(audience murmurs)
(footsteps approaching)
Hey.
You're late.
I'm consistent.
(audience applauds)
Hello, and welcome to this Q&A.
I'm delighted to say that I'm joined
by one of our most talented, promising,
and soon-to-be-in-demand young actresses, Emma Lytleton.
(audience applauds and cheers)
Emma, thank you for joining us,
and thank you for writing that introduction.
(audience laughs)
My pleasure on both counts.
(Emma chuckles)
So, how do you feel about your play opening?
Terrified.
Absolutely terrified.
This is the biggest thing that I've ever done.
It is in fact the only remotely big thing
that I've ever done, so, yeah, not great.
Okay, and what were you in before this?
Unemployment.
(audience laughs)
Right, and what kept you going through that?
Shame.
Yeah.
I think if you want to act,
you have to have this burning desire
deep inside to want to prove-
Prove your mother wrong.
Exactly!
(audience applauds)
(upbeat music)
(soft vocalising)
(water splashes)
Joey, come on!
(water splashes)
Yeah!
No!
Yeah! Joey!
(slow string music)
That went well.
Yeah, I just wish I had said something-
Interesting?
Ideally, yeah.
(chuckles)
What are you doing now?
I'll probably get the bus home and panic about the play.
(chuckles)
Right.
Whereabouts are you based?
South, do you know Telegraph Hill?
Yeah.
That's where I live.
Whereabouts?
You know, at the north side.
The rough end?
Yeah.
Nice.
No, it really isn't, but...
So, er, I have a question.
You've asked me a few already.
I know, but I'm still hoping
that you might say something interesting.
Seems unlikely, doesn't it?
Yeah.
Who's Joey?
(slow sombre music)
(water splashes) (laughter)
Sorry.
Sorry, I just saw it on your necklace
and I thought I'd ask.
(phone buzzing)
Oh, erm, I have to go.
Giving up on me saying something interesting?
Had to.
I was gonna buy you a drink to say thank you.
Right.
Er,
yeah, sorry.
Sorry, I, I do have to go.
Okay, well thanks anyway.
You were
funny.
Yeah, so were you.
Actually, erm, I've changed my mind.
About me being funny?
About you buying me that drink.
Okay, great!
Let's go.
Yeah, why not?
(dramatic music)
(laughter)
(indistinct)
(laughter)
So, what do you write about?
I write a weekly column
that is supposed to be funny, but rarely is.
So not proper journalism then?
No. God, no.
And you interview people?
Sometimes.
Anyone interesting?
Not recently.
(chuckles)
I'm this way.
I'm just across the park.
I'll see you next time then.
See you next time.
(soft dramatic music)
(birds chirping)
(water rolling and splashing)
(children laughing)
(water sloshing)
Hi.
That's my towel.
Wait, what?
You're using my towel.
I can see that.
I didn't know that when I picked it up.
That would be-
Weird.
(laughter)
I have no idea what to say next.
Me neither.
I'm Harry.
I'm Emma.
Oh, there, hey!
Joey.
What are you doing here?
Oh, sorry, this is Harry.
He used to go out with Kate,
and Anna,
and Olivia for a while.
Not officially.
Okay.
How do you two?
Oh, Emma's my sister.
Yeah.
(laughter)
(phone buzzes)
(sniffles)
Hello?
Hi Emma.
It's Ben.
(sniffles)
Hi.
Er,
is now a bad time?
No.
Sorry. Just it sounded like you were crying.
No, I am.
Erm,
(sniffles)
I'm watching Say Yes to the Dress.
Ah.
That's not good.
(laughs)
Yeah, so listen, erm,
the last time we saw each other,
you said
"See you next time,"
and,
yeah, I mean,
I mean this isn't very cool
or indeed professional,
but neither am I.
So yeah, I, I, I just wanted to say
for the avoidance of all doubt,
I would like there to be a next time.
So, so, yeah, erm,
I, I, I was just wondering
if you wanted to go for a drink.
I'm sorry, Ben, I have gotta go.
(phone beeps)
(sighs deeply)
(slow sombre music)
(children laughing and squealing)
(children laughing)
(footsteps)
Hi!
Er, what are you doing here?
I saw you across the park,
and I thought I'd say hi.
I'm sorry about the other day on the phone.
I didn't mean to be-
Daddy!
Have you got-
Hello, mate.
Daddy!
Any more?
Er. No.
Who's this?
Er, this is my friend Emma.
Would you like to meet her?
Okay, so Emma, this is Poppy,
and this is Jack.
No, we're not!
Okay, well who are you then?
He's Peter Pan.
I'm curly,
and he's one of the Lost Boys.
I already knew that.
Do you wanna know why?
Why?
Because my name's not really Emma.
It's Captain
James!
- Hook! - Hook!
(Poppy and Jack scream and squeal)
I'm gonna get yer!
(Poppy and Jack scream and squeal)
My Mum comes down to help,
but other than that,
it's just been the three of us ever since.
And I don't always tell people about them.
Why?
Don't want to tell a sad story.
I don't want them to be a sad story.
Have you ever written about it?
(Jack) Emma!
Yeah?
Can you chase us?
Well, I have to go now,
but whoever catches this magic sword
is gonna be the new Captain Hook.
Are you ready?
One,
two,
three,
go!
Oh, and for the avoidance of all doubt,
I would like to see you again.
(lighthearted music)
(soft piano playing)
Oh, there she is.
Emma!
Oh!
Oh. You look-
Harassed, sweaty.
Wonderful!
I really don't, but I appreciate the conceit.
Yo.
Happy birthday.
Your necklace is ridiculous, by the way.
Thank you. Mum got it for me.
No one knows why.
Maybe in case you forget your own name me.
So, I hear you met Harry.
Er, yeah.
He's nice, isn't he?
Mother, stop foisting my friends onto her.
I'm just saying!
It might be nice to have someone more
reliable and dependable.
(whispers) Reliable.
Like Dad?
Now, don't involve me in this.
Because your career is-
Dormant.
Precarious, I was gonna say.
So to meet someone reliable.
I'd like to propose a toast to Joey.
May you live a long and happy life,
and may all your relationships
be just like Mum and Dad's.
Fueled by alcohol and passive aggression.
Cheers!
[Everyone] Cheers!
(glasses clinking)
When we came in,
one of the new waiters
asked me if it was a special occasion.
I said it was my daughter's birthday.
Anyway,
we all have a lot to look forward to.
You have a lot to look forward to.
And when I see you stood up there
with everyone staring at you,
I'll be so proud.
I know. I just keep thinking of Joey and-
[All Waiters] ♪ Happy birthday to you. ♪
♪ Happy birthday to you. ♪
♪ Happy birthday, Happy birthday. ♪
♪ Happy birthday to you. ♪
(applause)
Happy birthday, Joe.
(lighthearted upbeat music)
How do I look?
Available.
I was going for urban sophisticate.
Well, you've landed on slutty Sandy
from the end of Grease.
Do you know what I don't understand?
The patriarchal conditioning at the end of Grease?
I do actually. I'm just redefining it.
What I don't understand is
why you were so desperate
for me to come out with you for a drink tonight?
So, you know Harry?
Yeah.
Well, he has this friend, Cameron,
who I've been messaging,
and I'm gonna go meet them tonight for a drink.
And you're telling me this now because-
Because if I told you any earlier,
you would've said no.
An accurate assessment.
Yeah.
Come on.
What's the worst that could happen?
(dramatic music)
(music intensifies)
(music slows and fades)
That's all I've written so far.
What do you think?
Is it that bad?
I, I, I just need to,
I just need to find the right ending.
You know.
Like a way to say-
I thought I'd never feel happy again,
but I was wrong.
Things can change,
I can change.
Something like that.
Yeah, something like that.
Do you think that's true?
Do you think people can change
after the worst, most unimaginable thing
has happened to them?
Do you really think people can be happy again,
the way that they were before?
I don't think anything can be the way it was before.
I think you're probably right.
Who else have you shown this to?
No one.
I mean just you.
Don't know if I'm even gonna use it.
I wanna tell you who Joey is.
Joey is my sister,
and she died.
No one else I've ever spoken to really understands it.
Lucky them.
You know when you tell someone,
and they nod
and start comparing it to when their Nan died?
Yeah. It is annoying, isn't it?
Yeah.
Thank you for telling me.
(slow dramatic music)
So, I became a writer
because I have no other marketable skills.
Can you cook?
Nope.
Can you drive?
Not even nearly.
How do you get Jack and Poppy around?
With great difficulty.
(sombre music)
Are you alright?
I used to swim here all the time with Joey.
And do you still swim here?
So the way I see it,
we could either go home,
you to yours,
and me back to the chaos
of Lego and the disgruntled mother.
Or,
we could get another drink.
Okay, wait.
So let me flesh out the arguments-
You had me at drink.
(slow dramatic music)
(laughter)
You know what's weird?
How drunk I am?
No, no.
That was perfectly predictable.
What's weird is
how easy they make it to get in when it's closed.
What?
Yeah, you just jump over.
Come on, I'll show you.
Absolutely not.
What are you waiting for?
(dramatic music)
So, was this her special place?
No, she hated it.
No, we came here all the time,
and yeah, we loved it.
We should do it together.
I don't think so.
I understand.
It can be pretty intimidating to stand next
to me with my top off.
(snickers)
Hey, you laugh, but I'm telling you,
you do not want to know
what is going on under here.
I'm shredded.
I'm like coleslaw.
I'm sure it's lovely.
Right.
What are you doing?
I'm going in.
Why?
Because I kind of wanted to anyway,
but if I do it now,
then it'll seem like a grand gesture.
Plus if I don't do it now,
then I'm just the guy stood in his pants.
Essentially, I've overcommitted too soon.
Ben. No.
Also by the way,
once I'm in, you're coming in with me.
Absolutely not!
If you don't do it now, then you'll never do it.
Ben, no!
(water splashing)
(dramatic music)
Woo! Emma, come on!
Just do it!
There's no way!
Please. You won't regret it.
Do it, or I'm getting out.
Five,
four,
three,
two, one.
Come on!
(water splashing)
(laughter)
(upbeat dramatic music)
(uptempo music)
I'm a little bit nervous,
as I'm sure you can tell.
And if you're thinking that might manifest itself
in some kind of poor performance,
then that's probably not an accurate assumption.
Ben, stop talking.
Okay.
Was that your first time?
I hate to point out the obvious,
but,
I've got two children.
I meant, since-
Yeah.
Sorry.
It's okay.
You know, it's not like there's a
handbook for all this.
And yet, for so many years,
Cosmopolitan magazine had me believe otherwise.
(laughter)
I have to go soon.
Not yet.
(keys jangling)
(television sounds)
(door shuts)
[Television] And its mother will spend the next two years,
taking care of her precious charge.
(floor creaking)
(lighthearted music)
(children squealing)
Guys. Come on. Enough now, please.
Oi!
In bed now!
(children laughing and squealing)
In you get.
Thank you.
(children laughing)
(upbeat music)
I'm going out.
I love you.
I'll see you the morning, right?
Yes.
Be good. Grandma's in the next room.
(children squealing)
Sorry I'm late.
Sorry.
There was a thing at bedtime.
One was a cat, one was a dog.
And they,
and they didn't,
anyway you wouldn't-
Understand?
Be interested. I was gonna say.
Well, I would be.
Okay. What would you wanna know?
Who was the cat, and who was the dog?
I've honestly no idea.
Ever since the accident,
I've tried pretty hard not to think
about how I feel
because it was dangerous
for me.
But when I'm with you, I feel happy.
Which I know doesn't sound like a lot, but it's,
it's more than I ever expected to feel.
The reason I asked is because there are things
that I want to tell you about me.
Things that I've done
that are hard for me to talk about,
but,
if this is what I think it is,
I wanna talk about them with you.
Okay.
Ben, this isn't easy.
Is it about Joey?
A bit, yeah.
(phone buzzing)
You should just take it.
I'm gonna use the loo.
(phone buzzing)
Hi Mum, what is it?
Wait, what's happened?
(dramatic music)
(intense music)
What, what's happening?
Which one's not breathing?
[Ben] You're gonna be all right!
Don't leave them alone!
They're in the children's ward.
Thank you.
[Poppy and Jack] Daddy!
Hey, hey, Jack Attack.
Are you alright
I had an accident, Daddy.
They were playing that bloody cat and dog game,
and he hit his head on the radiator.
Yeah, I know.
We're okay now.
Yeah. Yeah.
We're all okay?
Hey look, I'm so sorry, you guys.
I'm never gonna leave you like that ever again.
Okay?
Come here.
Daddy's here.
Hey.
(dramatic piano music)
Thanks.
You know, I've seen you all in here a few times,
and I always want to come over
to tell you how sorry I am.
(tongue clicks)
I still think about their Mum.
If she could see you all now
and see the beautiful people
you've helped her children become,
I think she'd be really proud
cause I'd be really proud.
Thank you.
Do me a favour.
Whatever it is the three of you have been doing,
keep doing it.
(sombre piano music)
(uplifting music)
Hey.
Sorry to bother you at work.
No, it's fine. I'm on a break.
Yeah,
it's just that I wanted to speak to you,
and I didn't wanna do it over the phone.
I got your message. How is Jack?
Yeah, yeah, he's fine now.
Good. I was worried when you left, I thought-
Yeah, I know,
I'm, I'm, I'm sorry.
Erm, but that's not why I'm here.
Okay. Look, I haven't really slept,
and I'm sure that you haven't either,
but last night I was trying to tell you something.
I need to talk to you.
About?
Us.
Look, erm,
look, my life is complicated and-
I know it is, but-
Yeah. And, and I, I, I, I wanna be honest with you, right?
I, I think I'm falling in love with you, and
and, and I can't do that.
And, and, and this.
The children.
Yeah. Yeah.
I'm, I'm, I'm barely holding it together as it is, and
and I don't think I can lose someone again,
so,
need to stop it now
before that happens.
Fine.
Just go.
No, Emma, I don't wanna just go. I want-
I said just go, please.
(sombre music)