The Great Fire

Go and get a sharper one.

David?

~ David! ~ I've finished!

You're supposed to clear up with the girls.

They didn't ask.

You are going to earn yourself such a thrashing!

Give him a chance. He's a 10-year-old boy.

That's no excuse.

I'd better go.

~ You won't stay for dinner? ~ No, the Duke is back tomorrow,

so I've got to finish getting the house ready.

I'll walk you home.

It's only just down the hill.

I need some air.

What's she done?

Come here.

That's better. It'll get better.

I'm just seeing Auntie Sarah home and then I'm off to the Navy Yards.

Whoa.

I have to go to Islington on Sunday to pick up some more firewood if you fancy a day out.

Thomas Farriner, you certainly know how to show a girl a good time!

Oi! Come here!

Leave it, Tom.

Someone's got to fight his corner.

That's not going to help him.

They've been teasing him, saying his father's been killed in the war.

He'll be back.

My brother is as strong as an ox. You know that.

~ If anyone survived, it's Will. ~ Mm.

See you, Tom.

It's all there, I promise you.

All right, Farriner.

Mr Sheridan?

Yes.

~ It was all in order? ~ Yes, as I've said.

I require payment, sir.

For this and for other orders.

It's overdue.

So is the Second Coming of Christ, Mr Farriner.

There's nothing we can do about that.

~ It is long overdue. ~ Feel free to take it up with the King.

I don't work for the King, I supply his navy, which is to say you.

~ If I cannot buy the flour to... ~ That is your problem, Mr Farriner.

Good day.

Don't walk away from me, sir.

~ Excuse me? ~ We're not finished.

Aren't we? What exactly is there left to say?

I need that payment.

You will regret this.

Your Majesty.

I don't like it when you address me that way. It puts distance between us.

That might prove useful.

It's killing me, Frances.

I don't think it is killing you, sir.

You're not a man.

Yes. Thank heavens for that.

You have a voice, Hyde. Tell the King yourself.

This war with the Dutch is bankrupting us.

We can't keep spending like this.

~ It will imperil our chance... ~ Then tell him that.

That is your job.

You are his councillors, I am merely his brother.

Perhaps the King should know how depleted the royal finances are.

No-one ever advanced their prospects by bringing bad news to the King.

I thought my sister sent you here to entertain me.

She sent me here to support the Queen, which is perhaps not quite the same thing.

Do offer the Queen my warmest wishes.

You look like a rain cloud.

Sometimes appearances do not deceive.

Why don't you come up to my chamber tonight?

It might cheer you up.

I doubt it.

Your specials aren't what they used to be.

For one half of the human population, being pregnant isn't a choice, you know.

Well, the Queen seems to manage it.

Make a sound or move a muscle and I'll put this blade right between your shoulders.

How did you get in here?

Let me guess.

You're a Catholic

and you are here to return our great Kingdom to the path of the true religion?

I am proud of my faith.

I am sure you are.

Where did you get this?

I am justice!

And I am Lord Denton, His Majesty's intelligence officer.

He claims to have been acting alone.

Don't they always?

He was a fanatic.

A lunatic, nothing more.

And the city's full of them.

I assumed I'd at least be safe in my own palace.

It's been taken care of.

Now, Denton says he used to work for the Duke of Hanford.

Hanford employs just about every Catholic down on his luck.

But he is not a rebel, let alone an assassin.

What makes you so sure?

Instinct.

~ Mr Wickes. ~ Oh, Edward by now, surely.

I wasn't expecting you.

Forgive the intrusion.

I brought this for David.

For you to borrow, Mr Wickes means, and to look after carefully.

For as long as you like.

What do you say?

Thank you.

A young boy hungry for knowledge.

Perhaps provision could be made for him to go to school.

And as a boy can't eat books, I thought you'd appreciate some mutton.

Mr Wickes, that is very kind, sir. Thank you.

But I cannot accept that.

There's no shame in accepting a little help. What harm can it do?

Besides, he looks as if he could do with feeding up.

Thank you.

So your employer is about to return?

Yes. Lord Hanford returns tomorrow.

Mm.

Well, enjoy your dinner.

I bid you good night, mistress.

Thomas!

Who's that?

He's just someone from church.

Will the miller give you flour against next week's order?

I doubt it.

Think the navy will be buying bread from me next week? I knocked the man's bloody wig off.

Hannah'll be furious with me.

We're down to the bone anyway. Without the navy contract...

It's fine, Tom.

We'll work it out.

I don't know how your gentleman friend expects you to cook this without an oven.

Perhaps he knows I have a brother-in-law who's a baker.

Well, watch him.

I'll bring it back in the morning.

Whoa! Whoa!

Thank you, Carter.

Good morning, Sarah.

My lord Hanford. How was your journey?

Long and tiresome, but for the company.

Hanford calls him Romero.

He's a Spaniard, and from the way he carries himself, I'd say he's a soldier.

~ Who did they meet? ~ No-one.

They travelled alone, dined alone,

very careful not to be overheard discussing anything of substance.

We stayed half a day behind them all the way.

They don't suspect a thing.

We've caught an assassin.

He left Hanford's employ three years ago.

Maybe he brought the Spaniard to make sure he finishes the job.

They always say Catholic wenches make the best whores.

I'll see what the footman has to say.

What time is it?

I'm not sure.

Half past seven?

God's blood, woman, didn't I tell you to wake me at seven?

I'm going to be late!

It's a game of Pall Mall, Samuel. I'm sure it can wait.

The King waits for no man, as well you know.

Are these sufficient for sport, do you think?

The brocade is smarter, but rather stiff.

Please tell me you do not wish to carry on this argument.

My terms have started.

Oh, Lizzie.

Seven weeks.

I really thought I was with child.

You are young and healthy.

There is no reason for your failure to continue.

Eight o'clock!

You have made me late!

Do you have to go?

Tell Ruth to prepare you a poultice.

It would be courteous to let me win, Pepys. Particularly in this heat.

I was told you like competition.

Whoever told you that is a brazen liar.

My God, it's hot.

Here we are again.

Is she not the most lovely thing you've ever seen?

I have always admired my Lady Castlemaine.

~ She has the benefit of a ready wit... ~ Not Castlemaine. I mean Frances.

Yes, she's... comely, my lord.

Comely?

Really, Pepys, is that the best you can do?

I hear you once said the poor folk who used to toast my health on their knees outside the gates

~ were "a little too much"? ~ Yes.

Why?

You don't need sycophancy.

I wouldn't be so sure.

The alternative to sycophancy is contempt,

which, if you are a king, can lead to very unhappy consequences.

Forgive me, but the alternative to sycophancy is respect.

Which is a sounder basis for government.

But the people do respect me.

Do they not?

That is what my courtiers always tell me.

I think that would be true if the people saw a little more of you.

Explain.

An increasingly common view is you are consumed by the pursuit of pleasure

and surrounded by sycophants

who will not dare tell you you are bankrupting the country.

If the people wanted austerity, they would have stuck with Cromwell's bastard sons.

We are here to provide something to aspire to,

a canvas onto which they can project their dreams.