KING & COUNTRY

In the last 6 months of his life in 2009, PETER GRAY (87) tells his son TONY his life story. Tony writes it all down. . . FLASHBACK to 1939. Young Peter leaves his new bride MINNIE and their 2 children behind and goes off to war. The horrors he encounters darken his character. Minnie suffers the London blitz, and struggles to remain hopeful. Peter soon stops writing home; he feels if he tells Minnie how things are, she will be scared, and lying has never been his thing. Until now . . . Following the North Africa campaign, Peter is sent to Italy, where he falls in love with the beautiful Elli. He and his best mate GOAT run scams afforded them by their work in Army logistics, which makes a welcome break from the terrors of the front line. But by now Peter is a dog of war – addicted to it. In London, Minnie meets and falls for JOE – a US Airforce pilot. She is reluctant to sleep with him out of faith in Peter. In time, and believing that Peter must now be dead, she yields to Joe, however. Peter’s parents PHYLLIS and FRED write to Peter telling him she has been unfaithful. Peter returns to London, enraged. He confronts Minnie, causing her to miscarry Joe’s baby. Peter ends up in jail. Phyllis visits, and tells Peter that Fred isn’t his father. His real father was the WW1 veteran who raped her then shot himself in 1921. Peter returns to war in Italy feeling even more traumatised. Joe and Minnie resume their relationship in London. Peter makes Elli pregnant in Italy. Goat is burnt alive during a raid on a convoy they are driving. It sends Peter over the edge: he goes AWOL. He falls in with the local Mafia, which is headed by Don Cippani. Cippani challenges Peter to prove himself by leading a raid on an Allied payroll convoy. During the attack, Mafiosi decide to execute British soldiers. Peter kills them to save the soldiers. Cippani kills Elli in revenge – cutting Peter’s unborn child out of her. Suicidal, Peter takes revenge by slaughtering Cippani and all the men that stand in his way. Peter returns to the UK. He is incarcerated for going AWOL. Now the war is over, Minnie plans to go back to America with Joe with her children. But Joe is burnt to death in a refuelling accident. A year later, Peter is freed from jail. He turns up on Minnie’s doorstep. Minnie doesn’t quite shut the door in his face. Not quite. . . © All Rights Reserved