200 years of progress

PROLOGUE - INT. RUSH HOUR TRAIN, LONDON – MORNING
ALFIE AND BERT, TICKET COLLECTORS, ADDRESS THE
CAMERA.

ALFIE:
Rail travel was one of the greatest
inventions of the Nineteenth Century. It
transformed British society from a
reactionary, class-ridden corner of the
Old World into the leader of the
industrial revolution, socially mobile and
ruler of half the globe. Rail travellers
were sophisticated, intellectually-elite,
and always got where they wanted to
go.

BERT:
Where did it all go wrong?

CAMERA PANS OUT AND WE SEE A PACKED COMMUTER TRAIN,
WITH ROWS OF NEWSPAPERS HELD ALOFT LIKE SHEILDS.
MOVES ALONG THE CARRIAGE ALIGHTING ON
THOMAS, 29, A WORLD-WEARY WELSH CONSERVATIVE,
WHO IS TRYING TO SIP COFFEE FROM A STYROFOAM CUP
WHILST STILL HOLDING UP HIS NEWSPAPER. IT SLOPS
OUT OF THE CAP AND HE NARROWLY AVOIDS GETTING IT
ON HIS TROUSERS, SHOWERING HIS BRIEFCASE INSTEAD.
HE MOPS IT WITH A SECTION FROM THE ‘PAPER.

CREDITS