Episode 4 The Crimson Field

This programme contains strong language

There can be no greater sacrifice

than to willingly give your life for king and country.

We do not come to mourn

but to rejoice in the devotion of these men.

Their bodies lie here

but their souls will be gathered unto God

and they will shine in glory,

their names recorded for all eternity.

So let us rejoice

and let us pray.

There's no rejoicing in good men gone down

but we're still standing.

Why?

Because we're the Lucky 13.

Now, we came out here together.

We stay together and we stay alive.

Now that's the way it's going to be.

Yes?

-ALL:

-Yes, Dad.

-Yes?

We'll always be 13.

Now, let's bow our heads

for these lads that didn't have our luck.

'Are we making a fuss about this birthday?'

'She says she doesn't want a fuss.'

I've arranged for a cake.

Very wise.

And it would be nice if you could say a few words to her today.

Just to let her know how important she is here,

how highly she's valued.

There's nothing like being prompted into spontaneous well-wishing.

-I'm not.

-You are.

You prompt me quite a lot on the subject of Sister Quayle.

In fact, you appear to be constantly apologising

that it was you who got my recommendation for matron

-and not her.

-Not at all.

I am simply reminding you

that people like to know when they're appreciated.

Very well.

I shall start as I mean to go on.

Sister Livesey, you're very much appreciated.

Thank you.

All being well, you shall all be leaving us today.

Yes, Sir. Sister's got us all better.

For the second time, I hear.

Sir. Fell off me bike, Sir, back at home

and Sister patched me up in the hospital.

He says it was me.

But I don't know, I think he just wants special treatment.

All right, go ahead. Get yourself some breakfast.

Tell the cooks I said double bacon for you all.

Oh, thanks, Sister. Sir.

I feel rather protective.

Don't we all.

LAUGHTER AND CHATTER

Do you have free time this afternoon?

We all do.

Do you have plans?

I thought I might tidy the tent, maybe do some darning.

Would you meet me?

(Yes.)

(Where?)

I hadn't really thought much beyond asking the question!

The woods?

About two?

All right, lad, that's yours. There you go.

Very good eggs!

Talking a good game back there, Dad.

Talking plain fact.

What you doing about this medical?

We'll be all right.

I know we will.

It's not us I'm worried about, it's you.

-There you go.

-Thank you.

Just some of that, please.

Did you find out who's doing it?

-Which doctor is signing us out?

-Sister said it were a new one.

-What new one?

-I don't know, Raymond, a new doctor!

So long as he doesn't listen to your chest.

Eh!

I hope you're keeping your gob shut.

No, I'm telling everyone,

because what I really want is them all going to pieces,

which they will, by the way, if you get caught out.

It'll be all right.

Now, you're forgetting something.

I'm blessed, me!

I'm charmed, we all are.

We're the Lucky 13.

I'll be all right.

Have a bit of faith, Peacock.

THEY YELL AND LAUGH

I'm not getting involved in this!

I could bloody kiss you for this, Tom.

Please don't.

God knows why you want to give up your pass

but I'm not complaining.

I leave a broken man, spirit diminished, full of despair

but I shall return with renewed optimism and vigour.

Most likely you'll return with a dose of the pox.

You'll be sweating mercury for weeks.

It is a small price to pay.

What are you going to do?

Tidy the tent...

Do some darning.

Go on, you're wasting precious moments. Piss off!

Why Captain Gillan has seen fit to give you his two o'clock pass

is beyond my comprehension.

You'll be back by seven and I do not want another incident,

not like last time.

Leave the absinthe well alone.

Yes, Sir.

Thank you.

What is it?

Someone has connections on high.

I wonder...

what ward you might be going to!

Let me guess.

I don't know what you mean.

He likes you too.

Really? Do you think so?

No, he doesn't! He never even looks at me.

And we're not supposed to get sweet on any of the boys.

There's a lot of things we're not supposed to do.

Do you really think he might like me?

-Are you prattling, Marshall?

-No, Matron.

Your uniform is incorrect. How many times do I have to tell you?

Do you know a Mr Elliot Vincent?

I do, Matron.

Why?

As this has come from headquarters

it makes it not so much a request as a command.

Clearly Mr Vincent has some influence.

He's insisted that you meet him in town today.

-Is he a relative?

-Yes.

Someone who could help with your family situation,

with regards to your child?

Potentially.

If you're at the entrance by two o'clock

there may be a lift for you.

ANIMATED CHATTER

Put your cards down, Charlie.

Dad.

Two reds.

THEY GROAN

Will you stop helping him?

You stop fleecing him.

Eh, up! Eh, up!

-Morning!

-ALL: Morning, Nurse.

Here, Nurse, seeing as it's our last day,

tell us your first name.

-I'm not really supposed to...

-I'm Raymond.

I know these lot call me Peacock being as I'm so handsome

but my given name's Raymond.

That means king of the world, that.

Ray - king, mond - world.

So what's your name, then?

Flora.

That means flower.

That's a perfect name for you, that.

Don't you reckon, Charlie?

Don't you reckon Nurse's name's perfect for her?

Yeah, I suppose.

Gosh, look at all these beds. I must get on.

Take no notice, Charlie.

Where's this MO then, Sister?

-Get off!

-War'll be over by the time he turns up.

You've got the forms. Can't you just...?

No, I can't.

You just want to keep us here longer.

Admit it, you're going to miss us.

Oh, I am. Especially you.

I'll miss you like a hole in the head!

You love me really.

No, Private Deeley, YOU love you really.

I can't apologise enough, I got completely lost.

-Captain Osberton.

-Do forgive me for keeping you waiting, chaps.

All of you have had trench fever.

From the crusades onwards, damn lice...

curse of the soldier...

What do you reckon?

Reckon your luck's in, Dad.

-Burt?

-Here, Sir.

Three Carricks... Can that be right, Sister?

-Brothers, Sir.

-Brothers.

-A Pals Battalion, Captain.

-All from the same street in my city.

-Oh, well, in that case,

I will take extra care.

Now, you may need to speak up. I'm a little hard of hearing.

Dear me!

You're a jammy bugger, Dad!

Eh? He's really nice. Why are you laughing at him?

Oh, no, it's not like that. No...

Old bloke like that, could be at home with his feet up

but he's out here with t' rest of us.

-It does your heart proud. Doesn't it?

-It does.

No name.

No pay book.

-Driver said he's been heavily sedated.

-Why?

Bit of a handful.

He's been here before.

Don't know the name but I recognise the face.

Well...

we'll find out when he wakes up. Won't we?

Here they come!

-Ward tent two.

-Smashing. Ward two, lads.

Well, the gods are smiling on me today, Miss Trevelyan.

Hop in.

Special circumstances.

Setting a very dangerous precedent.

Now every nurse will want trips into town

with no female chaperone.

It won't be long before someone gets a belly full of arms and legs.

This way.

This way, we're going this way.

I do wish you'd stop chattering, Miss Trevelyan,

I can barely hear myself think(!)

-No, thank you, Captain.

-Miles.

I've told you, call me Miles.

Do you know the hotel in town?

I do.

L'Hotel Rose Sur Mer.

I keep a room there for myself and Tom - Captain Gillan.

Why?

I heard it was...

a nice place to take tea.

Oh, God, it's delightful!

My plans?

Well, since you ask,

I have some rather pressing private business to attend to.

And then I'm going to go straight to my room at the hotel

and run a bath.

And then I'm going to enjoy a steak

and a bottle, possibly two, of wine

and if you would care to join me

then that would be really rather marvellous.

I meant in a restaurant, of course.

Slight slip of the tongue, there.

But obviously I meant steak and wine in a restaurant.

Though were you to fling caution to the winds

and join me in the bath

then as gallantry is my constant watchword,

I would of course take the tap end.

-What the hell are you doing?

-I'm getting out!

Oh, come on. Please, it was a joke!

Please get back in the car.

I'll walk.

You can't bloody walk!

Watch me. And I'll walk back, as well.

I promise I won't say anything more, just get back in the car...

Take your damn hands off me.

You are being ridiculous!

Bloody woman!

I'll be outside the hotel at five.

And much as I would happily leave you to walk, I can't.

So you'll be there and we'll travel back in stony silence.

Oh, and one final thing,

I give up.

A1.

BACKGROUND CHATTER

Now's your chance, lad.

Now's the time.

Thank you, Captain.

-Have you got a match?

-There you go.

I'll come and wave you all off.

Aye, make sure you do.

Well, then.

Dawlish!

Go on.

Tell me something, droopy drawers,

does a day go by when you don't drop a bollock?

Shut up, Raymond!

And stop calling me droopy drawers!

Doc's not listening.

He's not listening!

You're a jammy bugger, Dad.

Jammy nothing.

I told you,

I'm charmed.

Would you like me to help?

I've done this before,

you could sign the forms once I've filled them in.

Oh, I'm unconscionably slow, aren't I?

Yes, please, Sister.

Otherwise these poor chaps will never get out of here!

Two heads are better than one.

So...

Harris!

A1.

Thank you.

Good lad.

Tyrell.

Come on then, Dad.

You're all right there, Sister.

You've got plenty to be getting on with.

I don't mind waiting for the Captain.

It won't take long, don't be daft. Come on!

No, honestly...

CHAIR LEG CLICKS

What happened?

Did you fall out?

It's coming.

What is?

Help me.

There you go.

He's one of them poor sods, isn't he?

Stand back. Give him room.

What on Earth's going on?

Prentiss?

Par ici, Madame.

...quelque chose?

Monsieur, voila.

Ah, thank you.

-Send my usual up.

-Oui, monsieur.

Hey, Charlie!

-A1!

-How's the food?

Yeah, it's good.

MEN YELL

Hello, Nurse.

Hello, Dawlish.

Are you going for a ride then?

Oh, no...

No, I can't really ride it.

I mean, I've had a few lessons

but I'm not very good at going round the corners.

I'm just turning the engine over.

Joan, I mean, Sister said that could be my job because...

Well, it needs to be turned over everyday

because of the sea air.

It's not very good for it.

This is the throttle

and that's how you turn it on!

You're quite the expert.

Well, I'm rather a modern girl actually, Dawlish.

That's good.

Yes...it is...

very good.

You see, Dawlish, in the future, we'll all be modern.

Er...

I'd best be going now.

Yes.

You know it's Sister Quayle's birthday today?

I thought I might pick her some blackberries.

She's been very good to me.

You know, Flora, I saw you...

doing this.

You'll give that young man ideas.

-And he's a different class to you.

-Oh, well done, Rosalie.

You're not talking to Kitty or Joan and now I'm not talking to you.

HE PANTS RAPIDLY

That was quick work. Thank you, both.

Keep an eye.

Can you lift your shirt up for me?

Um...

You don't need to do that. Doctor's not doing it.

I am.

Why don't you want me to listen to your chest?

A1, Dad, good lad, I'll see you out there.

Pleurisy. Double pneumonia.

Few years back.

It's left me with a rattle, but it's...

It sounds much worse than it is,

it's nothing, honest.

Breathe in.

How did you get through your medical?

Shoved a half crown across table.

Hey, no, no, don't. Please don't.

Don't tell him, let it be just between me and you.

It's just a rattle, it don't mean anything, it don't matter.

Yes, it does.

Captain.

-Sister Quayle.

-Sir.

Do you recall Lance Corporal Lawrence Prentiss?

I gave you a Blighty Ticket to give to him

so he could get on a convoy back to England.

You told me you gave him that ticket.

But if that was true, it would be impossible

for Lance Corporal Lawrence Prentiss

to be here.

Would it not?

With me, Sister Quayle.

Now.

-You lied to me.

-I missed him, Sir.

The convoy left and I couldn't find the Lance Corporal in time.

Sir, this is not Sister Quayle's fault.

I did everything in my power to find him in time, I truly did.

I lied...

..because I wanted you to think well of me, Sir.

I would have thought better of you if you'd told me the truth.

Prentiss is now under the expert care of Sister Livesey.

Dismissed.

That ticket was rescinded by Colonel Purbright.

And you wrote out another one? You countermanded your Senior Officer.

Have you completely lost your mind?

Prentiss needed to go home.

He had a chance, Grace.

Now he has grand mal seizures and no control over his limbs

unless he is doped to his eyeballs.

He had a chance and now he hasn't.

If she'd told me the truth, I could have done something.

-Like what?

-I don't know!

Something!

If she'd told me the truth, but she didn't. She lied. She lied.

HE PANTS

I can't stand this.

I can't make it stop.

I'll sit with him now, Sister. Thank you very much.

HE PANTS

Lawrence?

Laurie?

When you were here before, listening to this helped.

I don't know why but it did.

Perhaps it will help again.

MUSIC: "Un Bel Di Vedremo" by Puccini

HE SCREAMS

It's all right, it's all right.

It's all right, Lawrence. Lawrence. Hold the blanket.

Lawrence.

Katherine.

Elliot.

You look well.

Mademoiselle, the pour deux, s'il vous plait.

A nurse.

A ministering angel. I could hardly believe it when I heard.

I would have thought you would have been too busy to leave England.

I am. But it was imperative to see you.

Proceedings can begin.

You need to acknowledge your confession.

I want the whole squalid business cleared up quickly.

I want to marry again.

I didn't write this.

But they are the facts, are they not?

You did have an affair?

Of course, you can contest it...

Good.

-Go ahead and ask me, I know you want to.

-How is she?

She's very well.

Getting taller. Losing her baby teeth.

She lives with my sister and all her cousins. It's better for a child.

She has the very best.

She's happy.

Does she ask for me?

You scared her, Kitty.

You scared me.

You shouldn't have taken her away.

I didn't know what else to do.

May I write to her?

Saying what?

I just don't want her to think that I've forgotten her...

..that I don't...

love her more than my own life,

that I don't think about her every minute of every day.

You can tell her yourself.

She's here?

Go easy, though. It's been a long day and she's tired.

Sylvie?

Sylvie, my little monkey.

Sylvie, it's Mummy.

It's Mummy.

DOOR OPENS

SHE SOBS

You're not going to let me see her, are you?

They're expecting me back at the hospital.

Someone is driving me there and if I don't...

If I don't turn up, they will come looking.

So, I'm going to leave this room

and you're going to let me leave.

SHE WHIMPERS

I'm not playing this game any more.

Aren't you?

SHE WHIMPERS

Ouch! Bitch!

SHE SCREAMS

SHE PANTS

DOOR OPENS

I rather think not.

This is private. Don't interfere.

I'm afraid I must.

Please step back, there's a good chap.

This is a fine way for an Englishman to behave towards a serving nurse.

A whore in nurse's uniform is still a whore. Isn't that right?

On your back, knees to the sky.

Might I have your name, Sir?

Don't turn your back on me, I hold the King's Commission.

A Captain in the RAMC? MOCKS SHUDDER

Come back when you're Field Marshal.

I think it's time we should be heading back.

Are you all right?

Well, Sister's absolutely right. You shouldn't have been here at all.

Your lungs are a mess, man.

We have to stay together, we have to. The Lucky 13s.

That's just a superstition, there's nothing lucky about a number.

No, there's everything's lucky about it!

We've been where we've been, and there's no lad around us

that's gotten out of there alive and all we've got is scratches...

..and trench fever.

You'd best believe that we're lucky!

I'm an old man, me, I'm Dad.

I hold my boys together.

-My dear fellow...

-No.

-..you'll be dragging your boys down.

They'll be looking after you and not themselves.

It won't be long before winter comes and that chest of yours

isn't going to cope.

It was fine before, weren't it? And we're not going to get

another winter out here like we did last time.

It'd be bloody madness, wouldn't it? Please.

Private Tyrrell, it's commendable that you want to serve

but...I'm sure there's still plenty you can do.

Sister will give that to the clerk...

..and they'll make the arrangements.

I'm so sorry,

but they'll understand.

So I just go home now then, do I?

Sit in the house, and wait for them telegrams to arrive,

knowing it's my fault?

I have to do what's right for you.

Over here! Come on, over here!

Pass it, go on!

THEY CHEER

What?

I failed.

No.

-Sorry, lad.

-No.

Raymond, what's the matter?

Hey?

We're all dead men!

Hey, stop him.

Hey, come back, Deeley!

SHOUTING

You're going to be shot, Deeley!

Listen to me! Raymond!

Raymond, you run, you're going to get bloody shot.

Shoot me anyway, we're fucked, we're dead!

You're not going to run, I'm not going to bloody let you!

Now, you get up and you walk!

Get him up.

HE STRUGGLES FOR BREATH

You're all right. You're all right.

Pulse and temperature.

HE SHIVERS

You know him?

I nursed him when he was here before.

I'm very sorry to see him back.

Well, I'll do my best for him.

I'm sorry about Roland, Margaret.

It's the situation he's angry with, not you.

The Colonel couldn't make it plainer what he thinks of me.

But I'm not going to let that ruin my day.

Not after you've gone to so much trouble.

Margaret, the Blighty Ticket...

you did destroy it, didn't you?

Well, of course I did, Grace.

I never wanted it put into my hands in the first place.

Why would I keep such a thing?

You show 'em what your made of. All right?

-Thanks, Dad.

-That's it, all right.

-Next!

-57946 Reynolds, P.

Off you go.

-Chin up, all right, you'll be all right.

-Yep.

Now, you look after yourselves... for me.

Where's Charlie?

DOOR OPENS

I won't gossip.

Thank you, Miles.

Nothing to thank me for.

Charlie, I know what you're going to say and I am sorry, but really

there's nothing can be done, he can't go back up with you...

I never fell off my bike. I never got smashed up. I just said that.

SHE GASPS

You don't know me from the hospital.

I work at a restaurant back home.

At the chophouse. I wait a bit of table when they're busy.

It's no surprise you couldn't place me.

You don't have eyes for anyone else really...

when you're with him.

He's a nice man. Friendly, lovely manners,

always left a big tip.

You could hardly hear his accent.

I mean, it was all right back then,

we was all friends, but it's different now.

And here's you...

in an Army hospital...

and him, a German...

Well, he could be so close, couldn't he?

Trenches are only 50 miles away.

And people do talk.

They do like to point the finger.

Are you blackmailing me?

Eh...two weeks I've been here and I've not breathed a word.

And I wouldn't have done, not ever, but now...

now I'm in a predicament.

My mates...my brothers are in bits.

So I've got to put the big boots on, haven't I?

I don't take no pleasure from doing this, Sister,

but we all stay together, we all stay alive.

So, I've got to use what I've got.

And this is what I've got.

-What do you want?

-You know what I want.

-I can't.

-Yes, you can.

Tear that one up and copy one of the other ones.

It won't be nothing to you.

But it is.

Well, then you'll have to work out what's worth more.

And you'd best hurry cos they're lining us up.

SHE SIGHS

All A1.

Like I said...

I don't take no pleasure in doing this. It...

It just had to be done.

You and him... you look good together.

Right?

Some people just do, don't they?

They just look right with each other.

SHE SOBS

Thank you.

CHATTER

-Where have you been?

-Get in the line. Don't ask.

CHARLIE CLEARS HIS THROAT

Dawlish and Tyrell, Sergeant.

Next.

-59268, Carrick.

-Next.

Hey, how did you manage that?

CHATTER

Isn't this such a treat?

CHATTER

-Now, Sister Livesey?

-Hm?

-Since it's my birthday, you have to indulge me.

I'm all agog because it transpires that you are a woman of mystery.

-There's nothing mysterious about me.

-Oh, but there is.

You haven't breathed a word about the fact that you're betrothed.

PIANO STOPS APPLAUSE

I'm not.

Oh, come now. Dear Miss Berwick has seen the ring.

Tell us all about him. Is he in uniform?

Ohh!

Do show us. We love a romance.

And there's nothing more romantic

than a nurse in love with her brave, brave man.

Show us.

NURSES GASP

Ohh! And what's his name?

-Charlie.

-And which regiment? Is he...an officer?

He's a Lance Corporal... Royal Engineers.

Oh, my dear! I've upset you!

I didn't mean to.

-SHE SIGHS

-Please, excuse me.

Oh, no! Ohh!

That is the last thing I wanted.

Oh, well!

Who hasn't had any?

-Thank you, Sister.

-There you are.

CICADAS CHIRRUP

My, God!

What, pray, is the meaning of this?

You know what I'm looking for.

I destroyed it.

I've known you for a very long time.

You hit back at those that hurt you.

What a little attack dog you are!

You turn on your oldest friend in favour of your new master.

I feel quite sickened.

Then you'll have to feel sickened,

because I think...

No, I'm certain, that you kept it

because you knew the damage it could do to Roland.

To punish him for not making you Matron.

-You should have turned it down!

-Well, I didn't!

You let me be humiliated!

There's an order to things.

Everyone was looking at me knowing it was mine, everyone!

You let me endure the shame of being passed over

after everything I've done for you.

You took what was mine and you should have turned it down!

You let me be shamed!

That's how you repay me?

Am I expected to be grateful for ever?

You're expected...to be loyal!

I saved you!

Perhaps I would have been happier if you hadn't!

Ohh! You'd have...been ruined!

A laughing stock, a pariah!

You'd have been nothing!

You certainly wouldn't have been Matron.

Do you know what they say about you?

They say that you and the Colonel are especially close.

But I could tell them otherwise.

Couldn't I?

I could tell them that your tastes...

are far more exotic.

Sister Quayle...

..you've been working very hard and you must be exhausted.

I'm sending you home on two weeks' leave.

And while you are on leave, you will think very carefully

about whether you can continue to work here,

under me.

If you can't, I will arrange for your transfer as far away as possible.

Use the time wisely.

SHE SOBS

CHATTER

LAUGHTER

HORSE SNORTS

I couldn't get a message to you.

I couldn't turn down the pass.

No-one turns down a pass.

It would have made Miles' day.

I only saw him in the car.

He was very polite.

The thing is...

..maybe it was for the best.

Not meeting.

Why?

I'd be the one sent home...

not you.

I don't want to be sent home.

METAL CLICKS

SHE GASPS

WOOD SPLINTERS

-HE SIGHS

-I came here to work...

..not to get entangled.

Understood.

-OFFICER:

-Left! Right! Left! Right!

Left! Left! Right! Left! Right! Left! Right!

Left! Right! Left! Left! Right! Left! Right! Left! Right!

OFFICER CONTINUES BARKING DRILL

Goodbye! Good luck!

Left! Left! Right! Left! Right! Left! Right!

Oh, sod it!

-Hey. Hey!

-Squad halt!

-Get back here now!

-It's all right, Sergeant, he'll be back.

-MEN: Ohh!

-He did it, Pat. He did it.

-Come on, lad.

-Well done, lad.

I reckon you're the prettiest girl ever.

Oh, Charlie Dawlish!

-All right now, Raymond?

-Yeah, I'm all good, Dad.

Good lad.

Back in line. Come on, fall in!

-Come on, lover boy.

-LAUGHTER

It's about bloody time!

LAUGHTER

Squad, by the left...quick march!

Left! Right! Left! Right! Left! Right!

Left! Left! Right! Left! Right! Left!

We have to leave.

It's not safe here any more.

Find someone else to dance to your tune.

All rules and duty.

-You know nothing about me!

-Always yapping at my heels, aren't you?

Every king must fall.

Shit!

I need to ask you some questions.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd