A Tangled Web Doctors

Ooh, that looks...

lovely, sweetheart.

Very nice.

Nardee? Milk?

Oh, sorry, darling.

SHE SIGHS

Come on, Patrick.

Daddy won't be long, now, sweetheart.

That's what Mummy always says.

PHONE RINGS

-Where are you?

-Me?!

-Heston!

-I'm at the conference... Thank you.

..sitting next to the place with your name on it. Where are you?

-It's a long story.

-Well, if you hurry...

Look, Patrick isn't back. I can't leave Chloe on her own, OK?

But I need you here.

I'll get there when I can.

Everything we need is on your laptop.

-It'll be fine.

-No, it won't be fine.

SHE SIGHS Just hold the fort till I get there, OK?

Without your PowerPoint presentation I'll look an idiot.

Hello? J-Julia? Are you...?

DOORBELL RINGS

-What time do you call...?

-Julia?

Sally! Hi, come on in.

-I thought you had a meeting.

-I did. Well, I do.

-So, why are you still here?

-Well, I...

-Mummy, Mummy, Mummy!

-Hello.

We made angels.

They're beautiful.

That's you and that's Daddy.

So Daddy's an angel, is he?

We also made a snowflake. It's hanging on the tree, come and see.

Wow.

'Please leave your message after the tone.'

Patrick, where are you and why are you not answering my messages?

When you get this, you need to call me straight away, do you understand?

And get back here as soon as you can, before this gets any worse.

Hey! What...?

Hey, just a minute. You can't do that.

Ju... You can't dump that here!

-Where's Patrick?

-What?

My husband? Your son?

Er...oh, he had to pop out. He said he'd be right back.

Oh, right.

Oh, sweetie, I think you've missed a little bit on that one.

-It's supposed to be like that.

-Where did he go?

-Ah, he said he had to see someone.

-Who?

-He didn't say.

-Oh, that's odd.

Right, shall we put these on the tree, then?

They're not ready.

-Oh.

-How did his interview go?

-Uh...OK, I think.

-Didn't he say?

Well, shall we put Mummy and Daddy on the tree?

Not yet.

-Look, if you want to get going...

-What?

-To your meeting.

-Oh, no, that doesn't matter.

-Oh, I thought you said it was incredibly important.

Well, you know what? Heston can handle it.

It gives me a bit more time to spend with you and Chloe.

What happened to the hard-nosed career woman we know and love?

I wouldn't say I was exactly hard-nosed...

I'm teasing. I'll put the kettle on.

-They're ready now.

-Oh, OK.

Thank you. And these?

Oh, I hate it when people dump rubbish like that.

Yeah, so do I.

-Mind you, you can see why he wanted to get rid of it.

-It's not that bad.

It's worse.

Poor thing.

You make it sound like an orphan.

Well, it is, sort of.

No, it's not. It's a tree, or it was. Once.

-I don't know how we'll get that in the wheelie bin.

-What?

Don't the council have shredder things?

-We can't throw it out.

-Why not?

Because then we're no better than that idiot in the car park.

-Besides, we can do something with it.

-Like what?

Well, we could, er, cover up the dead bits with tinsel, decorations.

-You're not serious.

-You want to put that up here?

With a little TLC and some imagination it'll look lovely.

I think that it's going to need a little bit more than TLC.

Oh, come on, it'll be fun. Besides, we waste far too much at Christmas.

Think of it as recycling. Doing our bit for the environment.

Can't we just make a donation?

This little tree will be our gift to mother nature,

sort of a green Christmas.

CHRISTMAS CAROL PLAYS

This is a bit odd. When you said he'd be right back,

was that "right back" as in five minutes, half an hour?

Um, I don't know.

-Was he all right when he left?

-Yeah, yeah.

He wasn't worried, or anxious or anything?

Uh, no... Oh, careful, sweetie. That's it.

When did he leave?

Oh, I don't know.

-What do you mean, you don't know?

-Well, um...he left earlier on,

and I didn't really look at the clock.

When are we going to see my new school?

Maybe never, at this rate.

Oh, well, when Daddy gets back.

IF he gets back.

-Are you angry with Daddy?

-No, of course she's not angry with Daddy.

I will be if he's much longer.

Nardee was angry with him last night.

-No, no, I wasn't. Not really.

-Really? Why?

No, it was nothing.

Hey, listen. I've got some more decorations upstairs.

Shall we go and see what we can find? Come on.

You WERE angry with Daddy.

Er, no. Not really, sweetheart.

Just a bit of a misunderstanding, really,

but it's probably better if we don't tell Mummy.

Why?

Well, because I don't want her to be worried

and maybe she wouldn't understand,

so we'll have a little secret between you and I, OK?

Right, come on, then. Let's look at these.

When is Daddy coming back?

I don't know, darling. You sort through those.

Julia, you can't leave me here on my own.

I've had two hours of Primary Health Regulators,

Clinical Commissioning Groups and Health and Wellbeing Boards.

All right, Heston, calm down.

Don't tell... I am up next

and I am going to make a complete hash of it.

Heston, everything that you need is in the file, OK?

I don't understand your spreadsheets, this is your thing.

I need you and I need your PowerPoint presentation.

-Why didn't you do one of your own?

-What?

Heston, I'm in the middle of a family crisis here, OK?

-THIS is a crisis.

-Yeah, well, handle it.

I will not be held responsible... Ju...?

Family crisis?

Oh, er, sorry?

You just said you were in the middle of a family crisis.

Oh, no, I had to tell Heston something.

-You're not worried about Patrick, are you?

-No.

-So why were you angry with him last night?

-Oh, it was nothing.

Well, it must have been something if Chloe noticed.

Come on, what has he done now?

OK, um, well...

OK, to be honest with you, he had had quite a few drinks

and he should not have driven home.

Right. Well, that explains why he hasn't turned on his phone.

-Hung-over and useless.

-He wasn't that drunk.

I don't know why he has a mobile. He never answers it.

-He's probably got a good reason.

-You don't think he's had another accident, do you?

-Oh, no, no.

You ARE worried. What happened last night?

Nothing happened.

Did he say something to upset you?

-No.

-Are you sure?

Yes, it's probably just Chloe's imagination.

You know what she can be like.

Well, he has been a bit odd lately.

Maybe he's having a midlife crisis.

I think he's a bit young for that.

Well, perhaps he's having one now

so he can squeeze a second one in later on.

You remember when I came up to do my course

and you said that I should be careful

of Patrick's "delicate male ego"?

-Did I?

-Yeah. Why did you say that?

Did Patrick say something to you? About me?

No. No, no, of course not, no.

I just think it can be a bit tricky handling men.

Is that it, then? Is that the family crisis?

Patrick's delicate ego?

No. No, no.

Um...no, I just...

I had to say something to Heston, didn't I?

And that was just the first thing that came into my head.

You're not much of a liar, are you?

If we're going to get a tree,

we could at least get something that resembles a tree.

What was she thinking?

Give her a week. She'll get bored.

Christmas is supposed to be a time of good cheer.

Mr Blake?

Ooh, she heard that, didn't she?

-It was hideous.

-It can't have been that bad.

It was. All Julia's fault. All she had to do was turn up.

-Well, if she had a family crisis...

-What about my crisis?

She had the presentation, all I have is a scattering of notes.

Yeah, but sometimes, with kids, things just turn up out of the blue.

With all this PCT stuff, it was a perfect opportunity

for the Mill to put itself forward and she's let everybody down.

Not just me.

-I'm sure she knew that.

-Hah.

Look, who else could she turn to? Daniel? Zara?

I know.

You are the only person that could handle it, Heston.

Still.

-I'm sure it was fine.

-It wasn't.

-Anyway, it's done now.

-It's not.

I have to go back this afternoon and interface with these focus groups.

Um, how about this evening I make you a really special supper, eh?

No, I have to be up late making sense of all this rubbish

they've put in front of me.

-Oh.

-Sorry.

Oh, well. Be the holidays, soon.

We can get down to the serious business of spoiling me.

I don't get Julia. Her children are all grown up.

How much trouble can they be?

Hmm. Plenty. Believe me.

The whole day's shot now.

Now, that is such a pretty dress. We don't want to get it dirty, do we?

There we go.

Oh, Chloe, no.

It's just a dress, Julia. It doesn't matter.

-Oh, he's so selfish.

-Please, can I have some ketchup?

How can he just disappear for the whole day?

I'm sorry, darling, I don't think I've got any.

He must have said something about where he was going, Julia.

He just said he'd be back first thing.

I can't eat them without ketchup.

-First thing?

-What?

That's not what you said before.

You said he'd just stepped out and that he'd be right back.

Now you're saying he said he'd be back first thing.

Well, yeah, I meant...in a minute.

Did Patrick come back last night?

Yes, of course he did. Where else would he go?

He doesn't know anyone in Letherbridge.

Was Daddy here last night?

He came in really late, she was fast asleep.

Are you sure Daddy wasn't here?

How do you know?

I woke up and I went into his room and he wasn't there.

So, he didn't come back?

-He didn't come back at all?

-No.

Then why did you say he did?

-Was that part of the secret?

-What secret?

-Nothing. No. No, sweetie.

-Well, where was he then, last night?

With a friend.

-A friend?

-Yeah.

Well, he doesn't have any friends in Letherbridge.

Male friend or female friend?

Elaine. I'm ever so sorry about earlier.

-We really didn't mean it.

-No?

No. And you're right - recycling's good, it's the way to go.

-You and Cherry think it's a mistake.

-We don't, really.

Sure?

Yeah. I mean, it... Er, when it's done up it'll be nice.

It will be nice.

-I mean it'll never be beautiful, but...

-Fiver.

From the second-hand shop. Decorations, tinsel,

lights, all for a fiver.

So, we're saving money and saving the planet.

Right.

So, I'll leave them with you and Cherry, then.

Sally. What are you doing here?

That's a nice surprise isn't it, munchkin?

-Well, I have had the strangest 24 hours ever.

-Really?

Yeah. Look, I went to the pub yesterday after the interview.

I was convinced I'd blown it. I was going to have one drink.

I met this guy, told him what happened.

He started buying me drinks, all night. It was crazy.

Anyway, I ended up staying the night on his sofa.

Hmm. Patrick...

And then, this morning,

I wake up with the hangover from hell.

I've got a message from the head.

So, your phone IS working.

Huh? Yeah, yeah.

Well, guess what? He wants to see me again.

This morning, would you believe it?

So there I am with this awful, awful hangover

trying to get myself prepared, you know, look right.

Look, Mum, I'm really, really sorry I didn't make it yesterday, I was...

I just lost track of time

and I didn't really know where I was, you know?

-So why didn't ask your friend?

-Huh?

Oh, God. Well, he was...out of it, you know?

-It was a bit of a night.

-I'll bet it was.

I think we should talk about this later.

No, no, no. Cos it was fine,

cos I managed to find my way there, you know. I got there just in time.

Didn't look my best, admittedly, but...

it didn't seem to matter.

Really, really good interview.

So, this little friend of yours. Did he go along too?

What?

I think we should take this in the other room.

To hold your hand?

No, of course not.

So, this friend of yours. Just a good-time friend?

Or a bit more serious than that?

When are we going to see my new school?

I don't think we'll need to look at your new school, now.

No, we'll go in a minute, darling.

Sweetie, come here.

Why don't we see if we can find some decorations upstairs?

Come on, then.

I can't believe that we're actually doing this.

What sort of a person buys rubbish like this?

-Was she really upset?

-Yeah.

Maybe Julia'll ask us to take it down.

D'you think that it needs more tinsel?

I think it needs more tree.

Oh, it looks wonderful.

-Yes, doesn't it?

-See?

Mmm!

-DOWNSTAIRS:

-I trusted you!

-You've never trusted me with anything.

I trusted you with our marriage. I trusted you not to cheat on me.

You treat me like dirt. You always have.

-How?! How do I treat you like dirt?

-You think I'm useless.

-You are.

-See?

When are they going to stop fighting?

They're not... Sweetheart, I don't think they're really fighting,

it's just that sometimes grown-ups say things they don't really mean.

They fight a lot.

-Do they?

-Are they fighting because of me?

Oh, no, sweetheart, course they're not.

They both love you very much and so do I.

Are they fighting because of my new school?

No.

Why don't you help me untangle these, hmm?

Doesn't Mummy want to live here?

I'm sure she does.

I want to live here, near you, Nardee.

I know you do, sweetheart, and I want you to live here near me.

Come on, then. Let's get these done, shall we?

SHE SIGHS

It'll look better with the lights on.

There.

Oh.

ELECTRICAL CRACKLE

-That wasn't supposed to happen.

-That, that doesn't look good.

-Uh...

-SMOKE ALARM BEEPS Should we unplug it?

-I don't think we should touch it.

THEY SCREAM

-Get the fire extinguisher!

-Where is it?

-The one with the black label.

-What?

-For electrical fires.

-Get the green.

-Karen!

-Check the label.

-Karen!

-Green!

-Where are they?!

-The staff room, it's in the staff room!

Oh-ho-ho-ho! Oh-ho!

-Why didn't you tell me she was here?

-I tried.

-Really?

-Yes.

-You weren't answering your phone.

-You can't send a message? Or text?

I did. I told you to get back as soon as you could.

You never said that she was here.

But... Well, so?

-Maybe you didn't want to.

-What?

Never mind. It doesn't matter anyway, now.

-Where are you going?

-Why?

Have you got any idea what this is doing to your daughter, Patrick?

That little girl is up there, crying her eyes out.

-Well, she'd better get used to it.

-What do you mean?

Sally's leaving me.

Ooh!

Well, look at it this way,

you brought it in dead, and now we've given it a decent cremation.

It seemed like such a good idea.

-It did in theory, yes.

-Not so much in practice.

Well, I don't know, it might have worked.

-Don't encourage her.

-I'm really sorry.

She might have another cause up her sleeve.

Like what? A home for battered elves?

They do say Santa has a terrible temper.

Someone has to look after the little people.

Why don't we just stick to treating patients?

-It's not as exciting, though, is it?

-Yeah, but it's a lot safer.

I suppose.

Do we have to tell Julia about this?

Well, not much damage has been done, has it?

How much is it worth to you?

Is she all right? Sally?

Is Chloe all right?

How long have you known that Patrick was having an affair?

I don't think it's an affair, as such, I think it's...

How long?

-A few days.

-A few days?

Yeah, I know, I should've told you, I'm sorry. I don't know why I didn't.

Because he's your son?

Look, no-one understands more than I do

that, right now, you are very angry.

-Angry?!

-Well, you're both angry and now is not...

We're both angry?! What's he got to be angry about?

Just don't make any decisions while you feel like this.

Did he tell you it was all my fault? Because I didn't "believe" in him?

OK, he's been a fool, Sally, yes. I know that

-and so does he, deep down.

-Really(?)

Please, just give him a chance to come to his senses, and then you can work this...

Why should I give him a chance?

Give me one good reason why I should give him another chance after what he's done.

Because you owe it to Chloe.

WHITE NOISE

Stupid thing.

Oh, no.

SHE SIGHS

I don't want to "config set up",

I want to turn this stupid television on.

CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYS

RAP MUSIC PLAYS

Well, it seems you're just like your father after all. No stamina.

First sign of trouble you just run away.

I won't let you do this, Patrick, you're going to make this work.

Why?

Because I am not going to let the same thing happen to Chloe

that you kids went through.

Maybe you should have thought of that before.

Keep your voice down.

If you'd kept quiet, Mum, none of this would have happened.

She only found out cos you wanted her to.

Hey, I covered for you, Patrick. I lied for you!

You wanted to tell her all along.

-You're only using me to get back at Dad.

-That's a terrible thing to say.

Is that all you care about? That I found out?

You think everything would have been all right if I hadn't?

You've got a text.

"Last night was amazing,"

all capitals, seven exclamation marks.

"Can't wait to do it again," five kisses. What is she, 12?

RAP MUSIC PLAYS

What're you doing?

Looking for the stupid instructions.

-MUSIC STOPS How did you do that?

-Which instructions?

Instructions for the stupid television.

-The instructions are on the system.

-Fat lot of good that is if you can't turn it on.

Well, it's very expensive and sophisticated.

Yeah, and so complicated that you can't even turn the stupid thing on.

-Calm down.

-Don't tell me to calm down.

I have just spent the last hour trying to get that thing to work.

I've even missed my television programme, now.

It's not complicated at all.

-I tried that and it didn't work.

-You must have done the wrong thing.

-Give it to me.

-You don't need this, it's on now.

-It's fine.

-Why do you need all these stupid things anyway? Oh!

-Ooh.

-Are you all right?

Apart from the woman who's trying to kill me.

I'm so sorry.

I just got frustrated.

Yeah, so did I, the first time.

They nearly drove me mad.

At least she makes me feel like I matter.

-Like I'm worth something.

-And obviously I'm not,

if this is the way you treat me.

-Ssh. You'll wake Chloe.

-Don't tell me what to do.

Is there anybody you care about? Apart from yourself?

See, why did you tell her? You know what she's like.

-What I'm like?! What about you?

-Please...

And she didn't tell me. She lied to me, just like you.

-Because I didn't want to make things any worse.

-Well, you have.

-You haven't known for a few days. You've known for weeks.

-What?

Did you honestly think I wasn't going to find out?

You've known about this since his accident. He told me.

-You lied to me and you lied to Chloe.

-No, I did not.

You babysat for him so he could go and sleep with her.

I didn't know that he was going to do that.

Or did you let them do it here? You're incredible. Both of you.

-Has Chloe met her?

-No. Of course not.

I don't believe you.

-And you're just as bad as he is.

-Sally...

You stupid man.

CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYS

VOLUME INCREASES

-Sally, please. Don't do this. Don't.

-Get out of my way.

It took me ages to get her to sleep.

Well, I hope you enjoyed it

because it's the last time you'll ever do it.

And if you think you will ever see my daughter again,

you are very much mistaken.

JULIA SOBS

-It was an effort to get up this morning.

-You're not kidding, mate.

If Oliver phones again, do you mind saying I'm out?

Don't dump your one-night stands on me. Obviously not what she hoped for.

I didn't sleep with her, you silly cow.

She fell over and I was helping her out.

It's not for me to tell my daughter-in-law

what my stupid, unfaithful son was up to.

It was for Patrick to come clean.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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