at the moment.

I guess it all hinges on today really.

It's key to everything. We can't move until we have that.

Valuation seems to be key.

Everything...everything is based on the valuation of the building.

So we need to get that done again.

Valuation, bricks and mortar, valuation of the building,

and the trading potential.

Er, so, that's about it, really

60%, well, so we can borrow the amount we need.

Well, comfortably... We need it to be worth about 3.5 million

by the time... Certainly no less

than 3.5 million by the time it s completely refurbished.

I don't think... We're not uncomfortable with that figure

It's always QUITE positive after we've seen him.

So, I have turned the entire thing off

and I'm going to start it up again and bash the pump when it starts.

Tap it gently with a hammer.

You got Ratatouille.

If it works, if we get going,

it will be the last time we can use the house for ourselves.

What I'd love to do, of course, is just be able to live in it as it is.

BIG BEN CHIMES

TV: 'Well, you've heard the chimes and that is it -

'a very happy new year 2009!'

Oh!

No.

This is New Year's Day.

The house manager of the National Trust has invited three

carloads of friends to come and stay over.

To celebrate New Year's Eve. Yeah.

They came, and I asked them not to park in here, but they refused

I even went round to the house knocked on the door and explained

that I would park in front of the drive, and they wouldn't leave

But they just thought it was hysterically funny.

It's early morning. I should think

they'll look out the windows fairly soon,

and then they'll start to think that perhaps I'm not going to move.

And I'm sure they'll ask me to move,

and I'll say, "No, you had your chance. I'm sorry.

I don't have to go anywhere. I can stay here for a week if I like

I live here. They can laugh.

I've got all the time in the world here.

Come on, ladies, wake up!

I shall have to remind these ladies that I'm older than they are

and I've got more insurance.

No need to be here at all.

Oh, yeah, yeah, it's quite good fun, actually.

I'm going to stake it out for until...stake it out for a

few days and see what happens.

12 o'clock. Come on, ladies, shake a leg.

You've finally woken up.

They just got a policewoman, who's told me I'm going to have my car towed away.

She is on her phone to her inspector saying

they are going to move the car have it towed.

I'm not moving it.

Right. I can hear you in these earphones.

Are you moving the car or not? Cos I'm... I'm not. In fact, I'll phone my solicitor now,

because you haven't got the right to do this.

Hello. Another policeman has arrived, and he is in agreement

that I can park where I like. Yeah.

I mean, she is, she is quite bolshie, but...

Ohh! Are you allowed to say things like that?

Right.

I'd like them to come and see me. Hello, puppy.

She won't come and see you, cos she said she is afraid of you.

Who? The lady with the blonde hair.

She's afraid of me.

Wow.

I realise that, but what did you think, you know...you think

I'm just a mad woman who goes round telling you not to park here?

I explained to you that it's private property.

You seemed to find it was, you know, amusing.

PHONE RINGS

Hi. They've apologised.

Yes, they have. They've apologised.

No, sulkily. Not sincerely.

I've never seen less sincere apologies in my life.

But they had to do it. And was Jan there, was she?

No, she wouldn't come out, because she's too scared of me

HE LAUGHS

TV: 'The problem we've got now is that lending,

'for a number of reasons, is not taking place to businesses

'and people needing mortgages

'at anything like the level that we need it to support the economy.

They are not good.

Yes.

Here I am. Here I am.

Here I am. Here I am.

Here I am.

Yes, Oliver, I know.

You're going to go under the table,

and I have to guess where you've gone? Yes.

Right. That should be...

Where could Oliver be? Are you...are you?

No, you are under the table!

I did.

It's my entire life, my future in a nutshell.

Our future, I should think less about me. It's our future

Me, the kids, John...

..guinea pigs will be out

there on the street, otherwise with our cardboard box!

7 children, 2 dogs, and 2 guinea pigs. The cat will have

buggered off next door with Gilbert Gray.

It's been seven weeks since we agreed we'd get the valuation done.

You know, that's seven wasted weeks.

We've been in this position for the best part of the year now.

You know, we've done everything we've been asked.

We feel, you know, totally left out on a limb here

I think it's the end of the road, I really do.

I just... The bank are continuing to fuck us up.

OK. Because we've got incredibly serious problems here.

I mean, we've got sort of threats of legal action on several fronts.

Yeah. It's not just him. He's just a minion. He's got no power.

It's the whole rotten system.

When can we to start pay people

I've got, you know, builders camping in the yard practically

because I owe them money.

He's got 40 cases just like ours...struggling.

But we're going nowhere,

going round and round and round in circles.

Cut. Ah!

It keeps coming back to, you know, we want more than the bank

are willing to lend.

But we're working to the figure they gave us

in August, and it's not fair to turn around and say, you know,

the world has changed since then.

We didn't change it, you did.

PHONE RINGS

OK, darling. That's Oliver.

He's cut his finger.

Kendal, Morgan, Kendal, Amber.

Constant battle between life as it ought to be

and life as it really, really is.

We're cleaning.

I thought this hall was being tidied, and it's not.

A good valuation...

..even a reasonable valuation is more than we need.

Well, I'm not apprehensive.

It's just...it's just...

..the whole funding depends on it.

Well, yes, because, I mean, they've been fully behind this right from

the start, and they've known what expenditure we were incurring on it.

It's wrong.

And if that sounds naive, I'm sorry, but it's just plain wrong.

Umm...I don't, I don't know.

It's looking a bit bare at the moment,

but we've just had all the garden redone last autumn.

Double vanity units, they're done to quite a good standard.

If we just quickly look at the Stern Room.

Apparently so.

One of the Georges. Our little plaques say kings have been here.

And we've got new hot water.

Boilers are all going in these areas.

From where we were 12, 18 months ago,

I mean it varies enormously, depending what you're

looking at, but, yes, values have...significantly fallen.

We need him to come up with 3.5 million when it's done.

Yeah, and sends it to the bank

No money till Thursday morning

So we're living off...bits out of the fridge.

But we're fine.

Cat, I will kill you if you keep on at me.

Poor thing!

Ah, come on, don't show me doing the lottery.

That's like the last refuge of desperate people.

I realise this, it's the idiot tax.

It's actually good for the nation...you know...

..giving it to me!

It's also the last act of somebody who's desperate.

You know it doesn't make sense

All the high street banks have gone, I've got the National Lottery,

because the banks have all said no.

In fact, I've probably got as much chance getting

a loan from the bank as we do on winning that thing, so...

"I'm sorry."

I can't believe that. I just..

It's done.

Yes, dear.

Yeah. A broken dream, that's what that is, a shattered dream

Mum...

Try and go now.

Oh.

Oh, my God.

Right.

I need peace and quiet in the study for a couple of minutes, please

Something important has arrived OK?

Go away! I need peace and quiet so I can read it.

Never mind. Our future.

What?! Half a million pounds?

You are getting half a million No. I mean...

Fucking... Sorry.

No, I'm not.

1.4, finished.

And 1.8 after three years' decent trading. Christ.

Hi, John, it's me, can you give me a ring soon as you get this, please?

I've got the report, and it's worse than we could ever,

ever have imagined.

It's...good God!

We're completely and utterly fucked.

Oh, shit!

That's us absolutely dead in the water.

They're not going to lend us a penny.

Have you read it?

Yeah, fine, it's fine.

Would you like to go and make some tea, darling?

?500,000 today, as it stands.

It's just...it's just...I don't...I don't know.

I thought, "Is there a typing error?"

But no, it's very clearly set out.

Nobody could have thought this I don't know what to do.

I mean, as you say...

PHONE HANGS UP

I do.

Yeah.

Yes. Absolutely.

Can somebody check Oliver's shoes, please? Where?

Bloody dog.

I haven't stepped on it. Somebody has. Get your shoes off, all of you.

Right, take your shoes outside I'm going to kill that little shit.

I do not need any more. I just don't need this.

What a disgusting dog! Bad dog

She's just came in, she was trailing poo as she came in.

Bloody hate this dog. What a fuck-up.

Yeah.

No, darling. I haven't really killed it.

It's just a figure of speech.

No, darling. No.

She is in her bed, hiding.

I don't think so. I think she's hiding in her bed.

If she has got any sense, she would be hiding under her bed.

Look, there she is there.

No, she is lying in there as if she hasn't got a care in the world.

Homeless, jobless... This was the job. This was the income.

I do not know.

No, nothing. Not a clue.

I'm going to be dealing with a very, very anxious man.

And I'm...

Everybody knows house values have gone down,

but we were thinking, worst-case scenario,

they're going to have gone down to the level when we bought it.

You know, what we paid for it.

We never thought there would be a scenario where there'd be no money

coming in whatsoever, which is the logical conclusion of the valuation.

Because the loan-to-value ratio doesn't allow any

further advances to be made.

My worst-case scenario was that we'd have 500,000 or 600,000,

and we'd just have to find a way to go through with that,

but even that has been wiped out, completely.

There's nothing. Potentially, there's nothing.

Anyway, we'll have to see.

And at least if we could get, you know, functions and a cafe going.

I could, at least, pay the interest and stop us sinking further.

Keep the table up there as it is, keep that end as it is, huge

bunches of flowers, dress it up

Shelf, mirrors...

All right, it's not what he would like.

And he likes everything done absolutely perfectly first time

but if it's the case of getting it done by hook or by crook...

Coat of paint, we're going to paint the walls

Don't get me wrong, I think to open this incredibly smart four-star

all-singing, all-dancing place would be great, but...

Well, yes, and I still could be

But I think, the fixation on getting that is just going to bring

everything crashing down around it.

We can't have that.

Sanded and polished all the way through.

I've got some big rugs for along here.

Do it ourselves. Just start it somehow.

I think he's realising we've no option.

It might be a bit inflammatory

I'm placing pots in the courtyard.

Shall I just start putting them across...in line with the bottom

trees to stop them coming beyond that point, beyond the tree line?

Or is that too provocative right now?

That is a really valuable space a beautiful space, and I think it

will... Tables, chairs, umbrellas...

We're just landscaping our garden.

We've had a very stroppy letter from their solicitors saying,

"Remove those plants. They're infringing on our client's rights."

She said we should take the plants out as well.

Right, I'm going to get another bay tree, just to annoy them.

How dare they think they can throw us out of our courtyard?

It's squatter's rights, as you or I would know them.

They want all of that...they want to own that.

Yes.

Oh, yes, even stronger.

What we thought what they were claiming prior to this was

a right to use.

You know, even if we didn't like it,

they were claiming a right to use it.

What they now are claiming is a right to own it.

Am I just putting it on the floor?

Yes, just go straight up to the top post.

And remember not to step on the wet stuff.

Really is, I can't believe it. It's really, really exciting.

So, here is the new kitchen. It's beautiful.

60 grand.

Yeah. No matter how you try to cut costs.

Well...

We are stony broke. We've got credit cards.

It's that bad, it's that bad.

I'll fly down to the corner shop and buy some milk.

Or I would if I had any money.

I haven't even got enough for a pint of milk. Bloody hell.

If we can just get safe,

if we can just have enough money to pay the bills and stop

sinking into debt, and just enough money to enable us to live here

It's not a lot to ask.

No.

Aspiration?

We need to make our food orders tonight,

and get everything up and going and we're there, we're done.

Somehow things have just come together in the last minute.

Then we'll just have to pack our bags

and slink off, tails between legs, I suppose.

I don't know what we'd do.

At least, even if we don't turn a profit,

at least if we stop the funds haemorrhaging out.

All the outgoings, even if we just stabilise it.

Here, we are both so hopeful.

You know, we're both still working so hard to try

and put it right, that if we did have to go, it would

be...I think it would be very painful for both of us.

Not painful for the neighbours of course.

We are open.

The first pound coin that crosses my palm

is the turning point.

That's ?5, yeah.

So that's right, then.

Chipping away at an iceberg with a little toothpick.

I have no idea.

What's going on with that tea?

It seems to be quite busy.

I think we need more tables out there.

Right, John. Is there any chance of delivering these? Yeah.

And then can you give the table a wipe? Yeah.

I don't think we've even covered the wages.

We're just going to the city archives

to hopefully uncover some information about

the state of the courtyard.

I'm hoping that we will find something

that will put this whole thing to rest

because it's just gone on long enough.

Very early, I think perhaps...

It's the world over, isn't it?

It's the courtyard, that's the issue.

Yes. Look at that.

Good grief.

1980.

Then they're going to claim prescriptive right for parking.

This is what they want to do, you see...just park.

I'm afraid it does.

Oh, dear.

It's a silly thing,

everybody else manages to get their bins in,

and yet...

this woman...

..leaves her bin in our entrance.

Yes.

The reality is that area of land is lost to us. It's gone.

We can't use it. We can't access it.

We can't do a thing to it.

We have no control any more over our own property.

The squatters have won.

I'm not sleeping, I can't eat.

Waking at three in the morning I hate going outside now.

You have to steel yourself and walk out

because you can't let them see what it's doing to you.

It will pass.

And we'll be here still.

Well...

It will pass.

This will succeed.

And we can sail off into the sunset.

Failing that, I'll drink myself into an early grave.

A couple of weeks ago we were sort of walking around

and had this huge sense of pride that we've done it,

against all the odds, we've actually... We were here

So...

Well, it's a project.

We don't have the luxury of

wondering whether we should not have done this,

or we should not continue to do it.

We have to do it, having embarked up on it.

It's not... It's not a project that you can abandon part way through.

So...

Well, that's a hypothetical question

MUSIC: "For The Dead Men" by Lucy Ward

Well, actually John said,

like he and I were sort of a..

What's he described us?

A folie a deux. That was it.

Either one of us would never have taken this place on without the

"Go on, we can do it. Go on."

Yeah.

No, he's been cremated.

And we're going to scatter him at Alnmouth Beach,

the beach at High Buston he loved so much.

I left him for a minute to go to the kitchen, came back

and he was on the floor.

And...

he...he died.

Just...no attempt to save himself, nothing, he was just gone.

Just...

His heart's just stopped and he died.

So, you know, you've got the,

"Never get sick, never get old,

all of this,

which sounds great, but...

Then on the other hand,

a bit more time wouldn't have been unreasonable

And it's so unfair.

Are you OK? Yeah, I'm all right.

All the work, everything we did

and he never gets to benefit from any of it.

It's just not fair.

It was just...his time, I suppose, but it's not fair.

It's not fair on me, it's not fair on the children

and it's really not fair for him.

He deserved better than this.

# A generation left to crawl

# With cuts to public services and national health reform

# It's all for one and none for all I guess we've been here before

# For the dead men I sing my song... #

We've got 11 rooms up here,

seven of which developed.

I'm hoping in the course of time to be able to do the next four

And we want to bring in more small, high-end weddings.

They are great. And, ironically ..

funerals, we do funerals very well.

# Stand up and take to the streets

# They can't ignore us if we all choose to speak

# Stand up and take to the streets

# They can't ignore us if we all choose to speak

# Stand up and take to the streets

# They can't ignore us if we all choose to speak. #

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd