0:00:22 > 0:00:24DISTANT ENGINE
0:00:24 > 0:00:26WHISTLE BLOWS
0:01:20 > 0:01:22Hello!
0:01:23 > 0:01:26Below there!
0:01:33 > 0:01:35Hello!
0:01:35 > 0:01:37Below!
0:01:56 > 0:01:58Is...
0:01:58 > 0:02:02Is there any path by which I may come down and speak with you?
0:02:02 > 0:02:04WHISTLE BLOWS >
0:02:15 > 0:02:17Is there a path?
0:02:21 > 0:02:23Thank you. I'll come down.
0:02:40 > 0:02:42Ah! Here we are.
0:03:07 > 0:03:10This must be a very lonesome spot to occupy, I should think.
0:03:14 > 0:03:16I saw you from above.
0:03:16 > 0:03:18I couldn't help watching.
0:03:20 > 0:03:23Forgive the intrusion, but I felt I had to know how you...
0:03:33 > 0:03:37That light, it's part of your charge, I should say, is it not?
0:03:37 > 0:03:40Don't you know that it is?
0:03:40 > 0:03:43You look at me as if you had some dread of me.
0:03:46 > 0:03:50I assure you there's nothing to fear. Nothing at all to fear.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56I am simply a man.
0:03:58 > 0:04:00FLAPPING >
0:04:04 > 0:04:07I have spent much of my life shut up within narrow limits.
0:04:09 > 0:04:14I've been confined, but now I am free.
0:04:15 > 0:04:18Why do you stare at me like that, man?
0:04:18 > 0:04:21I was doubtful whether I'd seen you before.
0:04:21 > 0:04:23Seen me? Where?
0:04:27 > 0:04:28Where?
0:04:28 > 0:04:30There?
0:04:31 > 0:04:33Why?
0:04:35 > 0:04:37What should I do there?
0:04:37 > 0:04:40My good fellow, I was never there in my life.
0:04:41 > 0:04:43You may swear it.
0:04:43 > 0:04:45Yes, I...
0:04:45 > 0:04:48I think I may.
0:04:49 > 0:04:50Yes...
0:04:52 > 0:04:54..I'm sure I may.
0:04:58 > 0:05:00It's cold.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09It's not the work, sir, it's the responsibility.
0:05:09 > 0:05:16- I should have thought... - There's not enough work here to tax the muscles or brain of a child.
0:05:17 > 0:05:21No, it's the responsibility, the duty.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24You seem to have things pretty much at your command.
0:05:24 > 0:05:30I believe I do, sir, but it never stops, do you see? It's always there to be done. It's never finished.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35And these months of late, I...
0:05:37 > 0:05:38Yes.
0:05:38 > 0:05:40BELL RINGS
0:05:46 > 0:05:48BELL RINGS AGAIN
0:06:06 > 0:06:08CLANGING
0:06:13 > 0:06:19- There you are, sir, that's my work. Nothing of interest to anyone but myself.- I am interested.
0:06:21 > 0:06:25So little to do with so much depending on it.
0:06:26 > 0:06:30I wonder what you do with your mind, in between your duties, I mean.
0:06:30 > 0:06:34You cannot spend your whole life reflecting on your responsibilities.
0:06:35 > 0:06:40Well, yes, sir, I use my mind, though there's precious little profit in it.
0:06:40 > 0:06:46You see those books? I've been trying to teach myself mathematics - fractions, decimals, algebra.
0:06:46 > 0:06:50- You're a scholar then? - Indeed I'm not, sir, no.
0:06:50 > 0:06:57No, I've no head for figures. I never had as a boy. I make a poor figure as a mathematics scholar.
0:06:57 > 0:06:59Then why?
0:06:59 > 0:07:01Well, it's the time, sir.
0:07:01 > 0:07:07I've all the time in the world to fill and nothing to do with the knowledge when I have it.
0:07:07 > 0:07:11Mathematics will do as well as anything else.
0:07:11 > 0:07:13It serves to pass...
0:07:18 > 0:07:20HOLLOW RING
0:07:41 > 0:07:44Is everything as it should be?
0:07:46 > 0:07:48I believe so.
0:07:56 > 0:08:01Tell me, do you spend all your hours of duty down here...
0:08:02 > 0:08:05..between these cold, dark walls?
0:08:07 > 0:08:09I'm accustomed to it.
0:08:12 > 0:08:18In the early days, I'd sometimes find a bit of slack time to climb up into the sunlight,
0:08:18 > 0:08:23but the work was always here to draw me down. I'd listen for the bell, you see.
0:08:23 > 0:08:28My face would be in the sun, but my mind would be down here in the dark
0:08:28 > 0:08:30and the shadows.
0:08:30 > 0:08:34I think the mind makes its own places, sir.
0:08:34 > 0:08:39You speak - forgive me - like a man of education.
0:08:39 > 0:08:43Oh, I was at one time, sir. A student of natural philosophy.
0:08:43 > 0:08:45But what does that tell us? Nothing.
0:08:45 > 0:08:51No motion without cause, a reason for everything. I found myself dissatisfied with it.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54- BELL RINGS - Make yourself comfortable, sir.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17ENGINE ROARS
0:09:37 > 0:09:39You've been asleep.
0:09:39 > 0:09:43Don't worry, you have no responsibilities here.
0:09:43 > 0:09:45Forgive me.
0:09:45 > 0:09:52You have no call to be here. And being here, there's no charge on you to do this or that.
0:09:53 > 0:09:56Sleep or wake, nothing will suffer for it.
0:10:01 > 0:10:03What brought you here?
0:10:05 > 0:10:08I was drawn here.
0:10:08 > 0:10:10Drawn? Yes, I...
0:10:10 > 0:10:13HOLLOW RING
0:10:45 > 0:10:47- That bell...- Yes?
0:10:50 > 0:10:55An accident on this stretch of the line must be a terrible thing.
0:10:56 > 0:10:59In the tunnel, say.
0:11:01 > 0:11:04The tunnel collision is the worst to be feared.
0:11:04 > 0:11:07Your nightmares would go hard to equal it.
0:11:08 > 0:11:12The wreckage becomes hideously compressed so they can find space.
0:11:12 > 0:11:19If fire breaks out, the tunnel and its ventilating shafts become furnace flues.
0:11:19 > 0:11:22You cannot see in the dark to get the wreckage and the bodies out.
0:11:24 > 0:11:27The screams of the injured and dying...
0:11:27 > 0:11:29echo in a most...
0:11:29 > 0:11:31persistent way.
0:11:31 > 0:11:34It's the shape of the tunnel, you see, sir.
0:11:36 > 0:11:39But you can only do your duty.
0:11:39 > 0:11:41Oh, yes, sir.
0:11:41 > 0:11:43And you have all this.
0:11:43 > 0:11:46This place of peace.
0:11:48 > 0:11:52- And you have no desires to go elsewhere?- I have not.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57Then I almost believe I have met with a contented man.
0:12:00 > 0:12:02Well, I must leave you now.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05It's a fair walk to the inn.
0:12:07 > 0:12:13- I believe I used to be a contented man, sir, but I'm troubled, I'm troubled.- With what?
0:12:13 > 0:12:18- What is your trouble?- It's difficult to impart, difficult to speak of,
0:12:18 > 0:12:22but if you pay me another visit, I'll try to tell you.
0:12:22 > 0:12:25I intend to make you another visit. When shall it be?
0:12:25 > 0:12:30I go off duty early in the morning, but I'm on again at 10 o'clock tomorrow night.
0:12:30 > 0:12:33- I shall come at 11.- Thank you, sir.
0:12:33 > 0:12:37I'll show you my white light till you've found your way.
0:12:37 > 0:12:39When you've found it,
0:12:39 > 0:12:41don't...don't call out.
0:12:44 > 0:12:48And when you come tomorrow night, don't call out.
0:12:49 > 0:12:51Very well.
0:12:51 > 0:12:53Let me ask you one question, sir.
0:12:53 > 0:12:58What bid you say, "Hello, below there," this evening?
0:12:58 > 0:13:00Heaven knows.
0:13:00 > 0:13:04- I said something to that effect.- Not to that effect. Those are the words.
0:13:04 > 0:13:07I said them, no doubt, because I saw you below.
0:13:07 > 0:13:12You have no feeling that they were conveyed to you in any...supernatural way?
0:13:15 > 0:13:17No.
0:13:18 > 0:13:21Then I'll wish you goodnight, sir, and Godspeed.
0:13:46 > 0:13:48DISTANT WHISTLE BLOWS
0:13:58 > 0:14:00DISTANT ENGINE
0:14:18 > 0:14:22'The tunnel collision is the worst to be feared.'
0:14:22 > 0:14:25ENGINE ROARS
0:14:34 > 0:14:37'Don't call out.
0:14:43 > 0:14:45'Don't call out.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49'Don't call out.'
0:14:51 > 0:14:53BIRDSONG
0:15:11 > 0:15:14You see, I've not called out.
0:15:15 > 0:15:17May I speak now?
0:15:17 > 0:15:19By all means, sir.
0:15:20 > 0:15:22Goodnight then,
0:15:22 > 0:15:24and here's my hand.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27Goodnight, sir, and here's mine.
0:15:41 > 0:15:47I've made up my mind, sir, you shall not have to ask me twice what troubles me.
0:15:48 > 0:15:50I took you for someone else last night.
0:15:50 > 0:15:53That troubles me.
0:15:53 > 0:15:55That mistake?
0:15:55 > 0:15:57That...someone else.
0:15:57 > 0:15:59Who is it?
0:16:01 > 0:16:03I...
0:16:03 > 0:16:05- I don't know.- Like me?
0:16:05 > 0:16:07I don't know. I never saw his face.
0:16:07 > 0:16:12The left arm is across the face and the right arm is waved.
0:16:14 > 0:16:16Violently waved.
0:16:16 > 0:16:18This way.
0:16:24 > 0:16:26As if to say...
0:16:26 > 0:16:29for God's sake, clear the way.
0:16:35 > 0:16:38One foggy night...
0:16:38 > 0:16:41I was sitting here
0:16:41 > 0:16:44watching the patterns in the fire...
0:16:45 > 0:16:47..and I heard a voice.
0:16:48 > 0:16:50Hello.
0:16:50 > 0:16:52Below there.
0:16:54 > 0:16:56Hello!
0:16:56 > 0:16:58Below there!
0:17:02 > 0:17:04Hello! Below there!
0:17:06 > 0:17:08What's wrong? What's happened?
0:17:08 > 0:17:10Come out! Come out!
0:17:13 > 0:17:15What? Where?
0:17:15 > 0:17:18Come out! Look out!
0:17:20 > 0:17:22Come out!
0:17:22 > 0:17:24Look out!
0:18:14 > 0:18:16BELL RINGS
0:18:16 > 0:18:19ALL THREE BELLS RING
0:18:32 > 0:18:35All well. All well.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40"All well" you telegraphed?
0:18:40 > 0:18:42I telegraphed both ways.
0:18:42 > 0:18:44"All well."
0:18:47 > 0:18:51I'm sure that this figure must be a deception.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54A deception of your sense of sight, I mean.
0:18:54 > 0:19:00A minor ailment of one of the delicate nerves that minister to the functions of the eye.
0:19:00 > 0:19:05I assure you, I have known many such cases, and the impairment is not permanent.
0:19:05 > 0:19:09- Experiment has proved these things to be so.- Experiment?
0:19:09 > 0:19:14We must look to our rational faculties for an explanation.
0:19:14 > 0:19:17If we abandon reason,
0:19:17 > 0:19:20how do we consider this imaginary cry?
0:19:23 > 0:19:28Do but listen for a moment to the wind in this unnatural valley.
0:19:28 > 0:19:31HOWLING WIND Even now as we speak.
0:19:31 > 0:19:33The...
0:19:33 > 0:19:38wild harp it makes of the telegraph wires.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42I know that sound well enough, sir.
0:19:42 > 0:19:43Well then.
0:19:43 > 0:19:45Still I have not finished.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50Within six hours,
0:19:50 > 0:19:53after the appearance...
0:19:55 > 0:20:00..the memorable accident on this line occurred.
0:20:07 > 0:20:09WHISTLE BLOWS
0:20:11 > 0:20:14HE WHISTLES
0:20:40 > 0:20:42ENGINE ROARS
0:21:03 > 0:21:05WHISTLE BLOWS
0:21:11 > 0:21:13CRASH!
0:21:24 > 0:21:27DISTANT WAILING AND COUGHING
0:21:35 > 0:21:42'And within ten hours, the dead and wounded were brought along through the tunnel
0:21:42 > 0:21:46'over the spot where the figure had stood.'
0:21:49 > 0:21:51Stretchers in here!
0:21:52 > 0:21:54WHEEZING
0:22:02 > 0:22:05CLANGING
0:22:52 > 0:22:55A remarkable coincidence, my friend.
0:22:57 > 0:22:59But no more than that.
0:23:00 > 0:23:03We are men of good sense.
0:23:03 > 0:23:07We must seek to understand the world by rational means.
0:23:08 > 0:23:12But we can allow coincidence. I think we can.
0:23:12 > 0:23:14But still I have not finished.
0:23:15 > 0:23:17That was just a year ago.
0:23:17 > 0:23:24Six or seven months past, and I'd recovered from the surprise and the shock,
0:23:24 > 0:23:27when one morning,
0:23:27 > 0:23:30'just as the day was breaking,
0:23:30 > 0:23:33'I stood at the door
0:23:35 > 0:23:38'..and looked towards the red light.'
0:23:41 > 0:23:44HOLLOW RING
0:24:06 > 0:24:09What is it?
0:24:09 > 0:24:11What is it?
0:24:13 > 0:24:15Where is the danger?
0:24:15 > 0:24:18Tell me what to do.
0:24:19 > 0:24:21Answer!
0:24:21 > 0:24:23What is it?
0:24:23 > 0:24:25What can I do?
0:24:34 > 0:24:36ENGINE ROARS
0:24:41 > 0:24:44WHISTLE BLOWS
0:24:45 > 0:24:47SCREAMING
0:24:58 > 0:25:00SCREECHING BRAKES
0:25:50 > 0:25:52'It's true, sir.
0:25:52 > 0:25:56'They brought her in and they laid her down on this floor between us.'
0:25:58 > 0:26:00It's true, sir, true.
0:26:00 > 0:26:04Precisely as it happened, so I tell you.
0:26:08 > 0:26:10BELL RINGS
0:26:12 > 0:26:15Now, sir, mark this...
0:26:16 > 0:26:18..the spectre came back a week ago.
0:26:20 > 0:26:24And it's been there now and again by fits and starts.
0:26:26 > 0:26:27At the light?
0:26:28 > 0:26:30At the danger light.
0:26:31 > 0:26:34What does it seem to do?
0:26:35 > 0:26:36You know what it does.
0:26:36 > 0:26:38I've shown you.
0:26:38 > 0:26:39Besides...
0:26:41 > 0:26:43..it does this.
0:26:52 > 0:26:54I have no rest, no peace for it.
0:26:56 > 0:26:59It calls me for minutes together.
0:27:00 > 0:27:01An agonised shout.
0:27:01 > 0:27:02"Below there!
0:27:02 > 0:27:04"Look out! Look out!"
0:27:05 > 0:27:08It stands there waving to me, rings my little bell.
0:27:08 > 0:27:11Twice, yesterday evening, while I was here.
0:27:11 > 0:27:14You knew. What do you know of this?!
0:27:14 > 0:27:16Nothing, my friend, I assure you.
0:27:16 > 0:27:19I simply observed you and made rational deductions.
0:27:20 > 0:27:23And I must tell you that that bell did not ring.
0:27:23 > 0:27:26My eyes were on the bell, my ears were on the bell
0:27:26 > 0:27:27and it never rang.
0:27:27 > 0:27:30Except in the natural course of things.
0:27:30 > 0:27:33By the station communicating with you, I mean.
0:27:33 > 0:27:37No, no, no, I never confuse the spectre's ring with the man's.
0:27:37 > 0:27:42The ghost's ring, sir, has a strange vibration in the bell that it derives from nothing else.
0:27:44 > 0:27:47I've not asserted that the bell stirs to the eye.
0:27:47 > 0:27:51I don't wonder that you fail to hear it, if you speak the truth,
0:27:51 > 0:27:52but I HEARD IT.
0:27:52 > 0:27:56And did the spectre seem to be there when you looked out?
0:27:56 > 0:27:58It WAS there.
0:27:58 > 0:28:00- Both times?- Both times.
0:28:04 > 0:28:08Will you come to the door with me now and look for it?
0:28:19 > 0:28:21Do you see it?
0:28:23 > 0:28:26I do not see it now.
0:28:26 > 0:28:28It is not there.
0:28:29 > 0:28:31Agreed.
0:28:42 > 0:28:45You see now, sir, what troubles me so dreadfully,
0:28:45 > 0:28:48what does this spectre mean?
0:28:48 > 0:28:51- I'm not sure that I understand you. - Oh, I think you do, sir.
0:28:51 > 0:28:52What is it warning me about?
0:28:52 > 0:28:55What is the danger? Where is the danger?
0:28:55 > 0:28:58Some dreadful calamity will happen to this line.
0:28:58 > 0:29:00It's not to be doubted this third time.
0:29:00 > 0:29:04Sir, this is a dreadful haunting of me, but what am I do to?
0:29:04 > 0:29:08If I telegraph "danger", I can give no reason. They'll think I'm mad.
0:29:08 > 0:29:09Message, "Danger. Take care."
0:29:09 > 0:29:11Answer, "What danger? Where?"
0:29:11 > 0:29:14Message, "Don't know, but for God's sake, take care."
0:29:14 > 0:29:17They would displace me. What else could they do?
0:29:17 > 0:29:20Please, my friend, you must compose yourself. I'm sure...
0:29:20 > 0:29:22When it first stood there under the danger light,
0:29:22 > 0:29:25why did it not tell me where they accident was to happen?
0:29:25 > 0:29:28And why did it not tell me how it could be averted?
0:29:28 > 0:29:30If it must be averted.
0:29:30 > 0:29:33Why did it not tell me on the second occasion?
0:29:33 > 0:29:36"She's going to die. Keep her at home."
0:29:36 > 0:29:38And now, what is it to be?
0:29:38 > 0:29:42And why me, for heaven's sake, a poor signalman on this station?
0:29:42 > 0:29:46Why not go to somebody with credit to be believed and power to act?
0:29:46 > 0:29:48My dear friend, you must listen to me.
0:29:48 > 0:29:50You must compose yourself.
0:29:51 > 0:29:55- Let us say that all these things are true.- They ARE true.
0:29:55 > 0:29:57So be it. Very well.
0:29:57 > 0:29:59But try to take heed of this.
0:30:01 > 0:30:06Any man who thoroughly discharges his duty must do well.
0:30:09 > 0:30:11There is no more that you can do.
0:30:14 > 0:30:18I have studied you these past two nights.
0:30:18 > 0:30:21I am convinced that no man could carry out his task
0:30:21 > 0:30:24with more attention and responsibility than you do.
0:30:24 > 0:30:28- I hope so, sir. I do believe so. - I'm SURE that it is so.
0:30:28 > 0:30:33You must take comfort in this - that you understand your duty
0:30:33 > 0:30:36and discharge it to the smallest detail.
0:30:37 > 0:30:40These...disturbing appearances...
0:30:40 > 0:30:44You can't be called upon to try to interpret them.
0:30:44 > 0:30:46Believe me.
0:30:46 > 0:30:50Take comfort in the discharge of your duty.
0:30:50 > 0:30:53You cannot be to blame.
0:30:54 > 0:30:57BELL RINGS
0:31:09 > 0:31:14- I believe you are on the right of it, sir.- I know I am.
0:31:17 > 0:31:21I'll stick to my duty, then. Nothing else to be done.
0:31:21 > 0:31:25I'm heartily glad to hear you say it.
0:31:26 > 0:31:30I believe you've helped me tonight, sir, and I thank you for it.
0:31:30 > 0:31:35- I'll willingly stay with you till dawn if you wish.- Oh, no, sir.
0:31:35 > 0:31:38No, I wouldn't hear of it.
0:31:40 > 0:31:43No, I've got my work to keep me company.
0:31:45 > 0:31:50- Perhaps you'll come again, sir. - Indeed I will. And I shan't call out.
0:31:50 > 0:31:53I would be grateful, sir.
0:32:04 > 0:32:06BELL RINGS
0:32:28 > 0:32:29Ohh...!
0:32:34 > 0:32:36CREAKING
0:32:48 > 0:32:51HE WHISTLES CHEERILY
0:32:58 > 0:33:01BELL RINGS
0:33:19 > 0:33:22TRAIN APPROACHES
0:33:47 > 0:33:49SOFT HUM
0:34:03 > 0:34:05WHISTLE BLOWS
0:34:13 > 0:34:15Hello! Below there!
0:34:27 > 0:34:31DOOR OPENS AND CLOSES
0:34:31 > 0:34:34TAPPING
0:34:43 > 0:34:45Hello! Below there!
0:34:47 > 0:34:49Hello!
0:34:49 > 0:34:51Below there!
0:35:13 > 0:35:16WHISTLE BLOWS
0:35:34 > 0:35:36Look out!
0:35:36 > 0:35:39Look OUT!
0:35:51 > 0:35:53TRAIN COMES TO A HALT
0:36:08 > 0:36:11What happened?
0:36:11 > 0:36:15Coming round the curve of the tunnel, sir, I saw him at the end,
0:36:15 > 0:36:20like as if I saw him down the end of a perspective glass.
0:36:20 > 0:36:24There was no time to shut off speed, sir. I knew him to be very careful.
0:36:24 > 0:36:26He...
0:36:26 > 0:36:30He didn't seem to heed the whistle, sir,
0:36:30 > 0:36:33so I shut it off and I called to him.
0:36:33 > 0:36:36What did you say to him?
0:36:36 > 0:36:40I said, "Hello! Below there! Look out!"
0:36:40 > 0:36:42I was waving at him!
0:36:42 > 0:36:45"Look out!
0:36:45 > 0:36:49"Look out! For God's sake, clear the way!"
0:37:42 > 0:37:44Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd 2005
0:37:44 > 0:37:47E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk