He's late.
Christ, you'd think the bloody Pope's coming round.
You put the champagne in the fridge?
No.
Just stick it in the freezer.
- He's here! - Oh, finally.
- Come on, he's here! - Okay.
- Thanks, mate. - All right, mate. No worries.
- Hiya, Mum. - Oh, Tommy, come here.
Oh!
- Hiya, mate. - Hiya, mate.
Hiya, Dad.
Three months in the Falklands,
counting sheep and looking for Argie boats that never bloody came.
Then Brunei, ten weeks with the Gurkhas,
marching through the jungle in 90% humidity.
It was like wearing your kit in a fuckin' sauna.
Oi, you're home now. None of that.
Then it was Germany for the live-fire exercises.
- And Cyprus for R and R. - That means gettin' pissed.
- No, it doesn't. - It means getting pissed, Mum.
- It's Richie. - Oh, nice one.
- He's just back. - He can see his pals.
Richie's all right.
Auntie Beryl's round tomorrow. He can't be full of drink.
- That's the only way to deal with Beryl. - Uh, watch it.
- I'm goin' for a pint. - You've not finished!
Mum. I 'ave now.
Hey, be careful, will you?
There's all these stories round the city. That poor kid that died.
I can strip a machine gun blindfolded, Mum.
This is Liverpool.
I think I can handle it.
Oh, go on.
Boy, everything you give
So I give somethin' to you
I'll take you down
Deep down, where the love lives
Baby
Everybody's free
- To feel good - To feel good
Everybody's free
- To feel good - To feel good
Everybody's free
Sorry, the room's spinnin'.
- You need to come down. - Have you got any weed?
I can do better than that.
Sure?
Yeah, go on, then.
- Hiya. - You all right?
- Hi. - Hi.
Have you got any more?
You got money?
Yeah.
Do it yourself.
Oi! You're not gonna get far without that.
Thanks, Mum. I'll try and get longer next time.
- Yeah, and write some bloody letters too. - I will.
- Love you, Mum. - I love you.
- Bye, mate. - Bye, mate.
Bye, Dad.
Bye, son.
Train station, yeah?
No.
So you're in the field, spending money hand over fist,
and so far, the main development
is Liverpool and the Turks realizing that they should work together.
That's good. If they work together, it means we can take them down together.
And how might you do that?
The Turks will source it, Liverpool will distribute.
What they're missing is an importer who can handle the increased load.
I need to make that my job.
Then I've got eyes on the whole Turkish operation,
and we can dismantle it and nick the lot of them.
And if we can work out the Liverpool distribution network,
then we can take 'em down at the same time.
Achieve all that, and we pull off the biggest result in Customs history.
And if not, we've played a not insignificant part
in creating the most powerful drugs cartel this country has ever seen.
Yeah, well, there is that.
I've heard quite enough of these future glories, Don.
Next time you call me, call me with progress.
Absolutely, sir.
He'll pull it, by the way.
If he thinks it's coming apart, he'll pull it himself.
So let's find him some progress.
Who should we be looking out for amongst the Turks?
- No one. You worry about Liverpool. - You don't tell me what to do, mate.
Look, Guy's right.
The targets have come together, but we keep the operations apart.
That way, if one of the operations gets busted, the other one survives.
Shouldn't we pool our intelligence?
When undercover, the only thing worse than knowing too little is knowing too much.
If you react to a face or a name that your legend shouldn't know, it's game over.
You lot tell me what I need to know,
and I'll tell the other operation what they need to know.
So, we're done.
What's wrong with him? I mean, he was never exactly chatty, but…
He's in legend.
And the kind of legend he's building is the kind you're never really out of.
How do you get it in?
How do you distribute it?
Hmm.
All you need to know is we bring it in pure.
All we need to know is you can help build the network.
We control half of Britain.
If this stuff's as good as you say it is, then we'll control the other half too.
Okay, okay.
We do a test run.
Then we'll see you at the dogs.
Battery, transmitter.
Uh, fixings.
Okay.
No idea what that is.
- Good luck. - Aren't you gonna show me how to make it?
Show you? It's not Blue Peter.
Figure it out for yourself.
- Show you! - Go on then, what you got?
Eddie McKee, long record, firearms and violence.
- Though nothing for a while. - Mmm.
Then there's… Declan Carter.
The good-looking one.
That's inappropriate. Anything?
No, nothing. No record of any nature, which I found unlikely,
so I went through Liverpool court records,
and there they were.
Historical charges.
Loan sharking, money with menaces, that kind of thing.
So the charges were dropped?
Before the case came to court, every time, which is… It's interesting.
- You got an address? - Mmm, no. I'll get one.
It's proving harder than it should be, but…
Well, that's interesting too.
Yeah. It is.
Birmingham.
You what?
We have a package for you in Istanbul.
You must show that you can ship it to Felixstowe,
get it past customs and take it to a handover in Birmingham.
- Why not a handover in Liverpool? - Because we don't trust them.
And they don't trust us yet. So we meet halfway.
Where's the handover?
A dog track in Birmingham.
It's too public.
Of course public. Nobody dies in public.
- It's only a test run. - Oh, okay.
I'll tell the judge it was only a test run.
This is what is happening, and now you know what is happening,
so if you're not going to do it, then I have a problem.
Do you want me to have a problem?
I'll do it, but next time, I'll be in the meetin' you had before this meetin', okay?
Don't worry about other meetings. If this does not work,
there will not be other meetings.
- We gotta let it through. - Let what through?
- Whatever comes in at Felixstowe. - Are you taking the piss?
It's a test, a small load.
And if it works, he'll do a big load, and when I say a big load,
I reckon we're lookin' at the biggest heroin importation
this country's ever seen.
That's what we're working towards, and we need to make sure we get there.
So we let this one through and we pick it up somewhere down the line.
That's called importing drugs. It's sort of the opposite of what we do.
You can get it on a boat into Felixstowe
by promising that it stays under Customs control,
but it couldn't go near the public.
They're watching me like a hawk.
We can't knock over this job
without me looking like Customs, Old Bill, or useless.
- Which of those options end well for me? - This is your job, son.
To get into situations like this and find ways out of them.
So let me know when you've got a plan.
So, how'd you end up in Customs, then?
I was a clever kid.
Bit full of meself too, if you can believe that.
Yeah, I can believe that.
I wanted to go to university,
but when I went up there for the interview, I couldn't go in.
I knew I didn't belong in that world, and I couldn't get past it.
But it was all right. Me dad said, "Don't worry."
"You don't have to go there to do somethin' special with your life."
He said if I joined Customs, I'd see the world.
I reckon he was probably thinkin' of the Navy,
seeing as I ended up chasing perverts around Essex.
Now here I am.
Back in a world I don't belong in. But this time, I ain't going home.
Well, I'm glad one of us doesn't feel out of their depth.
Course I do.
This is bloody dangerous, and we're just civil servants, Bailey.
But I reckon that knowing that and knowing how hard we have to work at it
might just give us half a chance of getting through it.
Let's hope you're right.
That sounded good. Did that sound good?
That's everyone out that went in. All the couriers and all of Carter's men.
You sure?
No. You sure that's gonna work?
Nah.
Well, then, I suppose we better find out just how out of our depth we really are.
We're here.
Take that.
Come on.
Done.
I think.
Let's go.
Fuck. It's a different code to get out.
Shit.
- If he knew, he would've told us. - I know, but he's all we've got right now.
It's Generation Game.
Nice to see you, to see you….
Nice!
It's not a great time.
It's a different code to get out.
Uh…
Oh, he told me to leave the door open.
It's a bit bloody late to tell us that now.
Okay, I'm on me way.
He's comin'.
It's… it's work.
No, it's not, Shaun. That's the whole bloody problem.
- What did he sound like? - Who?
- The bloke on the phone. - I don't know. Middle Eastern?
- Turkish? - Maybe.
- I could quit, if you want. - Don't be stupid.
We should move house.
- We are not going anywhere. - I'll not have the two of you in danger.
We've been in danger since you started, and we'll be in danger till you finish,
and that is not the kind of danger
that you get rid of by moving round the bloody corner, Guy.
Anyway, you're not here to talk about that.
- Then why am I here? - I don't know.
This wasn't my idea.
This is unusual. Um…
Don't get me wrong, there's not much in this job
you can get away with describing as normal,
but this… this is unusual.
There isn't usually a wife, you see.
Uh, or husband.
And that stuff can be quite hard to manage.
Um, people who do this stuff tend to be unencumbered.
If they're not and I see it in their file, I get shot of them, so…
you have to be very good to get this far with that in the file.
And he is good, he's very good. I mean, he's a pain in the arse, but, uh…
He's good. This is dynamite, by the way. What's that spice I'm tasting?
Is that… is that nutmeg?
You know, don't you, about the phone call?
My point is, it's unusual to start with, and then there's you.
I mean, you're in the firm, that happens.
They're romantic places, customs lanes.
Um, but then I looked you up, and that did surprise me.
So I thought we'd better meet up, given that you're OSA compliant.
That was a long time ago.
Doesn't matter if you were a babe in arms, love.
When you've signed the Official Secrets Act, that's you for life.
I did six months in Investigations. Nothing… exciting.
And then we had our daughter, so now I check suitcases.
- Mmm. - But I… I don't want him doing that too.
He won't.
He'll have offered to quit, no doubt, about the call,
but I'm sure you saw that for the bollocks it was.
It was a redial from a public phone,
so they don't have your number, let alone your address.
And, so you know, I've had someone keep an eye on this place,
and, uh, it's all clear.
But I'll tell you something. There'll come a day when he needs you,
and I can see now that you'll deliver when that day comes.
Is it cumin? Is that what I'm tasting? Cumin?
I'll do whatever's needed. He's not quitting, and the pie's from Tesco.
So why don't you two stop pissing about,
finish your dinner, and get back to work, yeah?
She's top drawer.
Absolute top drawer.
It's not havin' it. You've locked the system.
We could call Don.
Is that how you want this job to end for you? Locking yourself in a building?
It'll end a lot worse if they find us here.
- Shaun? - Yeah?
You need to make a call.
So where are you from? 'Cause it's not from round 'ere.
- Don't tell me you've not looked that up. - I know where you were born.
That doesn't tell me where you're from, or what you're from.
Sands End. Fulham.
- Old Fulham, the way it was. - What does that mean?
Shared toilets and violence.
So how'd you end up out here?
I had a couple of brothers that died.
They were just babies, I was their big brother, and they died, and
my mum…
Do you know why there's no tube station at Sands End?
No.
During the plague, they buried the bodies in Sands End.
There are pits of bodies under the houses.
My old man told me that when I was young.
I dunno what he was thinking, but he told me that.
We lived next to the cement factory,
and the dust…
Didn't matter if you closed every window,
it found a way in.
After my brothers died, I don't know if Mum blamed the dust, but…
she started…
scrubbing.
Every day, every night,
I'd watch her…
scrub our little flat.
I'd watch her pain.
And my old man
knew
he had to get her out.
Away from the dust, away from
my brothers, away from
the bodies under the house.
So we came out here.
And I was wild.
Feral.
But over time, the wildness got
pushed down.
And the pain got pushed down too.
There's always pain.
Doing what we do.
There's always pain behind it.
If I let this stuff back out,
I don't know if I can control it.
Yeah, but you'll do it anyway, 'cause you've got no choice.
Because you've finally found something where you feel like you fit.
Something you can do that no one else can.
But you need to realize that this is the rest of your life.
The work you're doing, the work I did, it never leaves you.
The… the way you look at the world, the…
the paranoia, the fear, never goes away.
What did you do… when you did this?
It doesn't matter what I did.
That can't be changed. I did what I did, and it cost me what it cost me.
What matters is you need to do what I couldn't.
You need to protect your legend, protect yourself, and protect your family,
and if any of that makes you want out, then tell me now, because
this is the only time I'll ask.
I feel like I've been waiting my whole life for this, Don.
I ain't stopping now.
Get some sleep, son. Early start tomorrow.
Not much chance of that.
No. No…
The nights are hard.
The days aren't easy, but, uh… the nights are hard.
I'll be shuttin' down half the bloody docks.
Just do it.
Well done, mate.
- Who the fuck are they? - Put it back on.
Oh, shit, shit!
- It's not working. It needs to reset. - They're gonna know somebody's been in.
- Let me think. - Bailey!
Wait.
Bailey!
- What are you doing? - Come on, come on.
Turn it off! And show me how to turn it back on.
Did you sleep?
Yeah.
I lied… to Don.
The six months in Investigations, it was exciting
and difficult to do it properly, like you are.
I just… I imagine it's a whole other world.
You're not just doing it for you.
I know.
He smokes, then, does he?
He does.
But I'm not him.
Glad to hear it.
What's goin' on?
Power outage.
Should be good now.
Check your wiring, though, mate.
With these old buildings, the rats chew through the cables.
Didn't know he had it in him.
S'pose I best go to work then, eh?
You all right, mate?
Well, I'm knackered.
Me missus isn't happy.
I'm scared
pretty much all the time.
And doing this is actually costing me money,
what with the petrol.
Mmm.
And?
And I'm lovin' every minute of it, and I don't want it to end.
Then don't get caught.
Yeah.
- What time do you call this? - Sorry, Eddie.
It was the fuckin' traffic, mate.
This place is a mess. Get it sorted.
You're late.
- Then you wait. - This is a lot for a test.
There are more. We must find them.
It's not what we agreed.
These are Turkish apricots.
The greatest in the world.
They grow in Malatya.
My homeland.
Hakan's homeland.
A world you do not know.
A world where you do not belong.
Zeki!
Look.
Customs.
What is this?
Spot checks. But they won't be comin' here.
They'd better not.
- Where's your SIO? - Pardon?
Oh, Christ.
Excuse me!
- Pull 'em. - Who are you?
We're running an undercover operation. You need to pull your spot checks.
- I wasn't notified about that. - That's why it's called undercover.
I'm an SIO. You can't come here and tell me what to do.
No, but I know a man who can.
- Yes? - I'm at Felixstowe Customs.
You need to tell them to pull the checks, or Guy's dead.
- Put them on. - Who's this?
This is Angus Blake. Pull your team now,
or I'll have you checking suitcases at Orkney Airport tomorrow.
Dukesy, return to base, mate.
- I've found it all, Zeki. - They're going.
- Lucky for you. - It's got fuck all to do with luck.
I told you, I've got this place sewn up. Give it ten minutes before you leave.
I'll see you back at Green Lanes after the drop.
- Taner will go with you. - No, he won't.
It is Hakan's order.
Fine.
Hello?
Where are you?
Hiya, Dad.
Whatever you've done, there's a way out of it.
Sorry, Dad.
You're comin' home. Now.
- I can't. - It's not a fuckin' debate.
If Mum sees me like this, she'll never recover.
I've not used for two days, and I won't be usin' again.
I've spoke to them. Rehab.
They said they'll take me when I'm three days clean.
So pick me up tomorrow, Dad. Take me in.
When Mum sees me, I'll be brand new.
- I can speak to the Army about the AWOL. - Fuck the Army!
Just… just come and get me tomorrow, Dad.
Please.
I'll be here at the crack of dawn.
- And don't be looking like this. - Then I need to eat, Dad.
Thanks.
I love you, kid.
Hey.
I fuckin' love you.
Love you, Dad.
- Middle names. - Sorry?
You think they're irrelevant, middle names.
But they actually have a legal purpose,
which most people wouldn't know about--
What have you got?
Carter is the director of a number of companies
but uses his middle name and registers them in the Isle of Man.
Turns out I can get into the Isle of Man system
by using the Customs and Excise Act of--
You have to be a lot quicker than this.
One of Carter's companies owns property in Liverpool,
which are mostly shops and pubs, but there is something else.
- You got an address for Carter? - I've got an address.
Whether or not he lives there is another matter.
Go on.
5C Dawson Park Apartments, Lord Street, Liverpool.
Thanks, Erin.
Good luck.
His mate's just seen me fixing the electricity.
Can't exactly be hanging around the flat the same day.
Fine. You keep an eye on this place.
- Covert entry is a two-person job. - Then I won't go in.
…off to the side here is Speedy Gillespie in trap number three.
A dual-purpose performer…
A fiver. Yeah, yeah…
Gotta spread your bets, in't ya?
Get us a cup of tea with that?
Yeah, a cup of tea, one sugar.
Hang on. Yeah, yeah, it is.
Thought you said you won on him last week.
No, lost two ton on him.
Our John made 50 on him last week, as well as those at five to one.
Yeah. Laddie's here. Let's take it easy.
Shit.
Armed police! Stay where you are! Move, move!
- Pursue the suspects! - Armed police! Get down!
- Out the way! - Get down!
Suspect's there. Moving outside!
Let's go.
- Where did they go? - This way!
…gaining on Lucky Strike for the second time…
Dump it.
…now in the lead, and coming right behind…
Stop!
Your lad's out, and we gave him the show he wanted.
Thanks, pal. I owe you one.
We got the gear too. I tell you what, Don.
He's a bloody nutter, that one.
Yeah.
Yeah, he is.
Looks like Ian Rush is off.
Yeah, gutted.
Do you remember his goals against Benfica?
- Yeah, I was there. - Get out of here! You were there?
Yeah.
Yeah, me old man ran a bus from the Royal Arch pub.
- In the Crocky? - Yeah.
I thought you were from Bootle.
Well, I am.
That's a long way for your auld fella to go for a pint.
Divorce.
That's a shame.
About Rush. He's a great player.
Yeah, great player.
I fuckin' told you that would 'appen. That was amateur night, start to finish.
Watch your mouth.
First off, he's a liability. Keep him away from me.
- Who do you think you're talkin' to? - See what I mean?
You let him speak to me like this, Hakan?
Zeki, enough.
We need him more than we need you.
What happened?
The police were there.
He got us out.
- How did the police know? - Not from me.
I could have got 25 years for that shit show.
Does Liverpool know about Felixstowe?
No.
Well… that's somethin'.
But next time, we do it my way.
Or there won't be a next time.
You shouldn't have gone in.
We needed to know if he lives there. Now we do.
And I needed to understand him. Now I do.
- Yeah. - You have a rat in your house.
Tell me when you've caught it.
Carter, I've made a couple of calls, and there's a problem.
That new lad I've got on the van, he's not… not who he said he was.
He's, uh… He had papers, Carter, like proper parole papers.
Have you got a name?
Fuckin' donkey.
- Yeah? - Look up this name.
Call me back when you know who he is.
So, uh… so what… what do we do now?
We wait.
There was nothin' anyone could've done.
He was already dead when the paramedics got there.
There will be a post-mortem, but
there were signs of recent heroin usage.
Stupid bastard.
Stupid little bastard.
How could he have done it?
We can keep this out the newspapers. We know he served his country.
We will catch the scumbags that are selling it.
I can promise you that.
They've got a start on us, but the tide's turning.
We're working with the communities now.
Tell him we need him, Eddie. Tell him we need him now.
- Hello? - Get back here now.
I can't.
Get back here, or I'll send someone to fetch you.
It's Eddie McKee.
- Yeah. - 37, five foot eight, brown hair, Scouser?
That's him.
Yeah, he, uh… he lives in Manchester, but it's worse than that.
What?
He gave evidence in a VAT trial in Preston last year
on behalf of Her Majesty's Customs.
Listen, if… if it was serious, he wouldn't be VAT,
he wouldn't be Manchester, he'd be London.
And if London Customs were working Liverpool, I'd have heard about it.
Address?
45 Henkel Street, Eccles.
Carter, mate, listen, he's a Customs officer. You cannot--
- Piss off. - Yeah, okay.
I'll deal with you later.
That kid that Jed brought in,
he's Manchester Customs.
He can't have got anythin'.
Take the lads and see to it.
How?
Light him up.
Life.
I'd get life for that.
Then don't get caught.
Fuck!
…taking charge of this game now.
Hope that brown--
- They're coming. - What? Where?
- Here. - Come with us.
- We gotta go. - What?
- Just trust me. - Who are they?
- What is it? - It's okay, sweetheart.
We're just going on a little adventure.
Let's get you and your bunny in the car, all right?
- Mummy's coming too, darlin'. - Who are ya?
- What are you doin' in my house? - Come with us. We're from Customs.
Oh, it's you lot, then, is it, tellin' him he can be bloody James Bond?
Come with us. You're in danger.
- Jump in. - Okay.
Let's go, let's go.
Come on, come on, come on.
- Chuck 'em. - They'll hear it.
I said chuck 'em.
Shit. Let's go.
Come on, let's fuckin' move!
If we'd had 'em nicked, they'd know we're on 'em.
- Just fuckin' catch 'em. - We will.
What do we do now?
We need another way in.