A Note On Lies
The blanket ban on gay men and women working for the intelligence agencies was a statement that gay people couldn’t be trusted with the protection and security of their country. They could be tolerated by society, not imprisoned, although some lamented that concession, but under no circumstances were they allowed to offer their lives in service of society. The rationale, if that isn’t too lofty a term for bigotry, for this ban can be roughly summarized – gay people spend their life lying, and hiding, and concealing the truth, therefore they’re susceptible to blackmail. It was a savage irony that these kinds of laws made it necessary for many to hide their sexuality thus making them open to blackmail in the first place. It was akin to punishing a person and then refusing to employ anyone who has ever been punished.
Growing up with deceit as a necessary means of getting by – in some cases, an act of self-preservation, in others, as a means of protecting their relationships with their families – exacts a price on many people. We will love you as long as you lie about who you are. With Alan Turing in the back of my mind, it seemed to me that if someone was going to bring all lying to an end, it might be a gay person, a man or woman obsessed with the notion of truth because they’re grappling with the question every day. It should be remembered that even today the statement ‘I am gay’ is not accepted by many as a truth; they dismiss it as words from a mind not functioning correctly, a sickness that can be treated. With the mind ‘cured’, the person’s thoughts would revert to the only truth that they believe exists – ‘I am straight’.
While some have disliked the revelation at the centre of London Spy, to me, it was never about the real world of espionage, which is largely, today, about preventing terrorism. Terrorism, which is about hatred, has nothing to do with this story, which is about love. For a character who has spent his life lying, including to the only person he has ever loved, I wanted him to create some way of telling him that their love was, at least, true.
A Note On The Scripts
It would be wrong to call these scripts the ‘Shooting Scripts’. Instead I’ve opted for ‘The Complete Scripts’, which refers not only to the fact that all five episodes are included but also material that wasn’t filmed and the longer original ending.
Some of the variations between the script and screen version are small, some are more significant. Most strikingly, I’ve reinserted the original ending. I never had any desire to extend the story beyond these five episodes. This is a story about Danny growing up. He’s naive and innocent in the opening and, by the end, he’s found some measure of himself as a man. You can only grow up once.
A Note On Storytelling
One lengthy sequence present in the script but not in the show is located towards the end of episode two. I have a fondness for storytelling as a device. Episode two features two train stories: one is narrated by Scottie, about meeting a mysterious man on a train, and then Danny finds himself plunged into a strange variation of Scottie’s story, where he encounters a mysterious man on a train. Throughout these scripts people tell each other stories. Some I’ve invented, others are out there in the world, in circulation, parables, fables, fairy tales and jokes. In the spy world, telling stories is intriguing because you can tell the same story to different people and it will mean something entirely new; to some it will merely be light-hearted, to Danny, in this instance, it is a threat. Yet as he tries to unlock the nature of that threat, he’s grasping at smoke, because the speaker can shrug and say it was a story they heard some place else. I’ve noticed people do this with jokes, too; they’re framed as merely a joke, when they can often be intended to insult, or upset.
A Note On Fear
People have rightly pointed out that there’s nothing frightening about having an HIV test, it’s necessary, vital, in fact, the facilities in the UK are excellent, and I agree. I had three HIV tests during the writing of these scripts – the writing took place over three years. The health care professionals were always exceptionally kind and supportive. The scene in the episode called ‘Blue’ was never about a fear of being tested. In the script Danny discovers, while waiting for his test result, that his entire medical history has been altered, he’s being set up – his body is being set up, his very biology is being staged. He isn’t afraid of the test, he’s afraid of the power of his enemies, their ability to go to any length against him.
A Note On Writing Scripts
There’s considerable detail in some of these scenes. I’m told it’s unusual. Writers are given a number of arbitrary rules about writing screenplays. My sense is that the writer should put down whatever he or she believes to be relevant to the story. Tell it how you see fit. Be sparse, be detailed, be whatever you like. If people are gripped they’ll finish the screenplay, if not, they won’t, so the risk has always been the writer’s to weigh up.
A Note On Love
It has been claimed that writing a show with a gay love story could only be in service of an ‘agenda’ or a ‘quota’ or it’s a political statement, compared to writing a straight love story, which is about writing a love story. Needless to say, I found the terms of this debate depressing. There are so few gay love stories dramatized that maybe I should have weighed the desire for happiness more carefully. While I can’t imagine what a happy ending would have been, in narrative terms, I’m sad that I wasn’t able to give those viewers who have written to me the kind of happiness they sought from the show.
With all that said, it’s time to bid these characters a fond farewell. I’ve lived with them for many years and I’ll miss them very much.
Tom Rob Smith, March 2016