The Best of Men

BIRDSONG AND LAUGHTER

Help me!

Help me!

HE GROANS

Help me.

GROANING

Help me.

Help me! Help me!

"And answer, came there none."

Thank you, sir.

Nurse, is there something wrong with the drapes?

What?

Now the hare can see the rabbit, ja?

Do we have only one nurse?

Ah. Two. Good God, do we only have these metal things?

This will not do, Nurse Edwards.

I'm Nurse Edwards... Sister Edwards.

-And you are?

-I have this on my list. General Blake knows what we require.

-Rubber bedpans.

-You tell 'em, Adolf

Ah. No, no. He is darker.

With a little and he shouts, how he shouts. Ludwig Guttmann.

Doctor. Your doctor. I thought I had the wrong place.

A chapel, I thought, so much peace and quiet.

GROANING

And who is this?

William. Private Heath.

Hello, William.

Help me.

Of course we will.

That's the state they arrive in from military hospitals. Poor boys.

-Kill me.

-One more bloody time, and I'll do just that.

William.

William. This is bad, I know. All is bad.

But you have life waiting for you.

A good life.

I promise.

-This man is on morphine, ja?

-Yes, he...

Half dead with medication.

So we will bring him back to the world of the living.

Sergeant Philip Newman. Hello, Philip, how are you?

Why is he in this thing?

It protects him.

From what? Tigers? Lions?

From knocks.

Knocks, doctor.

-Is there a plaster room in the hospital?

-Yes. Doctor.

Pincers. To cut away this...sarg. How you say...

coffin. Ja.

And his.

That's Mr Cowan's patient.

No! They are mine. They are all mine.

Did he get his pliers?

Yeah, he says he wants us both in there.

Does he then? He can wait till I've done this.

He'll have to learn that patients come first in this ward.

Yeah, he's a...he's a funny sort of doctor if you ask me.

I thought he'd wandered in from a loony bin.

"Zey are mine! Zey are all mine!"

A German refugee! What next?

He's in there carrying on like he's royalty.

I don't think they have royalty in Germany any more. Only fuhrers!

Aprons, please?

Nurse Edwards. These men, they have nothing to do.

They're ill, doctor.

Bring me all the notes, please.

This is our friend with the sparkling wit, ja?

-Corporal Bowen, yes.

-That's me, life and soul.

-Why is he sedated?

-An act of mercy to the rest of us, doctor.

Why? Because the...

They're all sedated, doctor.

Yes, I've seen that. Not any more. None of them.

Hey! Hang on, hang on, we like our little bit of gloop.

You will survive without it.

You wouldn't say that if you had my arms.

Medication, yes. Sedation, no.

And another urine infection! My God!

What are you doing with them?

Why do we allow these patients to rot?

It is not their paralysis that is killing them, it is

their bedsores, their infections.

But they're paralysed.

No. They are partially paralysed.

And they have had too much gentle nursing. The velvet glove

and the hushed whisper.

Everything you are doing, you have been taught to do, and that is good.

But now,

we have new ways of doing things.

And these new ways, better, are they?

Of course, or why do them?

It's my job to make their lives comfortable, bearable.

No. It is your job to make them healthy.

Some, it may not be possible.

Some, sepsis has been allowed to develop.

You keep saying allowed...

Forgive my English.

Lovely tea. Thank you.

I'll show you the temperature charts.

Nurse Carr is new to us

but she's hoping to go on and train.

Excellent!

So, William, where are you from?

Are you a country mouse or a town rat?

I hear that you are a driver.

Drove himself all the way to Stoke Mandeville, eh?

Need a new map, son.

Have you met Corporal Bowen?

He is the cross we must bear!

Messerschmitt.

Run...run for it!

Be a bloody good trick.

No! No!

Run! Run!

No!

-MALE AND FEMALE VOICES:

-William?

They've sent you home, William.

Listen to me.

You are in your bed, safe and sound.

No-one can hurt you now.

All finished.

No more fighting.

Good boy.

Good boy.

Next week, we will see if it is improving.

From now on, Sister Edwards, it will be you tending to these wounds.

-If you say so.

-I do.

When we've finished here,

we can scrub up and begin to take out these catheters.

Hurrah, Corporal Tomkins! Ja?

Now you can learn to pee-pee all over again, my boy.

Give me something to do, doc.

-Bit of a palaver, this, isn't it?

-It should be easier than this.

We had some difficulty inserting that one.

Way I'm built, see, love.

-Another reason not to go messing around with him.

-Like a carthorse.

One more try. I don't want to damage the tissues and have him bleeding.

Hey, hey, you're worrying me now, doc. Can't you just leave it?

I've grown attached to it.

No... No good.

X-rays, Sister Edwards. We know we have an infection.

Let's see if we also have kidney stones.

-I'll put him on the list.

-What list?

The X-ray list.

-We don't have a machine on the ward?

-He's a laugh, ain't he?

There's a war on, doctor, and we're an embarrassment.

-Lucky they give us beds.

-We all have to do without.

And some have to do without more than others?

I think not.

I'm going to go and see Matron, ask for a transfer.

You'll be lucky.

Who'll they get in your place?

Especially now he's in charge of this circus.

I'd rather do factory work.

You know, I was told this was proper nursing,

not pee and bedsores all day long.

Where's Private Heath?

-Taken him down to surgical, doctor.

-What?

Spinal op tomorrow. Mr Cowan likes them on his ward the day before.

He is not having an operation!

Yes. To stabilise his spine.

Why, where is it going, this spine? It has taken legs?

Hey, boys, wake up. Fireworks.

Gibberish!

I'm only telling you what I was told.

Ooh!

LAUGHTER

-Uppity.

-Mr Cowan's the one to take him down a peg or two.

Oh, yes.

Dr Guttmann. How do you do? Good to meet you.

Mr Cowan. Ditto.

And what brings you to my department?

This young man, William Heath, he is my patient.

I operate tomorrow. Unstable fracture of the ninth vertebrae.

No. I think not.

Ah! My apologies.

Yes, he does have a fracture, this vertebrae, you are right.

And yes, for all anyone knows, it may be unstable.

But no, you are not going to operate on him.

We don't know yet how much movement may be restored.

None.

And with your operation, you are guaranteeing this.

The Army consultant sent Heath here expressly for this operation.

Sent him to my ward.

Actually, he sent him to me.

But now I am here, so I can take over.

From today, all spinal patients are my responsibility.

I gather you haven't touched a patient for years.

I haven't been allowed to.

Dr Guttmann's specialised in spinal patients all his life.

-Yes, in Germany.

-The spinal cord is the same for Wilhelm or William,

Henry or Heinrich. There are pioneering treatments...

-Experimental.

-No. New, but already proven.

Monro is doing great work in Boston.

America! Say no more.

I'm doing what I consider to be the best

-for this mortally wounded young man.

-He has not been mortally wounded.

-His life expectancy is what, six months?

-That is why I am here.

Too many cripples in the last war,

too many young men dying young,

too many wounded men made helpless by medical neglect,

too many widows.

That is why I am here.

Didn't last long very long, then, did he? Old Himmel.

Maybe he's been sacked!

That mean I get my little bit of gloop after all?

We'll have to see, won't we?

I could do with a bit now.

MUFFLED: Good! Good! What is it we say? Upwards and upwards?

Ah! Look, William, just in time.

# We are the Ovaltineys little girls and boys!

# Make your requests, we'll not refuse you...

# We are here, just to amuse you

# ALL: Would you like a song or story?

# Will you share our joys?

# At games and sports we're more than keen

# No merrier children could be seen

# Because we all drink Ovaltine we're happy girls and boys. #

LAUGHTER

Ovaltine...

Eight o'clock, ladies. Time to go home.

-We have to do handover.

-No need.

Tonight we only have the one orderly, so I will stay.

We always have the one orderly.

-Until now.

-There's nothing for two men to do all night.

They will be busy, Sister, this I promise.

-One man alone cannot turn all these patients.

-But they'll be asleep.

They will learn to sleep through it.

We will do one round of turning, sleep for two hours, another round,

-and so on.

-You take away their sedation, and then...

-I see you in the morning.

-But...

-Bright and early, please.

I hope you've had some sleep today. You're in for it.

SNORING

Jesus wept! What are you doing to me now?

Healing your bed sores, my boy.

Don't you ever go to sleep?

Two, three.

Comfortable?

Lap of bloody luxury. Do you know what bloody time it is?

Pillows all right? Very good.

Shut up.

-How about a cup of tea?

-Stuff it!

Shut up, you bastard!

Good. Tea for three. Sweet and strong.

The way the English like it.

Aye, and sod the poor bloody Welsh, eh?

I haven't had a wink of sleep all bloody night

-because of this bloody pantomime.

-Shut up!

A hard journey, you and me.

A new land.

Strange.

All we knew, gone.

The people we were, gone.

The lives we planned...

But courage.

A new life waiting.

Different, ja...

..but not so bad.

No, thanks.

This is my promise.

We will make good, new lives, you and I. We will not give up.

I'm going to walk again.

Maybe, ja.

No maybe.

Do you think there's a chance?

Always a chance.

You were wounded in battle. What chance of you surviving that?

You nearly died as they brought you home.

What chance of surviving that?

Mr Cowan - you survived that.

You've tasted Sister Edwards' tea...

Survived that.

I was promised wheelchairs, an X-ray machine, steam sterilisers...

No, they were on your list - a very long list,

and nobody promised you any of these things.

..mattresses and rubber bedpans. Good God, must I get down on my knees?

I've requested your supplies as a priority, and you have my word

-you'll be fully staffed as soon as possible.

-I've seen the other wards.

-They have nurses.

-Yes, but they're acute wards. Post-op.

Your young men are not treatable as such.

Well, they don't feel any pain. They don't suffer.

Well, they do, of course they do, but no pain.

I'm doing everything I can, Doctor Guttmann, but...

gently, gently catchee monkey.

Monkey? Wh...what monkey?!

You're new to this hospital. New ideas, new ways.

We must be careful not to step on toes.

Good. Good. I receive the message.

"Be good, Guttmann. Do not upset the apple cart...monkey's toes."

So many English sayings to say the same thing.

"Know your place and be a good boy."

Good morning, doctor.

They've all had a terrible night, very little sleep.

Who are these men? Talk to them.

-They're in pain.

-Find out who they are, where they come from,

what they want, what they miss. What they long for.

Let them talk about their pain.

The pain here...and here.

Where do I take the bus to London?

Do I change for Whitehall?

Scourge of the valleys, love. No woman was safe.

And you were a mechanic?

Aye, that's why the Army took me.

The Germans trembled. They trembled, love.

Two children.

-(GERMAN VOICE)

-"Tommy Atkins, off him ve haff no fear,

"but Vynne Bowen, oh! Ve hear he is der mighty sausage dog."

If you get my drift.

SHE CLEARS HER THROAT

Three kids. Just have to look at her and there's another sprog.

One problem solved.

Two years Nottingham.

And what were you doing there?

Usual stuff. A year in Lancaster.

Oh, you got around!

Yeah. One Pentonville, three months Borstal.

That was way back.

But I'm going straight now.

And how long ago did you join up?

On my birthday.

Finished training just after Christmas.

Joined my Regiment Easter Sunday.

Got shot up Easter Monday.

That's the end of Solomon Grundy.

He can talk to them himself.

-(VOICE TREMBLING)

-Stupid bloody man!

'For years, all my experience wasted,

'never to work with any patients.

'At last I can be some use, but still you won't give me any equipment.

'We need so much... Bitte. Please, so much.'

At last, rubber bedpans!

Rubber, gold,

diamond-encrusted, who gives a stuff? Sir.

Oh, God, here I go...

See how much room we have without this big ugly desk. Ja?

It's a dance floor!

HE LAUGHS

I wouldn't mind, but we were doing all right.

Not even lunch now and I'm knackered.

Do you know what it feels like to be sat up straight

when you've been lying flat out for months on end, eh?

This is good. Your bedsores are not quite so smelly, Wynne.

Oh, it's "Vynne" now, is it? Bloody Vynne.

Well, tell you what it is, doc. I don't care if they bloody smell

-cos I can't smell 'em!

-You think your wife will like your smelly arse?

My wife is safely tucked up in Port Talbot,

where the arses are big

and pink and lovely.

Meanwhile, I've had another awful night, thanks to you.

Wynne, we are winning the battle of the buttock

but you must look after your heels

-or they too will break down.

-How the hell do I do that?

By continuing as you started.

Amusing us as we work with your droll observations of the world around us.

WILLIAM LAUGHS

Shut it, Private Heath.

You're only a ha'penny Corporal, so shut up yourself.

If you don't want to wake up in the morning

with your teeth halfway down your gullet, you'll shut your mouth.

Boys, boys!

Only to be expected, doctor. No sedation.

But William no longer wants us to kill him

and instead wants us to kill Corporal Bowen. Progress, ja?

Stand by your beds with your boots in your hands, boys.

It's only Monty.

-Can we help you?

-I'm looking for the Spinal Unit.

And you have found it.

Right. Quartermaster Hill, sir.

Ah! Sergeant Hill! Ha! Now the hard work begins.

Ladies, gentlemen, Sergeant Hill is here to get us all fit.

-That's a joke.

-Wynne, my boy.

This will cook your goose. No more lazing on your back smoking

-and looking at Nurse Carr's legs.

-I'm paralysed, not desperate.

-Oi!

Sergeant, we will talk in my office.

It's "Q", sir.

Uh, before you go, I'm in pain here.

If I never used my arms, they would ache for me, too. Move them!

It bloody hurts to move my bloody arms, you stupid bloody kraut!

I thought you said...

No office, no desk, no nameplate on the door

but much determination! So, no problem, ja?

They offer me massage one afternoon a week.

These men are paralysed seven days a week.

-I don't know anything about paralysis.

-You will learn.

Become an expert.

I'm a PTI, sir. Not Jesus Christ.

I don't raise men from the dead. Sorry.

You are a soldier.

This is your posting.

No. There's been some mistake.

Of course! I should be head of neurosurgery in Breslau,

or watching children playing in the Oder.

My friends and family should be enjoying the autumn in Silesia

but some mistake happened and most of them are in SS camps

while I am here with you. So, we must make the best of it.

I just don't see the point.

I'll see you on Monday morning, 8.00am.

We want to know all about you, Philip.

What you did, what you liked, who you were.

I mean...

..who you ARE.

WOMAN SNIFFLES

Oh, er, don't worry about your mother, son. She's, er...

She just can't get over the difference. That's what it is.

-You could barely open your eyes last time.

-I'm off the morphine.

Are you in pain?

I'm all right, Mum.

How's the 1st XV?

Ah, limping on without you, just about.

All the boys send their regards.

And Ruth.

-She wants to come and see you.

-No!

Not yet.

Maybe later.

Yeah, when I'm up and about.

When I'm walking again.

Doctor Guttmann said they're doing wonders for spinal patients.

Ah! All the way from London. You must be gasping.

-There you are.

-Thanks very much.

Mum.

Mum. Mum

-No, love, that's not your mum.

-Mum.

That's another boy's mum.

-I read...

-(VOICE BREAKS)

Sorry, I'm sorry.

I read this article.

Boys don't stop growing till they're 21.

He wasn't even grown up.

His strength and his youth will bring him through this.

He was the brightest boy in the bunch.

Head boy, if he'd stayed on and done his last year.

I'm just a groundsman, Mr Guttmann.

I've got rotten pay, small damp cottage.

But if the school employs you, then they educate your son for free.

My son, William, he grew up alongside the sons of Dukes,

cabinet ministers,

and he was head and sh...

He was a bright star.

Right, so it's up the ladders and down the snakes, yeah?

Sister, why is Philip without his saline IV?

-I wrote him up an hour ago.

-Fred had the last bottle.

There is no more saline in the whole hospital?

They'll have some on the surgical wards but...

He needs fluid like anyone else.

-There are forms to fill out.

-While his infection kills him?

Tin hats on.

Every surgeon will give you his own definition of surgical shock.

-This may include sepsis symptoms...

-Can I help you?

No, no, I'm good, thank you.

I know what I am looking for.

And what exactly is that?

No, no, no need to stop. Please, do continue.

Surgical shock.

Yes.

My personal definition takes in blood pressure, temperature,

respiration, cardiac...

Dr Guttmann, if I can be of assistance...?

Yes, certainly you can.

Tell Sister Rogers we owe you four bottles of saline.

You, too, are running low but I've left you a crate.

There we have another definition of surgical shock.

WHEEZING

WHEEZING

FASTER WHEEZING

Dr Guttmann won't let him die, will he?

-Wynne...

-Shush.

Your mum's there.

Look. She's just there. She's waiting.

Several stones. You have boulders in your bladder, Wynne.

We will operate tomorrow. How do I book theatre time?

You ask Mr Cowan.

Mein gut freund.

Where are the night staff? Have they come?

I was promised today...

They're out there. Polish. Not my idea of orderlies, but still...

They are shovellers. Shovellers from the steel works.

These orderlies you send me. They have been shovelling coal.

Well, yes, we find men where we can.

Shovellers! Shovellers of shit,

like the Ministry of War, so it seems.

It is shit you have been shovelling to me, isn't it?

Promises of shit, my dear General.

Guttmann...

Yes, yes, it is Guttmann.

Guttmann the idiot. Guttmann the trusting.

Guttmann the leichtglaubig.

YAWNING

You yawn? I wake you?

Lucky you, for my nurses, they are working like slaves

-because of these orderlies who are shovellers.

-Doctor...

let's...talk about this tomorrow.

And tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. Always tomorrow.

You think Mr Churchill can be happy on this poor Sister Edwards

who needs no sleep? Sister Edwards the Drac... Sister Edwards the vampire. I think not.

Good! Throw the cups around.

Don't worry that Sister Edwards is asleep at last.

Put on some clogs and do a dance, why don't you!

KNOCKING

I have requested a senior staff meeting about your behaviour.

Tomorrow morning, ten o'clock, the conference room.

Ten o'clock, old chap, don't cha know?

HE SIGHS

Ted! Peter! Now! Quickly, quickly.

Hey, I'm not sure I want you taking this catheter bloody thing out.

-Good, good.

-Bad enough being woken all night to be turned without you pissing around in my piss.

Thanks for listening.

Well, you must see he's using up valuable resources.

I entirely agree, you're pushing at an open door.

It's a hard enough getting basic supplies for our own patients

without this...

nobody. That's all he is. A nobody in charge of moribund incurables.

A wet nurse, that's all.

A chimpanzee could do the job standing on his head.

Sister, I'm looking for Dr Guttmann.

Any idea where is?

He's in theatre, General. I believe it was an emergency.

Don't be silly, Sister,

what sort of emergency could there be on this ward?

A bladder drainage problem, Mr Cowan.

Bloody hell! Some emergency!

And what idiot did he persuade to give up his theatre for this

complete waste of time?

I believe it was Mr Cowan, Mr Cowan.

My theatre! So my nurses,

my equipment?

He took his own catheter.

Is this funny?

Sister Edwards is in a difficult position.

No, General. I have been.

For years, I've been in the very difficult position of nursing

the occasional spinal patient,

and watching them helplessly as they slip away from us, time after time.

And time after time, all we do is hold their hands

and send a rose to the funeral.

Dr Guttmann does more than that.

Hey, wait till they sit you up proper.

Then you'll know about bloody air sickness mate.

Got a good view of you now, Taff.

Lie me down again quick, nurse!

Oh, yeah, that's what I meant to tell you. I went to London once,

never seen so many ugly people.

All on holiday from bloody Cardiff. 'Scuse me.

Bull's eye! Hey, he's good at this, Sister.

Can I help you?

General Blake sent us.

Erm, you Dr Guttmann, he wants some entertainment.

# Isn't this a lovely day To be caught in the rain?

# You were going on your way Now you've got to remain

# Just as you were going Leaving me all at sea

# The clouds broke

# They broke and Oh, what a break for me

# I can see the sun up high Though we're caught in the storm

# I can see where you and I Could be cosy and warm

# Just as you were going Leaving me all at sea

# Let the rain pitter patter Well, it really doesn't matter

# If the skies are grey

# As long as I can be with you It's a lovely day! #

APPLAUSE

Are there any requests?

Yes, I've got one, actually. Could you possibly...

Er, no, thank you, but that was wonderful, wasn't it?

But our patients can't have too much excitement.

-Mustn't wear them out.

-Can't take it, see?

One..two...three.

Wakey wakey, Corporal.

Mad man, you could've hurt me!

It's as light as air, man.

Morning, Doctor Guttmann.

Sergeant.

-He could have had my nose broke, the mad sod.

-Give it a rest, Wynne.

That's the only part of me I can feel.

-Have another go at breaking it!

-Should've moved quicker.

Go on, chuck it to me, here.

Take it and him to the children's ward, where they bloody belong.

This what you had in mind?

Excellent. But more. More, more, more, more, more.

Where do you want it?

What is his name?

Davy Decker.

Davy? We have a bed for you here.

Don't let them dump you here, mate.

Take your bed and run, they're all bloody lunatics.

Leave it here, I will ask the orderlies to break it up.

How do I explain that to my sergeant?

-Say...you say, "I was only obeying orders."

-She'll love that!

Tell her that my Spinal Unit will no longer accept patients

brought in coffins of any kind. They will have mattresses on stretchers. Ja?

General Blake! Please! One moment.

Ropes. We need ropes. And a punch bag. Parallel bars.

Q needs all this if he is to make a difference.

You want a punch bag in the ward?

Or in the gym. Or both.

We need a gym, or another hut.

I can't get the most basic supplies. How can I justify any of this?

Or an area we can turn into a gym.

Pulling the weights, punching the bag, climbing up the ropes,

upper body, you see?

And nurses. I must have more nurses.

You haven't forgotten?

Do you never get tired?

Never.

Does the man ever get tired?

I was beginning to think he didn't have a home to go to.

A wife, he says, and two children.

Oh, she must be a saint.

Glad to get a rest from him, I should think.

Yeah, I know I am.

-Eh, Ludwig!

-Papa!

How lovely! Look what Mrs Kornberg has brought for the refugees.

Shabbat shalom.

Shabbat shalom. I let the children stay up to say good night.

-Eva?

-Papa.

Denis.

Goodnight.

Poor Dennis. "Panzer boy", they called him.

Last week, it was Goebbels and some rude song.

The girls, they're not so cruel to Eva.

But... I mean, he doesn't complain but I know...

Ludwig?... Lud?

Mummy?

But it's our wireless!

Well. Never mind, never mind.

'...from a factory somewhere in Great Britain, on this lovely

'Spring day, half an hour of music, laughter and bulldog spirit.

'It's Worker's Playtime.'

-Shirkers Playtime, more like.

-Yeah, especially for Wynne.

26...99...100.

Didn't Q say 50?

Just think, boys, eh, we could be slaving away in a some

factory somewhere if we hadn't been lucky enough to sign up.

I'd be down the pub, opening time.

-What day is it?

-Tuesday.

Cross country then double Latin.

Ah, on Tuesdays, we always had needlework and RI.

Good God, am I the only bugger who's ever done a decent day's work here?

Come on, Wynne, one...two...

37 patients, two wards, and still they come.

And when we reach Paris... What?

Oh, nothing, nothing.

"We"? I'm English also, here, where it matters.

English through and through, I'd say.

Well, you've filled out Mr Cowan's ward already.

Whitehall are hell-bent on sending us all their spinal injuries,

so we'll be busy here for a while.

-A vote of confidence, ja?

-Yes.

They will come to Dr Guttmann, and all will be well.

..Five...six...

You must be so pleased, Dr Guttmann.

Ja, for him, a few stumbling steps.

For others, they lift a cup... all progress.

It's bloody boring.

Do you all sorts of good, this will.

Strengthen your balance, improve your grip...

I'd rather be working on my legs.

Ah, here we go again.

Change the song sheet, William.

My feet get cold. I can feel them.

We should be working on that, Q, not this arm stuff.

Don't you think, doctor? Time to move on and get the old pins working again?

Some days, it's better.

Reflexes do not come and go.

But sensation. I have pins and needles and...

But it's been a long time.

Frank's walking.

Frank had feeling within a few weeks of his accident.

With you it's, oh, six, seven months?

I'm not giving up.

That is good.

If you can manage the hope and still find your new life.

But if your stubbornness and determination stops you

from moving on and planning your future...

If I can't walk, I have no future.

And now you sound like your father.

All I ever wanted to do was to join up.

Get out there. Get the Hun.

Sorry.

And he got you.

The war will end one day, your country will need you again.

They will need scientists, architects, solicitors, chemists.

Help me to walk again.

I'm sorry, William. It's not going to happen.

Out of my way!

Sorry, sorry.

William! William, are you all right?

Piss off, you bloody interfering old bitch!

Sir. Dr Guttmann. Erm, your houseman. I'll just...

-No. He will tell us when he wants help.

-But...

He is not dumb.

So...my houseman. Where have you been hiding?

GUTTMANN: 'William, cigarette?'

Ta, doc.

Hey, don't be daft, son.

Good night, gentlemen.

-William?

-Has good balance. He's working on moving from bed to chair.

I spoke to him about his prognosis.

Yes. We're still picking up the pieces.

Wynne.

Refusing to let his family visit.

It's a long way from Port Talbot.

And any other excuse he can think of.

Has anyone met his wife?

She's a very nice woman, but he can be brusque with her.

With everyone. We will ask her to visit. Remind me.

That's it.

So, what now? What do they need next?

-What are they missing?

-All feeling below the waist.

We have routine, we have exercise, we have work,

we can wear them out...

Something, though. There is something to defeat the boredom.

-The tick tick tick tick tick of the clock.

-It's ward entertainment tomorrow.

Joseph and Josephina?

Mr Cowan arranged it.

This man is anti-Semitic.

I suggested The Windmill Girls, but would anyone listen?

SISTER EDWARDS CHUCKLES

MUSIC ON PIANO: "Can-Can" by Offenbach

High blood pressure, you think?

In parts of him, I'm bloody certain.

-WYNNE:

-Lovely, girls! Bloody, bloody lovely!

-HE WOLF-WHISTLES

-Oh, yes!

Look at that, Will. Wouldn't kick any of them out of bed, would you?

-MAN:

-Bravo, ladies!

Beautiful girls, ja?

Why don't you go back in and ogle them? You bloody sadist.

You are one of the lucky ones, my boy.

-You stand to attention when you wake.

-For God's sake...

If you rule yourself out of the competition,

don't come weeping to me if you do not win.

I've never had one.

Girls. I've... I've never...

I don't know who I am or what I wanted to be or why I even joined up...

God, this isn't my life.

Did you think you would make plans,

and life would follow them obediently?

My dad's ashamed of me. He's bloody mortified.

He thought I'd go so far, and...

..now he has a son who can't stand...or walk or piss or shit.

Wouldn't you be ashamed?

No.

If it wasn't for you, I'd be dead by now.

You don't have to thank me.

I'd never do that. Never.

Don't bet on that.

-There he is. Go on, race you!

-Daddy!

There they are - Daddy's girls! All right?

Welsh cakes?

Right. Come on, then. Hungry, I am.

Run!

Stairs will not be a problem.

Upper body muscles will pull him up, gravity will take him down.

You mean he'll fall?

He's joking. German.

Only, they've announced a whole new road of prefabs on Gabalfa Road -

I've put our name down for one.

-No stairs.

-Good.

After your trial weekend, I write a letter insisting you are offered the most suitable.

Hold on, now. See, I'm not sure about this weekend idea.

-Next month, I thought.

-No.

We can do it. I'll have everything ready for you.

When we see how well you do, we can start making plans for your discharge.

-Really?

-Why not?

In time for my birthday.

Here we go.

Go on, Neil, show 'em how it's done.

Ahh, I'm at the wrong angle.

Shut up and get on with it.

-GUTTMANN: Who's winning?

-It's not a competition.

Only because he's losing.

Depends on who's keeping score.

-Yeah, Wynne, you're trailing by three.

-Shut it!

Are you athletic?

I ran for my school.

Good. Then run to the gym and bring us back

some tennis balls or, even better, golf balls.

-Erm...

-That way.

Go. Run, run, run, run, run!

Run, run, run!

-FRANK:

-Look at that, look. They say WE'RE unfit.

Hockey sticks! Bring us back some hockey sticks

and golf sticks.

Clubs, Poppa.

-Clubs!

-..Yes!

One...two...three! Yes!

-Three bullies! You went too early.

-That is the German way!

It was the German way that got us into this bloody war.

Right, first to five. Ja. Starting now.

-Aw, hang on...!

-Oh!

Bloody hopeless. England against Germany. Terrible.

Don't know how you play hockey in Germany, but...

Well. We play it well.

They'd have to be bloody fit, our lads, to play that.

Bloody fit.

Good, good...

Pass it!

There you go... Go on, go on!

Whoa!

We're going to need a gym, sir,

so we don't have to pack away every meal-time.

Good. Good...

And some rules. No hitting above three foot...

Careful, gentlemen, please.

Try not to break something.

-But in your letters, you were so...

-Yes. I'm sorry.

-You were getting sensation back. Hot and cold.

-I was fooling myself.

It's early days yet.

Apparently not.

My nerve endings haven't grown. Mended.

So, now they won't?

No.

Now this is it. This is me.

No, dear, not now...

It's all right. Let's see what this is.

Ruth.

Couldn't have gone anyway. I don't know why we brought it.

There it is Wynne, get it, get it, get it... Go on, Wynne!

Come on, come on!

Right, pass it over to me, pass it over to me!

Ja!

-Push forward, push forward!

-Right, right...

I'm on it...

Defence!

CHEERING

Come on!

What are you, a load of bloody old women?!

Get in there!

I don't see you scoring any bloody goals, Q!

Whoa, whoa, whoa...

Careful! Go on!

Get on you!

-Get out the way, you berk!

-Shoot!

CHEERING

Come on, boys, come on!

One hundred per cent. One hundred per cent!

Down the wing! Down the wing!

CHEERING

Bravo! Bravo!

Staff two, Spinal three.

Aagh! My bloody hand!

Get out the bloody way, then.

-William! It's only a game.

-Calm down!

Give it some welly!

Pull it back, pull it back...

Gently, gentlemen.

Not feeling sorry for himself now, ja?

Mine... Mine!

Gently, gentlemen! It's too rough.

Black and blue.

And cuts! Cuts!

All our work to keep them bedsore-free.

An absolute disgrace.

We're not complaining.

We can't feel anything, sister, that's the thing.

Silly, silly men.

Ooh-hoo.

# Oh, when the saints go marching in

ALL: # Oh when the saints go marching in

# I want to be in that number... #

William, he's been badly injured.

# When the saints go marching in. #

Last time I saw this patient, he had both legs intact.

A simple fracture.

-Accidents happen.

-Yes, apparently so on your ward.

Just thank God it's only a fracture and nobody's dead.

Irresponsible, unethical, bloody shameful.

If I hadn't got better things to do,

I'd take this to the General Medical Council.

Right. We'd better get him lifted onto the trolley.

-Nurse, you take the arms, and I'll...

-No, it's fine.

Oh, please.

Mind your ankle.

Now, then, Heath, you may not remember me.

Oh, I remember you.

You're the bastard who was measuring me for a coffin.

If you'd had your way, I wouldn't be able to move a muscle.

Come on, Q, get a bloody move on.

Do you know how long it is since I had a proper pint

in a proper bloody pub?

THEY LAUGH

Don't get between me and my beer,

I will not be responsible for my actions!

Come on! Come on!

Last man there's a sissy!

Move on, let the thirsty man through!

Wrong way! We're going down the wrong way.

Spin me round.

Right, my good man.

We will have three stouts, three ales,

two eggnogs with lemonade and two double whiskies.

All the times we've dreamt of this, eh?

-And a sherry for Nurse Carr.

-ALL: Ooooh.

Oh, and you see that man there, he pays for nothing.

You don't take his money tonight. This is our treat, Doc.

Come on, Wynne.

Come on, Wynne.

ALL: Ah!

Stroke of genius, sir.

I don't think our lads have had to buy a single drink.

Our brave boys.

Come on!

Yes!

Given 'em their war back, eh, Poppa? This time with hockey sticks.

We'll take you all on, if you think you're man enough.

Right, next one.

I'm surprised Will had the broken bone and not you.

It evened up a few scores, that's for sure.

OK, give us a count of three, count of three.

One, two, three.

Ah, ah!

CHEERING

Too rough to make this a competition.

Shame, though.

What do you know about basketball?

-Pass.

-Over here, over here.

-Shoot!

-Ah.

When can I get this off, Doc?

When you stop scowling at the world as if we are your enemies.

So 1960, then.

You're a bunch of girlies! Girly, girly, girly!

Think of the things he can do, not the things he can't.

I can't dance in a ballet, I can't run a mile,

-I can't play the trombone.

-Don't belittle it!

Do not minimise what's happened to my son.

He has to rise above it.

Well, where you come from, obviously,

they do things a bit differently.

Young men are the same the world over.

Until they are crippled.

Still young men.

I've found somewhere prepared to take him.

It's a very nice place.

It's quite near the school, just a few miles away.

This place,

-what is it?

-He can see the sense in it.

Mr Heath, what sort of place?

It's a retirement home.

-Your son is 20.

-It's our job to take care of him.

He'll never marry, never have children,

we know that, that's a tragedy.

We thought last year, when this first happened, that...

that we'd lost him.

That might have been a blessing.

-But he's still here...

-A blessing?

..so we have to make sure that he'll always be looked after

by kind people, even after we've gone.

Today, I realise the height of the mountain we must climb.

Every one of you.

And me.

There are walls to scale and break down and sacred cows to deal with.

What are you doing here?

What is the purpose of this place?

Is it to create dependent but smiling children,

hiding from the world?

A hushed room full of forgotten men and caring, too caring, staff?

No! It is to send you out of here!

Out! With ambition

and purpose!

And no sacred cows. You must have none.

And you must have none. These are men.

They have desires.

Some of you will be fathers and husbands, understand that.

And you will have all the same problems as everyone else

and a few more besides.

Rent, tax, I pay tax, so will you.

You have a right to these problems.

I will not protect you from them. I will not!

Bloody tax. We still have to pay tax?

Right. Who's been upsetting, Poppa?

My dear general, what do you know about the provision of housing?

-I'm sorry?

-Who do I talk to?

The Minister for Pensions or do I speak to Mr Churchill?

Just get them fit.

Nobody expects you to solve their problems.

Ah! But you see, it is their problems that hold them back,

that stop them getting fit.

How can they face the future if they cannot see it?

And I know you are going to help.

It's bad enough in Germany, everything in duplicate.

Mr Churchill,

three copies of everything.

Stupid!

Liebling.

English.

Even darling?

HE SIGHS

Come.

Come.

Enough. Enough.

MUSIC: "Jeepers Creepers"

Who are you thinking of?

Everyone.

Left behind?

They're dancing with us.

-Then we must make the best of it.

-Ja.

# Jeepers Creepers Where d'ya get those peepers?

# Jeepers Creepers Where d'ya get those eyes?

# Gosh, all git up How'd they get so lit up?

# Gosh, all git up How'd they get that size?

# Golly gee. #

About two or three feet.

-One weekend.

-I can't land myself on my wife, not like this.

You dress yourself, you take yourself to the lavatory,

-you even bathe yourself.

-I want a divorce.

-You are nervous about your sexual relationship.

-I want a divorce.

Women are gentler with these things than we are.

We must perform, ja?

But maybe the lady, maybe she just wants...

Don't you bloody say it. Don't you dare.

"She just wants a cuddle."

A cuddle she can get from a dog.

With you, she wants a husband.

But there's more than one way to skin a cat.

I keep telling you, I am divorcing her!

Listen. You go home for the weekend.

When you come back, you can divorce her.

It's over!

Ha-ha! It's over!

-Victory!

-I can't believe it.

I don't know what to do with myself! Ha-ha! Ha-ha!

Ah! They're coming home! Ha-ha!

# Happy days are here again The skies above are clear again

# So let's sing a song of cheer again

# Happy days are here again... #

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC PLAYS

Couldn't say you don't have enough staff now.

It's not as bad as it was.

We're taking names for a darts tournament.

You up for it, sir?

Against you lot? No chance.

Come on, sir, two bob in the kitty, winner takes all.

Eh, I'll have a go.

No, you won't. They've got enough problems without losing an eye.

LUDWIG PLAYS PIANO

THEY CHEER AND APPLAUD

What now for you, Q?

Er, demob, I suppose. Civvy street.

Rest of our lives.

Cardigan, slippers, can't wait.

You, Ludwig? Back to Germany?

The Germany I love is long gone.

British for ever, eh, sir?

Just like all of us.

And Nurse Carr has been accepted as a student nurse.

Ah! So it will be Sister Carr one day, ja?

Very, very frightening. LUDWIG BASHES PIANO KEYS

THEY LAUGH

There you go.

I can manage. I'm not a bloody basket case.

Wynne, mate, don't take it out on the nurses.

Don't you ever tell me what to bloody do, Lord Snooty.

You've got it so easy, what do you know?

The perfectly balanced Welshman, a chip on each shoulder.

Aye, well, better than being a spoilt brat

who is sulking cos he can't accept he's just like the rest of us,

a hopeless, helpless invalid,

for the rest of his life.

Ah, come on.

Wynne!

It's only one weekend, Wynne.

Be warned, boys.

You know what we'll be out there, don't you?

Cripples. Freaks.

Sideshow half-men.

I see you next week.

I will throw myself under a bus.

Ah, I told you

that upper body strength would come in useful one day.

You are Hitler's bloody secret weapon, mate.

You should be behind barbed wire.

Many of my colleagues say the same.

-Who's marking who?

-Ja, ja.

-That's it!

-Ja, ja, ja.

Right, cover him, cover him, cover him!

Ja, ja, ja, ja.

-With a spin. That's it.

-Come on.

Ah, cardiac ward, Doctor?

The gentle care of Dr Cowan?

Come on, girly, girly, girl!

Never again.

You sent Wynne off home, only got yourself to blame.

We need more teams to compete with, wheelchair teams.

I'll nick a tank, shall I?

Mow down a couple of bus queues, bring the numbers up.

We could try The Star and Garter.

Not just one team.

A tournament.

A games.

A national games.

For the nation of...?

Ruritania. Shangri-La. Where do you think?

Ooh, tetchy.

Great Britain, of course. Paralysed sportsmen from across the country.

Why not?

Petrol's rationed, Doctor. How are we going to get them here?

I'm sure Q could solve a little problem like that.

-I don't know whether I'm going to stay on.

-Course you are.

It's the best job in the world. Salt?

-Oh.

-Now, that musician.

Davey Dakers.

Such a nice man.

Yeah, doing well, Davey. Great breathing exercise, the bassoon.

Fantastic lips.

# Men of Harlech, march to glory

# Victory is hov'ring o'er ye

# Bright-eyed freedom stands afore ye

# Hear ye not her call?

# At your sloth she seems to wonder

# Rend the sluggish bonds asunder

# Let the war cry's deaf'ning thunder

# Every foe appal

# Echoes slowly waking

# Hill and valley shaking

# Till the sound spreads far around

# The Saxon's courage... #

He's a cheeky, little Welshman, isn't he?

# Your foes on every side assailing

# Forward press with heart unfailing

# Till invaders learn with quailing

# Cambria ne'er shall...

# ..yield! #

Get it up then, did you?

We skinned the cat.

-Oh, yes, we did.

-THEY LAUGH

Hey, teacher's pet.

Homemade rhubarb wine.

It is lethal, boy, I'm telling you.

All right, then, was it?

What do you think?

Only come back to get signed off.

I'll miss you.

Got to get yourself out there, boy.

Well...

A life worth living?

You have to get yourself a girl, find out for yourself.

I had a girl.

Ruth.

I know. Jitterbug.

Lindy hop.

Plenty more fish in the sea.

Swimming by. I've seen 'em.

It'll be all right, you know.

I don't know.

I'm bloody telling you.

Listen to your elders and much, much betters.

"Poppa knows vot is vot.

"Everything will be goot. Goot, boy. Ja?"

THEY LAUGH

-All the best, Wynne.

-Good luck.

-We're going to miss you.

-Thank you.

-Ooh, ha-ha.

-We'll miss you, good luck.

-Home, James.

Time for you to make some decisions.

Looking to the future, ja?

-I know I can't stay here.

-No room at the inn.

You must get back on your donkey and move on.

Where to?

I can't go back to school, can I?

I don't know. University, maybe?

No. They wouldn't take me.

There's this home that my dad's arranged.

Where you will have a good view of the lawns?

-My father says...

-I cannot make it any plainer, William.

If you do not look after yourself, your father will.

Do you want that?

If you don't decide what you want to do with your life, YOUR life,

not your parents', then you will be an eternal child.

If you do not find your voice

and your balls, we will all have wasted our time.

Do not ask me what you do now.

Tell me.

I don't know.

LUDWIG SCOFFS

Then I can't help you.

Good, ja?

I'd like to raise the subject

of the Spinal Unit extracurricular activities.

Extracurricular. I haven't brought my dictionary.

Your ridiculous national games.

-Ah, yes. Good news travels fast.

-What's your objection, Mr Cowan?

Well, where do I start? What is the point of it?

Wheelchairs racing across the lawns and croquet and...

Only javelin and archery this year.

-This year!

-You must have heard about the Olympics in London, ja?

Bloody hell.

Why not?

Because they're cripples.

Not in the Olympics themselves, alongside,

parallel to.

For now.

He is mad. You know they call him Poppa, don't you?

That's how much respect they have for him.

How many patients will be attending?

Perhaps 15?

The national games! We'll be a laughing stock.

"National" implies the best.

The national cricket team, the national rugby team.

What are these people the best of?

The best of men.

For God's sake.

Yes, indeed, Mr Cowan, for God's sake!

I find this interrogation insulting.

-Gentlemen.

-He'll be shipping in a bloody brass band next.

We've already had the Windmill Girls.

What is it that so offends you?

Yes, that's the word. It offends me, it DOES.

This is a hospital.

We have respectable people here, visiting sick relatives.

We have children visiting their parents.

I don't understand.

It's not pleasant!

I'm sorry, but it's not.

People in wheelchairs,

withered limbs, damaged bodies.

Ah. Now I understand.

I'm not going to a geriatric home.

They're not all old. There's a little girl in a basket chair.

-You can't live alone.

-Why not?

I can dress myself, bathe myself, wipe my own bum, it's...

There's no need to talk like that.

And what happens if you fall out of that thing?

Thing? My chair?

Wynne's repairing cars from his. Made a hoist so he can lean into the engine.

Wynne has a wife. He isn't living alone.

We don't know what you want.

To be my own man. Live my own life, wherever I am.

Be part of the world.

We hide them away. Is this it? Is this what you say?

Corporal Bowen with the bitter humour and the wife who loves him?

Corporal James with the longing to teach history?

Davey Dakers who plays the baboon like an angel?

POLITE LAUGHTER

And William Heath who has fought longer and harder to survive

than you will ever have to. WE are ashamed of THEM?

-I'm not saying that.

-No!

You are not honest enough to say it.

I'm sorry, William, but we can't allow that. We've got a room waiting for you...

I'm 20, Dad. Being like this doesn't make me six again. I'm an adult.

-We've written our wills. We leave everything to you, in trust.

-You don't trust me with a cheque book!

Just bugger off, Dad, because I don't want any of it.

-If I walk out of those gates now, I will not come back.

-Jim...

-It's all right, Mum. Let him go.

-No, I'm serious.

-If you turn your back on what we've arranged...

-I am.

..you won't see us again until you see sense.

In that case...

He doesn't mean it.

He's got the tickets.

I know. It's all right.

-Delusions of grandeur.

-I will have my Parallel Olympics, Mr Cowan.

-Oh, it gets better and better!

-I will.

And the rest of you can go to the devil.

Yes, very adult.

General Blake, I propose we take a vote on it.

All those who oppose Dr Guttmann's proposal

to hold a National Games here at Stoke Mandeville.

UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYS

Right then, Private, look lively.

Sergeant Major on the javelin.

Right, no smirking, sunshine.

There we are. It's all in the grip.

That's how it's done.

LAUGHTER FROM OUTSIDE

Englishman says, "I thought they were coconuts!" Ha ha!

-We've made The Times!

-Oh, show me!

No pictures. I thought they'd do a photograph.

For God's sake, woman. Give it here. Right, listen up.

"The foreign doctor who has played so large a part

"in the treatment of these paraplegics..."