Unit 1 exercise 1.8. Premise & theme

Version 1. Bob and his two sons, Lee and Mike, are excavating a house for some clients. They uncover a suitcase full of money. Mike immediately wants to hand the money to the clients, until his Dad says that the clients are not the sort of people who would want the police involved. The brothers are furious that the Dad knew these people are criminals and didn’t tell them. They decide to hide the money and see what happens, despite Mike’s objections. First they count the money to see how much there is. It is half a million pounds. When they check it again later, there is some missing. After panic that someone else knows about the money, it transpires that the Dad had spent some of it to pay off some debts. They agree not to touch the money again while they wait. But then more goes missing. this time it was Lee, who justifies his actions by saying that their Dad had taken some, so why shouldn’t he? A third time they check, only to find that the entire case has gone. This time it is Mike, who has moved the case so that the others won’t dip their hands into it again. He won’t reveal where the case is. Then the worst happens: the criminals realise that the money has gone and confront the Dad, who can’t give it back as there is some missing. They tell him he has 24 hours to return it or Mike, who they have kidnapped, will die. But only Mike knows where the money is and they have cut his tongue out as proof of their threat. How can Bob and Lee save Mike, when Mike is the only one who knows where the money is and can’t tell them?

Version 2. Bob is frustrated doing building work, as he is nowhere near realising his ambition of running his own plant hire company. When Bob and his sons find the money, they stash it, finish the building job and invest the cash in their ambition, which is to start an industrial machinery hire company, hiring out to the building trade. But this puts them into direct competition with their rival, Ted, who Bob knew in school, and by whom he was bullied. Lee is all for supporting their Dad and comes up with increasingly creative ways of getting at Ted – indeed, he drives the vendetta. But Mike is friends with Ted’s daughter, Felicity, and tries in vain to stop the feud. The vendetta escalates with each using their diggers and other machinery to sabotage the other, until they finally trash each other’s homes. They are all arrested and Bob takes the rap, saving his sons from prosecution. When he finishes a six month prison sentence, both of his sons meet him, along with Felicity. They realise that they would have been better off never having found the money. They have now had all of their assets seized and have to start again. They go to clear a house and find a diamond…

Version 3. When the money is uncovered, Mike wants to hand it to the local police sergeant, Dave. His brother and father initially disagree, but are eventually persuaded. Then the sergeant skips town – he hadn’t logged the theft and has planted evidence to framed Bob for a local robbery that he didn’t commit, as a subterfuge. Bob is arrested and the brothers go after the sergeant to retrieve the money and prove their Dad’s innocence. Eventually they catch up with Sergeant Dave and confront him. Dave reveals that although Bob was innocent of the crime Dave framed him for, he was involved in the money they found and had not been honest with his sons. The two brothers don’t believe him but the evidence stacks up as the truth. So they steal the money from Dave and use this as leverage to do a deal: if he can get their Dad off the phoney charge he can share the money with the m. Dave agrees reluctantly. He knows who the real thief was, but this was a dangerous criminal who was paying Dave off to keep quiet. He can’t go back home to help, having taken this cash, as it belonged to the very same criminal, Mr Black, and he would harm Dave if he got his hands on him. The brothers hatch a plot to frame Dave for the crime and Mr Black for the theft of the large stash that got them into this in the first place, now held by the brothers. They contact Mr Black to say that they have found his money and want him to help them frame Dave for the other crime, to which he agrees. Mr Black is finally caught and the car he was driving, containing the money, is burned. Bob is released and they move town, as they can’t stay there anymore – the town has rejected them. Bob is feeling down that they now have nothing, but the boys reveal that the case that Mr Black had in the car didn’t contain the money – they switched it and now have it themselves. They consider taking it to the police, but decide that’s too risky…once bitten, twice shy.