The Night Children Doctors

Miss Hitch?

-Could I have a word?

-I'm busy.

Is that you?

I heard you crying in the night and I thought you might like this.

This was my favourite when I was a little girl.

Well, I'm nearly finished in here.

Are you indeed?

That was a nasty old leak, but the place looks as good as new now.

I'll be the judge of that.

Some of the work you did last week left a lot to be desired.

Well, I just wondered, would you like me

to decorate the rest of your house for you?

I've got some lovely colours. Misty blue, lemon grass.

I could go round and give you an estimate.

I don't want an estimate.

I don't want any more noise or disruption.

-I just want you to finish your work, and then leave.

-Right.

By the way...

..what are all those toys out there?

-What?

-Your garden's full of them.

Dolls and teddy bears.

That's none of your business!

Shut up about my toys, just do the work you've been paid for.

That's a nutritious breakfast.

Hi Anthony! Help yourself.

I'm all right, thanks. What's the occasion?

I just thought everybody needed cheering up,

people are dropping like flies, aren't they? Niamh and Heston.

Don't get too down about it.

Niamh's gone, but Heston is on long-term leave.

He'll be back when he feels up to it.

Right, well, any excuse.

-Morning!

-Morning, Zara, how are you?

Exhausted. But we're in.

How is the new place?

Incredible.

The place is a tip of course,

but Daniel has made copious unpacking plans.

I hope to get an invitation soon.

Of course!

The Dorley Hill conservation area?

Indeed.

Rob gets called out there all the time.

It must be quite a crime hot spot,

and he says some of the houses are really ugly as well.

Well, it's a good job he's a plod, then, not an estate agent.

-Oh.

-What?

There's been a really bad burglary.

-Whole family held up at gunpoint.

-Where?

The Dorley Hill Conservation Area.

SHE PANTS

CHILDREN'S LAUGHTER

CHILDREN'S LAUGHTER

Miss Hitch?

-Yes?

-I'm just going to nip down to the shops for ten minutes.

You're not going anywhere till someone has inspected your work.

Well, if you'd like to come and...

I can't do it.

I can't see two inches in front of me.

But my doctor's coming.

He can tell me what sort of a job you've done.

Well, if I could just nip to the shops.

You're not going anywhere!

Go and sit in the drawing room until the doctor comes.

Miss Hitch, you can't keep me prisoner.

I think you've made yourself a prisoner.

What with your shoddy work and your poor life choices.

What do you mean?

Well, if you'd worked harder at school,

you wouldn't be doing such a menial job, would you?

There you go, that is the bathroom.

That looks draughty.

How can you tell? It's a photograph.

Is that mould?

-No, it's a shadow!

-Really?

Well, if it makes you happy, that's the main thing.

Of course it makes me happy. This is a superb house.

In your opinion.

All right, then, why don't you come and see for yourself?

We're having a house-warming.

As if that's going to happen! You've got to unpack,

you've probably got to scrape mould off the bathroom.

I'm excellent at multitasking,

and Daniel has made copious unpacking lists.

It's on Wednesday. So hopefully see you there.

Who are you?

Nurse Lee. I've come to change your dressing.

I was expecting Dr Carter.

Afraid not. You'll have to make do with me.

SIGHING: Oh, all right, come on in.

So how are you doing?

I've got pains in every part of my body.

All I can see is a blur.

And the only thing I want to do is sleep,

and I can't seem to do that any more.

-Oh, I'm sorry to hear that.

-Where's Dr Carter?

-He's taking some time off at the moment.

-Oh, typical!

He's probably going to leave.

All the good ones do.

Mmm.

'With your palms holding the ball, breathe deeply...'

'..and lift your head to the heavens.'

OK.

'Lower your right hand down and lift your left hand up,

'as if to catch an imaginary bird.'

Right.

-Heston?

-'Now cradle the bird...'

-Oh, Jimmi!

-'..and hold it gently...'

-Sorry, I was miles away.

-Where, on a mountain in Tibet?

Something like that. It was Rhuma's idea.

Apparently two things really good for the heart -

exercise and laughter.

So, er, I'll do the exercise, you can do the laughter.

-How is the heart?

-It's still beating.

But Rhuma's threatening to put me on a diet,

so you'll have to smuggle in some steak-and-kidney pie.

Well, I'll do my best, I...

How's it going at The Mill?

Oh, you know, ticking along. It's much the same.

Oh, dear.

I'm just going to give it a clean.

Ha. I don't need cleaning any more, I need dusting.

Have you been drinking alcohol?

No.

Er, I had a drink last night...

Yes, I thought so.

Yes, my father used to say anyone drinking alcohol

was suckling at Satan's teat.

Each to their own.

I find the odd drink can actually help you relax.

It helps relax moral standards.

If I were ever to drink, it would be the last thing I do.

Right.

-There's something I need you to do for me.

-Yes?

I have a workman, supposedly doing repairs in my drawing room.

We had a flood last week, a burst pipe.

And I need you to inspect his so-called handiwork.

Me?

Well, I can't do it, I'm losing my sight, everything's a blur.

Look, I'm really not sure that I...

Well, Dr Carter would have done it!

"Nothing is too much trouble," he used to say to me.

Fine.

So what's Anthony up to now?

-Getting rid of any patient over the age of 40?

-No.

OK, look, I spoke to him on Friday, I gave him my concerns,

and he said if I wasn't happy at The Mill, I could find another practice.

That is outrageous! You've been there longer than anyone else!

-Watch your heart...

-Yeah, well, at least I've still got one!

Well, you must have enough evidence now of bad practice?

-Can't make anything stick. The guy's like an eel.

-Yeah.

Well, until Anthony goes, I'm not coming back to work.

-Really?

-Really.

So it's up to you, Jimmi.

Hello? Are you there?

-IRRITABLY:

-Yes, I'm here, Miss Hitch.

I want you to inspect his workmanship.

Has he restored the wall to its former state?

Has he left my house pristine?

Has he splashed paint on my Persian rug?

No. It's all good, he's done a...

..great job.

What are all those splodges up there?

That's a paint effect. It's very fashionable these days.

What?! I didn't ask for that! Get it off!

FAITH FAKES A COUGHING FIT

What's the matter with you?

Sorry, I think it's just the paint fumes...

-Can you, um, help me outside for a second, please?

-Of course.

SHE CONTINUES COUGHING

MUTTERS: Paint effect...

What do you think you're playing at?

She wanted the paint up on the wall and that's where she got it.

Look, I know she can be a pain in the bum, but to do that to someone who's half-blind...

I've had ten days of her nagging me, niggling me,

getting under my skin.

And she is actually evil.

-Oh, Really?

-Oh, yes.

You can see it in her eyes.

Her cold, empty eyes.

Just take a look around you.

Dolls and toys and teddy bears, twisted and torn.

She talks to them.

Sometimes she screams at them,

tells them to shut up and not move a muscle.

And if I have to stay here one more minute,

I'll end up demented as well.

-So I'll see you next week.

-OK.

-Daniel.

-Yes?

What would you say to a house-warming party?

I'd say, no, don't even think about it.

What?! Why not?

Well, because it's not a home yet, we're still living out of cardboard boxes.

Well, yes, having a party would encourage us to unpack and get ready.

No, it's not fair on Joe.

-We need to settle him into a new routine, all that stuff.

-It's only for one night.

And you can invite your golfing buddies,

or drum up business for the Granger Clinic.

After the stress of the weekend, I'm not up to networking.

Yes, well...I've already invited people.

When for?

Wednesday.

What were you thinking?

Well, I was thinking we could have some fun, Daniel. Remember fun?

It's what we used to have before we had responsibilities.

Oh, OK, and who have you told?

No-one, really. Just...Karen.

Oh, Karen with the biggest mouth in the West Midlands, Karen?

No, Daniel, it's not...

Can I have a word?

Miss Hitch?

Oh, hello! There you are. I thought you'd gone, that I was on my own.

I thought perhaps it was Judgment Day.

Not as far as I know.

"For the hour is come, and all are not yet saved."

Miss Hitch, you know there's a load of toys in your garden?

Yes?

What are they for, exactly?

Well, it's none of your business.

Cos if you want, I could ring the council and ask them to come and...

No, no, no, no, no! Don't touch them!

They belong to the night children.

The what?

Oh...

Every night when I'm trying to go to sleep, I hear them, playing.

So of course, I put out toys for them.

I've done it all my life.

Who are they exactly?

The world is full of lost children, night children.

I try to do my best for them, but they're never happy.

And...

now I'm getting old.

Miss Hitch, have you ever had children?

Where is that young man who was painting?

Oh, he's just tidying up.

He made a pig's ear of it, didn't he?

I could tell by your tone of your voice.

Well, he made a bit of mess,

-but he's just sorting it now.

-Yes, I thought so.

Come with me.

Oh, hello there.

Hello, Mr Maynard?

It's Miss Hitch here.

Yes, that painter you sent me,

I want him removed from my house.

That's not fair!

He wrote graffiti on my wall, of a personal nature.

I was only messing!

Yes, I'll tell him.

Yes, he wants you to leave. He wants you to go and see him.

N-No, I'm nearly done! I can clean this up!

Go on, run along, out of my house,

all the way to the job centre!

If you give me another chance, I can put this right!

There'll be no other chances.

You shall reap what you have sown!

Stupid man!

So he's not coming back till Anthony's gone?

I knew nothing of this.

Look, it's probably too early for Heston to come back to work anyway,

and he's just a bit wound up maybe, because of his condition.

Well, do you blame him? On Friday, Anthony said

if I didn't like things, I could find another practice.

-You sure you're not being paranoid?

-No, this is real

and I'm starting to see a pattern.

-That's what paranoid people always say.

-OK, you two,

can you stop bickering? You need to sort out a meeting with Anthony.

You have to sit down and get some answers.

So, yeah, she just threw him out of the house.

He was really upset,

and she looked like she was about to spontaneously combust.

-'Night children'?

-Yeah. Weird.

She said that when she's in bed,

she hears them playing in the garden, every night.

-Maybe she does.

-What?

Well, I mean, it's such an old creepy house,

with that garden that goes on forever...

I mean, maybe kids do climb in, or use it as a short cut.

-I mean, who knows what goes on at the bottom of the garden?

-HE CHUCKLES

They've started asking me questions.

That wretched nurse!

And I know I said I'd never tell, but...

Oh!

This is all your fault!

Why did you have to tell those stupid lies?!

Oh!

I couldn't do anything else.

I didn't want to hurt anybody.

SHE SOBS

SHE SOBS

Hello?

Who's that?

Who is it?

Hello?

Who is it? Where are you?

Oh!

Oh!

Where are you?

SHE GASPS

Get out of my house!

Your place is in the garden!

You must never, never come into the house!

SHE SCREAMS

I'm sorry, could you slow down a bit?

No, Dr Carter's not here. He's... Well, he's not here.

Would you mind speaking to the nurse that you saw earlier?

Please, she's in a right state.

It's Miss Hitch.

Course it is.

Hello?

I want to speak to Dr Carter.

Well, you've got me, Nurse Lee.

I want Dr Carter!

Yeah, well, I want Idris Elba, but we can't have everything.

No, but I...

Hello?

You did this to yourself, you stupid man!

I don't care if you die!

And in the last days, the glutton shall be consumed

by his unnatural appetite...

..and the drunkard drown in his debauchery.

Hello? Miss Hitch? Miss Hitch?

DIALLING TONE

What's that about?

I don't know, but it doesn't sound good.

Oh, come on, you've become so boring.

Fine, fine.

Look, if this is the only way to shut you up, have your party.

Excellent. I will get e-mailing.

I think you're mad, though.

We've just got our foot through the front door,

and already you're giving yourself all this extra work.

It'll be fine.

We will get caterers in and they will do all of the tidying up.

It'll just be a few friends, some neighbours and some colleagues.

What's the worst that could happen?

KNOCK ON DOOR

Go away! Go away!

Miss Hitch?

This was not my fault.

He did it to himself, you know.

Hello? Can you hear me?

What have you done?

He broke into my house, he stole my whisky.

I thought you didn't drink.

I won it at the church tombola.

Has he had anything else?

Yes.

Pills, sleeping pills.

What?!

I was hoarding them in case things got too much for me.

I put some in the whisky,

I thought if ever I have to leave this world...

OK, Connor, I need you to stay awake for me, please.

Hello? Ambulance. The address is...

Agh!

Miss Hitch!

Give me the phone!

Please give me the phone!

So you can snitch and telltale tit?

If we don't get help, that man could die.

We're all going to die.

He's a drunken swell going to hell.

Please, just give me the phone.

No!

There will be no ambulance, no interference,

no more strangers.

Please, it's going to be OK.

We just need to get a doctor here.

And then you'll go away?

What are you so afraid of?

Is it to do with the night children?

Are they real children?

Miss Hitch, do you know where they actually are?

To what do I owe the pleasure?

Well, Jimmi has something...

Oh, before I forget, I've had a letter from a patient about you.

I've been meaning to pass it on.

"Happy Easter, to my favourite doctor in the world, Dr Jimmi."

That's from Ellie McGoohan, aged seven.

Right.

It's so nice when we get something like that.

It shows how valued you are.

Yeah.

See, the thing is that not many people at The Mill are

feeling valued right now.

They came to live with us during the war, evacuees.

Sarah and Susan Knight.

The Knight children.

And when the war was over, my daddy said they could stay with us

cos they had nowhere else to go.

What happened to them?

Well, they lived with us.

They were like sisters to me.

And then...

Then one day, they told terrible lies about my daddy.

He didn't do the things they said he did.

But he couldn't let them go on spreading lies about him.

Did he do this?

Did he actually kill them?

He said it was the best thing for everyone,

that nobody really dies.

And I must pray for their poor, lost souls...

..which I've been doing for 60 years.

Miss Hitch, please just give me the phone

and I'll get help.

You won't get in any trouble.

I don't want any more strangers.

And I don't want anyone to die.

I know none of this was your fault,

but we need to get help.

Please will you let them stay in the garden?

I need someone to play with.

Hello.

Ambulance.

Heston certainly doesn't feel valued, and at the moment,

he doesn't even want to come back to work.

Jimmi...

thank you so much for bringing this to me.

And of course I value Heston. He's a complete one-off.

You say that now that he's gone.

I very much hope that he'll return.

Heston brought me the Mental Health Project.

I thought it was a wonderful idea, I got Sid in to assist him.

Thank goodness I did,

or his heart problem could have been a lot worse.

If Heston wants to take time off to make a recovery,

that seems entirely sensible.

But I will let him know that we miss him

and that the door is always open whenever he wants to return.

Well, that's entirely satisfactory.

I don't think there's anything more that we can add.

Hang on a second.

Last week, you said that if I didn't like the way you did things,

I could find another practice.

So, first, it was Mrs Tembe, then Heston and now me.

So, are you going to dig up the garden?

Maybe.

They'll send a CSI team at some point.

Who knows what they'll find?

This place hasn't been touched for 60 years.

I don't get it.

If it is true, how could you keep a secret like that for so long?

She was just a kid, too.

Under the thumb of her evil dad.

I don't think she hurt them.

In fact, I think she was probably their only friend.

Can I go out in the garden for a few moments?

No, I'm sorry.

Well, you see, I need to turn the outside light on

cos they don't like being left in the dark and I...

Oh, what a lovely perfume.

It smells like honeysuckle.

Could I have a little, please?

I'd like to sprinkle it on their graves.

OK, look, regarding Mrs Tembe, she saw an opportunity

and I said, "If you really want, you should go for it."

I could hardly prevent her from following her dream.

And I didn't mean to imply that I wanted you to leave.

I just meant it was your prerogative.

Unfortunately, I cannot prevent talented members of staff

from going elsewhere, although I very much hope that you will stay.

I think it's great that we've cleared the air here today.

Yeah, exactly, and maybe I am guilty of not communicating how much

I value people.

Well, come on, we're all guilty of that at times,

and maybe we're guilty of not appreciating how hard

you've worked to turn this place around.

Well, I couldn't have done it without an incredible team.

I know, but we don't operate in a vacuum.

For a team to work, it needs strong leadership.

'You've done well today.'

Are you suggesting I become a full time FME?

If you're up for it, yes.

I will speak to Sid, Ayesha, Al and turn on the charm.

I have ways of making you come to my party.

We've got a problem - none of them can make it tomorrow.

What have you done?

This is now officially a crisis!