Adultery (2026) s01e02 Episode Script

1
We're gonna miss it!
It's not funny, Ollie. Go!
TRAIN DOORS BEEP
No!
That was close.
Yeah.
Can you imagine if we'd missed it?
HE CHUCKLES
HE EXHALES
You all right?
Been a tough day, hasn't it?
Come here.
I'm knackered.
HE GROANS
PHONE CHIMES
RINGING TONE
'Beth.'
What's happened?
Despite everything we said,
Jess and Ollie went to Blackpool.
Oh, he told me he was at yours.
They made it to Manchester,
changed to come back here,
and they fell asleep.
Now they can't get off
till Sheffield.
Sheffield?! Christ!
Is there a train back?
'Nope, that's why
I'm gonna pick 'em up.'
No, Tom, you can't.
Not with your hand. I'll go.
No, it's fine.
It's late, and it's a long way.
Look, I just wanted to call you
so you weren't worried.
'No, honestly, it'll be Ollie
that's led this, so'
No, no, Beth, I'm going.
'I'll I'll drop him off later.'
OK, thanks.
PHONE CHIMES
Hannah's gonna go crazy
when she finds out.
Is she not at home?
She's at some charity thing,
I think. I left her a note.
Old school.
Mm.
If I text her,
it'll ruin her evening.
The moment she reads it, she'll
be so furious.
And then Jess won't be popular.
To say the least.
Kind of admire them for it.
They were told they couldn't go,
but they wanted to go, so they went.
They haven't exactly covered
themselves in glory, have they?
Well, we all fuck up.
Beth
Have you ever played "car-y-oke"?
Car-y-oke?
Yeah, it's, erm
You-You pick a playlist,
and then you put it on shuffle,
and then whatever song comes on,
you have to sing along?
No, I've not played that.
Do you want to?
Er My singing voice,
it's been known
to scare wild animals.
Well, let's choose
my Zumba playlist,
cos, that way,
we know it will be upbeat.
Well, unless you want a ballad?
No.
Do you wanna go first?
No. Coward.
Here we go.
'Rhythm Is A Dancer'
by Snap!
Rhythm is a dancer
It's a soul's companion
You can feel it everywhere
Lift your hands and voices
Free your mind and join us
You can feel it in the air
Oh, oh, it's a passion
Oh, oh
You can feel it in the air
Oh, oh, it's a passion
Oh, oh, oh ♪
HE LAUGHS
Ah!
Rhythm is a dancer
Is a dancer
It's a soul's companion
Companion
You can take it everywhere. ♪
We can't just ignore
what happened today.
Well, we can.
Pretend it never happened.
Just like that?
Oh, yeah, just like that.
God, I acted like a madwoman.
I don't know what I was doing.
Wasn't the most
conventional behaviour.
All right, so, erm
I'm gonna say it, officially.
I apologise.
I shouldn't have gone to you, and
I'm really sorry.
And what about you?
What about me?
Well, you
You kissed me back,
in your workplace.
You could have thrown me out,
told me
I crossed the line,
but you didn't.
You kissed me.
Yeah, I did.
I shouldn't have kissed you.
Because we're both married,
and we have families.
But I wanted to.
Like I wanted to
since the first moment I saw you.
So do it again.
RINGING TONE,
SHE SIGHS
It's just ringing out.
Look, they'll be on their way.
Should have just got an hotel.
Oh, paying for that, are you?
Oh, I'm gonna get in
so much shit off my mum.
Hello?
RINGING TONE
'At the tone'
PHONE CLATTERS
HEAVY BREATHING
Oh!
OK, I'm
Jessica.
Jessica, Jessica, Jessica,
Jessica, Jessica,
Jessica, Jessica, Jessica
Look at him.
We can't do this.
It'll destroy them.
Yeah, I know.
So we put it back in the box, yeah?
Forget about it.
Yeah.
HORN HONKS
There's Mum.
I'm really sorry.
Thanks, Mum. Thanks, Tom.
Falling asleep on the train?
What a pair of idiots!
BETH SIGHS
Dad, how much trouble am I in?
You know your mum.
Has she called you?
Yeah, but I didn't answer.
No, same here. I messaged her
and said we'd talk about it at home.
Oh, God.
You brought us any chips?
I mean, you can have some of these.
Can you believe them?
Hour-and-a-half drive,
you've not brought us any chips?!
How was Blackpool?
It was good.
It was good.
THEY LAUGH
It was, Dad.
Absolute selfish
JESS GIGGLES
JESS SIGHS
I hope she's gone to bed.
I don't think
there's much chance of that.
SHE SIGHS
Just stay calm, and don't just
turn it into a shouting match.
I gave you my reason!
Yeah, cos you never let us
do anything! That is not true.
"Don't go there, don't do that.
Something bad might happen." Jess!
So do it again.
Why is it always gonna go bad?
Well, it didn't.
It was fun. Even missing
the fucking stop was fun! No.
Hey!
Don't talk to your mother like that.
Bedroom, please.
Yeah, happily.
Your father and I are gonna decide
your punishment, and trust me,
it will be significant!
DOOR SLAMS
Why have I always gotta play
the bad guy with her? Hello?!
Nothing?
I don't know.
Well, what's she saying?
Beth, the mother you spent
all night in a car with?
I am seriously starting
to worry about that relationship.
Their son is leading
our daughter astray.
That's your assumption.
Do you think that I'm?
Is she right? Am I Am I
wrapping them up in cotton wool?
Yeah, a little bit.
SHE SIGHS
HEAVY BREATHING
Two weeks?
Mm-hm.
That's bullshit.
I know. Gonna miss Mariella's party.
She's gotta let you go to that.
I mean, it's her 16th.
SHE SCOFFS
She won't.
"Grounded is grounded, Jessica"!
For God's sake.
Honestly.
I mean, I can't believe you've got
nothing. How is that fair?
I didn't get nothing. You know, I
have to go help clear Ally's house.
Eurgh, lovely
It's only an house. I don't think
her ghost'll be hanging about.
Woooo!
SHE LAUGHS
I know. It's just weird, though.
Yeah.
Although I would rather clear
a house with ten ghosts
than two weeks grounded.
Mm.
All right, Bernard?
It weren't me.
THEY LAUGH
Oh, my God.
You all right with those?
Yeah.
ALARM BEEPS
Oh, God.
You all right, Mum?
We had such good times in this room.
Getting pissed
laughing our heads off.
I liked Ally.
She always had a secret stash
of sweets up in her cupboard.
She started that for you
when you were little. Did she?
She loved you.
I'm sorry I didn't
come to her funeral.
Grieve in your own way,
just don't keep it bottled up.
How come she never had
any kids of her own?
I don't know.
Just don't happen for some people.
Life don't always turn out
the way you think it will.
CLATTERING,
DRILLING
PHONE RINGS,
MUSIC BLARES
Macca, turn that down a bit.
Hello?
Yeah, it's me.
Right.
OK.
What, and now it's in Manchester?
Yeah, OK.
Yeah, thanks for letting me know.
Yeah, speak soon.
I'm going for a smoke.
Date for the court case.
So that's it. They're going through
with it. I'm sorry.
Don't tell Beth, not yet.
She's only just had the funeral.
Neil, I don't know
if Beth ever told you, but
years ago,
James was in a similar situation.
Road rage. All got out of hand.
So James just went round,
no solicitors, nothing formal,
and just told the man,
"If this goes to court,
it'll ruin me."
He took full responsibility
and apologised.
They ended up hugging
in his kitchen.
I can't see me
hugging Douglas Wells.
It's worth a try, though, isn't it?
Cos this could be really bad, Neil.
And I need
this bloody extension finishing.
I've met someone.
We put it back in the box, yeah?
Forget about it.
Yeah.
Are you stealing my furniture?
Oh, God. What do you want?
"Oh, hello, Dave.
Nice to see you, Dave"
Whoa. I bought that lamp.
How do you know I'd be here?
Cos I get notifications
when the alarm goes off.
I've still got the apps,
when this was my house.
Well, delete them.
There's no point, is there, Beth?
Seeing as I'm gonna be
moving back in here soon. Ha!
Hey! You all right, Ollie, lad?
Dave.
Dave, I am not giving you the house.
She only changed that will
to spite me.
She never meant for you to have it.
Go upstairs, Ollie.
No chance.
Go, now.
ASCENDING FOOTSTEPS
Dave
I am sure there's someone out there
that can love you.
But you are not bringing that person
into the house that you shared
with my best friend.
You are not having
your feeble excuse for sex
under the roof where you made Ally's
final years a fucking misery.
SHOE THUDS
Ah, that's better. Nice to be home.
I'm changing the locks.
PHONE CHIMES
Jess?
Jessica!
Hello?
HIGH-PITCHED: Hello!
How was school?
Good.
No more than that?
Zara's annoying.
Why?
She keeps tapping her pen.
Yeah. That is pretty annoying.
Oh, come here, it'll be OK.
THEY CHUCKLE
Where's Mummy?
Upstairs. Angry with Jess.
Hmm.
Don't come up here
just to Bad time?
HANNAH AND JESS ARGUE
I have not!
Dad.
HANNAH SIGHS
We've had an email
from Mr Wainwright from school.
Saying what?
You tell him.
Dad, it's nothing. I called him
by his first name and not "Sir",
and now he's going off on one.
He says it's not the first incident,
and he says he's worried
about bad influences.
Oh, he's chatting shit.
Jess!
What? He is, though! He hates Ollie
and he's sending you that email
to make him sound as bad as he can.
Why does he hate Ollie?
Because I don't know. He started
the Bernard thing. Bernard?
Oh, it is his name, though.
Right, OK, but how many
how many teachers
do you call by their first name?
None, but
Well, exactly.
OK, look.
I do think after everything
that happened in Blackpool,
we should probably have a chat
with Ollie's parents,
lay some ground rules
for the run-up to the exams.
Mum, there's no need
for ground rules. That's ridiculous.
Maybe we should be
the judge of that.
Dad!
Just calm down.
You know, er, she is right.
We don't wanna meet the parents.
Tom I mean, text them.
We don't want to get into
a back and forth about parenting.
We need them to agree, and it's
always much easier in person.
Besides, I wanna know what you and
Beth were talking about for an hour
on the way to Sheffield in the car.
Yeah.
I'll ask them to meet us
for a drink. Huh.
Here you go.
Thanks for coming.
Thanks.
Cheers.
She told me you were buying.
Er, right,
I'm just gonna dive right in
so that we can agree to a plan
and then just forget about this.
I don't like being
the disciplinarian, but, erm
I think one parent
always takes on that role.
I'm sure one of you two does.
Well, I guess we
we just sort of share it.
Yeah, yeah, probably.
Right.
Well, the Blackpool trip, I
don't like that kind of deceit.
And now we've had this email
from Mr Wainwright,
which I know isn't a huge deal
Can I jump in
on the Wainwright thing?
Yeah. As someone
who works for the school.
You see, he actually is
a massive arsehole.
Sorry, I don't like to speak badly
of any teacher. No.
But he brings it on himself.
The kids call him Bernard
just to wind him up.
Right, but Ollie started it, yeah?
Yeah, but they're just
mucking about.
And we had worse at our school.
Ardon Hardman, pervy tech teacher.
Miss No-Hills
No! Don't tell that story!
was Miss Hill,
but she was flat-chested.
BETH AND NEIL LAUGH
OK, well, you know,
setting all of that aside,
these next months,
they're really important,
and after the whole Blackpool thing,
we found these in Jessica's pocket.
Ah, is that edibles? Yeah,
but they're all over the school.
No, I know,
and I'm sure it's just like us
sneaking gin
from our parents' drinks cabinet,
but we can't have them
going off the rails. I mean
It's hardly off the rails.
You know what I mean!
Look, this schedule from school,
it's like
five weeks of intense exams.
I think you're right.
They're a couple.
They egg each other on. Yeah.
We should lay down the law about it.
OK. Yeah, so
Erm, I'm just gonna write out
a few do's and don'ts for Jess.
I can WhatsApp them to you
if you want
so you can see what I've written,
for Ollie.
Yeah, of course, yeah.
Yeah? Uh-huh.
Yeah, definitely. Yeah.
OK, great.
This is really good
to talk about this.
You know, same page and all that.
BETH CLEARS THROA
Hey! Hey.
I need to see you again.
Well, that's not what we agreed.
Just to talk.
Oh, to talk
I was thinking of you then.
You looked so beautiful.
Tom I just wanted to kiss you.
I can't stop thinking about you.
Meet me?
OK. Where?
Erm, I don't know,
I'll think of somewhere.
So they went to Blackpool.
My mum and dad
never knew where I was.
I went to a rave in Anglesey once,
told them I was at my mate's
in the next street.
BETH CHUCKLES
It's thingy with them, innit?
Parachute parenting.
What?
Parachute?!
Well, what is it?
It's a helicopter, you daft git!
SHE LAUGHS
Listen, before we go in
HE SIGHS
There's something
I've been putting off telling you.
The court case.
They've set a date.
Right.
Well, listen, your Amy was there
when the call came through.
And afterwards,
she suggested that I go and see him,
that prick,
and just make a case for myself.
She said James did it
a few years back, and it worked.
Neil, I really don't think
that is a good idea.
You've got a solicitor,
just leave it to him.
Yeah, but what if
I'm just a job to him?
He'll have forgotten about me
before I've spent a day inside.
I can't go to prison, Beth.
I can't.
Don't listen to my sister.
You've gotta just
trust the process, yeah?
'I need some advice.'
It's Alicia.
She's been having these bleeds.
The first one she had,
she'd asked the hospital,
and they scanned her
and the baby was fine. Right.
But she's had a few more since then.
Right? So
Well, what could be happening?
You know I'm not
an obstetrician, right?
You're a fucking doctor.
You must know something.
It could be loads of things.
She's pregnant. I mean
An infection could cause bleeding.
She needs to see HER doctor.
I see.
Might she lose the baby?
Are you asking
out of hope or concern?
Wow! Nice, Tom, really nice
Shut up.
Get you out of a hole, wouldn't it?
Don't tell me
you haven't thought that.
Well, I could certainly do without
all the late-night
panicking phone calls.
Leah's radar's getting well twitchy.
Do radars get twitchy?
Anyway, whatever.
She-She can't find out.
PAUL CLEARS THROA
PHONE RINGS
Leah, hi!
Hannah, are you about today?
Er Yeah.
Why, what do you have in mind?
'I need to talk to you about Paul.'
OK. Well, I'm just dashing off
to a meeting now, but, erm
do you want to come over at one-ish?
Perfect. Cheers, Han,
I'll see you in a bit.
What's the thinking here, then?
What?
I
I used to come here a lot
with the kids.
And at the weekends,
it's completely packed.
I cycled past one weekday
and it was empty,
and I thought to myself,
"Well, if I ever need
"a covert meeting place,
this is it."
Welcome.
So
What did you wanna talk about?
Are you familiar
with the prefrontal cortex?
Not intimately.
HE CHUCKLES
All the songs
bang on about the heart.
But it's your old pal
the prefrontal cortex
that's driving the show.
Probably doesn't rhyme as well.
No.
HE CHUCKLES
Well, the moment you meet someone,
or you just see someone,
the old cortex kicks in,
decides whether it likes them
or wants to see them again
or fancies them.
And if it does, then other parts
of the brain kick in.
Dopamine gets released, oxytocin.
And they give you
this immediate feeling of
closeness.
'What were you like as a kid?'
I was what is known as a dweeb.
I had NHS specs,
worst haircut known to humanity,
basically asking to be bullied.
I bet you were cute.
I weren't, I'll show you photos.
It's why I got into fitness,
to defend myself
against the beatings.
What happened to that business?
SHE EXHALES HEAVILY
Owning your own mini-gym,
it's long hours,
and Neil made it very clear
he thought I should be at home.
I did love it, though.
Now that I work at the school,
I might as well just have "failure"
just stamped on my head. No!
I used to bound out of bed,
I used to make these daft
little videos to amuse the clients.
I know.
When you find a job
you really love
Well, you must feel that.
Are you joking?
A very romantic view
of general practice,
and 90% of my day is dealing
with old people with acid reflux.
SHE CHUCKLES
Kiss me.
SHE BREATHES HEAVILY
HE GRUNTS
When we had the counselling,
he said, obviously,
I can't be in a relationship
where the trust is gone.
Well, the trust went because he was
having sex with younger women.
Yes, I know, but
he promised me after last time,
he begged me
on that bathroom floor, in tears,
to give him another chance.
And what does your gut say?
LEAH EXHALES HEAVILY
Well, he's distracted.
He's definitely
drinking more than usual.
And then some days, suddenly,
out of nowhere,
becomes Mr Wonderful.
He's great with me,
he's great with the kids. But
I just I don't know.
It just It feels put-on.
Well, if you want my opinion,
I think you need to trust him
until you have
a definite reason not to.
But if you do want some reassurance,
you could always put Family Link on
his phone, just bury it in his apps.
No, I would feel like a stalker.
Just for a couple of weeks
so you can see his location.
Turn off any notifications
that let him know about it,
and then when it's all fine,
you just delete it. Look
I very rarely need check it,
but when I do,
everyone's almost always exactly
where I expect them to be.
See, look. School, school
Oh.
HANNAH SCOFFS
What the hell?
What?
Tom, he
He's not where I expect him to be.
What's he doing in Reddish?
He's probably with a younger woman!
HANNAH LAUGHS
MIRTHLESSLY
Yeah.
PLEASURED GROANS
SHE GASPS
ELECTRONIC BEEP
Bloody bank, took forever!
Hey! I'm just gonna get changed.
SIGHS
WATER TRICKLES
Oh!
HE EXCLAIMS
Hey.
Hey!
Where were you at lunchtime?
What?
I went for a run. Why?
What, in Reddish?
I can't cycle, can I?
So I started running again. Oh.
But why there?
I mean, it's miles away.
SHE CHUCKLES
Well, they have those nice tracks
there, don't they?
And there's no chance of bumping
into one of my, er, patients.
Thought I'd join a gym.
Hm.
Why are you checking on me?
I wasn't checking on you.
I was showing Leah the app.
Why does Leah wanna see the app?
No, I said she should get it,
that's all.
It's not a big deal, Tom, honestly.
Well, it's for safety,
not spying, Hannah?
No-one's spying on you! Oh, God!
Just forget it, OK?
I wasn't accusing you of anything.
No-one said you were.
Oh, and I booked that table
for tonight.
Cos it was?
Maths.
Maths, did some GCSE geography.
Right.
Come on.
Why is it, whenever you
It's not
Honestly, whenever you've got
No, you didn't.
Yes, I did.
You only revise, and that's
I literally did this last night.
Yeah, I thought you were revising
last night an' all, weren't you?
Well, if I
Say I said to you, right
Whenever I'm doing anything,
you're always revising,
because you don't want me to
You just
I see Frankie doing everything
all the time!
ARGUING CONTINUES
SHE BREATHES HEAVILY
Purple. You have zero.
Right, first
TOM CLEARS THROA
Hannah?
Sorry. Sorry, I'm just, erm
just checking.
And is she at home?
Yeah.
Safe? Yes.
Obsessing.
SHE CHUCKLES
Tom?
SHE CLEARS THROA
I know how I've been lately,
and I know
that hasn't been great for us.
I know what I've taken away,
you know, from us all
as a family, and I am
SHE SIGHS
I'm really, really sorry.
But I really I do feel like
I'm coming back to myself
a lot now, and
Do you still love me?
Of course I do.
RELIEVED SIGH
Do you still love me
like you used to?
Yes, of course.
SHE LAUGHS
Let's find a weekend, shall we?
You know, where we don't have
to think about the girls' football
and dance lessons,
and we can just go away somewhere.
I mean, it doesn't have be abroad.
We could just go to your mum's place
at the lake, you know. Mm.
Well, I mean,
that place needs so much work.
I don't mind. It doesn't matter.
It'd just be really nice for us
to find some time again.
You know, for me and you.
Yeah?
Yeah. OK.
SHE CHUCKLES
Should we get some more wine?
School night?
THEY CHUCKLE
Go wild.
THEY GRUN
That was nice.
Mm.
PLEASURED MOANS
NEIL EXHALES HEAVILY
DOOR OPENS
You can't be here.
Look, I've not come in for
any trouble. DON'T come any nearer.
Please, Mr Wells. I've got nothing
to say to you. Leave my shop.
Just wanna talk to you, that's all.
Leave my shop, or I'll call
the police. The police?!
Don't talk crazy.
Leave my shop.
Right, well, I wanna buy a bike.
Bullshit.
Yeah, I do. I wanna buy a bike.
Please, stop playing silly games.
This one here.
I wanna buy this bike
for my daughter. She's only 13.
Real daddy's girl she is an' all.
Loves her dad.
And I haven't had the heart to tell
her that I might be going to prison.
That I'll be gone from her life.
And my lad.
And he's at that age where
he'll act like it doesn't
it doesn't matter.
But it will.
And why?
Because I made a mistake.
I made a mistake.
And I'm sorry.
It's for a court to decide,
isn't it?
Look, I am begging you.
Man to man, yeah?
Please, don't ruin my life.
Please.
I still get headaches
from your attack.
Some days so bad
that I can't make it in here.
Be sure to tell your children that.
Now, I'll ask you one last time -
leave my shop.
Show some fucking humanity!
Humanity?!
What you doing?
ELECTRONIC BEEP
I warned you.
Stop pissing about.
I warned you.
What, you're gonna lock me in?
Open the shutters.
LOCK CLICKS
BANGING Just open the shutters.
Look, I'll leave, just open
the shutters. I'll go, please.
Open 'em! Open the door!
Just open the shutters!
I warned you! I told you to leave!
KNOCKING AT DOOR
I do feel a bit weird about this.
It's just a house, Tom.
She didn't die here.
You know, I know that, but
And if you knew Ally, you'd know
she'd do exactly the same.
Oh, I found this app.
Vivo. Anonymous messaging.
Download it, or we're bound
to slip up. OK, I'll do that.
Hm.
Why are you here?
I know you said at the farm
that your life
weren't perfect, but
you must know,
from the outside, it
it looks pretty close.
Everything sounds
like such a cliche.
It wasn't that
we've grown apart, it's
Yeah, I don't know how
to explain it. Just be honest.
When I first met her
I knew, and, er
everyone says
that doesn't happen, but I
I remember being on our first date,
and I
I looked at her, and I thought,
"I'm gonna marry this woman."
Mm. Prefrontal cortex.
HE CHUCKLES
Well, no. It
It wasn't that
rip-your-clothes-off
kind of passion.
We just worked, you know?
Then I think about three years ago,
she found out all this stuff
about her father.
And she completely unravelled.
Constantly thinking
something terrible is gonna happen.
Well, it made her ill.
And not just mentally,
but, you know
God. That makes me sound like such
a shit, doesn't it? Ill wife and
I tried, Beth.
I really tried.
It was just so fucking hard.
FRONT DOOR OPENS
Shit!
Who's that?
Oh, it's Dickhead Dave.
God, I'm gonna fucking kill him.
You stay up here.
MUFFLED VOICES
They're gonna know.
They are gonna know!
Worth missing PE for?
All right. Fine. OK.
It's Ollie and Jess!
Hello?
It's me, Mum, and Jess.
There Er, there's boxes
behind the door. Hang on.
What are you doing here?
In fact, don't even lie to me.
She's grounded,
so you thought "lunchtime pad"?
Please don't tell my mum. I'm sorry.
You are out of order.
This is my friend's house.
Give me the keys.
Sorry.
Don't tell my mum.
She'll go ballistic.
I won't.
But get out, both of you. Go on.
And don't do it again.
All right. I'm sorry.
DESCENDING FOOTSTEPS
Where is your car?
It's two streets down. Why?
Well, they won't go that way.
Oh, God! My heart is pounding!
Can you imagine
if we hadn't heard them?
Right
SHUTTERS CLANG
SIGHS HEAVILY
We've gotta get better at this.
Yeah.
Oh, hello!