Afternoon Drama: The Alterer
First broadcast: Tue 8th Nov 2011, 14:15 on BBC Radio 4 FM
By Finlay Welsh
Atmospheric drama set on the east coast of Scotland in 1791. A watchmaker pours all of his skill and knowledge into making a machine that will alter time and create a different universe; one in which he hopes his desperately ill daughter will be returned to him, fully recovered.
Cast:
Smith ..... Cal MacAninch
Buchan ..... Liam Brennan
Mary ..... Pauline Knowles
William ..... Finn den Hertog
Produced and Directed in Glasgow by Kirsteen Cameron.
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First broadcast: Tue 8th Nov 2011, 14:15 on BBC Radio 4 FM
By Finlay Welsh
Atmospheric drama set on the east coast of Scotland in 1791. A watchmaker pours all of his skill and knowledge into making a machine that will alter time and create a different universe; one in which he hopes his desperately ill daughter will be returned to him, fully recovered.
Cast:
Smith ..... Cal MacAninch
Buchan ..... Liam Brennan
Mary ..... Pauline Knowles
William ..... Finn den Hertog
Produced and Directed in Glasgow by Kirsteen Cameron.
Do you enjoy the variety on Oldtuberadio?
Like, Share and Subscribe to be notified of our new shows
#radio #crime #thriller #drama
To Support this channel please visit
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/oldtuberadio
https://ko-fi.com/oldtuberadio98
https://www.patreon.com/oldtuberadio
https://locals.com/Oldtuberadio
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00We're now on BBC Radio 4, The Afternoon Play, which is set during the late 18th century
00:11in a small village on the east coast of Scotland.
00:14It's 1791.
00:16A storm is raging, and a desperate man stands poised at the edge of a cliff.
00:26Mr Smith!
00:28Is it you up there?
00:30Come back from the edge, man!
00:32The cliffs are dangerous here!
00:34Leave me at peace!
00:37God help us!
00:38I'm coming up!
00:40Will you leave me?
00:42Are you mad?
00:43This wind could have you over in a moment!
00:46Get back!
00:47We'll have both of us over!
00:49Come down!
00:51Mr Smith, come!
00:53Give me your hand!
00:55Please, take my hand!
00:57It's a wee bit more sheltered here!
01:04You'll forgive me, but it's madness for a man to be up on the cliff edge on a night like this!
01:10You're up here yourself, sir!
01:12I came up to see if there was any sign of the missing boat!
01:17Did you see anything?
01:19Could you see anything up there?
01:21It's pitch black!
01:22No!
01:23No!
01:24I fear they're lost!
01:27Four men gone!
01:29Terrible!
01:31Well, you're soaked through!
01:34Come!
01:35I'll walk back down with you!
01:37Will you come, Mr Smith?
01:39This is a terrible time!
01:44The Alterer
01:45By Finlay Welsh
01:47Your door, I believe!
01:52Aye!
01:53Well, then I'll bid you goodnight!
01:55You know me?
01:56Oh, your name's above the door!
01:58John Smith, watchmaker!
01:59You can!
01:59That's not what I meant!
02:00Thomas Bucking!
02:01Weaver!
02:02I've a loom out by!
02:04There's a trade!
02:05Though I dare say a poor skill compared to yours!
02:07Out by the Flaxfields?
02:09Aye!
02:09The ruins of the Flaxfields!
02:12These months of rain!
02:13There's nothing but rot there now!
02:15Mud and rotted crops!
02:18As sodden as we are!
02:19I remember when they were bonnie!
02:21Blue and bonnie!
02:22You're chittering, Mr Smith!
02:24You should get dry!
02:25Whiskey and a warm fire!
02:27We can't have you both sick!
02:29Both?
02:30Your daughter and yourself!
02:32What do you know about Jenny?
02:35You know me?
02:36You know where I live?
02:37Well, it's hardly a mystery, Mr Smith!
02:40There's few secrets in a wee town like this!
02:42Folks seize on every new misfortune!
02:44And we've had plenty!
02:46Crops ruined and the fishing boats grounded!
02:48These drownings!
02:50And now you're lassie!
02:52There's a fair few in the town grieving!
02:54My daughter is ill, not dead!
02:56Aye, just so!
02:58Well, go in, Mr Smith!
03:00Whiskey and dry clothes before you catch your death!
03:04You have whiskey in the house?
03:05No!
03:06Well, a saucer of tea will take the chill off you, but it's whiskey you need!
03:10Well, I have a bottle at home!
03:12I'll be back!
03:13Mr Bucking!
03:14There's no need!
03:16I'll not be long!
03:17Go in!
03:18Get dry!
03:19Damn it!
03:24Damn it to hell!
03:26Sodden!
03:27Sodden!
03:28Sodden!
03:30Dear God, am I capable of nothing?
03:34Useless!
03:36Feckless!
03:37Unuseless!
03:38Oh, Jenny, forgive me!
03:47How are you, my lamb?
03:50Just the same.
03:52No change.
03:54Palin still is dead.
04:01Forgive me, Jenny.
04:02I hardly knew what I was doing.
04:05It's like a hammer, the wind up there.
04:09I looked down into the darkness and heard the waves smashing on the rocks and the spray
04:14soaked my face and I thought I heard you.
04:19But it was only your voice in my head.
04:23Speak to me, Jenny.
04:26Open your eyes.
04:27I need you back.
04:33What was he thinking of, Tam?
04:36There's a bottle of whiskey in here, if I remember right.
04:39Ah.
04:39The captain Carter are on his own.
04:41Not in the state he's in.
04:42Mary, we don't know what state he's in.
04:45He said he was fine.
04:46Maybe he was.
04:47Still, I'm taking this whiskey round to him.
04:49There's bread there.
04:51The man's well nigh frozen.
04:53It's not bread he's needing.
04:54I'm thinking about the lassie.
04:56Mary.
04:56We'll take the bread and a pot of broth round in the morning to see what can be done for her.
05:02Jenny, I think they said her name was.
05:04Fourteen or fifteen.
05:05She's not a bairn any more.
05:07He cannae look after her on his own.
05:09She needs a woman there.
05:10Aye.
05:12Are you sure you're...
05:13Up to it?
05:15The right person to look after a sick bairn?
05:17No, that's no...
05:18Who better to look after a dying bairn?
05:21Aye.
05:22Well.
05:23Don't wait up for me.
05:24Tam.
05:25You're a good soul.
05:27Aye.
05:27So am.
05:34God help her.
05:35She's just a bairn.
05:37Fifteen.
05:38Fifteen?
05:39I was thinking twelve.
05:41She looks so frail.
05:42Fifteen last month, eh, Jenny?
05:44This is Mr. Buchan, Jenny.
05:47A weaver from out by the Flaxfields.
05:50You remember the Flaxfields?
05:51She can hear you.
05:53No.
05:54Perhaps.
05:55I don't know.
05:56But I talk to her all the same.
05:58Don't I, Jenny?
06:00Sometimes I imagine she talks back to me.
06:02She never stirs.
06:04Stirs?
06:05Look at her.
06:06She's like a corpse.
06:07Maybe she dreams.
06:10Who can tell?
06:11And Dr. Maitland...
06:12Maitland?
06:14He called it morbidity.
06:16Comata.
06:17Just once.
06:19He happed her in damp sheets to cool the humours and let her a deal of blood.
06:22But he might as well have sung her hymns for all the difference.
06:26He's a way to seek advice in Edinburgh.
06:29Well, I'm afraid he won't be back soon.
06:31There'll be no crossing the river in this weather.
06:33No.
06:36I thought she would be better here.
06:39I thought I was doing the right thing.
06:41You're from Edinburgh?
06:43She's...
06:43I've been delicate.
06:45They said the city was unhealthy.
06:47The sea air would give her strength.
06:50A grand irony, is it not?
06:51Aye.
06:53The day we arrived,
06:54we came over the hill at the back of the town.
06:58I was expecting to see the sea,
06:59but the brightness of the colours,
07:01we hadn't expected that.
07:04The white houses and the red of the roofs,
07:06and the blue,
07:07that blue of the flax fields.
07:09Do you mind, Jenny?
07:11Pale,
07:12breathtaking blue,
07:14like a reflection of the summer sky.
07:17When she saw that,
07:18she gave a laugh and jumped down off the horse
07:20and ran down the hill
07:21and gathered the flowers in her arms,
07:24buried her face in them.
07:26I thought then,
07:27I'd done the right thing,
07:28that this was the place for us.
07:30Aye.
07:31Now this.
07:33Months of rain,
07:35crops ruined,
07:36four men lost at sea
07:37and the rest of the boats tied up.
07:40Starvation and ruin.
07:41What did I bring her here for?
07:45She could have died as readily in Edinburgh.
07:47She won't die,
07:48Mr. Smith.
07:49I'm a watchmaker,
07:50not a doctor.
07:52What can I do?
07:53She won't die.
07:55We won't let her die.
07:56That morning with the sun and the flax,
07:58it was so bonnie.
08:01Like a blue lake,
08:02full of promise.
08:05She was so alive.
08:06Aye,
08:07I can.
08:08If we could only go back,
08:10eh?
08:11But none of us can do that.
08:12No,
08:13perhaps not.
08:17To go back,
08:18though.
08:21What?
08:23To recover the past.
08:25You're chittering still.
08:27Best stay by the fire
08:28if you want to avoid a fever.
08:30Why do I make these machines,
08:32these time pieces?
08:34To torture myself?
08:36Watch time wind down,
08:38dissolve her life away?
08:40I'll come back in the morning.
08:41I'll leave you a drop of whiskey.
08:44Try to sleep.
08:45If I drop a cup and it shatters,
08:47it remains shattered.
08:49It cannot reassemble itself.
08:51I mean,
08:52that is so,
08:52is it not?
08:53I dare say.
08:54Aye,
08:54it is.
08:56What can I do?
08:57Reverse the movement?
08:58Spin the hands backwards?
09:02Nothing.
09:04The hands run backwards,
09:05time runs on.
09:06A machine that serves no purpose.
09:08Mr. Smith.
09:09A warm fire in sleep.
09:12And yet.
09:22Mr. Smith!
09:24Are you there?
09:25Mr. Smith!
09:26God save us,
09:27daylight.
09:28Mr. Smith!
09:29I'm coming!
09:35Mr. Buchan!
09:37I'm afraid we've disturbed half the street.
09:39Tom is afraid.
09:40I was asleep.
09:41Where'd we come in?
09:42It's guy wet.
09:43My wife,
09:43Mary.
09:46I've brought a drop of broth and clean linen for your daughter,
09:49Mr. Smith.
09:50Linen?
09:51She's a growing lassie.
09:52There's things a man can't do.
09:54She's through there,
09:55but she won't eat.
09:56We'll see.
09:57No harm in trying her with a bit broth.
10:00You have a bowl?
10:01By the fire there.
10:01I'll leave the rest here for yourself.
10:06You look as though you could do with it.
10:08Hey, are you all right?
10:14You look ill.
10:15Only ill slept.
10:16It's still in your clothes.
10:18And the candle's near burnt out.
10:20Damn.
10:23Damn it to hell.
10:24That was my last...
10:25You've been working.
10:25I dozed a while here at the bench.
10:29You should eat.
10:31Here.
10:35I'll put it up on the bench beside you here.
10:37For pity's sake.
10:38What?
10:39Have you no sense?
10:41These are delicate pieces,
10:42precision made.
10:43Oh, sorry.
10:43There are tiny parts here,
10:44minute parts,
10:46tolerances of thousands of an inch.
10:47I apologise.
10:48I'll set it down over here.
10:50It was stupid.
10:51Forgive me.
10:51Well,
10:52you want to know.
10:54Here.
10:54See for yourself.
10:56Use my loop.
10:57You fit it in the eye,
10:58so don't put your fingers
11:01anywhere near them.
11:04See?
11:05My God.
11:07I'd never believed a man
11:09could make such things.
11:11Tiny.
11:13Perfect.
11:14Even a lathe.
11:16Like a toy.
11:17These miniature blades.
11:20Amazing.
11:22And this...
11:23Is this what you've been working on?
11:26This is the works of a watch?
11:27Yes.
11:28No.
11:29No, that's nothing.
11:31An experiment.
11:32A gigaw.
11:33A piece of foolishness.
11:35Foolishness?
11:35I couldn't sleep.
11:38This
11:38is the works of a watch,
11:41as you call it.
11:42A movement.
11:42A normal movement.
11:44Still to be given a case
11:45and a dial.
11:46See?
11:47Let me take that.
11:50Oh.
11:51Beautiful.
11:53You're a fine craftsman,
11:54Mr Smith.
11:55Well,
11:56I can make finer.
11:57Though nothing is fine
11:58as Mr Ellicott
11:59or Mr Tompian
12:00or Monsieur Bréguet
12:01in France.
12:03Their watches
12:03are true works of art.
12:08I could never hope
12:09to match that.
12:10You should sit down.
12:11You're feverish.
12:12We had it right,
12:13you know.
12:14Long before Newton
12:15showed us how the universe
12:16has structured
12:17the mathematical
12:18perfection of it,
12:19we could already
12:20make clocks and watches.
12:22What Newton showed us
12:23was that
12:23we're capable
12:25of designing machines,
12:27engines,
12:27that reflect
12:29the mind of God himself.
12:31That's what you're
12:32holding in your hand,
12:33Mr Buchan.
12:34A reflection
12:35of the mind of God.
12:36I'm sure there's
12:37heresy in there
12:38somewhere,
12:38Mr Smith.
12:40But it is a
12:41body thing.
12:42You see this?
12:43Look here.
12:45Mainspring,
12:45gear train,
12:46balance wheel,
12:46escapement.
12:47Wheels within wheels.
12:49Rotation within rotation.
12:51Like the universe.
12:52Aye,
12:52true enough.
12:53The stars and the planets.
12:55The earth rotates,
12:56measures the days,
12:57the years.
12:58The moon measures the months,
12:59controls the tides.
13:00Those seas that batter
13:01that cliff out there
13:02and drag men to their deaths.
13:03And here,
13:04look.
13:05See?
13:07The gear train
13:07transmits the force
13:08of the balance wheel
13:09to the main spring.
13:10The escapement
13:11regulates the pace
13:12of the advance
13:12and so the hands turn.
13:15Like the earth
13:16and the moon
13:16each measures out time.
13:18Hours,
13:19minutes,
13:20seconds.
13:21I'm not sure.
13:22These cogs and wheels
13:23mirror the universe.
13:25I suppose.
13:26And if this is a reflection,
13:28listen to me,
13:30if I were to alter
13:31the reflection,
13:34what would it then matter?
13:36What universe
13:37would be reflected
13:38in these workings?
13:39If I altered
13:40the configuration
13:41of these cogs and wheels,
13:42what other universe,
13:44what other world,
13:45one in which perhaps
13:47time was altered?
13:49There are no other universes.
13:51Look at this.
13:52Your foolish experiment.
13:54What if this
13:55could alter the universe?
13:57This is nonsense.
13:58To go back.
13:59Madness.
14:00To go back.
14:01To bring her back.
14:02No, I can.
14:06Well,
14:07your foolish experiment
14:08is something.
14:09What was that?
14:11I don't know.
14:13But something happened.
14:14You saw that?
14:15Clockwork.
14:16That's what happened.
14:17Something
14:18will happen.
14:19You were right,
14:22Mr. Smith.
14:23I could get nothing down there.
14:24But at least she's
14:25clean and comfortable.
14:26Forget this.
14:28Be rational, man.
14:30The world is
14:30as it is.
14:31We'll look back again
14:32tomorrow.
14:34Good day,
14:35Mr. Smith.
14:36Aye.
14:39But I will not have it
14:40as it is
14:41easily.
14:42Mr. Buckham!
15:02Mr. Buckham!
15:05Mr. Smith,
15:06is everything all right?
15:07Did you bring this candle
15:09this morning?
15:09What is this?
15:10When you came this morning
15:11you said the candle
15:12was near out.
15:13Aye?
15:13You said to yourself
15:14it was still burning.
15:16Did you bring this?
15:17No,
15:17just the thing,
15:18Sir Jenny.
15:18No?
15:19Well,
15:21tell me where it came from then.
15:22It was my last...
15:23I don't understand.
15:24It was my last candle.
15:26There was only a stub
15:26in the holder
15:27and tonight
15:28when I went to light it
15:29it was like this.
15:30New,
15:31untrimmed...
15:32We brought you
15:32no candles.
15:35Well,
15:36then you see.
15:37See what?
15:38You didn't bring it.
15:39It wasn't there
15:40and then it was.
15:43I told you.
15:45Something has happened.
15:47I must get back.
15:49See how Jenny's doing.
15:51Mr. Smith!
15:55Dear God, Jenny.
15:57Could it be?
15:59Could I have changed it?
16:01Could this be a new universe?
16:02I took you out
16:04and showed you the stars.
16:05Do you mind?
16:06Orion,
16:07Draco,
16:07Gemini.
16:09Circles and ellipses.
16:10Design and structure
16:11like a watch.
16:13A great watch
16:14wound up and set in motion
16:15by God.
16:17I hardly knew
16:18what I was doing.
16:19I could barely see.
16:21The candle gutted
16:22and threw shadows
16:23in the movement.
16:24The brass sparkled
16:25and the rubies
16:25flashed fire
16:26so it flickered
16:27and shifted
16:27like a mirage.
16:29A dream.
16:31Could I have changed it?
16:32When these storm clouds
16:35blow away
16:36and the stars come out
16:37will they be
16:37different stars?
16:39Oh, God help me.
16:41Different stars.
16:44Jenny?
16:48Jenny?
16:53Not yet.
16:58He had candles
16:59in the house.
17:00He just forgot.
17:00How could he have forgotten?
17:02Candles didn't just appear,
17:04Tam,
17:04out of thin air.
17:05No.
17:06What is it?
17:08He was up all last night
17:09working on a watch.
17:10A machine.
17:11It's a beautiful thing,
17:12Mary.
17:13Aye?
17:14Oh,
17:14it's madness,
17:16but he thinks
17:17it can change things.
17:19Cure Jenny,
17:20maybe.
17:20The man's raving.
17:22Did you see
17:23the sweat in him?
17:24He's ill.
17:25A machine.
17:26A machine.
17:43Clouds.
17:44White lightning.
17:47White breakers
17:48and black...
17:49Mr. Smith!
17:50I've never seen
17:51the stars again.
17:52John.
17:52John.
17:54John.
17:56Mr. Buckingham.
17:57Thomas.
17:58What are you doing here?
18:01Jenny?
18:02I looked in on her.
18:03She's fine.
18:04How are you feeling?
18:06How am I feeling?
18:07You were
18:08talking
18:09in your sleep.
18:10Was I?
18:11We let ourselves in.
18:12We thought
18:13you might be ill.
18:14Oh,
18:15go away.
18:17Leave me alone.
18:17I need to work.
18:20Mark?
18:22You're nowhere near
18:23well enough to work.
18:24You're barely well enough
18:25to hook after Jenny.
18:26I am looking after her.
18:28What do you think
18:28I'm doing?
18:29Tinkering with this.
18:30What I told you about,
18:31Mary.
18:32Jenny needs care
18:33and kindness,
18:34not the ticking
18:35of a wart.
18:36Something will happen.
18:38Aye,
18:38maybe,
18:38but I can't see
18:39how this can help.
18:40No,
18:40you can't.
18:41But it's all I know
18:42to do,
18:43mistress.
18:43Now leave me
18:44in peace.
18:46Something has
18:47changed.
18:48But not enough.
18:50Speak to him,
18:51Tam.
18:51I'll see to the lassie.
18:54What you're saying,
18:55John,
18:56what you said to me
18:57the other night,
18:58these things
18:58arenae possible.
19:00I just didnae
19:00escape.
19:01How can this be
19:02rational?
19:03A piece of clockwork
19:04that alters time,
19:05changes the universe.
19:07Alters of time.
19:08All the constellations
19:09and planets
19:10you were talking about,
19:11they belong to God.
19:12They'renae business
19:13of ours.
19:14They're God's work,
19:15God's creation.
19:16Aye,
19:17aye,
19:18he created them,
19:19Thomas.
19:20He set them in motion,
19:21wound them up like a watch,
19:22but he doesn't control them.
19:24They run according to
19:25the laws of nature
19:25as a watch runs.
19:27Aye,
19:27so they do.
19:28But the laws of nature
19:29are fixed.
19:30He cannae alter them.
19:31No.
19:33Or are they?
19:35I wonder.
19:38Uranus,
19:38the new planet.
19:39What?
19:40A few years ago,
19:41they found a new planet.
19:43No one had ever seen it before.
19:44It was as if it never existed.
19:46Now it's there.
19:48And when we look up,
19:48we see a different sky.
19:49You see?
19:50A new sky.
19:52The universe changed.
19:53And that's just juggling with words.
19:56Fever talk.
19:57Nothing changed.
19:59It's only a watch,
20:00I think,
20:00for telling the time.
20:01What is time?
20:03What's it to Jenny
20:04lying insensible in there?
20:06Does it pass for her
20:07just like that
20:07in the blink of an eye?
20:08Or is it never ending?
20:09You're torturing yourself.
20:11Where is it?
20:12Can you see it?
20:13Touch it?
20:14If I open one of these watches here,
20:16will I find time
20:17lurking inside?
20:18Of course not.
20:19No.
20:20No more than if I cut open your heart,
20:21I'll find your soul.
20:22Or your mind,
20:23if I cut open your brain.
20:25But that's where we imagine them.
20:26That's where we conceive them to be.
20:28I'm a weaver.
20:29No, a philosopher.
20:31But I can when I'm listening to Havers.
20:33God didnae give us reason
20:35as a plaything.
20:36Or a rattle, eh?
20:37I see you've read your Tom Paine,
20:39Mr. Buckingham.
20:40Well, damn your reason, Thomas.
20:42To hell we are reason.
20:43There's more to us than just reason.
20:46Imagination.
20:47That's what separates us
20:48from the beasts.
20:50That's what distinguishes us
20:51much more than reason.
20:53How can there not be other worlds?
20:55Different kinds of time.
20:56Different stars.
20:58Where these damn storms
20:59never happened.
21:00And your flax was never ruined.
21:02The fishermen didn't drown
21:03and where Jenny's alive
21:04and blithering away
21:05as the highways did
21:05and in just a minute
21:06she'll open the door there
21:07and come through
21:08and she'll come through
21:09and...
21:10Oh, God, help me.
21:13I'm lost.
21:15You're sick is what you are.
21:17You should go back to bed.
21:18They come away from here
21:20and lie down.
21:21Mary.
21:22Help the worm.
21:23I'm sorry.
21:24She isn't dead, John.
21:25No, I know.
21:27Forgive me.
21:28There's nothing to forgive.
21:29Your being is ill
21:30and that's hard to bear.
21:31I care now.
21:32Come on.
21:33Let's get you back to bed.
21:34Leave this till you feel better.
21:36Maybe you're right.
21:37I'm so hot.
21:39Burning and frozen.
21:41Fire and ice.
21:42Like the stars.
21:45Well, listen to me.
21:48Can't think.
21:49I'll make you a hot toddy
21:50and we'll keep the fire going.
21:52Sweat it out of you.
21:53We'll bite here a while.
21:54Keep an eye on Jenny.
21:59I'm so sorry.
22:00I'm sorry, Jenny.
22:08The sea's going dry, my dear.
22:11And the rocks melt.
22:14With the sun.
22:16Jenny Smith.
22:18Wee Jenny Smith.
22:19Pretty as a picture.
22:30Come in here, Tam.
22:32Shut the door.
22:34How is she?
22:36I lied to him.
22:37Dear God.
22:38She's worse.
22:39I've got nothing down there.
22:41Not even water.
22:42She's slipping away, Tam.
22:44Damn these storms.
22:46Where's Maitland?
22:47We need Maitland here.
22:48Maitland.
22:49He was no help before.
22:50Mary.
22:51Just because we never speak about it, Tam,
22:53doesn't mean I've forgotten.
22:54There's no sense in bringing up...
22:55I couldn't have bared to lose another one.
22:58Poor Lizzie was a miracle.
23:00All the years we've waited
23:01and I'll let her die.
23:02I'll not let this lassie die.
23:04She didn't let her die, Mary.
23:07She was ill.
23:08She would have died in any case.
23:09No.
23:11I never did the one thing
23:12that would have saved her.
23:13What one thing?
23:14What could you have done?
23:15I don't know.
23:16I never knew what it was.
23:17I never found it.
23:20I never looked hard enough.
23:22There was nothing, Mary.
23:24There was never anything.
23:25She was ill.
23:26She died.
23:27It was not your fault.
23:30Well, he thinks this is his fault.
23:33At least we could make her comfortable.
23:39There should be hot water in the kettle through by.
23:41I'll get it.
23:43I'll get it.
23:52Jenny?
23:54It's Thomas.
23:55Thomas?
23:56Oh, I wish you were right, John.
24:00I truly wish you were right.
24:04That this thing could bring her back to you.
24:09But there's no logic, no sense in it.
24:12It's beautiful work, though.
24:14I'll give you that.
24:15I know.
24:16John?
24:17What happened to the water?
24:18I think he's asleep.
24:22It's a bonny thing, as I know, Mary.
24:25Look how fine this work is.
24:27These wheels, these tiny gears.
24:30He made these with his own hands.
24:32Aye, it's a pretty thing.
24:34Like a brooch.
24:36Shiny.
24:38Like gold.
24:40But the way he talks about it frightens me.
24:43It's just imagination, Mary.
24:44It wasn't just imagination that made this.
24:47It was despair.
24:49Oh, God save us.
24:52Oh, put it down.
24:56Something's like you want to have.
24:57What?
24:57They've found the boy.
25:15What boy?
25:16Rab Cullen's boy.
25:17William.
25:18Off the boat that went down.
25:19Washed up on the shore a couple of miles down the coast.
25:22Alive?
25:22No.
25:23He's alive.
25:24He's half drowned, but he'll live.
25:25Thank God.
25:28But how could he survive that?
25:30Four days in the water.
25:31The fear is the only one.
25:33The others will likely never be found.
25:36How's Smith?
25:37Asleep again.
25:39Sweating out the fever.
25:40Oh, good.
25:41Tam.
25:41Aye?
25:42When you went out, he asked if something had happened.
25:46Did he?
25:47Well, something has.
25:49And that thing started up before it did.
25:52Yes.
25:52Mr. Bucking.
25:57Aye.
25:59William.
26:00God save us, William.
26:02Is it you?
26:03How are you, Mr. Spocking?
26:04I can barely credit.
26:06Should you be up and about?
26:07It's only been two days.
26:08I'm fine.
26:09A bit weak, but fine.
26:11You shouldn't be out.
26:12You'll catch your day.
26:13I think if the sea didn't kill me, a wee drop rain will do me no harm.
26:17What brings you here, William?
26:18I came to see.
26:20Do you care if the watchmaker's in?
26:22You will be.
26:23We've brought some things for him.
26:25Mr. Smith.
26:28Come in, William.
26:30I'm here, Mary.
26:33Mr. Smith.
26:34This is William Cullen, John.
26:36William Cullen.
26:37The boy from the boat.
26:38William, of course.
26:40I'm sorry I've been unwell.
26:42I've only just...
26:43Thomas here told me you were found in the rocks near the nests.
26:46Two days since.
26:47Aye.
26:48Two days.
26:48Four days in the water.
26:50A miracle, they're calling it.
26:52You're a lucky man.
26:53Aye, sir.
26:54I suppose I was lucky.
26:55I'm sorry about your father and brothers.
26:58Right sorry.
26:59Your mother...
27:00She's a fisherman's wife, Mr. Smith.
27:02She had to get it could happen.
27:04Though to lose three is hard to throw.
27:06I cannot imagine how hard.
27:10Is there something I can do for you, William?
27:12I came to see Jenny.
27:15Jenny?
27:16Can I see her?
27:17You know Jenny?
27:18No.
27:19No.
27:21Can I see her?
27:23My daughter's ill, William.
27:25I can not, Mr. Smith.
27:26I heard she was bad.
27:27I'm sorry.
27:27She's insensible.
27:29Unconscious.
27:31She wouldn't even know you were there.
27:32Aye.
27:32They told me that.
27:34Then why?
27:35Because she saved my life, Mr. Smith.
27:38It was Jenny that saved me.
27:42We should never have gone out.
27:45But we were desperate.
27:47We managed fine at the start, but it was hard going.
27:50Then all of a sudden the wind came up, blowing hard and freezing cold.
27:54I've never seen the sea get up so fast.
27:56Or so high.
27:58Waves as high as the cliff tops.
28:00We were lost then.
28:01I saw it in my dad's eyes.
28:03The way he looked at us.
28:05We hung on to the sides, but we knew there would be the one wave.
28:09And when it came, it was like being carried up a mountain.
28:12And then we fell, and it came down on us.
28:16Like a mountain.
28:18It smashed the scaffy to bits.
28:20Pieces of her flew away in all directions.
28:23So did we.
28:23I hung on to a board and shouted for my dad.
28:27Shouted and shouted for Rab and Andrew.
28:30But there was nothing.
28:31Just the wind and the rain pelting the water.
28:35I don't know how I stayed up.
28:38I should have drowned, but I stayed up.
28:40I hung on.
28:42I sang to myself.
28:44Then Jenny spoke to me.
28:46Jenny spoke to you?
28:48I'd seen her down at the shore when we were working at the nets one time.
28:52Up on the shore wall, in a green petticoat,
28:55and her summer bonnet blown back off her head with the wind.
28:58Laughing and trying to catch the ribbons.
29:01I'd never seen anyone.
29:04I thought she was that pretty.
29:06My dad used to say, pretty as a picture.
29:10So she was.
29:12That's how I saw her all the time I was in the sea.
29:15Pretty as a picture.
29:16She talked to me.
29:19She told me to hold on.
29:21She never stopped till I was safe ashore.
29:24Dear God.
29:26Can I see her, Mr. Smith?
29:36It's been near two weeks now.
29:38Two weeks?
29:39Aye.
29:40You hadn't heard?
29:41No.
29:42But she was there with me.
29:45Right there.
29:47Sometimes you wake up from a dream and you think it was real, eh?
29:51Maybe that's it.
29:52Yes.
29:53Maybe she was dreaming about me while I was dreaming about her.
29:58She'll get better soon, though, eh?
30:00No.
30:01John.
30:02She's dying, Mary.
30:05You know that as well as I do.
30:07Dying?
30:08No.
30:09You'd better go now.
30:10I'll see you to the door.
30:11But...
30:13Hi.
30:14How will you manage now?
30:21Alex Crockett's offered me a place on his boat.
30:23He's a good man.
30:24He'd go back out again after what happened.
30:26What else?
30:27It's the only...
30:29What's that?
30:31Praise God.
30:34Jenny!
30:35What?
30:36You'd better go.
30:37He said Jenny.
30:39As if she...
30:40Go home, William.
30:41There's nothing for you to stay here for.
30:43She saved me, Mistress Bucking.
30:46I lost my father and my brothers and she saved me.
30:50I hoped that...
30:51I can't what you hoped.
30:52I'm sorry.
30:53Go home and look after your mother.
31:01John?
31:06Just for a moment.
31:08I hoped...
31:09Again.
31:10Pretty as a picture, so she is.
31:13So you are, Jenny.
31:15It saved him.
31:17Why not her?
31:18It should have been her.
31:19Why wasn't it her?
31:22And then just now, when it engaged again out there, I hoped, even though I know, I came
31:28back in here and I thought, she'll be awake, she'll speak to me, and she'll save me like
31:33she saved him from this pain.
31:35But it still wasn't her.
31:36Something changed, but it wasn't her.
31:39Dear God, Mary, I can't bear this pain.
31:42It's hard, John, I can.
31:44But you can't give in to it.
31:46It'll lead you up if you let it.
31:47The pain never goes away.
31:51It stays with you.
31:52It grows in you.
31:53What?
31:53So you wrap it up.
31:54Screw it up tight.
31:55Like a seed in a poke.
31:57And you put it away.
31:58You hide it.
31:59But it's right there.
32:02It's right there.
32:03Hey, Jenny.
32:04What are you saying?
32:05It frightens me.
32:07That machine of yours.
32:08What?
32:09It's wrong.
32:11There's madness in it.
32:12Madness?
32:12It's not madness.
32:14It's what I know.
32:16I did what I knew.
32:18I made compresses and drafts and inhalations out of anything I could lay my hands on.
32:23I let the doctor bleed her and sweat her and her drown her in ice till her bones rattle
32:28and her skin burned.
32:29I prayed to God and God forgive me, I prayed to the other one as well.
32:33You had a daughter?
32:35Elizabeth.
32:36There were only Bairne.
32:38She was twelve.
32:39Lizzie.
32:40There was nothing anyone could do.
32:41Then you know.
32:43Aye.
32:44But it's nothing to do with stars and other worlds, John.
32:47Nothing to do with that.
32:49It's just us.
32:51People.
32:52Grief and despair and guilt.
32:55The world's hard, John.
32:57Aye, maybe.
32:58But if there's an easier one, a better one, should I not look for it?
33:02This is the only world there is.
33:04I altered it in a way that's never been done before.
33:08Changed the entire configuration and things happened.
33:12It engaged and the candle appeared.
33:14It engaged a second time when the Cullen boy was found alive.
33:17Dear God.
33:18But it should have been Jenny, not William Cullen.
33:21Damn you, John Smith.
33:23Listen to yourself.
33:25Do you think you're the only one who's ever broken his heart over a bairn?
33:28Listen.
33:29What?
33:30The rain.
33:30What about the rain?
33:31Listen.
33:34At last.
33:35No.
33:38No.
33:40It should have been hung.
33:41God damn you, it should have been hung.
33:46No.
33:50Jenny.
33:53Oh, God.
33:55No, no, no, no.
33:56Jenny.
33:58Jenny.
33:58Jenny.
34:01John.
34:02John.
34:03John.
34:04Where are you going, John?
34:10As far as I can go.
34:13As far as anyone can go.
34:17Damn you.
34:19John.
34:20Come back.
34:22Please, come away from the edge.
34:23Leave me alone.
34:24Leave me alone.
34:26This is not the way.
34:28I'm not going to jump, Thomas.
34:31Look.
34:32See?
34:33The machine.
34:35Look at it.
34:37It's all I knew.
34:39Everything.
34:40All my skill.
34:41But it wasn't what I thought.
34:44It was deception.
34:47Illusion.
34:48Smoke and mirrors.
34:51I made this and I felt as if I was working magic.
34:55Just a watch movement, but I changed it.
34:58My fingers in the candlelight, flickering in the candlelight.
35:01And it was altered.
35:03It was transformed.
35:05And it worked, Thomas.
35:06I believed it worked.
35:10The candle and William.
35:12And now this glorious sunshine.
35:18Like a new world.
35:20Like a whole other world.
35:24But never the one I wanted.
35:27Never the one thing I wanted.
35:31Never, Jenny.
35:33Come down, John.
35:35Come home.
35:36We need to tend to things.
35:39To Jenny.
35:40Deceived.
35:42Duped.
35:44No.
35:47There.
35:50No more changes.
35:52No more new worlds.
36:06That's thirsty luck when you're out of the way of it.
36:11I'm away to draw some water.
36:15Mary.
36:17What are you sitting in here in the gloom for?
36:20What's this you've got?
36:22Lizzie's clothes.
36:23What is it, Mary?
36:24Mary.
36:25Were we as mad as him, Tan?
36:28As desperate as him.
36:29I can't even mind being that mad, can you?
36:34No.
36:35Maybe we were, though.
36:37I'm heart sorry for him, Tan.
36:39A few days ago you were raging at him.
36:41Raging at him will not do him any good.
36:44He doesn't need me raging at him.
36:46He doesn't deserve that.
36:47At the graveside he looked...
36:51...wandered.
36:53...lost.
36:54Never caught anybody's eye.
36:56I saw him.
36:57Like he was ashamed.
36:59Ashamed?
37:00He fought that hard, Tan.
37:03Maybe it was just madness, but he fought hard.
37:06And he lost.
37:10What is it, Mary?
37:12You mind Lizzie and Miss Petticoat.
37:16It was I too big for her.
37:17I mind.
37:18In this show.
37:19My mother made this for her.
37:21She loved this show.
37:23Aye, she did.
37:26Well, you light a fire at the back.
37:29The wood should be dry enough now.
37:31You don't need to burn them, Mary.
37:33I can't.
37:35But I don't need to keep them anymore.
37:39I think I was as mad as him.
37:41I thought there was that one thing that would have saved her.
37:45That one thing I missed.
37:47I thought I just never looked hard enough for it.
37:49But there never was anything, was there?
37:52No.
37:53You were right.
37:54Some things we cannae change.
37:57Trying to just...
37:58Makes you mad.
38:01Like the fire, Tan.
38:02The sky's full of stars again, Jenny.
38:13Draco, Gemini, Orion.
38:16Mind?
38:18Just the same.
38:21Nothing different.
38:22Just the old, familiar stars.
38:29Ellipses.
38:31And circles.
38:32I saw you were at your bench.
38:42Thomas.
38:43It's been a while.
38:46We haven't seen you since the funeral.
38:48No.
38:49What can I see?
38:50Just tinkering.
38:52Keeping my hands busy.
38:53Tinkering?
38:54It's a watch, Thomas.
38:57Just a watch.
38:58Ah.
39:00I used to dandle her on my knee.
39:03Burl a watch like this.
39:05And the end of its chain.
39:07She used to love the way the light caught it.
39:09Made it flash and sparkle as it spun.
39:13That night.
39:15With the candle guttering.
39:17What did I imagine would happen?
39:20Something happened.
39:22Look at the sunlight in the room.
39:24Is it not a bonny day?
39:26Like a world reborn, eh?
39:28You said yourself.
39:29A new world.
39:31They're planting flax and barley again.
39:33The boats are back out.
39:35William's out there in one of them.
39:37William.
39:38Mm-hmm.
39:39William.
39:41He said it was Jenny saved him.
39:43Aye.
39:44He did.
39:45What is it?
39:47He came to see her.
39:48And she was already gone.
39:51He lost Jenny as well, Tam.
39:53He lost her too.
40:03Mr. Smith.
40:06I wanted to ask you.
40:08Aye?
40:10You said Jerry spoke to you.
40:12Those four days he were in the sea.
40:15She spoke to me, Mr. Smith.
40:17I wouldnae be here if she hadnae.
40:19But how could she?
40:20You saw her, insensible, lying in her room for two weeks, even before you said sail.
40:27Aye.
40:27You mean you imagined her?
40:29You conjured her up?
40:31I...
40:32I can.
40:34It's not possible.
40:35She couldn't have.
40:37Just my imagination, but...
40:39If that's the case, Mr. Smith, then imagination's different from what I thought it was.
40:45She spoke to me.
40:46She was there.
40:47She was in the sea with you?
40:49No.
40:50It was like we weren't in the sea.
40:53Somewhere else.
40:54Some other place.
40:57Other worlds.
40:58I thought we'd I be together.
41:00We talked about it.
41:02Me coming home with the day's catch and Jenny waiting for me.
41:05And then when I came to the house and saw a lion there, I couldnae understand it.
41:10I expected her to speak to me.
41:12To wake up and speak to me.
41:14And then you said she was going to die.
41:17I'm sorry, William.
41:19And then I think maybe I did just imagine it.
41:22Maybe it was just hope.
41:26Dreams.
41:28The world's not like that, is it?
41:30Except in stories.
41:32That's what they say, William.
41:34I'm not so sure.
41:36Neither am I, Mr. Smith.
41:37Do you get in what I do?
41:40What?
41:41I make it real.
41:43I think back to the four days and I mind every minute of them.
41:48And they're as clear as day.
41:50They were real then.
41:52All the things Jenny and me said to one another.
41:55And they become real again.
41:58And it's enough.
42:00Is it?
42:02Enough.
42:03Aye.
42:06Aye.
42:06Maybe it is.
42:18There.
42:19Can I see?
42:22Ah, this is fine work, John.
42:24It is just a watch, though.
42:26Just a watch.
42:27Though I never imagined it would turn out like this.
42:30I tried to make a machine to bring her back, but...
42:33You were right.
42:34Nothing can bring her back.
42:35But this might just be enough.
42:40Tremendous work.
42:41Silver?
42:42Silver, aye.
42:44And this in the case here?
42:45Chasing?
42:46Repoussé.
42:48Repoussé.
42:48Oh, look at this, Tom.
42:51Fishes and shells and crabs and dolphins.
42:55Dolphins?
42:57Open it.
42:58Here.
43:00Picture on the dial.
43:01Oh.
43:02Enamel.
43:03It's the best enamel work I've ever done.
43:06This is...
43:07What do you see?
43:09Tell me.
43:10I don't think I can.
43:12A town.
43:13By the sea.
43:15White houses and red roofs.
43:17It could be here.
43:18It is here.
43:19A fishing scafee out in the water.
43:21They're lowering the sail as she heads in towards the shore.
43:25Oh, and here...
43:25And up here on the hill.
43:28Behind the town.
43:28A young lassie.
43:30Looking out to sea.
43:32Out over the rooftops towards the sea.
43:35A young lassie in a green petticoat and a summer bonnet.
43:45In The Alterer, Smith was played by Cal Mackeninch.
43:51Buchan by Liam Brennan.
43:53Mary by Pauline Knowles.
43:55And William by Finn Den Hertog.
43:57The play was written by Finlay Welsh and was directed in Glasgow by Kirsteen Cameron.
44:04In The Alterer.
44:07Orem A
44:10All in the champagne.
44:11Pha'u
44:12C Bry D
44:26Orem A
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