CHARLOTTE, ASH and EMMA have 2 TICKETS to the RESETTLEMENT ZONE. They’re trying to keep their heads down, and prepare for the dangerous night ahead whilst searching for a 3rd TICKET to the Zone. But Charlie’s heard that the SAMAANS next door have tickets, and Ash has told the whole street about their own tickets. 

 

Ash gets on with the NEIGHBOURS. Charlie does not.

 

With nosy neighbour PENNY banging on their front door, the Dhumals have flipped over which one of them is going to deal with her.

 

The COIN is HEADS. ASH WINS. Ash is going to schmooze bully Penny - he likes to impress her because she’s a publisher.

 

Ash heads to the front door and answers it. Snobby Penny (45) is there, pretending to be concerned - she is head of the Neighbourhood Watch, after all. Her wife DIANA (45) is watching from their front garden. Ash strikes up some painful, fake small talk about the crisis, asking after Penny, and Penny’s company Artemis Books - how might this affect business? They have a very strong catalogue, but …

 

Charlie’s in the lounge, looking at texts from DARREN. Meanwhile, in his FANCY FLAT, Darren (36) anxiously chugs a protein shake beside his phone, waiting for a reply. He’s handsome, athletic, definitely a bit of a prick – City Boy vibes. The texts:

     Darren: Did you get some tickets, mate?

     Charlie: No. You?

     Darren: Can I come over, mate? I need to say something to you.’ (Subplot!)

 

Off Charlie thinking: FLASHBACK: At a work Christmas party, Charlie flirts with Darren. They get drunker and drunker. There’s an ‘awards ceremony’ and they get Team of the Year - with a TROPHY. They celebrate by getting even drunker. Helping a very drunk Charlie to a taxi, Darren pushes her against a wall and kisses her. She ends it and taxis home.

 

She wakes very hungover. She heads to work. A FINANCE BRO comes over and shows a photo he’s been sent: her and Darren, snogging against the wall. She suddenly remembers what happened.

 

She goes to the toilets and cries. She starts to text Ash. Then takes out a COIN and flips - But we CUT BACK TO:

 

Charlie typing her reply: ‘Unfortunately not, mate. I hope we both make it through the night - see you on the other side!’ She’s just about to press send when - She sees, through the patio doors, NAZIM (45) pacing around THE SMITHS’ GARDEN. She glances back at the sound of Ash and Penny, and then heads into her GARDEN. She begins to make small talk with a spooked Nazim.

 

Darren licks out the last dregs of his shake. Still no reply.

 

This chapter, and the stories that branch out from it, are about how our leads’ old lives blow up their attempts to adjust to this new world. Key elements of their old lives that catch up with them here are money, work, and gender.

 

Penny brings up Ash’s POST on the STREET’S SOCIAL MEDIA GROUP. What’s he planning to do? Ash is evasive - ah, they aren’t sure yet.

 

Ash notes that he thought they could go to his PARENTS’ COTTAGE IN CORNWALL instead. Penny thinks that’s a great idea - she’d much rather go there than the Zones. She claims to have heard it’s very quiet down there - unlike here. Her adult son OSCAR thinks that the Zones are a conspiracy. This is catnip to Ash.

 

Penny gets on to her own situation: they don’t have a rural British bolthole to flee to - theirs is in France, unfortunately! So they’re thinking of trying out the Zones. She’s got one ticket from her INTERN but she needs at least two, ideally three more. Maybe the Dhumals could go to Cornwall and she could buy their tickets? She’d give them a highly competitive price. 350k a piece. Ash’s mind boggles at the MONEY.

 

Meanwhile, Charlie is chatting to Nazim over the fence. She suddenly shifts to why she’s there, and ‘WORK CHARLOTTE’ (a.k.a. The Shark) emerges. She argues that she can give them a life-changing amount of money. All they need to do is make a gamble - that this crisis will all blow over, that it’s Covid again. 

 

Nazim questions why she isn’t making the same gamble. Charlotte catches a glimpse of Nazim’s son, ALI (10), inside the SMITH HOUSE, and hesitates. Should she really do this? She swallows her qualms, and lies: ASH’S PARENTS are elderly, and going to the Zone, and they need help. Ash and Charlotte want to be there for them. This hits Nazim hard; Charlie notices.

 

We should be noting by now that Charlie is always tempted to do what seems to her the safest, if most brutal, thing. And the most brutal safety tends to be the government’s offer: the Resettlement Zones. This is all despite her keen intelligence and ability at survival - which should help her to figure out ways to save them all, if she weren’t so cynical.

 

Meanwhile, Ash always tends to think there’s another way. He’ll blow up an opportunity in the moment because he’s certain they’ll figure something else out - even if he has no ideas. He’s rarely sure of how to beat the government’s offer, but he’ll try until all hope is lost.

 

Meanwhile, VIOLET (‘Vi’, Black, mid-30s), is entering the cul-de-sac. Diana calls her out - who are you? Penny sees, and interrupts her chat with Ash to confront Vi. Vi explains that she’s against what the government is doing, and she’s gathering people who feel the same. Penny looks to Ash, finding this hilarious - Ash doesn’t, but he pretends to, chuckling along.

 

A JEEP full of SOLDIERS, passing the street, pulls over. One soldier asks what’s happening. Penny tells them that Vi doesn’t live here, is harassing them, and has this insane anti-government plan.

 

Two soldiers immediately climb out of the back seats, and begin to arrest Vi. Ash comes over hesitantly, feeling like he should defuse the situation. A soldier sees Ash and asks if Ash is bothering Penny too; Ash goes to reply, but Penny informs them that Ash lives there. The soldiers remain skeptical.

 

Whilst a struggling Vi is loaded into the jeep, Penny guides Ash back to his house, and inside. Closing the front door, Penny drops a clanger that - as it’s designed to - gets to Ash: she hopes the soldiers aren’t like that in the Resettlement Zone.

 

Meanwhile, MAARA (39) has joined Nazim and Charlie’s negotiation, and Charlie is explaining why she needs to go to the Zone. Maara sides with Charlie, and thinks that they should stay and help their benefactors, THE SMITHS (70s). This infuriates Nazim (in part because he feels that too): the Smiths want the Samaans to go - the Smiths gave them their VIP companion tickets (Charlie knows their daughter works in the city, or is a lawyer, or maybe a doctor… she can’t remember), and bought them another. Maara thinks that to abandon those who’ve helped them so much still isn’t right. They should do the right thing, even if it makes the Smiths angry. They’re not setting a good example for Ali! Nazim is beginning to break.

 

More small talk from Penny: she’s heard there’s a secret, swanky, invite-only Resettlement Zone. Judi Dench is a family friend - Judi’s going to that Zone. Ash uses the tenuous idea that Judi would be great in an adaptation of his SECOND NOVEL to talk about his THIRD - currently publisher-less. Penny acts shocked: that’s mad! Diversity’s all the rage in publishing these days - especially immigrant stories. Ash eats down his bile and nods along. Penny is frightfully sorry but she hasn’t yet read his work. She will though - maybe he could give her some copies, she can read them in the Zone.

 

This brings her back to the business at hand: what does he think of her offer for the tickets? Ash isn’t sure, delaying whilst he tries to think it all through. Then Penny pulls out her trump card: if he does this, she’ll publish his next novel.

 

Ash decides that he’ll take the pitch to Charlotte at least. He leads Penny searching for Charlotte, and finds her talking to the Samaans.

 

Ash interrupts Charlotte’s pitch to explain Penny’s offer. Charlotte is dumbfounded. Nazim is confused: he thought Charlie wanted to buy one of their tickets?

 

Penny turns her attention to the Samaans: actually, she’d like to buy all of their tickets. Charlie and Ash are horrified. Maara suggests that Penny buy 2, and Charlie buy 1, but Penny insists: she’ll take all 3, and she’ll give them a very good price. She starts with 50k a ticket; Charlotte offers 60. Penny offers 100; Charlie offers 120. The prices inch up, until Penny offers 300k a ticket. The Dhumals don’t have that ready, but Charlie insists that they could probably raise it - But Penny will take all 3 tickets, or she’ll go elsewhere. Nazim and Maara confer briefly, and then accept Penny’s offer.

 

Penny scrabbles over the FENCE, and starts into the Smith house with Nazim, to begin the payment and transfer process. (She’s outlining for Nazim how, as a business customer of certain banks, she has extremely high transfer limits …) Charlie appeals to Maara: please, we need that ticket. Maara apologises, sincerely, and heads inside. Eating down a huge amount of bile, Charlie begs Penny. Penny apologises, insincerely - it’s just business. She closes the Smiths’ conservatory doors.

 

ACT THREE.

Darren’s hanging upside-down from a pull-up bar, watching his phone. Nothing. He flips down, with purpose.

 

A tense silence in the Dhumal lounge. Ash, looking at his phone, reveals that his PARENTS didn’t get any tickets. And, trying to be helpful, he describes VI’s arrest to Charlotte. Charlotte is only interested in whether the soldiers were wearing masks or hazmats (they weren’t).

 

Darren dresses up smart. Aftershave, styling gel, etc. He puts a baseball bat in a sports bag, and exits his flat.

 

It’s 9pm. Ash receives a NOTIFICATION ABOUT A ‘PICK UP POINT’, from the government. This is a place that ticket holders can flee to if their house is not safe. The Dhumals’ Point is a local airfield, about a 20 minute drive away.

 

Darren speeds through the streets in a SPORTS CAR. When the street is blocked by PROTESTORS, he climbs out and threatens them with a baseball bat.

 

When Ash finally musters up the courage to apologise, Charlie really goes to town on him. He’s so servile. Can’t he be a man for once? All he thinks about his books. Ash insists that he genuinely thinks Cornwall is a good idea - it was about that, not the books! - but Charlotte won’t buy it. She thinks he needs to think about what he might have to give up - because it’s a hell of a lot more than his writing career. Is he ready to give up Charlotte? Or Emma?

 

Ash doesn’t want to think about these things. He starts to argue back: what she was doing to the Samaans was horrible! She was bullying and lying to a vulnerable family! But then maybe he should have expected ‘Work Charlotte’ (a.k.a. The Shark) to emerge.

 

Charlie thinks that kind of action is the only thing that’s going to keep their family alive! If Ash wants to survive, he’s going to need to be a bit more like ‘Work Charlotte’ - and fast.

 

Ash laughs this off. He asserts that he’s going to fix his mistakes his own way, and leaves the room.

 

Furious with Ash, Charlotte finds Curtis on social media. We see a photo of Curtis. Charlie messages him - is there any way he can help? Even some advice, at the very least? She gives him hers and Ash’s mobile numbers.

 

In his STUDY, Ash wants to prove that he doesn’t only think about himself, and that his mistake with Penny wasn’t just about the books, so he researches his Cornwall plan. Where’s best to go in an apocalypse? They have a boat - they could go abroad! 

 

He tries calling LAUREN, the cleaner of his parents’ cottage in Cornwall - but he can’t get through, so he leaves a MESSAGE FOR LAUREN.

 

A voice, in the lounge. Charlie looks around - what is that? It’s the LANDLINE! She rushes over and answers the phone. A HELPLINE OPERATOR asks how she can assist her. Charlie explains the situation. The Operator thinks that sounds like a mistake - it’s meant to be whole families, whole households. But, looking at her records, Charlotte isn’t listed as living there. Was Charlie not living there during the last CENSUS? Charlie realises that she was in NEW YORK at the time, and it must have been Ash that filled out the census. Another mistake! Charlie explains what her idiot husband has done. The Operator is sympathetic - she has an idiot husband herself - but unfortunately she can’t help. Charlie begs her. The Operator relents - she’ll see what she can do. She puts Charlie on hold again.

 

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK. The front door again. Charlie opens it to discover a grinning Darren. Shit! She hustles him inside, into the lounge, and closes the door.

 

Ash finds that TICKETS ON EBAY are going for 500k a piece. They could do so much with that! He looks up the cost of Penny’s French bolthole - they could buy one of those!

 

What’s Darren doing here?! Darren has a pitch to make. He wants to buy Charlie a ticket - he has the savings. Charlie shifts from terrified to intrigued.

 

Darren confesses that he’s in love with her. He thinks that Ash isn’t good enough for her. He refers to the COIN as case in point (reveal! Charlie’s told Darren about the coin). And Darren believes Charlie needs a decisive man.

 

We’re getting a deeper sense of Charlie’s relationship with Darren. It’s uncomfortable, off.

 

Ash hears Darren talking heatedly, and starts off downstairs towards the lounge.

 

Charlie can’t help herself: what about Emma? (She’s lied that) They don’t have any tickets, remember. Darren powers past this - yeah, sure, that’s unfortunate, I can only afford 1 more ticket, but like she’ll surely be fine. Charlie tries not to let Darren’s thinking make her blow up.

 

Darren says he’s been thinking about what happened at the Christmas Party. Ash hears this, and understands. For Darren, this was the best moment of the last few years. He wants to be with her. In the Zone, they could be together.

 

Ash, shellshocked, starts back upstairs. Then stops. He’s thinking.

 

Charlotte’s also thinking - how best to play this?

 

Charlotte and Ash’s communication is at rock bottom.

 

Ash really wants to go punch Darren. He wants to humiliate Darren. But he knows this is a bad idea. 

 

What he doesn’t know is a bad idea, but also wants to do, is his alternate plan. He’s a bit skeptical of the government, and he’s just seen soldiers seriously mistreat a person of colour. He thinks his Cornwall idea is a great one. He wants to - as Charlie suggested he do - ‘man up’; he wants to prove Charlie wrong, and take control. He also doesn’t want Darren to get what Darren wants - i.e. to be in the Resettlement Zone with Charlie. He doesn’t want Charlie to be anywhere near Darren. And because all of this is mixed together in his brain, he is considering his alternate plan: go upstairs and sell the tickets, and then take Charlie and Emma to Cornwall.

 

With Ash standing on the stairs, the Decision Point appears onscreen:

 

Ash pulls out his COIN, and flips.

 

Whatever you choose is this story’s midpoint. Ash wants POWER, CONTROL, to SHOW HE’S A MAN. This might come through HIS PLAN TO GO TO CORNWALL - and MONEY - or through a HUMILIATED DARREN. Either way, he sets in motion a series of tragedies that force the Dhumals to confront the realities of their relationship. One road gets our central couple embroiled in a terrible lie, and the other forces them to commit terrible violence.