Flip the Script
Season 5
short | 20:16 | CC
Creator Daisy Coulam led Tom Brittney, Robson Green, Tessa Peake-Jones and Al Weaver as they took turns playing different characters while reading Season 5 scenes in an all-new special video!
- Guys, can you remember how to act?
I forgot.
- No.
- No, I haven't been acting for eight months.
Literally don't know what I'm doing.
- We've got no hope then, have we?
(electric guitar strum) - I need to get close, is that close enough?
- That's better.
- Yeah, way better.
- I need to get it closer, is that close enough?
Just say a few words, Tom, let me hear your accent.
- Just really looking forward to doing this together with you.
- Just really looking forward to doing this.
- To doing it.
(laughing) - Really looking forward to doing it.
- Right, let's do this.
- Am I Mrs.
C in this next one?
I'm Mrs.
C, aren't I?
- You are.
- I got a costume, I got a costume!
- Oh, for heaven's sake.
- Have you got a pinny?
- I got a pinny from 1956.
- Now my dad's, dad, out!
- Oh, you have!
- 1956, and I got a feather duster!
- Yay, props!
- See, always thinking, always thinking.
- I should have a dog collar, shouldn't I?
- Yes.
- That would be good.
I haven't got anything in white, sorry.
Oh that's lovely, Rob.
(singing) - He's merciless.
- Women all over the nation will love this.
- Yep.
He cleans as well!
- He cleans as well.
- I've not been out, Al.
- I've not been out for four months.
- Tessa, when you came into this scene, did you do cleaning up and everything?
- If I say yes, you're just gonna use that feather duster the whole time, so I'm really inclined to say no.
- Ah, that's a yes then.
Okay, I'm ready.
- We're ready.
- Use your feather duster, yes.
- Okay, in character.
Interior vicarage, hallway kitchen.
Leonard and Dickens are in the hall waiting.
Dickens barks, someone is approaching.
- Let operation Entente Cordiale commence.
- What, what, what?
- Action stations!
- Jack hides, and Leonard casually greets Mrs.
C.
- Good morning.
- You say so.
- Full of sunshine and flowers again, Mrs.
C, you're a veritable cornucopia of joy.
- Where's me brasso?
- Mrs.
C sees there's-- - Hang on, I haven't finished.
- (laughs) Sorry, Robson.
- Who's been cookin' in my kitchen?
(laughing) - Jack appears, brasso in hand.
- That would be your devoted husband.
- Dusting's done, vacuuming... - Quiche.
- I have made a quiche.
- A quiche?
What unholy nonsense is this?
- I've made a quiche.
- Quiche?
What unholy nonsense is this?
Pretty ridiculous.
- Your duties are done for the day, there's no excuse not to sit down, vis-a-vis, and resolve whatever may be troubling you.
- Leonard has offered to mediate.
- Leonard.
- All this is from God, who gave us the ministry of reconciliation.
And my first point of order, Mrs.
C, is to listen to each other without fear or favor.
- For a minute, he's got this.
Interior vicarage living room, Mrs.
C and Jack sit opposite each other, Leonard sits between them, everything is calm, at first, anyway.
- I understand that you're very upset about decisions I've made in the past, but I feel it's unfair of you to judge me for something I can no longer change.
- Very good, very succinct.
Mrs.
C?
- Mistakes, Jack, not decisions.
You've made horrible mistakes.
- Non-judgmental, Mrs.
C.
- And you've never made a mistake, have you, Sylvia?
- Non-accusatory, Jack.
- None that ruined people's lives.
- Let's try to bring this back to the here and now, shall we?
- I help desperate families cross the border.
- To the two of you.
- For monetary gain!
And then, you lie about it.
- I didn't bloody lie about it!
- Yes you bloody did!
- Listen without fear or favor.
- You never asked about it.
Be honest, Sylvia.
- Yes, let's do try and be honest.
- You didn't care where my money was from when you were going through it like water.
- That's a little too honest there, Jack.
- Was garbage.
- Sit down, Sylvia, sit down!
I'm not a saint, I never claimed to be.
I made my fortune through good means.
- Maybe not.
- I've made my peace with that.
- Have you?
- If you can't, then I'll go.
- Well-- - You can have the house, the car, all of it.
- (gasps) Love it.
- Was that succinct enough for you?
- Jack-- - Jack, don't walk out!
You got the keys to the car!
(laughs) - Slice of quiche?
- From Leonard, that didn't go quite according to plan.
Cut to Mrs.
C is mopping the floor, Leonard barges in with Jack and Dickens.
- Hang the diplomacy, it's high time I gave you-- - Shoes!
- I gave you a piece of my mind.
- Operation Entente Cordiale is foobar I'm afraid, Leonard.
Hostilities have resumed.
- Hostilities never ceased.
- Because you're stubborn, both of you, stubborn sods, apologies, who want everyone else to bend to their will.
Have you ever thought it's not others who should change, we are the ones who must change?
- You do enough talk a lot all right sometimes.
- You're impossible, Mrs.
C!
You expect too much of people.
I doubt even Jesus would live up to your standards.
- Here, here.
- Jack is tall, and kind, and has a very handsome jawline for a man of his age.
He puts up with you day in and day out, it makes him a saint in my book.
- Well, you writin' all this down?
- Jack, Mrs.
C is the most loyal, hardworking, robust woman I've ever had the pleasure to work with.
- Robust?
I'm not a broom and packhorse, steady.
- You're not going to leave her, she's not going to leave you, you are simply going to have to sit down, vis-a-vis, and find a solution.
You owe each other that much.
I do not want to see either of you until you can promise to be pleasant.
Dickens!
- And Leonard and Dickens march out again.
End scene.
(clapping) - I loved what you did.
I'd like more, but it was good, it was good.
- Thank you, do you think you can learn from that, Al?
- I think so, yeah, I think so, yeah.
- Good.
- The thing is, if I try to be like you Tessa, you're so good at the accent, and you're so good in the character.
I'm not even gonna try and be you, because I just... - You know the-- - We wouldn't be working with you as Mrs.
C, because we wouldn't get a word in edgewise, Robson.
- Quite a monologue in that character as well.
(laughing) - You know every person who said which other character they'd like to play, said Mrs.
C.
- Yeah, yeah.
- Really?
- All of us, yep.
- Seriously?
- Yep.
- Well, not seriously.
(laughing) - I did, I said it seriously.
- I've missed you Al, Robson, and Tom.
- Tessa, I said to you, I said, because you're so layered.
(laughing) - How are you feeling Robson, you ready?
- Robson, good luck.
- Why not, come on, I can't do what Tom does.
Well, give me the build-up then, give the build-up.
Could somebody do some music in the background as well, like the organ player?
- Should I get the theme tune up again?
- Yeah, do it.
- Oh, that'll be funny.
- Yeah, so still have the stage direction.
- And maybe it's nice, and taper it down a bit while I'm talking.
(singing) - See, he can sing it.
- Just do it really subtly like that underneath my speech.
- Subtly, how?
(singing) - Too much, already too much.
Take 500% out of that performance, come on then.
- Right, interior church, no music.
We close on Will standing in the pulpit.
A long beat before he speaks.
This is not Will as we've seen before.
He is fire and brimstone, he is angry.
Leonard, Mrs.
C, back in her finery, and Jack watch on from the congregation, worried.
- It's a pause, says long pause.
That God gave us Eden, he gave us protection, and what did we do?
We destroyed it.
We sinned.
We grew prideful, and vengeful, and angry.
We surrounded ourselves with snakes who only want the worst for us.
And who do we blame for that?
We blame God.
How dare we!
It is us, it is our doing.
And it's all we deserve.
God will always forgive, He will always offer salvation.
But I don't believe all of us deserve it.
If we sin, we break God's law.
If you sin, you do not deserve His love.
You do not deserve His salvation.
You deserve the snakes, the misery, and the suffering.
That's all we deserve.
- It is all we deserve.
- That's all we deserve.
- Ooh!
From Will, we go to the back of the church where Geordie sits alone watching his friend, concerned.
Everything that has happened has broken him.
- Geordie, with a concerned look.
(laughing) - What'd he say?
Snakes?
- This concerned look.
- Can you do then, that was beautiful.
(clapping) Tom, you were doing your solving-the-crime face.
I think Robson and Al and Tessa should do their solving-the-crime face.
- Oh good, okay.
- Solving-the-crime face.
- You go first, Tessa.
(laughing) - Sorry, Robson?
- That's really good.
- Thank you.
- Really good.
- That was like your gangster face, that was like... - Al, Al?
- It's like, it's like... - Yes!
(laughing) Then leave the room really quickly.
- I think that's a Tom thing wasn't it, the click, the click of the thumb.
- I only did it once, but I'm gonna do it next series, every time.
- Robson, do your face, do your crime-solving face.
- Oh, it's too late now, mine's gone.
Do you want me to do my crime-solving face?
- Yeah.
- How'd you do that?
- Do the crime-solving face?
- Go, Dr.
Green.
- 'Cause Geordie's never solved a crime, so this'll be interesting.
(laughing) - Never a truer word spoken, in five series, I've never solved a crime.
- There's one that you've done.
- Which one?
- Half, half a crime.
- You can't solve half, are you crazy?
- Can I solve a crime in the next series, just to make me look good?
- Yeah, sure, it's done.
- Right, and this is what I'll do when you write that episode, when I solve a crime, I'm gonna do this.
- Okay.
- Yay!
(laughing) (clapping) - Five years I've been waiting for that.
- Right, let's do this.
Interior vicarage, Will's study, Will lies passed out on the floor, his arms outstretched, he's woken by Dickens licking his face.
From Dickens, hungover as all hell, cut to interior vicarage kitchen, Will, hungover, heads in.
Leonard is at the table, he polishes his shoes.
Mrs.
C is cooking up breakfast.
- [Mrs.
C] Morning, sausage?
- No.
- Oh, dear.
Good night?
- Bit I can remember.
- Mornin', sausage?
- Oh, dear, good night?
- Bit I can remember.
(laughing) I'm going for it!
I'm nervous!
I'm hungover!
I'm hungover, I'm hungover!
- Not at the table.
- I feel terrible.
- You'll be courteous, won't you, Mrs.
C?
- When have I not been courteous?
- My father isn't a great conversationalist.
Just stick to neutral topics.
Isn't it temperate for this time of year?
That sort of thing.
(laughing) - Leonard stands, nervous.
Mrs.
C goes to answer it.
- I do know how to talk to people.
(laughing) - Would you take the service?
- Now?
- No, tomorrow!
Yes, now.
- May very well be my father.
- But it's duty, Leonard's disappointed.
- Oh.
- Pleasure to see you, too, Leonard.
Little Lord Leroy.
- That is not how you say it.
- He lives!
- Only just.
- Please, Leonard.
- You know this is a big day for me!
- Can you lower your voice just a touch?
(laughing) - You can be terribly daft sometimes.
- You know the best cure for a hangover.
- Yeah?
- A nice murder investigation.
- Let me sleep.
- Vulnerable woman, religious symbolism.
- I hate you!
- I know you do.
- End scene.
That was a bit Exorcist there.
(laughing) - I am in open-mouth shock.
- Tom, what were you doing with you, what was your Leonard, talk me through that Leonard impression.
- Why, was it not very good?
- It was great.
- It was like a '70s sitcom version.
It was that, oh, you havin' a laugh?
- Oh, dear, good night?
(laughing) That's how you sound to me.
- Wow.
- Brilliant, brilliant.
- Al, it is not how you sound to me.
(laughing) Just putting it out there.
- It's not as nuanced as Al's performance I would say.
(laughing) - We gotta admit, there's broader strokes all around here, I think.
- There are broad strokes all across the screen today.
- Quite broad, yes.
Exterior vicarage, Will sits outside.
There's a warm glow coming from inside.
He's looking in at his friends through the window, all warm and chatty.
Geordie joins him.
- Should I be worried about you?
(laughing) - No, but I'm worried about you.
- I'll try deeper, I'll try a deeper one.
See if I can crack it.
I was a bit worried, as it turns out.
- I was a bit worried as it turns out, I was a bit worried.
Just lower, lower!
Start again, do that one at the start, really good.
- Should I be worried about you?
Don't you criticize, don't you dare give me notes.
- I've just, the line is "no"!
- Oh, okay, so... (laughing) - I was acting!
- How believable was that!
- Don't you give me notes!
- This is our happy place, guys!
- The line is "no"!
So I gave a no, and you believed it, moment to moment.
- We'll get it, third time lucky.
- This is good.
- Should I be worried about you?
(laughing) Just keep going, it's getting worse each time, just keep going.
- No.
- I was a bit worried as it turns out.
(stifled laughter) - No, I'm fine.
Honestly, after Vic, I think I just, I lost the wonder for a while.
- Became a pain in the ass more like.
Yeah, did I get it?
- I don't know, I think it's just taken me a while to realize, things can't always be perfect.
You just have to make the best of things.
I've been so obsessed with the notion of Eden.
Even if the weeds had grown, I don't know, I suppose what I'm trying to say in not an entirely coherent way is that things are good.
Not perfect, but pretty good.
- You've had sex, haven't you?
(laughing) You sly old dog.
Well who was it?
Ellie?
- Nope.
- Who?
- Grace.
- Sister Grace?
- Shout it a little louder, I don't think Mrs.
C heard!
- What, Sister bloody Grace?
- Sister Grace?
- Oh, shout a little closer, I don't think Mrs.
C quite heard you back in Bristol!
- Grace, Sister Grace?
(laughing) - You been drinking?
What the heck?
Come on, focus!
- Sister Grace?
I'm giving up.
- It says, my response is "shout a little louder."
- Grace!
Sister Grace!
- Shout a little louder, I don't think Mrs.
C quite heard you back in Grantchester.
- Grace?
Well answer me one thing.
- No.
- Did she wear the wimple?
- Yes, absolutely.
Of course she didn't!
- You do realize... I can't get it, I need to go high.
- It's honest, you keep visiting the northeast it's good, but sometimes you end up in the North Sea, but keep going.
- You do realize a nun is the wife of God.
(laughing) - But the thing is you've based it on someone, and I think it's me, and that's the worry!
- I can't hear you not in my head as that now.
Hello, I'm Robson Green.
(laughing) - Anyway, let's go from "you realize."
- You realize if a nun is the wife of God.
- Very good, she's not a nun.
- You've slept with your boss's missus.
That's all I'm sayin'.
- I'm never gonna hear the end of this, am I?
And that accent.
- Not a bloody chance.
(laughing) (jaunty music) - Very good.
- End of scene.
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