Episode #1.5

Our poll of polls shows Labour and the Tories

neck and neck overall, but Labour starting to edge ahead

in the crucial "red wall" seats captured by Boris Johnson...

Better drop me here.

We could be facing a hung parliament,

but with Labour possibly regaining many of the northern seats

it lost after the Brexit vote,

and which some had predicted were gone forever.

So, when am I gonna meet them?

Soon.

Soon? When, when soon?

..dirty tricks Russia might be planning for the election...

See you tomorrow.

The Mail has three pages on a claim Russia helped incite

the Capitol insurrection in Washington.

The Guardian leads with a leaked report from the Home Office.

Ooh, is that nice?

Oh, he's so good.

My little kalijar tukra.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

Let Saara have a go.

She hasn't even held him yet. No, really.

I'd rather watch.

Saara hasn't got a maternal bone in her body.

Unlike her big sister.

Knock-knock. Are men allowed in here?

Er, excuse me.

What do you think my son is - a eunuch?

Hey, big bro. What are you doing here?

Come to see my new nephew, haven't I? Ah, right.

It's got nothing to do with the election tomorrow, then?

No. And that you've come home to vote?

BABY CRIES Oh, I know.

What have they done with all his stuff?

I don't know.

It's in the loft, probably.

I don't know the rules.

I'll show you.

Didn't Dad ever teach you?

This was your game.

He made it really obvious you were his favourite.

What? No, he didn't.

We all felt a bit rejected.

By both of you, actually.

I don't even know what to say to that.

He needed help.

I was the only one who bothered with him.

Anyway, what's all this?

SHE LAUGHS AWKWARDLY

I'm training to be an imam.

SHE SCOFFS

Tell me that's a joke.

It's not.

But that's insane.

You were always the one dragging me away from the deen.

I think it's what Dad would have wanted.

I'm sorry, Saj, but it's... It's so not.

Mum's the religious one, not Dad.

You know he said it was all bullshit.

Yeah, but deep down...

Deep down?

Really?

I think so, yeah.

Well, er...

..if we're doing confessions,

there is something I probably ought to tell you.

Dad knew, so maybe... Oh, I don't know.

Who is he? Some white boy you met in London?

No, not that.

OK, here goes. Don't be cross.

My God! What have you done?

What?

I'm not at uni this year.

I'm doing work experience.

At GCHQ.

GCHQ? The spy agency?

Yeah? And Dad knew?

That's right.

And he told me not to tell any of you. Now I see why.

I knew something was going on. Nothing's "going on".

Why? Why would you do such a thing?

I don't understand. Why is it such a big deal?

It's a big deal beca... I believe you're even asking.

Because it's working for the enemy.

They're spies, Saar.

Who do think they spy on?

Muslims. People like us.

I'm not doing any of that surveillance stuff.

I'm working in cyber security. You know,

keeping us all safe? What's wrong with that? Right.

So because you're not doing that "surveillance stuff", it's OK

to work for people who are criminalising your community?

I can't believe this.

And I'm always bending over backwards to defend you.

It's good experience. God!

GCHQ employs more coders than anywhere else.

It's the cutting edge. Why shouldn't I work there?

It's only for a year, then I'm back at uni.

What? Say what you're thinking.

I'm thinking it's fine if you're going to bullshit yourself

but please don't bullshit me.

You love all that James Bond crap.

And you don't give a shit about the consequences for anyone else...

..as usual.

What's going on with you and Sajid?

Nothing.

CHATTER

Were you sent a postal vote? No. I don't understand.

You're not on the register. I can't allow you to vote.

But my daughter's just voted.

What do you mean I can't vote?

I've been coming here for over 30 years.

There must be a mistake.

I'm sorry. What is it?

She says I'm not on the register.

Are you sure you didn't have a postal vote?

Of course not. I've always come here.

Is there someone else who can help us?

Look, see for yourself. If your name's not on

the register, you can't vote. That's it.

We're not supposed to be telling you this.

The Representation of the Peoples Act

says we can't report anything political

before the polls close tonight.

But we think this is so important -

that people are being deprived of the right to vote -

that we've decided to break that rule.

Pull up here.

Excuse me, what's going on here?

They won't let us vote.

Why not?

They say we're not on the register but look.

This came last week but they still won't let me vote.

So they sent you the card for the election

but you're not allowed to vote?

That's right.

According to social media,

this is happening all over the country right now,

but mostly in areas with high numbers of ethnic-minority voters,

which may mean high numbers of Labour voters.

It looks like someone's trying to rig this election

in favour of the Tories.

This is it.

This is what happened to my mum.

Kathy?

So, er...have you decided?

About going back?

I'm not.

At least not till the end of my tour.

Don't NSA want you back?

Yeah.

But it's MY decision.

What's your decision?

Oh, nothing - just work stuff.

Tea, anyone? I'll get it.

Thanks, Sally.

Hey, sorry.

So, ethnic minorities have been removed from the electoral roll

in a number of constituencies.

Yes, so I've heard.

Could it be another hack?

COULD it be? Yes, technically,

but it would be incredibly difficult. I mean,

the electoral roll isn't a central database.

It's 600 spreadsheets over 600 constituencies,

all over the country.

How are you protecting them?

We're not, directly.

We thought it was too fragmented to be a target.

We just gave the local authorities some basic cybersecurity advice

and focused on the national picture, protecting the results.

So it's a possibility.

Yes, but to individually hack enough of the 600-plus spreadsheets

to be significant in the tiny window between the polling cards going out

and the electoral roll being printed, it just would be

an almost impossible task.

So we're talking what...

A hostile state?

That level of resources, yes.

But, I still think it would be an incredibly improbable target.

Look, right now,

any time anything goes wrong everyone's seeing cyberattack,

but it's much more likely that it's some kind of bureaucratic cockup

than it is a conspiracy.

OK.

Well, whatever it is, it'll have to play out,

at least until the polls close.

After that, we're going to need a full inquiry

into what happened...and how.

BIG BEN CHIMES

Ten o'clock...and the polls close,

and the BBC is predicting...

And bear in mind, this is just an exit poll

and I'll explain how it's calculated in a minute,

but the BBC is predicting a Labour victory...

Yes! Yes! YES! ..with a majority of eight seats.

And that means that the Conservatives... Oh, at last!

Oh, my God! ..either in coalition or alone,

since Gordon Brown lost in 2010...

I can't believe it!