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Written by
Salmon Draft for Publication 2; PDF metadata dated 2014-11-19
BLACK.
ALAN TURING (V.O.)
Are you paying attention?
A HALF-DOZEN POLICE OFFICERS swarm the Manchester home of mathematics professor Alan Turing.
ALAN TURING (V.O.)
Good. This is going to go very
quickly now. If you are not
listening carefully, you will miss
things. Important things. You’re
writing some of this down? That’s
good.
INSIDE ALAN’S HOUSE: There's been a break-in, and the house is a mess - someone has given it a pretty thorough once-over.
ALAN TURING (V.O.)
I will not pause, I will not repeat
myself, and you will not interrupt
me. If you ask me a question, I
will ignore it. You think that
because you’re sitting where you
are, and I am sitting where I am,
that you are in control of what is
about to happen. You’re mistaken. I
am in control, because I know
things that you do not know.
PAPERS inked black with mathematical symbols litter the floor. The test tubes and beakers of Turing's chemical work are shattered in the study, CYANIDE and POTASSIUM NITRATE DRIPPING ACROSS THE UGLY CARPET.
ALAN TURING (V.O.)
What I will need from you now is a
commitment. You will listen
closely, and you will not judge me.
And, in the corner: A MACHINE. It’s the size of a dresser, tall, sprouting VACUUM TUBES and WIRES. It looks anachronistic here, too futuristic for its time.
The CONSTABLES LOOK AT THE MACHINE, CONFUSED: What is that thing?
ALAN TURING (V.O.)
When I am finished — when I have
told you that I am finished — you
are free to think whatever you
like. But until then, you will
trust that while this story will be
hard for you to understand,
everything I am saying I am saying
for a reason.
A CONSTABLE PHONES IN the robbery to police headquarters —
— At headquarters, a RADIO GIRL RECEIVES the information and passes it to an assistant for delivery to the detectives on duty —
— While in London, a RADIO OPERATOR in a dark room far below Victoria Street INTERCEPTS THE MESSAGE —
ALAN TURING (V.O.)
If you cannot commit to this, then
please leave the room. That’s
right, you’re the one who’s free to
go. But if you choose to stay, if
you choose to listen, remember
this: If things happen that you do
not like, you chose to be here.
— The MESSAGE is HANDED OFF and WHISKED through the dim hallways —
— Until it’s finally deposited on the desk of STEWART MENZIES, the Director of MI-6. British Secret Intelligence Services.
ALAN TURING (V.O.)
What happens from this moment
forward is not my responsibility:
It’s yours.
Menzies picks up the message: “Alan Turing has been robbed.”
ALAN TURING (V.O.)
This will go quite fast now.
(laughs)
And that is the last time I will
repeat myself. Pay attention.
DETECTIVE ROBERT NOCK, 40s, athletic, more interested in football than being a detective, hustles past a few double- parked police cars and up the steps and into:
Detective Nock enters to find the same messy crime scene we just saw. He’s addressed by SERGEANT STAEHL.
SGT. STAEHL
Bit late, don’t you think?
DETECTIVE NOCK
The baby. Up all night, hollering
and crying. June says it’s collick.
(re: the mess)
What’s all this, then?
SGT. STAEHL
Turing, Alan. Professor at King’s.
Seems there’s been a robbery.
DETECTIVE NOCK
What of?
SGT. STAEHL
That’s just it. Nothing’s missing,
really.
DETECTIVE NOCK
No, what’s he a professor of?
SGT. STAEHL
(consulting notes)
Maths. Or, as he put it, “ordinal
logic, with a dose of number
theory.”
ON NOCK: What on earth does that mean?
Staehl shrugs.
DETECTIVE NOCK
What’s he doing in Manchester?
Sergeant Staehl shows Nock the MACHINE in the corner.
ON NOCK: What the hell is that?
SGT. STAEHL
Something with machines. Project at
the NPL, I checked, but he won’t
say what it’s on.
DETECTIVE NOCK
He’s a bit squirrely then, our
Professor Turing?
SGT. STAEHL
That’s putting it mildly.
Sergeant Staehl motions to the next room, and he follows Nock in...
... Where they find ALAN TURING, 38. He’s the smartest man in the room, and he knows it. But he doesn’t really care if you do.
Turing is VERY CAREFULLY sweeping up a pile of WHITE POWDER.
He’s doing it with a PAINTBRUSH, his mouth covered in a scarf.
He’s totally oblivious to the detectives as they enter.
DETECTIVE NOCK
Professor Turing?
(beat)
Professor Turing? My name is
Detective Nock. Manchester Police.
Sergeant Staehl here tells me
you’ve had a robbery last night.
(still nothing)
Professor Turing?
Detective Nock steps closer, peering over Turing’s shoulder at the white powder.
DETECTIVE NOCK (CONT’D)
Professor —
ALAN TURING
— I would step back, if I were you.
DETECTIVE NOCK
Pardon me?
ALAN TURING
Step back, and don’t breathe so
much.
DETECTIVE NOCK
Breathe?
ALAN TURING
You’re breathing heavily and you’re
going to inhale this junk and
you’re going to leave your collicky
son without a father.
Detective Nock stops, and steps back. What in the world?
ALAN TURING (CONT’D)
Sound carries in this house.
DETECTIVE NOCK
What is all that?
ALAN TURING
Cyanide. Undiluted. Wouldn’t take
more than a thimbleful to kill you.
Turing finishes sweeping the cyanide into a jar, before safely CAPPING IT.
Turing stands, removes his scarf, and for the first time takes a look at Detective Nock. Sizes him up.
ALAN TURING (CONT’D)
Oh. Disappointing.
Detective Knock and Sergeant Staehl exchange a look.
DETECTIVE NOCK
Pardon?
ALAN TURING
I’d hoped for a bit more.
DETECTIVE NOCK
Sergeant Staehl, is it just me, or
do you get the sense that we’re
being insulted?
ALAN TURING
(to Nock)
You lied to your friend here about
your son, which is just unseemly.
Collick didn’t keep you up all
night. Drink did. You’ve bags under
your eyes the size of strawberries.
Your topcoat reeks of whiskey.
You’re short of breath after
walking 30 paces. And I believe
Manchester United had a match
yesterday, yes? I could hear the
shouting from Simpson’s on my way
home.
DETECTIVE NOCK
(caught)
... We won by four. Would’ve been
unseemly not to celebrate.
Sergeant Staehl SIGHS, embarrassed.
SGT. STAEHL
You had a break in last night. Your
neighbor, a Mr. Springborn, called
to report the noise. Only you say
there’s nothing missing. Odd. So
how about it — You tell us what
happened, and we find the chap who
did this.
ALAN TURING
Gentlemen, I don’t think you could
figure out who broke into my house
if he walked up and spat in your
face. What I could really use at
the moment is not a bobby but a
good cleaning lady. So unless one
of you has an apron in your car,
I’d suggest that you file your
reports and leave me alone.
Staehl is about to say something — and probably something aggressive, by the look of his face — but Nock stops him.
DETECTIVE NOCK
... As you say, Professor Turing.
Best of luck with your cyanide.
Detective Nock and Sergeant Staehl walk away from Turing’s house.
SGT. STAEHL
I’ll give you a bob if you can name
me a more insufferable sod.
DETECTIVE NOCK
Curious, isn’t he?
SGT. STAEHL
Oh, you’ve a soft spot for the
bastard ‘cause he called you on
your drink? Which, while we’re on
the subject —
DETECTIVE NOCK
— Seemed a bit forced though,
didn’t it?
SGT. STAEHL
Don’t know what you mean.
DETECTIVE NOCK
If you didn’t want a pair of
bobbies digging around in your
personal affairs, well, that would
have been a stellar way to see that
they don’t. Tell me you don’t think
this is suspicious.
SGT. STAEHL
I don’t think this is suspicious.
DETECTIVE NOCK
A mysterious professor who won’t
admit he’s had something stolen
from his flat?
SGT. STAEHL
What’re you suggesting?
DETECTIVE NOCK
I’m suggesting that Alan Turing is
hiding something.
CUT TO:
Alan Turing — 11 years younger — HURRIES through Euston Station on the day that Britain declares war on Germany.
The station is preparing for war:
PAPERBOYS SCREAM the headlines: “800,000 CHILDREN EVACUATED!” “GERMAN BOMBS COMING!” “FOOD SUPPLIES RATIONED!”
MILITARY PERSONNEL herd PACKS OF CHILDREN like cattle onto rumbling trains.
The children, born with stiff upper lips, hold back their tears. A FATHER shakes the hand of his 8-YEAR-OLD SON goodbye, almost business-like. Neither knows if they’ll ever see one another again.
Alan moves through this determinedly, methodically, and unemotionally — it’s like he doesn’t even notice anyone is there.
Alan Turing walks down the aisle of a train bound for Bletchley Park — his is the only adult face amidst the sea of children.
He watches a SMALL BOY pour over a PUZZLE BOOK. OLDER KIDS, loud and rowdy, TAUNT the Small Boy, who doesn’t look up, he’s so focused on his puzzles.
Alan watches. Maybe he smiles. Maybe he understands.
Alan walks through the small village of Bletchley. He passes a sign that reads “BLETCHLEY RADIO MANUFACTURING” as he heads to
Alan arrives at the imposing front gates of Bletchley Park. An enormous Victorian mansion lies in the center of the grounds, surrounded by empty gardens and tall iron fences.
As Alan approaches, two NAVAL OFFICERS with MACHINE GUNS step out from behind the BARRICADES.
Whatever this place is, it’s housing something very secret inside.
A few minutes later, Alan sits alone in a cluttered office. He stares ahead blankly at the empty chair behind the desk. Waits.
COMMANDER DENNISTON (O.S.)
— What are you doing here?
Alan turns with a start.
ALAN TURING
The girl told me to wait —
COMMANDER DENNISTON
In my office? She tell you to help
yourself to a cup of tea while you
were here?
ALAN TURING
No. She didn’t.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
She didn’t tell you what a joke is
then either, I gather.
ALAN TURING
Was she supposed to?
COMMANDER DENNISTON
For Christ’s sake — who are you?
ALAN TURING
Alan Turing.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
(looking at papers on his desk)
Turing... Let me see... Oh, Turing.
The mathematician.
ALAN TURING
Correct.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
How ever could I have guessed?
ALAN TURING
You didn’t. It was written on your
paper.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
... King’s College, Cambridge. Says
here you were a bit of a prodigy in
the maths department.
ALAN TURING
I’m not sure I can evaluate that,
Mr... ?
COMMANDER DENNISTON
How old are you, Mr. Turing?
ALAN TURING
27.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
How old were you when you became a
fellow at Cambridge?
ALAN TURING
24.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
And how old were you when you
published this paper here, that has
a title I can barely understand,
which apparently got you this
fellowship?
ALAN TURING
23.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
And you don’t think that qualifies
you as a certified prodigy?
ALAN TURING
Rather depends on how old my peers
were when they did comparable work,
doesn’t it?
COMMANDER DENNISTON
And how old were they?
ALAN TURING
Newton discovered the binomial
theorem at 22. Einstein published
four papers that changed the world
at 26. As far as I can tell I’ve
barely made par.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
You’re serious, aren’t you?
ALAN TURING
Would you prefer I make a joke?
COMMANDER DENNISTON
Not sure you know what those are.
ALAN TURING
It hardly seems fair that that
would be a requirement for
employment here, Mr...?
COMMANDER DENNISTON
Commander Denniston, of the Royal
Navy. All right, Mr. Turing, I’ll
bite. Why do you want to work for
His Majesty’s government?
ALAN TURING
Oh, I don’t, really.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
(suspicious)
Are you a bleeding pacifist,
Turing?
ALAN TURING
I’m agnostic about violence.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
But you realize that 600 miles from
London there’s this nasty chap
named Hitler who’s looking to
engulf Europe in tyranny?
ALAN TURING
Politics is not my area of
expertise.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
I believe you’ve just set a record
for the shortest job interview in
British military history.
ALAN TURING
Mother says that I can be off-
putting sometimes. On account of
being the best mathematician in the
world.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
You’re the best mathematician in
the world?
ALAN TURING
Oh. Yes.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
... Do you know how many people
I’ve rejected for this program?
ALAN TURING
No.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
That’s right. Because we’re a top
secret program. But I’ll tell you,
just because we’re friends, that
last week I rejected one of our
great nation’s top linguists, knows
German better than Bertolt Brecht.
ALAN TURING
I don’t speak German.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
What?
ALAN TURING
I don’t. Speak German.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
How the bloody hell are you
supposed to decrypt German
communications if you don’t, oh, I
don’t know, speak German?
ALAN TURING
I’m quite excellent at crossword
puzzles.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
(calling off)
MARGARET!
ALAN TURING
The German codes are a puzzle. A
game. Just like any other game.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
MARGARET! Where are you?!
ALAN TURING
I’m very good at games. Puzzles.
And I think this is the hardest
puzzle in the world.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
MARGARET!?!
(beat)
For the love of... This is a joke,
obviously.
ALAN TURING
I’m afraid I can’t make jokes,
Commander Denniston.
And for a split second, Denniston actually smiles.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
Have a pleasant trip back to
Cambridge, Professor.
ALAN TURING
Enigma.
At the mention of this word Denniston looks suddenly serious.
SECRETARY (”MARGARET”)
(popping head in)
You called for me?
He WAVES HER AWAY, entirely focused on what Alan just said.
ALAN TURING
(after she leaves)
... That’s what you’re doing here.
The top secret program at
Bletchley. You’re trying to break
the German Enigma machine.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
What makes you think that?
ALAN TURING
It’s the greatest encryption device
in history, and the Germans use it
for all major communications.
If the Allies broke Enigma — well,
this would turn into a very short
war indeed. Of course you’re
working on it. But you also haven’t
got anywhere. If you had, you
wouldn’t be hiring cryptographers
out of University. You need me a
lot more than I need you. I’d just
as easily go work for the Germans,
frankly, but they simply don’t have
anything this good to work on. Our
mathematicians aren’t as impressive
as theirs. With one significant
exception. I like solving problems,
Commander. And Enigma is the most
difficult problem in the world.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
Enigma isn’t difficult. It’s
impossible. The Americans. The
French. The Russians. The Germans.
Everyone thinks Enigma is
unbreakable.
ALAN TURING
Goody! Let me try and we’ll know
for sure.
The men stare at each other. Neither blinks.
ANGLE ON: A machine. It looks like a typewriter that got left on the set of Blade Runner. Wires running all over it. Extra gears sticking out of the sides. Blinking lights that reveal German characters. Half electrical, half mechanical.
COMMANDER DENNISTON (O.S.)
Welcome to Enigma.
SLOWLY REVEAL: COMMANDER DENNISTON, 50s, is showing the ENIGMA MACHINE to the NEW RECRUITS.
They are:
HUGH ALEXANDER, 30s, loves women and chess in equal measure.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS, 30s, Scottish, not the prodigy his compatriots are and knows it.
PETER HILTON, 20s, a precocious undergrad from Oxford.
KEITH FURMAN and CHARLES RICHARDS, 40s, both stodgy linguists.
Stewart Menzies — head of MI-6, who we briefly glimpsed in the opening — stands in the corner, silent and observing. Charming and inscrutable, he didn’t become the head of British Secret Intelligence Services by accident.
COMMANDER DENNISTON (CONT’D)
The German navy encodes every
message they send using the Enigma
machine. The details of every
surprise attack, of every secret
convoy, of every U-Boat in the
bloody Atlantic go into that thing,
and out comes... Gibberish.
FINALLY REVEAL: ... Alan stands with them, staring at the machine like it’s the Sistine Chapel.
He reaches out and touches it lovingly.
ALAN TURING
It’s beautiful.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
It’s the crooked hand of death
itself.
Denniston shows Alan sheets of Enigma messages: PAGE AFTER PAGE OF RANDOM LETTERS.
COMMANDER DENNISTON (CONT’D)
Our WRENs intercept thousands of
radio messages a day. But to the
lovely young ladies of the Women’s
Royal Navy, they’re nonsense. It’s
only when you feed them back into
Enigma that they make sense.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
But we have an Enigma machine.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
Yes. Polish intelligence smuggled
this out of Berlin.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
So what’s the problem? Just put the
intercepted messages back in to
Enigma and —
ALAN TURING
— It’s not that simple, is it? Just
having an Enigma machine doesn’t
help you decode the messages.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
Very good, Mr. Turing. To decode a
message, you need to know the
machine’s settings. The Germans
switch settings every day, promptly
at midnight. We usually intercept
our first message around 6am. Which
gives you exactly 18 hours every
day to crack the code before it
changes, and you start again.
Alan looks at the machine carefully.
ALAN TURING
Five rotors. Six plugboard cables.
That’s...
CHARLES RICHARDS
Five —
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
— thousand million —
PETER HILTON
— No no it’s — I’ve got it —
CHARLES RICHARDS
— Million, million —
KEITH FURMAN
— In the millions, obviously —
CHARLES RICHARDS
— Obviously —
ALAN TURING
— Over one hundred and fifty
million million million possible
settings.
All eyes turn to Turing: Wow.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
... Very good.
HUGH ALEXANDER
One hundred fifty nine, if you’d
rather be exact about it.
Everyone looks at Hugh now.
HUGH ALEXANDER (CONT’D)
One five nine with eighteen zeroes
behind it. Possibilities. Every
single day.
Jesus Christ. Who is this guy?
COMMANDER DENNISTON
Gentlemen, meet Hugh Alexander.
I’ve personally selected him to run
this unit.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
Didn’t you...?
COMMANDER DENNISTON
Mr. Alexander won Britain’s
national chess championship.
HUGH ALEXANDER
Twice.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
(extending a hand to Hugh)
John Cairncross.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
(to Alan)
You’re not the only one who’s good
at games around here.
ALAN TURING
Are we all to work together then? I
prefer to have my own office.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
You’re a team, and you’ll work as
one.
ALAN TURING
I don’t have time to explain myself
as I go along, and I’m afraid these
men will only slow me down.
STEWART MENZIES
(piping up from the corner)
— If you can’t play together, then
I’m afraid we can’t let you play at
all.
They all stare at him.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
This is Stuart Menzies. MI-6.
The team ACKNOWLEDGES Menzies.
CHARLES RICHARDS
There are only five divisions of
military intelligence. There is no
“MI-6.”
STEWART MENZIES
Exactly. That’s the spirit.
(to Alan)
Mr. Turing. Do you know how many
British servicemen have died
because of Enigma?
ALAN TURING
I don’t.
STEWART MENZIES
Three.
They all stare at Menzies: That doesn’t sound like very many.
STEWART MENZIES (CONT’D)
... While we’ve been having this
conversation.
(checks his watch)
Oh look. There’s another. Rather
hope he didn’t have a family. This
war that Commander Denniston’s been
going on about? We’re not winning
it. Break the code and at least we
might have a chance.
(to Denniston)
Shall we leave the children alone
with their new toy?
Menzies and Commander Denniston LEAVE.
The team stands there. With Enigma.
HUGH ALEXANDER
Alright boys. Let’s play.
CUT TO:
TEENAGE BOYS play cricket in the green front gardens of a boys boarding school. Behind them looms the school’s stately central manor house.
ALAN TURING (V.O.)
The problem began, of course, with
the carrots.
YOUNG ALAN TURING, 15, sits alone in the dining hall. Other BOYS joke and laugh and tell animated stories at nearby tables, but Alan sits alone, staring intently at his food.
ON ALAN’S PLATE: Boiled steak. Potatoes. Peas. And carrots.
ALAN TURING (V.O.)
Carrots are orange. Peas are green.
They mustn’t touch.
Alan carefully tries to separate the carrots from the peas. It’s like he’s performing brain surgery.
BEHIND ALAN, a group of BIGGER BOYS approach quietly. One of them holds a TRAY OF BOILED VEGETABLES —
— The Boys try to MUFFLE THEIR GIGGLES so Alan can’t hear them approach —
— The Boys DUMP THE TRAY OF VEGETABLES ALL OVER ALAN.
Alan SCREAMS.
The Boys LAUGH as Alan SCREAMS and SHAKES and tries to get the peas and carrots and everything else off of him. He’s in hell.
Alan FALLS DOWN. Still shaking, still screaming.
YOUNG ALAN
Carrots are orange! Carrots are
orange! Carrots are orange!
BOY #1
What a bloody weirdo!
Alan CURLS UP INTO A BALL as he shivers.
CUT TO:
... Alan is now inside a coffin.
He’s KICKING AT THE WOODEN BOARDS ABOVE and SCREAMING TO BE RELEASED.
It’s not helping.
From above, we hear the familiar LAUGHTER OF THE SCHOOLBOYS.
REVEAL: The “coffin” is make-shift; the Boys have constructed it out of the broken floorboards of a half-finished class room. Alan is buried underground, and they’re nailing him in.
ALAN TURING (V.O.)
Do you know why people like
violence? Because it feels good.
The THUMP THUMP of nails entering the boards.
ALAN TURING (V.O.)
Humans find violence deeply
satisfying. But remove the
satisfaction, and the act
becomes... Hollow.
FROM INSIDE THE COFFIN: Alan goes silent.
The Boys pound away, but the silence unnerves them.
BOY #1
Alan? Alan?
BOY #2
C’mon don’t be such a kike about
it...
BOY #3
Leave him to bloody rot.
The Boys LEAVE.
There’s still only SILENCE from inside Alan’s coffin.
Alan breathes slowly. Quietly. Controls his shivering to barely a tremor. He waits.
ALAN TURING (V.O.)
I didn’t learn this on my own
though. I had help.
Suddenly, the boards above him CREAK. Then BEND. Then SNAP.
Then an ARM REACHES DOWN and PULLS Alan out of the coffin.
REVEAL: CHRISTOPHER MORCOM, 16, tall, pretty, and charming in ways that Alan will never, ever be.
CHRISTOPHER
Christ, I thought they were going
to kill you.
Christopher PULLS Alan from the floorboard coffin and they —
Walking away from the half-finished school room, Christopher helps Alan as he hobbles.
YOUNG ALAN
... It’s not my fault. The carrots
got in with the peas.
(off Christopher’s look)
I’m sorry. I won’t let them do it
again.
CHRISTOPHER
They’re getting worse.
YOUNG ALAN
They only beat me up because I’m
smarter than they are.
CHRISTOPHER
No. They beat you up because you’re
different. So you’ll have to try a
little harder to blend in.
YOUNG ALAN
Mother says I’m just an odd duck.
CHRISTOPHER
And she’s right.
Alan STUMBLES and Christopher grabs his hand, steadying him.
CHRISTOPHER (CONT’D)
But you know, sometimes it is the
very people who no one imagines
anything of who do the things that
no one can imagine.
ALAN TURING (V.O.)
Christopher helped.
CUT TO:
Detective Nock sits at his desk, yelling incredulously into his telephone.
DETECTIVE NOCK
... What do you mean, “classified”?
(beat)
... Yes, I am aware of the literal
meaning of the word “classified,”
what I’m asking is why would a
maths professor have his military
records classified?
(beat)
... Well then I will come down
there and...
Nock HANGS UP, frustrated.
He notices Sergeant Staehl walking past.
DETECTIVE NOCK (CONT’D)
Come with me.
Detective Nock and Sergeant Staehl walk through Manchester, away from the police station.
SGT. STAEHL
... So are you going to catch this
mysterious thief who hasn’t
actually stolen anything?
DETECTIVE NOCK
Alan Turing is a suspect in a
robbery but they won’t share a
thing with the police?
SGT. STAEHL
“Suspect”? I distinctly recall
writing his name next to the word
“victim.”
Nock looks around, paying no attention to Staehl. He sees something (which we don’t) in the reflection of a shop window.
DETECTIVE NOCK
Will?
SGT. STAEHL
Yes?
DETECTIVE NOCK
I’m terribly sorry about this.
Suddenly, Nock PUSHES Staehl, hard.
Staehl, reeling, is very, very confused.
SGT. STAEHL
What?
Nock responds by PUNCHING Staehl across the jaw, sending him to the ground.
People on the street TURN and STARE.
Nock RUNS away down the street —
Staehl starts CHASING AFTER HIM —
— They each DODGE PASSERSBY, who are all staring —
— Until Nock suddenly CHANGES DIRECTIONS and SLAMS INTO A PEDESTRIAN —
— The Pedestrian and Nock TUMBLE TO THE GROUND.
The two SCRAMBLE, and then exchange a look: The Pedestrian is... Concerned.
The Pedestrian STRUGGLES TO HIS FEET and RUNS OFF.
Nock stands dusting himself off as Staehl catches up to him —
— And PUNCHES NOCK IN THE JAW.
DETECTIVE NOCK
Oww! Would you stop it?
SGT. STAEHL
What is wrong with you?
DETECTIVE NOCK
Here.
Nock hands a BILLFOLD back to Staehl.
SGT. STAEHL
... Whose is this?
Very confused, Staehl LOOKS THROUGH the billfold.
SGT. STAEHL (CONT’D)
... That man you knocked over! You
stole his billfold.
Nock shrugs.
SGT. STAEHL (CONT’D)
... Oh. Bob?
DETECTIVE NOCK
Yes?
SGT. STAEHL
There’s a photograph of you.
Staehl shows Nock the billfold’s contents: A PHOTO OF NOCK, PAPERS WITH NOCK’S ADDRESS, PERSONAL DATA.
SGT. STAEHL (CONT’D)
That man was following you.
DETECTIVE NOCK
Has been for awhile now.
SGT. STAEHL
Good God... Your home address, your
district, your... Bob, there is a
letter here from the Foreign
Office.
Staehl shows him: The letter, stamped with the Foreign Office seal, instructs that the bearer be granted access to all records concerning one “ROBERT NOCK”.
FEMALE PEDESTRIAN
(approaching them)
— Are you two all right?
SGT. STAEHL
(to Pedestrian)
Bugger off.
She LEAVES, offended.
SGT. STAEHL (CONT’D)
Why are you being followed? We have
to call this in.
DETECTIVE NOCK
(looking at the letter)
I think I might have a better idea.
CUT TO:
QUICK SHOTS: Nock PAINTS TIPP-EX over his own name on the letter he just stole, and TYPES IN A NEW ONE — “ALAN TURING”
Detective Nock walks up to a SECRETARY.
DETECTIVE NOCK
(to Secretary)
Pardon me. I’d like to see some
documents, if I may. Service
records of a Mr. Turing. Alan.
He FLASHES THE FORGED LETTER.
DETECTIVE NOCK (CONT’D)
Foreign Office sent me.
Off of Nock’s SMILE we
CUT TO:
ALAN TURING (V.O.)
The game was quite a simple one.
ON THE ATLANTIC:
— A GERMAN SPYPLANE spots a BRITISH CONVOY travelling across the ocean, far away. We hear the BEEP BEEP of Morse Code as the SPYPLANE SENDS OUT AN ENCRYPTED MESSAGE and we cut to —
— The DECK of one of the British ships. A SEAMAN smokes a cigarette as waves crash against the side. He’s approached by two FRIENDS. He looks: He’s only got one smoke left. In a kind gesture, he SNAPS his cigarette in half, sharing it —
— As underwater, a GERMAN SUBMARINE receives the BEEP BEEP of the Morse message about the convoy’s location. The sub CHANGES COURSE —
ALAN TURING (V.O.)
Every single German message. Every
surprise attack. Every bombing run.
Every imminent U-boat assault. They
were all floating through the air,
radio signals that any schoolboy
with an AM kit could intercept.
AT BLETCHLEY PARK:
— Inside HUT 14: ROW after ROW of RADIO STATIONS, all staffed by the smartly dressed young ladies of the Women’s Royal Navy. One WREN, listening to Morse code on her headphones, intercepts the very same BEEP BEEP of the MESSAGE —
ALAN TURING (V.O.)
The trick was that they were
encrypted.
— She takes it down by hand: It’s GIBBERISH. Encrypted. She places the messages in a PILE —
— A FEMALE ASSISTANT picks up the pile of encrypted messages-
— And carries it through Bletchley —
— The grounds surrounding the mansion at Bletchley Park are now littered with 18 WOODEN “HUTS” — hastily constructed structures that contain all of Britain’s top secret cryptography operations —
ALAN TURING (V.O.)
One hundred and fifty nine million
million million possible Enigma
settings. All we had to do was try
each one.
— The Female Assistant hurries past ARMED GUARDS and SECURITY CHECKPOINTS into —
— HUT 8: Where the Enigma cryptanalysis team does their work.
ALAN TURING (V.O.)
But if we had 10 men checking one
setting a minute, for 24 hours
every day and seven days every
week, it would take... Well, you
tell me. How many days would it
take to check each of the settings?
— John Cairncross, Peter Hilton, Keith Furman, and Charles Richards use PERFORATED SHEETS to analyze Enigma messages as the Female Assistant deposits the pile onto Hugh Alexander’s desk.
All around Hut 8, we see STACK after STACK of encrypted messages, just like the one that was just delivered.
ALAN TURING (V.O.)
... Would you like a hint? It’s not
days. It’s years.
The team does their best to decrypt these stacks of messages, but they’re getting nowhere. There are thousands of messages, and only four cryptographers.
ALAN TURING (V.O.)
(sighs)
Oh dear, you still haven’t worked
it out, have you? Pity you didn’t
pay more attention in school.
(beat)
It’s 20 million years.
MOVE IN on the urgent message about the attack, which is untouched as —
BACK IN THE ATLANTIC:
— The deck of the British ship. The sailors SMOKE as we —
ALAN TURING (V.O.)
To stop a coming attack, we would
have to check 20 million years
worth of settings... In 20 minutes.
— Move DOWN INTO THE WATER to see that the German submarine has arrived. It FIRES A TORPEDO at the helpless convoy and we cut—
BACK TO HUT 8:
The team is still buried in pile after pile of undecrypted messages. Another convoy has been lost because they couldn’t move fast enough, and they’re so far behind they don’t even know it yet.
PETER HILTON
... I’m famished.
Hugh stretches, staring out the window, where he sees a WREN passing by.
HUGH ALEXANDER
(re: the WREN)
Good God, what is it with women in
little hats?
John, Peter, Keith and Charles all look as well — there is in fact something strangely sexy about women in little hats.
John Cairncross gets up and walks into the next room, where he finds Alan, working alone.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
The boys... We were going to get
some lunch?
(Alan ignores him)
Alan?
ALAN TURING
Yes.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
I said we were going to get some
lunch?
(Alan keeps ignoring him)
Alan?
ALAN TURING
Yes.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
Can you hear me?
ALAN TURING
Yes.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
I said we’re off to get some lunch.
(silence)
This is starting to get a bit
repetitive.
ALAN TURING
What is?
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
I had asked if you wanted to have
lunch with us.
ALAN TURING
No you didn’t. You told me you were
getting lunch.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
Have I offended you in some way?
ALAN TURING
Why would you think that?
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
Would you like to come to lunch
with us?
ALAN TURING
When is lunchtime?
HUGH ALEXANDER
(calling out)
Christ, Alan, it’s a bleeding
sandwich.
ALAN TURING
What is?
HUGH ALEXANDER
Lunch.
ALAN TURING
I don’t like sandwiches.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
Nevermind.
HUGH ALEXANDER
John was trying to be nice.
ALAN TURING
How?
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
Let it go.
HUGH ALEXANDER
You know to pull off this irascible
genius routine, one has to actually
be a genius. Yet we’re the ones
making progress here, aren’t we?
ALAN TURING
You have?
HUGH ALEXANDER
We’ve decrypted a number of German
messages by analyzing the frequency
of letter distribution.
ALAN TURING
Oh. Even a broken clock is right
twice a day. That’s not progress at
all, that’s just blind luck. I’m
designing a machine that will allow
us to break every message, every
day, instantly.
We see his work: ELECTRICAL SCHEMATICS. He’s designing a STRANGE NEW MACHINE.
ON THE TEAM: A machine? That’s ridiculous.
PETER HILTON
Who’s hungry? Let’s go.
HUGH ALEXANDER
Bye, Alan.
The guys gather their things and walk out...
ALAN TURING
I’m hungry.
... They turn.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
What?
ALAN TURING
Peter asked if anyone was hungry. I
am.
(they stare at him)
May I have some soup, please?
Hugh, John, Peter, Keith and Charles all exit Hut 8, shaking their heads and laughing at what an impossible weirdo Alan is.
In the window, we see Alan’s face, alone with his work.
ON ALAN: He looks out at the team, a slight longing to be among them, and yet the resolution that he never can be.
Alan runs for miles and miles along the outskirts of Bletchley.
He thinks when he runs. It focuses him. He looks intent, deeply concentrating as he presses his legs as hard as they’ll go.
INTERCUT WITH:
Alan obsessively works on something in Hut 8, filling sheet after sheet of paper with his designs. He’s drawing SCHEMATICS... As it fills out, we see what it is:
It’s a HUGE MACHINE.
Alan walks through the camp brandishing a PIECE OF PAPER. He’s a fish out of water amidst all of the MILITARY MEN moving supplies around him.
He finds what he’s looking for:
Commander Denniston stands before a SUPPLY TRUCK, checking the manifest as supplies are UNLOADED.
ALAN TURING
This is unacceptable.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
Turing. If you’d like to discuss
the complaint, I’d suggest making a
proper appointment with my office.
ALAN TURING
Complaint? Hugh Alexander has
denied my requisition. Parts and
equipment, to build the machine
I’ve designed.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
Your fellow codebreakers are
refusing to work with you. They’ve
filed a formal complaint.
ALAN TURING
It’s inspired by an old Polish code
machine, only infinitely more
advanced.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
If you don’t respond to the
complaint, I’ll have to take it up
with the Home Office.
ALAN TURING
Fine. My response is, they are all
idiots. Fire them and use the
savings to fund my machine. I’ll
only need about a hundred thousand
pounds.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
A hundred thousand — Why are you
building a machine?
ALAN TURING
It’s highly technical. You wouldn’t
understand.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
I suggest you make an effort to
try.
ALAN TURING
... Enigma is a machine. A very
well-designed machine. Our problem
is that we’re trying to beat it
with men. What if only a machine
can defeat another machine?
Denniston stares at him.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
... Hugh Alexander is in charge of
your unit and if he’s said no,
that’s that.
ALAN TURING
I do not have time for this —
COMMANDER DENNISTON
— Have you ever won a war before,
Turing? I have. Do you know how
it’s done? Order. Discipline. Chain
of command. You’re not at
University any longer. You are a
very small cog in a very large
system and you’ll do as your
commanding officer instructs.
ALAN TURING
Who is your commanding officer?
COMMANDER DENNISTON
Winston Churchill. 10 Downing
Street, London. You have a problem
with my decision you can take it up
with him.
And with that, Denniston walks away, furious.
ON ALAN: Well alright, if you say so...
Stewart Menzies walks out of the Bletchley’s MAIN GATE, through security, when’s he’s approached by:
ALAN TURING
Mr. Menzies! You’re headed back to
London, yes?
STEWART MENZIES
Possibly.
ALAN TURING
Will you deliver a letter for me?
Alan hands Menzies a letter:
It’s addressed to “WINSTON CHURCHILL. 10 DOWNING ST. LONDON.”
ON MENZIES: Well, this should be interesting...
The team — Alan, Hugh, John, Peter, Keith, and Charles — are assembled in Commander Denniston’s office for a meeting. Stewart Menzies watches quietly from the corner, as is his way.
HUGH ALEXANDER
You must be joking. Churchill put
Alan in charge?!?!?!
KEITH FURMAN
— This is a terrible plan —
PETER HILTON
— No no no no no no —
ALAN TURING
— Really? I can give these men
orders now?
COMMANDER DENNISTON
Though I hate to say it... Yes.
ALAN TURING
Fantastic.
(to Keith and Charles)
Keith and Charles. You’re both
fired.
KEITH FURMAN
Excuse me?
CHARLES RICHARDS
What?
ALAN TURING
You’re mediocre linguists and
positively poor codebreakers.
HUGH ALEXANDER
Alan, you can’t just fire Keith and
Charles.
ALAN TURING
He just said I could.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
(furious)
I did no such thing.
STEWART MENZIES
But Churchill did.
Denniston looks at Menzies, stewing, but Menzies just shrugs back: “What would you have me do?”
CHARLES RICHARDS
(to Alan)
Go to hell.
Charles and Keith leave, pissed.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
This is inhuman. Even for you.
ON DENNISTON: He looks at Alan with a withering, simmering glare.
ON ALAN: He doesn’t budge an inch, or feel the slightest need to explain himself.
As everyone stares at him, angry, the tension is brutal.
STEWART MENZIES
(to Alan)
... Popular at school, were you?
CUT TO:
Alan, Hugh, John and Peter walk back into Hut 8 after the meeting — resigned, unhappily, to their fate.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
... So what do we do now?
PETER HILTON
We’re short on staff.
ALAN TURING
We get more staff.
HUGH ALEXANDER
And how are you going to do that?
Alan takes a paper from his desk and TACKS IT UP ON THE WALL.
ON THE PAPER: It’s a CROSSWORD PUZZLE.
A MAN opens up that morning’s Daily Telegraph, and flipping through the paper, he sees an advertisement.
ON THE AD: It’s a crossword puzzle. Below it, the ad copy says — “If you can solve this puzzle in under ten minutes please call STO-6264 for an exciting career opportunity.”
SERIES OF SHOTS: Other people — MEN, WOMEN, STUDENTS, RETIREES — open up their papers and see Alan’s ad. They all try solving the puzzle.
It’s really, really hard.
Back in the first house, the Man is trying to complete the puzzle when —
— The AIR RAID SIREN goes off.
Quickly, the Man gathers his FAMILY and they rush down into
The Man and his WIFE light candles in the safety of their underground BOMB SHELTER.
As BOMBS EXPLODE on the street above them, the Man passes TOYS and GAMES to his children, to keep them distracted during the assault.
He returns to Alan’s crossword puzzle, trying to solve it as just a few yards above him a city burnt to rubble.
CIVILIANS run down into an old TUBE TUNNEL to get away from the bombing.
Inside the tightly crowded station, some people read books, some play games, some lay on the train tracks to sleep as dust POOFS UP from the shaking ground.
Normal life goes on as the LIGHTS FLICKER from the shelling above.
By the dim flickering, we see OTHER PEOPLE trying their hand at Alan’s puzzle.
Alan bicycles through London, passing a group of GASMASKED SCHOOLCHILDREN being led calmly on a DRILL by their TEACHER.
As a MILKMAN crosses a BOMBED OUT BUILDING to delivers his wares, Alan comes to a stop beside a MARRIED COUPLE who are digging through the RUBBLE. The husband digs while the wife rests, sipping tea as if her house was other than a war zone.
While FIREMEN tend to a nearby smoldering mess, Alan locks up his bike and enters MI-6 HEADQUARTERS.
END SEQUENCE
Alan and Stewart Menzies talk in the hallway, outside a closed door.
STEWART MENZIES
Who are they?
ALAN TURING
All sorts, really. A school
teacher. An engineer. A handful of
students.
STEWART MENZIES
And you think they’re qualified for
Bletchley because they’re good at
crossword puzzles?
ALAN TURING
Well, they say they’re good. Now we
should probably find out.
Alan leads Menzies into:
Alan and Stewart Menzies are in an MI-6 conference room. It’s been set up like a class room: Rows of identical desks, at which sit a COLLECTION OF CROSSWORD ENTHUSIASTS. There are around 20, all men.
ALAN TURING
... You’ll have six minutes to
complete the puzzle, at which
point—
Just then, a WOMAN enters. Everyone turns to look...
Her name is JOAN CLARKE, 20s, a graduate student at Cambridge who’s trying to get as far away from her preacher father as possible, and she’s about to become very important to this story.
MI-6 AGENT
Pardon, Ma’am, this room is
restricted.
JOAN CLARKE
Apologies for my tardiness — bus
caught a flat tire.
ALAN TURING
(irritated)
May I continue, please?
MI-6 AGENT
(to Joan)
You’re not allowed in here, Ma’am.
JOAN CLARKE
I’m only a few minutes late. With
the bombing there’s ten potholes to
each road.
MI-6 AGENT
No, ma’am, the secretaries are to
head upstairs. This room is for the
candidates.
ALAN TURING
May I please get on with this?
JOAN CLARKE
I am a candidate.
MI-6 AGENT
For what position?
JOAN CLARKE
The letter did not say, precisely.
MI-6 AGENT
Yes, so, secretaries are to head
upstairs.
JOAN CLARKE
It said it was top secret.
ALAN TURING
(comes over to them)
What is going on here?
JOAN CLARKE
There was a crossword in the paper.
I solved it. I got a letter saying
I was a candidate for some
mysterious job. So here I am. My
name is Joan Clarke.
She hands the Agent the LETTER.
MI-6 AGENT
Miss, did you really solve this
puzzle yourself?
JOAN CLARKE
What makes you think I couldn’t
have solved the puzzle myself? I am
quite —
MI-6 AGENT
— Ma’am I’ll have to ask you —
ALAN TURING
— Miss Clarke. I find tardiness
unacceptable under any
circumstance. Now take a seat, so
we may continue.
Joan stares at Alan: Thank you.
JOAN CLARKE
Apologies again for being late.
As Joan SITS, the Agent turns to Menzies — who’s been silently observing Alan thus far — for support.
Menzies SHRUGS.
The Agent backs down.
Alan passes out NEW CROSSWORD PUZZLES.
JOAN CLARKE (CONT’D)
— Pardon, but before we start, can
you tell me a bit about this
position I’m qualifying for?
ALAN TURING
Oh for God’s sake — No.
JOAN CLARKE
It’s just that I’ve a pretty decent
job at the University, and I’d
rather not give it up for something
less interesting.
ALAN TURING
Miss Clarke. You now have the
distinct honor of having wasted
more of my time than any other
person in this room. Quiet.
Gentlemen. And lady. You have six
minutes. Begin.
SHOTS: EVERYONE FRANTICALLY TRIES TO FINISH THE NEW PUZZLE.
As they work:
STEWART MENZIES
(whispering to Alan)
Six minutes? Is that even possible?
ALAN TURING
No. It takes me eight. But this
test isn’t about crosswords — it’s
about how you approach solving an
impossible problem. Do you take the
whole thing at once? Do you divide
it into smaller —
— Suddenly, Joan sits up. She’s finished. Early.
ALAN TURING (CONT’D)
You’ve finished?
JOAN CLARKE
Yes.
ALAN TURING
(checking watch)
... 5 minutes, 34 seconds.
JOAN CLARKE
You said to do it in under 6.
ON ALAN: The smartest man in the room is surprised for the first time in a very long time by someone who might be even smarter.
STEWART MENZIES
(to Alan)
Seems like some people approach it
by simply doing the impossible.
CUT TO:
Minutes later, TWO PEOPLE have survived the crossword test. Joan is one of them.
STEWART MENZIES
Congratulations, and my warmest
welcome to His Majesty’s service.
If you speak a word of anything I’m
about to show you, you’ll be
executed for High Treason. You will
lie to your friends, your family,
everyone you meet about what it is
you really do.
JOAN CLARKE
And what is it that we’re really
doing?
ALAN TURING
We’re going to break an unbreakable
Nazi code and win the war.
JOAN CLARKE
... Well that does sound more
interesting than my university job.
CUT TO:
Young Alan and Christopher sit under a tree, the school in the distance.
Alan is going through a crossword puzzle, Christopher is reading a book. Their legs are touching affectionately without either even knowing, like two people who are effortlessly comfortable with one another.
YOUNG ALAN
What’s that you’re reading?
Christopher shows him: “A Guide to Codes and Cyphers.”
CHRISTOPHER
It’s about cryptography.
YOUNG ALAN
What’s cryptography?
CHRISTOPHER
It’s complicated. You wouldn’t
understand.
YOUNG ALAN
I’m only fourteen months younger
than you. Don’t treat me like a
child.
CHRISTOPHER
Cryptography is the science of
codes.
YOUNG ALAN
Like secret messages?
CHRISTOPHER
Not secret. That’s the brilliant
part. Messages that anyone can see,
but no one knows what they mean,
unless you have the key.
YOUNG ALAN
(confused)
How is that different from talking?
CHRISTOPHER
Talking?
YOUNG ALAN
When people talk to each other they
never say what they mean. They say
something else. And you’re supposed
to just know what they mean. Only,
I never do. So how is that
different?
CHRISTOPHER
(handing him the book)
Alan, I have a funny feeling that
you’re going to be very good at
this.
Christopher walks Young Alan back to his dormitory. They’re happy after a long day together.
CHRISTOPHER
Goodnight, Alan.
Christopher touches Alan’s shoulder, and the two share a sweet moment.
ALAN TURING
Goodnight.
Alan watches Christopher go; his heart is blooming, in love.
CUT TO:
A crowded POLICE STATION.
Detective Nock approaches his boss, SUPERINTENDANT SMITH, as the latter walks through the station dropping PAPERS onto various DESKS and checking the work of other POLICE OFFICERS.
Nock hands Superintendant Smith a MANILA ENVELOPE.
SUPERINTENDANT SMITH
What is this?
DETECTIVE NOCK
Alan Turing’s classified military
file.
SUPERINTENDANT SMITH
(displays the file)
It’s bloody empty.
DETECTIVE NOCK
Exactly.
SUPERINTENDANT SMITH
It’s an empty manila envelope.
DETECTIVE NOCK
Yes.
SUPERINTENDANT SMITH
Well you’ve cracked the case wide
open then, haven’t you?
DETECTIVE NOCK
Alan Turing’s war records aren’t
just classified. They’re non-
existent. That means someone got
rid of them. Erased them, burned
them.
SUPERINTENDANT SMITH
And that person broke into his
house and stole... Nothing?
DETECTIVE NOCK
What if Turing wasn’t just a math
professor?
SUPERINTENDANT SMITH
You think maybe he also teaches
English lit?
DETECTIVE NOCK
Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean.
SUPERINTENDANT SMITH
The spies? From the papers?
DETECTIVE NOCK
The Soviet spies. But first, they
were professors, weren’t they?
Newspapers say they became
radicalized at Cambridge. Then they
joined the Communist Party, took
positions in the Foreign Office and
leaked information to Stalin during
the war. Now, can you think of
anyone else we know who was at
Cambridge, then took up something
murky and top secret when the war
broke out?
Smith gives him a look.
SUPERINTENDANT SMITH
You think Alan Turing might be a
Soviet agent?
ON NOCK’S FACE: It would explain a lot, wouldn’t it?
ON SUPERINTENDANT SMITH: He’s considering...
DETECTIVE NOCK
Something very serious is
happening, right here under our
noses. Wouldn’t you like to find
out what it is?
Smith thinks, and then hands the folder back to Nock.
SUPERINTENDANT SMITH
No. I wouldn’t. I like my job. Now
as to yours: Those lads have been
causing a ruckus down by Whitworth
Park again. Will you give them a
talking to? Thank you.
And with that, Smith leaves.
ON NOCK: Damn it.
He walks back across the station to find Sergeant Staehl waiting beside his desk.
SERGEANT STAEHL
Well? What’d he say?
DETECTIVE NOCK
He said alright. Let’s do it. Let’s
follow Turing. You’ll take the
first shift. Turing won’t have a
secret left by the time we’re
through with him.
CUT TO:
CLOSE ON: A GIANT, HALF-BUILT MACHINE. The size of a dining room table, but taller than it is wide, its guts are composed of SPINNING GEARS and a seemingly endless stream of LONG RED WIRES.
REVEAL: TECHNICIANS work on putting the machine together, SOLDERING THE WIRES, while Alan FUSSES.
ALAN TURING
Careful! Damn it, will you — It’s
not a toy.
Alan tries to protect his precious creation when he’s interrupted by:
HUGH ALEXANDER
Alan! Your new minion has arrived.
Alan turns to see: His new recruit, JACK GOOD.
... But no Joan.
ALAN TURING
(displeased)
... Where’s Miss Clarke?
CUT TO:
Joan returns home from the market when she hears a familiar VOICE from the sitting room.
ALAN TURING (O.S.)
— Well it’s a very important radio
factory you see. It’s not really —
I mean along the spectrum of radio
factories this one is particularly—
Joan follows the voices to find:
Alan sitting across from her MOTHER and FATHER, arguing.
ALAN TURING (CONT’D)
(seeing Joan)
Hello.
Joan makes the sort of face any young woman would make if she found Alan Turing sitting to tea with her parents.
CUT TO:
In the KITCHEN: Joan’s MOTHER hands her a TEA TRAY. The two share a look.
As Joan’s Mother and Father pretend to putter in the kitchen, listening in on the conversation in the next room, Joan takes the tray to the LIVING ROOM, where she begins to serve tea.
ALAN TURING
... Why aren’t you at Bletchley?
JOAN CLARKE
(”My parents can hear us”)
So kind of you to visit, Mr.
Turing. Was your trip pleasant?
ALAN TURING
Gather your things and let’s go.
JOAN CLARKE
I’m sorry. I am unable to accept
your offer.
ALAN TURING
And why not?
JOAN CLARKE
As my father told you, it is felt —
well we feel — that such a position
would hardly be appropriate.
ALAN TURING
You earned a double-first in
mathematics.
JOAN CLARKE
But sadly was not granted the
opportunity to become a Fellow.
ALAN TURING
You belong at Bletchley.
JOAN CLARKE
I’m sorry, but for someone in my
position to work - to live -
amongst all of your men, so far
from home... It would be
indecorous.
ALAN TURING
What in the world does that even —
JOAN CLARKE
(”I told you they’re listening!”)
— One lump or two?
ON ALAN: Are you fucking serious?
ON JOAN: Yes. I’m fucking serious.
ON ALAN: He tries to think of a solution...
ALAN TURING
... We have a group of young women
who tend to our clerical tasks.
Assistants, translators. They live
together in town. Would that be a
more suitable environment?
ON JOAN’S PARENTS: This sounds more promising.
JOAN CLARKE
So I would be working amongst these
women?
ALAN TURING
(”Not actually”)
Yes.
ON JOAN: “Go on.”
ALAN TURING (CONT’D)
... Wonderful ladies, they even
organize social events at St
Martin’s church, down the road. The
whole thing is really quite...
Decorous.
ON JOAN’S PARENTS: That’s much better.
JOAN CLARKE
(”Good job.”)
Well. I will have to talk this over
with my family.
As Joan’s parents enter, we
CUT TO:
Joan walks Alan out of the front door, finally out of earshot from her parents for a few quick seconds.
ALAN TURING
You won’t have the proper
clearance, so we’ll have to
improvise a bit.
JOAN CLARKE
Why are you helping me?
ALAN TURING
There is only one thing that
matters in this entire world, do
you understand? Breaking Enigma.
JOAN CLARKE
Mr. Turing. Why are you helping me?
ALAN TURING
... Sometimes it is the very people
who no one imagines anything of who
do the things that no one can
imagine.
Joan and a few OTHER WRENS exit a BUS that’s deposited them in front of the Park’s central mansion.
Looking up at it, she sees Alan walking across the way.
He gives her a small wave, which she returns with a small wave back.
Later in Hut 8, the team (w/o Alan) — Hugh, John, Peter, and the new guy, Jack — work frantically into the night.
The team uses their PERFORATED SHEETS to find linguistic patterns in the Enigma messages, everyone working as hard and as fast as they possibly can until —
— Suddenly a BELL GOES OFF.
Everyone stops their work, frustrated.
Angry, Hugh KICKS his desk.
JACK GOOD
... What just happened?
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
Midnight. All the work we did today
is useless. But don’t worry: We’ve
a few hours before tomorrow’s
messages start pouring in. And we
start all over again.
PETER HILTON
From scratch.
HUGH ALEXANDER
I am sick of this. Sick. He made me
waste four hours this morning re-
wiring his plugboard matrix. Three
hours yesterday on rotor positions.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
Don’t go over there.
HUGH ALEXANDER
No. If our job was not impossible
before it bloody well is now.
Hugh stands and heads to the door —
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
— Hugh, don’t —
— But Hugh is already gone to
CUT TO:
Alan stands alone with his machine, tinkering, comparing the assembly to his SCHEMATICS.
Hugh BURSTS in —
HUGH ALEXANDER
— Damn you and damn your useless
machine.
ALAN TURING
(not even looking)
My machine is how we’re going to
win.
HUGH ALEXANDER
This machine?
Hugh grabs a GLASS from the table and SMASHES IT AGAINST ALAN’S MACHINE.
ALAN TURING
(turning around, shocked)
Stop.
HUGH ALEXANDER
This is the bloody machine you’re
talking about?
He grabs a WRENCH —
— Alan moves to protect Christopher, standing between Hugh and the machine —
ALAN TURING
No no don’t —
— When the team enters behind Hugh —
— GRABBING HIM and HOLDING HIM BACK.
Alan stands between the team and his machine as Hugh STEAMS.
HUGH ALEXANDER
... You could help us. You could
make this go faster. But you won’t.
PETER HILTON
Hugh is right, Alan. There are
actual soldiers out there trying to
win an actual war — my brother, my
cousins, all my friends, they are
all making a difference, while we
wile away our days producing
nothing. Because of you.
HUGH ALEXANDER
Because of you...
Hugh PUSHES towards Alan again —
— but John HOLDS HIM BACK.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
(to Hugh, calming)
... What’s the use?
ALAN TURING
My machine will work.
Hugh stares Alan, then at John.
HUGH ALEXANDER
.... I’m going to the pub.
Hugh leaves, and the team FOLLOWS.
ALAN TURING
... It’ll work.
ON ALAN: Alone. Rattled from the violence. Scared.
And yet... Resolved.
He makes a fateful decision and runs off to
Alan goes back into Hut 8, which is now empty.
He goes to a far STORAGE CABINET, from which he removes a STACK OF ENIGMA MESSAGES.
Alan FOLDS THE SHEETS, STUFFING THEM INTO HIS COAT POCKETS —
— INTO HIS PANTS —
— INTO HIS SHOES —
— ETC.
He runs out, concealing enough top secret information on his body to have him hanged for treason ten times over.
Alan walks his bicycle through the CHECK POINT, showing his ID to the GUARDS.
At the Gate, ARMED GUARDS stop him as he passes, and as is protocol, Alan opens up his BRIEFCASE for the men to see:
Nothing is inside.
Concealing the documents in his coat/pants/shoes/etc., Alan hops on his bike and heads off to:
Alan bicycles to the outside of Joan’s new flat.
The windows are BOARDED UP at night — city regulations, so that the Germans flying overhead can’t see any lights from the town.
Alan CHUCKS A SMALL rock at Joan’s boarded window —
— Then carefully sneaks around in back of the house—
— Finding an OPEN BACK WINDOW —
— On the second floor.
He CLIMBS A NEARBY FENCE, and JUMPS FROM THE FENCE TO THE WINDOW —
— Where Joan GRABS HIM and HELPS HIM INSIDE:
It’s dark inside...
JOAN CLARKE
(whispering)
Could you have made a bit more
noise, Alan? Not sure you woke up
my landlady.
ALAN TURING
Sorry.
Joan turns on a SMALL LAMP and then lights some CANDLES.
JOAN CLARKE
The best I can do. No male visitors
after dark.
She watches Alan remove papers from his pockets.
JOAN CLARKE (CONT’D)
What’d you bring me?
Alan produces the Enigma messages from every available hiding place on his person.
JOAN CLARKE (CONT’D)
... Some men try flowers, you know.
ALAN TURING
(pulling papers from inside his shirt)
These are actual decrypted Enigma
messages, direct from Nazi high
command.
JOAN CLARKE
Or chocolates. Girls like
chocolate.
Alan starts PLACING THE MESSAGES down on a table, but there isn’t room, so he starts LAYING THEM OUT ON THE FLOOR.
JOAN CLARKE (CONT’D)
(reading a message)
“0600 hours. Weather today is
clear. Rain in the evening. Heil
Hitler.” Well, clearly that vital
information is going to win us the
war.
ALAN TURING
It’s the relationship between the
encrypted and decrypted messages
that interests me. Is there a clue
there that we can build into
Christopher?
JOAN CLARKE
Who’s “Christopher”?
ALAN TURING
Oh. He’s my machine.
JOAN CLARKE
You named him?
ALAN TURING
Is that a bad name?
JOAN CLARKE
Nevermind...
(looks over the messages)
Are you trying to build your
Universal Machine?
Alan looks at her: How do you know what that is?
Joan smiles.
JOAN CLARKE (CONT’D)
I read your paper at university.
ALAN TURING
They’re teaching it already?
JOAN CLARKE
Oh God no, but I was precocious.
You theorized a machine that can
solve any problem. It doesn’t just
do one thing: It does everything.
The machine isn’t only
programmable, it’s re-programmable.
ON ALAN: She understands what he’s been writing about.
JOAN CLARKE (CONT’D)
Is that part of the idea behind
your Christopher?
ALAN TURING
Human beings can compute large sums
very quickly. Even Hugh can do
that. I want Christopher to be...
Smarter. To make a calculation, and
then to determine what to do next.
Like a person does. Think of it: An
electrical brain. A digital
computer.
JOAN CLARKE
(trying out the words on her tongue)
A “digital computer?” Hmm.
ALAN TURING
I’ll show you —
— Alan TURNS, and KNOCKS OVER THE CANDLE...
... Which LIGHTS THE ENIGMA MESSAGES ON FIRE.
Alan and Joan SCRAMBLE TO PUT OUT THE FIRE.
They make a lot of NOISE in the process, though they do manage not to burn down Joan’s flat.
ALAN TURING (CONT’D)
I’m so sorry.
They hear more noise from downstairs: “Joan?!? HELLO?!?”
JOAN CLARKE
My landlady. You need to leave.
ALAN TURING
Right.
Alan moves to the front door —
JOAN CLARKE
— No. The window. She’s coming.
ALAN TURING
(staring at window)
Really?
JOAN CLARKE
Go.
Alan AWKWARDLY CLIMBS OUT THE WINDOW, TRYING NOT TO FALL...
SMASH CUT TO:
REVEAL: Alan has been injured in his fall.
(Climbing is not his strong suit.)
Alan walks through the grounds into:
Alan enters Hut 8 to find his team watching silently as a bunch of MILITARY POLICE RIFLE THROUGH HIS DESK —
— MANHANDLING his papers, his machine parts, making a mess.
ALAN TURING
(re: parts of Christopher)
Hey! Don’t touch that!
The RMP’S TRAIN GUNS ON HIM.
MILITARY POLICEMAN
Don’t move!
ALAN TURING
That’s my desk.
COMMANDER DENNISTON (O.S.)
Thank goodness. Be a pity if we
were searching the wrong one.
Alan turns to find Denniston directing the search.
ALAN TURING
What are you doing?
COMMANDER DENNISTON
There’s a spy at Bletchley Park.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
The Navy thinks one of us is a
Soviet double-agent, Alan.
ALAN TURING
Why?
COMMANDER DENNISTON
Our boys intercepted this on its
way to Moscow. Look familiar?
Denniston hands Alan a TELEGRAM — it’s a LONG STRING OF LETTERS, running down the entire page.
ALAN TURING
(looking at the telegram)
... This is a Beale Cypher. It’s
encrypted with a key phrase, from a
book or a poem or...
(re: the team)
Which one of them did this?
As Alan stares at the team, they stare back at him.
He glances at the RMP’s rifling through his desk.
Oh fuck.
ALAN TURING (CONT’D)
I’m not a double agent.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
Double agents are such bastards.
Isolated loners. No attachments to
friends or family. Arrogant. Think
they’re smart enough to get away
with anything. Do you know anyone
like that?
ALAN TURING
I know you don’t like me... But you
don’t think I could actually be a
spy, do you?
ON THE TEAM: They won’t look him in the eye.
MILITARY POLICEMAN
(to Denniston)
Nothing out of the ordinary, Sir.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
Well then. Next time, you will make
a mistake. And then, I don’t even
need to bother firing you — I can
simply hang you for treason.
Denniston and his men LEAVE.
HUGH ALEXANDER
(to Jack)
... Aren’t you glad you joined up
just in time?
In the machine Hut next door, Alan touches his precious machine for comfort.
Whenever he feels lonely, misunderstood, isolated — he has his machine.
There’s a KNOCK on the door and...
... Joan enters.
JOAN CLARKE
I heard about what happened... I
have an idea of what might cheer
you up.
CUT TO:
Alan and Joan sip from beer bottles in the “beer hut” — Among the military commissaries, it’s so named because, well, it’s the one that serves beer.
They can be a bit more relaxed here than at Joan’s flat.
They’re surrounded by NAPKINS full of MATHEMATICAL EQUATIONS, which they’re studying, debating, etc.
JOAN CLARKE
... So because no letter can be
encoded as itself, you’ve already a
handful of settings that can be
rejected at the outset. If you —
Just then, Hugh, John, and Peter enter the Beer Hut...
... Alan looks up, seeing them.
Joan notices.
JOAN CLARKE (CONT’D)
Is that your team? Let’s say hello.
ALAN TURING
No.
JOAN CLARKE
(to the boys)
Over here!
They see Joan...
ALAN TURING
I told you not to do that.
JOAN CLARKE
Correct.
... Hugh, John and Peter approach.
HUGH ALEXANDER
Alan. Didn’t even know you drank.
ALAN TURING
Hello.
JOAN CLARKE
He doesn’t, really, he just sort of
sips at the foam.
HUGH ALEXANDER
Tell you a secret, Miss...
JOAN CLARKE
... Clarke.
HUGH ALEXANDER
Miss Clarke.
JOAN CLARKE
Please.
HUGH ALEXANDER
The foam’s my favorite part too.
JOAN CLARKE
Well then, I’ll show you a trick.
(to Bartender)
Alex! We’re in need of supplies.
Joan hops behind the bar and the BARTENDER helps her to BOTTLES OF GUINNESS.
Hugh, Alan, John and Peter watch.
HUGH ALEXANDER
Alan, are you... On a date?
ALAN TURING
What? No. Of course not.
HUGH ALEXANDER
Mind if I have a crack?
ALAN TURING
I’m not a Soviet spy.
HUGH ALEXANDER
Do love a proper blonde.
ALAN TURING
Hugh. I swear. I’m not a spy.
HUGH ALEXANDER
Oh for God’s sake, Alan, of course
you’re not a spy.
ALAN TURING
What?
HUGH ALEXANDER
Denniston gave me the Beale Cypher.
And guess what? I broke it. “Ask
and it shall be given you; seek and
ye shall find.” Matthew 7:7. That
was the key. Far too simple for
you. Pity Denniston disagrees.
Returning, Joan POURS PINTS OF GUINNESS FOR THE TEAM.
JOAN CLARKE
Did you ever notice that the
bubbles in a pint of Guinness
travel downwards, as opposed to
upwards in any other beer? Ever
wonder why? It’s because the pint
glass creates drag on the bubbles
along the side; but the center
bubbles are free to sprint upwards.
Then the rising current in the
middle pushes down on the side
bubbles and... And voila: Guinness.
The official beer of
mathematicians.
ON THE PINTS: Joan has etched pi symbols into the foam.
HUGH ALEXANDER
Be still my beating heart. Come
join us for a drink.
ALAN TURING
She’s assisting me with some
calculations.
HUGH ALEXANDER
Fine, Alan can come too.
ALAN TURING
Thank you.
JOAN CLARKE
Hugh was being sarcastic.
HUGH ALEXANDER
He’s a lost cause, I promise.
JOAN CLARKE
We’ll be there in a moment.
Joan smiles at Hugh as he joins John and Peter at a separate table.
ALAN TURING
... He likes you.
JOAN CLARKE
Yes.
ALAN TURING
You got him to like you.
JOAN CLARKE
Yes.
ALAN TURING
Why?
JOAN CLARKE
Because I’m a woman in a man’s job
and I don’t have the luxury of
being an ass.
(beat)
Alan, it doesn’t matter how smart
you are. Enigma is smarter. If you
really want to beat it — if you
really want to solve your puzzle —
you’re going to need all the help
you can get. And they are not going
to help you if they do not like
you.
Alan thinks. The next sentence is incredibly hard for him to say out loud.
ALAN TURING
... How should I get them to like
me?
CUT TO:
Alan enters Hut 8 to find his team hard at work.
He’s carrying a BAG OF APPLES.
HUGH ALEXANDER
(sees apples)
What’re those?
ALAN TURING
Apples.
HUGH ALEXANDER
No.
ALAN TURING
No, they really are... I... Joan
told me it’d be nice to bring you
all something.
Alan takes the apple bag around the room, handing each man an apple.
They take them. It’s really awkward.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
Thanks?
PETER HILTON
I like apples.
HUGH ALEXANDER
My best to Miss Clarke.
ALAN TURING
... There are two fellows in the
woods. And they run into a bear.
The first fellow, he kneels down
and starts to pray. But the second
one, he begins lacing up his boots.
The first one says, “my friend,
what’re you doing? You can’t outrun
a bear.” And the second one
responds, “I don’t have to. I only
have to outrun you.”
Ba dum bum.
Awkward silence.
ALAN TURING (CONT’D)
I’ll be with Christopher if anyone
needs me.
Alan walks off to the adjacent Hut.
CUT TO:
Young Alan and Christopher are in math class.
The TEACHER drones on as the students pretend to pay attention.
Young Alan and Christopher PASS NOTES —
— Dropping them by each other’s desks —
— And snapping them up quickly.
TEACHER
Mr. Turing! Passing notes, are we?
ALAN TURING
No, Sir.
The Teacher comes over, and grabs the note from his hand.
ON THE NOTE: “FDFH RG TU HSD PDXT PEJND QERDZX.”
It’s encrypted.
TEACHER
(holding it up for everyone)
Only Mr. Turing would pass notes
written in gibberish.
The other students LAUGH as the Teacher drops the note in the trash.
Alan isn’t bothered by the laughter — he’s safe in his private world with Christopher.
The BELL RINGS. Class is over. AS EVERYONE SHUFFLES OUT:
TEACHER (CONT’D)
Alright you lot, do not forget your
calculus over break. Have a
pleasant holiday and we’ll resume
your integrals when you return.
Alan waits... And grabs the note from the trash.
Now alone, Alan DECRYPTS THE MESSAGE. One at a time, the letters become intelligible.
ON THE NOTE: “SEE YOU IN TWO LONG WEEKS, DEAREST FRIEND.”
ON ALAN: Christopher called him his dearest friend.
CUT TO:
Alan and Joan eat a PICNIC LUNCH in a wooded area behind Hut 8.
Alan finishes writing an EQUATION, then hands his NOTEBOOK to Joan.
She looks at the equation, then instantly starts CROSSING THINGS OUT and REWRITING. Alan laughs. There aren’t many people who would cross out his work so brazenly.
Joan sees his laughter, looks up: “What’d I do?”
But before Alan can respond they both see: Hugh approaching.
Alan is nervous.
But Hugh simply HANDS ALAN A SHEET OF PAPER.
HUGH ALEXANDER
Look at this.
As Alan and Joan stare at SCHEMATICS on the paper, Hugh SWIPES A SANDWICH from their picnic and begins to chew.
HUGH ALEXANDER (CONT’D)
If you run the wires across the
plugboard matrix diagonally, you’ll
eliminate rotor positions 500 times
faster.
ALAN TURING
... This is actually not an
entirely terrible idea.
JOAN CLARKE
That’s Alan for “thank you.”
ALAN TURING
(looking up)
That’s my sandwich.
HUGH ALEXANDER
You don’t like sandwiches.
And with that, Hugh takes another bite, gives Joan a wink, and walks off.
Alan and the team (Hugh, John, Peter) stand in a half-circle around the now-completed Christopher.
An ELECTRICAL ASSISTANT feeds fresh Enigma messages into one end of the machine.
The men look at each other, feeling the importance of the moment.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
(to Alan)
You nervous?
Alan takes a gulp and CONNECTS the final bit of electrical wiring...
... AND THE VERY FIRST “DIGITAL COMPUTER” IN HISTORY COMES TO LIFE.
ON THE MACHINE: GEARS ARE SPINNING, CURRENT IS RACING THROUGH THE WIRES.
The CLACKING SOUND it makes is UNBELIEVABLY LOUD.
PETER HILTON
(yelling over the machine)
Christ!! What happens now?!
ALAN TURING
It should tell us the day’s Enigma
settings!!
HUGH ALEXANDER
How long?!?
ON ALAN: He’s not sure...
The team shares a look: Is this really going to work?
Dawn rises over Bletchley Park.
Commander Denniston receives a visit from the Electrical Assistant who’d been helping Alan in the previous scene.
ELECTRICAL ASSISTANT
The gears just keep spinning and
spinning. It’s endless.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
And there’s no result in sight?
The Assistant NODS. Denniston SMILES: Got him.
As the machine CLACKS away, Alan is frantically going over his papers. He’s unshaven, wearing yesterday’s clothes. He hasn’t gotten a wink of sleep.
ON ALAN’S FRANTIC PACING: Why isn’t it working? Why?!
Alan rubs his eyes, exhausted, and as he does so he looks out the window to see...
... Commander Denniston walking towards the Machine Hut, accompanied by a HOME OFFICE MAN and TWO RMPs.
Alan quickly runs to the door and BOLTS it —
— Just as Denniston and the men get to it from the outside.
OUTSIDE:
Denniston tries the door. It won’t open.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
Turing! Open the bloody door!
INSIDE:
ALAN TURING
No!!!
OUTSIDE:
COMMANDER DENNISTON
Open the door or we will break it
down!!
INSIDE:
ALAN TURING
I cannot let you in!! I cannot let
you interfere!!!
OUTSIDE:
Denniston turns to the RMPs: Break it down.
The RMPs KICK DOWN THE DOOR —
— And the men BURST INTO THE ROOM as Alan FALLS BACK.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
(re: the horrible noise)
Turn that thing off.
An RMP walks over to Christopher —
— Alan tries to stop him but they POINT GUNS AT HIM —
— And so Alan watches in absolute horror as they TURN OFF THE MACHINE.
COMMANDER DENNISTON (CONT’D)
Well then. It seems your great big
expensive machine doesn’t work.
ALAN TURING
It does.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
Wonderful. So you’ve broken Enigma
then?
ALAN TURING
It works... It was just... Still
working.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
This is my associate from the Home
Office. A hundred thousand pounds
is quite a lot of money. He’s here
to see what you have to show for
it.
ALAN TURING
You will never understand the
importance of what I’ve created
here.
Commander Denniston exchanges a look with the men: See what I mean?
COMMANDER DENNISTON
Have you decrypted any German
messages? A single one? Can you
point to anything at all that
you’ve achieved?
ON ALAN: He can’t.
COMMANDER DENNISTON (CONT’D)
Your funding is up, and our
patience has expired. It is with
such great pleasure that I finally
get to say this: Alan Turing,
you’re fired.
ON ALAN: What can he do? This is it...
COMMANDER DENNISTON (CONT’D)
Please escort Mr. Turing from the
premises.
HUGH ALEXANDER (O.S.)
No.
Everyone turns to see Hugh, John, and Peter at the door, wearing fresh clothes.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
Pardon?
HUGH ALEXANDER
God help me... If you fire Alan,
you’ll have to fire me too.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
What on earth are you saying?
HUGH ALEXANDER
Trust me, no one wants to say this
less than I do, but Alan’s right.
His machine can work. At least it’s
the best chance we’ve got.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
You must be joking.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
If you fire them, you’ll have to
fire me too.
PETER HILTON
And me.
HUGH ALEXANDER
We’re the best cryptographic minds
in Britain. Are you going to fire
us all?
Denniston looks to the Home Office Man, who NODS: Hugh is right.
HUGH ALEXANDER (CONT’D)
At least give us more time. Six
more months, and if the machine
doesn’t produce results we’ll go
back to doing things the old way.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
... One month. And then so help me
God you are all gone.
Denniston and his men LEAVE.
The team breathes a sigh of relief: They’ve been given a temporary reprieve.
ALAN TURING
... Thank you.
HUGH ALEXANDER
This machine better bloody work.
CUT TO:
Sergeant Staehl walks eagerly through the police station.
He comes to an office marked “SUPERINTENDANT SMITH”, where he OPENS the door to find
Superintendant Smith and Detective Nock are in the middle of a genial conversation.
The Superintendant turns to Staehl.
SUPERINTENDANT SMITH
Can I help you?
SERGEANT STAEHL
Sirs, I think I’ve got him.
SUPERINTENDANT SMITH
Got who?
SERGEANT STAEHL
Turing.
Detective Nock looks at Staehl — “Shhhh!”
The Superintendant looks at Nock — “You didn’t...”
SERGEANT STAEHL (CONT’D)
I trailed Turing to a pub last
night, where he met a bloke. They
exchanged an envelope. So I
followed the guy, picked him up,
gave him a good shake... Here, I’ll
show you.
SUPERINTENDANT SMITH
(to Nock, angry)
You and I will discuss this later.
(to Staehl)
Sergeant.
They follow Staehl out to...
As Nock and Smith stands outside the INTERROGATION ROOM, Sergeant Staehl points through the window in the door:
Inside is ARNOLD MURRAY, 20s, nervous.
SERGEANT STAEHL
He’s a bloody poofter. He
confessed.
Staehl shows Nock and Smith a SIGNED STATEMENT.
DETECTIVE NOCK
What?
SERGEANT STAEHL
The man admitted it. Arnold Murray.
Bit of a hustler. Hangs around that
pub, men pay him for a go. Turing
is one of the men who paid. Only,
Mr. Murray got the bright idea to
rob Turing’s house after, with a
friend. That’s what Turing was
hiding: He’s a poof, not a spy.
DETECTIVE NOCK
No.
SUPERINTENDANT SMITH
This is good work, Sergeant. Quite
good.
DETECTIVE NOCK
No, it’s not.
SERGEANT STAEHL
What’s the matter? We can charge a
university professor with
indecency.
DETECTIVE NOCK
No. No. This is bloody rubbish.
Turing is up to something
important, not getting his jollies
in some pub.
SUPERINTENDANT SMITH
He committed a crime. He broke the
law. And with a bloke, Christ, it’s
bloody disgusting.
DETECTIVE NOCK
I don’t care if it’s disgusting.
This is not the investigation I was
conducting.
SUPERINTENDANT SMITH
Clearly.
(to Staehl)
Bring him in.
DETECTIVE NOCK
Wait. Let me interrogate him.
SUPERINTENDANT SMITH
You’re asking me for a favour right
now?
DETECTIVE NOCK
Please. I know him. I know he’s
hiding something and I know I can
get him to talk... Give me half an
hour alone and then I swear to you
I will spend the next month running
errands on as many rubbish cases as
you like.
SUPERINTENDANT SMITH
... Fine. Now will someone get a
warrant for the arrest of Alan
Turing?
CUT TO:
Joan comes home to her flat. She looks sad as she puts her key in the lock and opens the door.
She enters to find:
HUNDREDS OF MATHEMATICAL PAPERS ARE SCATTERED ALL OVER HER LIVING ROOM.
She sighs.
JOAN CLARKE
Alan?
At the sound of her voice, Alan comes out of the wash room, wiping the shaving cream from his face. He’s moving and talking a mile a minute.
ALAN TURING
Christopher is simply not moving
fast enough.
JOAN CLARKE
We should talk.
Joan sits down, sadly.
ALAN TURING
(totally oblivious)
Even with the diagonal board he’s
not eliminating settings as quickly
as —
JOAN CLARKE
Alan, I’m leaving.
ALAN TURING
You just walked in.
JOAN CLARKE
No. Bletchley.
ALAN TURING
What?
JOAN CLARKE
It’s my parents... I am twenty-five
and I am unmarried and I am living
alone... And they want me home.
ALAN TURING
That’s ridiculous.
JOAN CLARKE
That’s my parents.
ALAN TURING
You cannot leave. I won’t let you.
JOAN CLARKE
“I’ll miss you.” That’s what a
normal person might say in this
situation.
ALAN TURING
I don’t care what’s normal.
JOAN CLARKE
“I’ll write.” That’d work too.
ALAN TURING
No. This is unacceptable. You are
not leaving and that is that.
JOAN CLARKE
What am I supposed to do, Alan? I
will not give up my parents. The
world is burning to ash and they
are my family and they want me
home.
ALAN TURING
You have the opportunity here to
make some actual use of your life —
JOAN CLARKE
— And end up like you? No thanks.
I’m sorry you’re lonely. I’m sorry
no one likes you.
But Enigma will not save you. Can
you decypher that, you fragile
narcissist? Or do you need me to
fetch your precious Christopher for
help?
Silence.
Alan looks like she just slapped him across the face. Which she basically did.
JOAN CLARKE (CONT’D)
... I’m sorry.
ALAN TURING
I want you to stay because I like
you.
JOAN CLARKE
I know.
ALAN TURING
I like talking to you.
JOAN CLARKE
I like talking to you, too, Alan.
ALAN TURING
What if you weren’t living alone...
If you had a husband?
JOAN CLARKE
You have one in mind?
ALAN TURING
I do.
JOAN CLARKE
Hugh is terribly attractive, I’ll
give you that, but he’s really not
the marrying type.
ALAN TURING
I wasn’t referring to Hugh.
JOAN CLARKE
Peter? He’s so quiet...
Alan stares at Joan. She stares back.
JOAN CLARKE (CONT’D)
(getting it)
Oh dear Lord.
ALAN TURING
This makes sense.
JOAN CLARKE
Did you just propose to me?
ALAN TURING
It’s the logical thing to do.
JOAN CLARKE
This is ridiculous.
ALAN TURING
This is your parents.
JOAN CLARKE
(trying to process)
I cannot believe this is happening.
Alan fishes a piece of ELECTRICAL WIRE from his pocket...
ALAN TURING
Joan Ca... Wait, is your middle
name Caroline or Catherine?
JOAN CLARKE
Elizabeth.
ALAN TURING
Joan Elizabeth Clarke, will you
marry me?
... And then FASHIONS IT INTO A RING.
ON JOAN’S FACE: What’s she going to do?
SMASH CUT TO:
An impromptu ENGAGEMENT PARTY in the Beer Hut that night:
— A BANNER made from PUNCH CARDS reads: “CONGRATULATIONS!”
— Music plays as DANCERS TWIRL in the center of the Hut.
— Joan LAUGHS with her WREN FRIENDS in one corner, while in another Alan drinks beer with his team.
ON JOAN AND THE GIRLS: She shows off her makeshift wire engagement ring:
JOAN’S FRIEND
(trying her best)
... It’s... beautiful?
Joan LAUGHS. She understands.
JOAN CLARKE
I know it’s not an ordinary ring...
She looks over at Alan warmly.
JOAN CLARKE (CONT’D)
... But who ever loved ordinary?
ON ALAN AND THE BOYS: They’re are all a bit drunk, TELLING DIRTY STORIES:
HUGH ALEXANDER
... So she’s got it in her hands,
right, and she looks up at me and
says, “I’m to put it in my mouth?”
And I say, “yes, you know. The
French way.” So she pops it in,
closes her lips around the thing...
And then she starts humming the
bloody Marseillaise!
The men BURST INTO LAUGHTER.
Except for Alan, who looks a bit confused.
PETER HILTON
(to Alan)
What about you and Joan? Does she
do it the French way?
Alan looks away, uncomfortable.
HUGH ALEXANDER
Soon enough, you lucky bastard.
Just then, Joan comes over and throws an affectionate arm around Alan.
JOAN CLARKE
Care for a dance?
HUGH ALEXANDER
No no, your fiancé can dance with
you anytime he likes. Now it’s my
turn.
Hugh takes Joan’s hand, and leads her across the room. They begin to DANCE, while Peter follows, dancing with one of Joan’s friends.
Alan and John are left alone at the table.
Alan looks worried.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
What’s the matter?
ALAN TURING
... What if I don’t fancy... being
with Joan in that way?
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
Because you’re a homosexual?
Alan looks at him, surprised.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS (CONT’D)
I suspected. You’re not quite as
much of an enigma as you think you
are. Or as much as Enigma is.
ALAN TURING
Should I tell Joan? I’ve had
affairs. With other men.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
You know, in my admittedly limited
experience, women tend to be a bit
touchy about accidentally marrying
homosexuals. I think perhaps not
spreading this information around
might be in your best interest.
ALAN TURING
Having children, a family... I want
that with her. I do. I just don’t
know if I can... Pretend...
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
You can’t tell anyone, Alan. It’s
illegal. And Denniston is looking
for any excuse he can get to put
you away.
ALAN TURING
... I know.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
This has to stay a secret, or trust
me, they’ll kill you for it.
ON ALAN: He knows John is right.
As Alan thinks, Joan comes back over and offers him her hand.
JOAN CLARKE
Come on, now it’s your turn.
She leads him to the dance floor.
As they START TO DANCE, chastely, sweetly, WE
CUT TO:
CLOSE ON A LETTER: “I LOVE YOU” is written on the paper.
REVEAL: Young Alan sits in his dormitory room, ENCRYPTING his love letter to Christopher.
Slowly, letter by letter, Alan transforms “I LOVE YOU” into code...
Hearing a commotion, Alan LOOKS OUT THE WINDOW:
BOYS are being unloaded from a BUS at the gates, dropped off to begin the new spring term.
Alan sees them all, excited: Christopher is coming back!
He STUFFS HIS ENCRYPTED LETTER IN AN ENVELOPE and RUNS OFF to
Alan waits eagerly by the main gate as BOYS STREAM PAST —
— Joking, horsing around —
— Alan waits patiently, looking for Christopher’s face among the rowdy schoolboys —
— Until: They’re all gone.
Christopher never shows.
Alan looks at his undelivered note, then at the empty yard before him.
Where is Christopher?
Confused, Young Alan finally gives up...
... When he runs into the PACK OF BOYS who beat him up earlier.
BOY #1
Well look. Mr. Turing is all alone.
Young Alan stands frozen as they come at him, and we
CUT TO:
Alan Turing sits alone in the interrogation room with his eyes closed.
Detective Nock enters.
DETECTIVE NOCK
Cup of tea?
ALAN TURING
(eyes closed)
Thanks, no.
DETECTIVE NOCK
... Mr. Turing, may I tell you a
secret?
ALAN TURING
I’m quite good with those.
DETECTIVE NOCK
I’m here to help you.
Suddenly, Alan opens his eyes.
ALAN TURING
(re: being in jail)
Clearly.
DETECTIVE NOCK
(changing tacks)
... Can machines think?
ALAN TURING
You’ve read my published work.
DETECTIVE NOCK
What makes you say that?
ALAN TURING
Because I’m sitting in a police
station, accused of entreating a
young man to touch my penis, and
you’re asking me whether machines
can think.
DETECTIVE NOCK
Can they? Could machines ever think
as human beings do?
ALAN TURING
Most people say no.
DETECTIVE NOCK
You’re not most people.
ALAN TURING
The problem is that you’re asking a
stupid question.
DETECTIVE NOCK
I am?
ALAN TURING
Of course machines can’t think “as
human beings do.” A machine is
different from a human being;
hence, it would think differently.
The interesting question is, just
because something thinks
differently from you, does that
mean it’s not thinking? We allow
that humans have such divergences
from one another. You like
strawberries. I hate ice-skating.
You cry at sad films. I’m allergic
to pollen. What does it mean to
have different tastes — different
preferences — other than to say
that our brains work differently?
That we think differently from one
another? And if we can say that
about each another, why can’t we
say the same for brains made of
copper and steel?
DETECTIVE NOCK
That’s... This big paper you
wrote... What’s it called?
ALAN TURING
“The Imitation Game.”
DETECTIVE NOCK
Right. That’s what it’s about?
ALAN TURING
(thinking)
... Would you like to play?
DETECTIVE NOCK
Play?
ALAN TURING
The game. It’s a test, of sorts.
For determining whether something
is a machine, or a human being.
DETECTIVE NOCK
How do we play?
ALAN TURING
There’s a judge, and a subject. The
judge asks questions, and based on
the subject’s answers, he
determines: Who is he speaking
with? What is he speaking with? All
you have to do is ask me a
question.
DETECTIVE NOCK
... What did you do during the war?
ALAN TURING
I worked in a radio factory.
DETECTIVE NOCK
What did you really do during the
war?
Alan smiles — Detective Nock is smarter than he looks.
ALAN TURING
... Are you paying attention?
Alan and his team — Hugh, John, Peter — anxiously stand before Alan’s huge machine as it CLACK CLACK CLACKS, ferociously loud.
The gears are spinning, current is flowing through the wires, and the team stares at it, taking turns compulsively checking their watches.
ON ALAN: This is going to work. This has to work.
Suddenly...
... DING. The chime announces the stroke of midnight.
HUGH ALEXANDER
Damn it!
Everyone is pissed, frustrated.
Alan looks as if he’s about to rip his own hair out: Why won’t this damned thing work?
As the machine CLACKS on, oblivious, they all walk outside:
The team walks across Bletchley together, moving as one through the most highly secret war zone in the world.
MORE SECURITY has been added throughout the park, including along the path from Hut 11 — ARMED GUARDS check IDs, which the team hands over absentmindedly.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
We’re soon out of time. Our
month...
PETER HILTON
So that’s it then. We lost.
HUGH ALEXANDER
It does not matter how much we
improve on it, that machine will
never be able to check 159 million
million million possibilities in
time.
ALAN TURING
It’s searching... It’s just... It
doesn’t know what it’s searching
for... If only we knew what the
messages were going to say...
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
If we knew what the messages were
going to say, we wouldn’t have to
decrypt them at all.
ON ALAN: Maybe it was always impossible after all.
It’s crowded in the beer hut, even this late at night.
On one side of the room, Alan, Hugh, John, and Peter are drinking. Commiserating about their fate.
On the other side, Joan is drinking with her friend HELEN — a fellow WREN.
ON JOAN AND HELEN:
HELEN
Who’s Alan’s friend?
JOAN CLARKE
Hugh? Bit of a cad, actually.
HELEN
So my type then?
JOAN CLARKE
Here, I’ll introduce you.
HELEN
No! Lord, engaged for a fortnight
and you’ve already forgotten how to
do this? He’ll come over.
JOAN CLARKE
Are you sure?
HELEN
Yes. I smiled at him fifteen
minutes ago and haven’t looked at
him since.
ON HUGH, ALAN, JOHN, AND PETER:
Hugh is looking at the girls.
HUGH ALEXANDER
(re: Helen)
Who’s that, then?
ALAN TURING
Helen? Works with Joan in the
WREN’s hut.
PETER HILTON
You do have a point about the
little hats.
HUGH ALEXANDER
She wants me to come over.
ALAN TURING
How can you possibly know that?
HUGH ALEXANDER
She smiled at me awhile back and
hasn’t looked again since.
ON JOAN AND HELEN:
HELEN
(re: Hugh’s glances)
And... Got him.
JOAN CLARKE
Is it odd that when I was single
this game felt tedious, but now it
seems just dreadfully fun?
ON THE BOYS:
HUGH ALEXANDER
(re: Helen’s glances)
And... Brilliant. She’s in. Alan,
introduce me.
ALAN TURING
Why me?
HUGH ALEXANDER
Because there is nothing like a
friend’s engagement to make a woman
want to do something she will later
regret with the fiancé’s better-
looking chum.
Hugh drags Alan across the pub to Helen and Joan.
ON JOHN AND PETER:
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
Half crown says Alan bollockses
this up entirely.
PETER HILTON
No bet.
ON HUGH, ALAN, JOAN, AND HELEN:
HUGH ALEXANDER
(to the ladies)
Alan Turing has a theory.
JOAN CLARKE
He has many.
HUGH ALEXANDER
He believes that the regulations
against men and women working side-
by-side are sound, because such
proximity will necessarily lead to
romance.
ALAN TURING
No I don’t —
Hugh KICKS Alan, who shuts up.
HUGH ALEXANDER
— However, I disagree.
HELEN
You do?
HUGH ALEXANDER
I think that if I were working
beside a woman all day long, I
could manage to appreciate her
abilities and intellect without
needing to take her to bed.
(to Helen)
Pardon, have we met?
HELEN
I don’t recall. But let’s assume we
haven’t.
Hugh looks at Alan for an introduction: Alan is silent.
Joan picks up the slack:
JOAN CLARKE
Helen Stewart, Hugh Alexander.
HUGH ALEXANDER
So who do you agree with? Alan or
myself?
HELEN
Well, Alan, of course.
ALAN TURING
I’m flattered, but this is not
actually —
Now Joan KICKS Alan, who is still very confused.
HUGH ALEXANDER
— Rubbish.
HELEN
I work beside a man every day, and
I can’t help but have developed a
bit of a crush on him.
HUGH ALEXANDER
Well who is this man, so I can kick
his arse?
HELEN
Oh, it’s been chaste, you’ve no
need to worry. We’ve never even
met. He’s a German.
HUGH ALEXANDER
Now I really want to kill him.
ALAN TURING
How do you mean you work alongside
a German?
HELEN
Each of us intercepts messages from
a specific German radio tower. So
we’ve a counterpart on the other
side, who’s tip-tapping out the
messages. Everybody types a touch
differently; you get to know the
rhythm of your counterpart. It’s
strangely intimate. I feel as if we
know each other. Pity he has a
girlfriend... But that’s why I
disagree with you. I’m in love with
a co-worker, of sorts, even if
we’ve never met.
HUGH ALEXANDER
I’ll require another pint to tell
you why you’re wrong.
HELEN
Let’s.
Helen and Hugh walk away to the bar...
JOAN CLARKE
(to Alan)
That’s what flirting looks like. In
case you were curious.
But Alan is lost in thought...
Something is wrong...
ALAN TURING
(screaming)
HELEN!!!
Everyone in the room turns and stares at him.
Joan winces.
Helen and Hugh come back over.
HELEN
Yes, Alan?
ALAN TURING
Why do you think your German
counterpart has a girlfriend?
HELEN
Oh, it’s a stupid joke, don’t worry
about it.
ALAN TURING
Tell me.
HELEN
Each one of his messages begins
with the same five letters. C-I-L-L-
Y. So I suspect Cilly must be the
name of his amore.
ALAN TURING
That’s impossible. The Germans are
instructed to choose five letters
at random to start every message.
HELEN
Well, this bloke doesn’t.
HUGH ALEXANDER
Love’ll make a man do strange
things, I suppose. Anyhow —
ALAN TURING
— In this case, love just lost the
Germans the whole bloody war.
Alan BOLTS out of the bar —
— SPILLING BEER ALL OVER HELEN —
— Who CRIES OUT, and ANGRILY RUNS OFF —
— Leaving Hugh and Joan standing there, confused.
They share a look: What’s gotten into Alan?
Joan quickly RUNS OFF after Alan —
— Hugh follows suit —
— And John and Peter, seeing this across the room, take off after Hugh —
Everyone chases Alan across Bletchley Park —
— GUARDS YELL at Alan as he bypasses security checkpoints —
— Guards are screaming at them, drawing guns as he and Joan barrel into Hut 8 —
— Hugh and John show their IDs to the Guards, yelling back at them —
— Hugh and John finally get rid of the guards and enter:
— Joan runs into the Hut to find that Alan has grabbed a BOX OF PREVIOUSLY DECRYPTED MESSAGES —
— Alan POURS those messages out all over the floor —
JOAN CLARKE
Alan?
— Hugh, John, and Peter enter as Alan spreads the messages out on the floor. (Just like he did in Joan’s flat!)
ALAN TURING
What if Christopher doesn’t have to
search through all the settings?
What if he only had to search the
ones that produce the words we
already know will be in the
message?
HUGH ALEXANDER
Repeated words! Predictable
words...
— They all search the messages with Alan —
— Joan holds up a DECRYPT: It’s the same one she read earlier.
JOAN CLARKE
Like this?
(reading aloud)
“0600 hours. Weather today is
clear. Rain in the evening. Heil
Hitler.”
ALAN TURING
Yes! That’s it!
(looking at message)
They send a weather report at 6AM.
Every day. That means there are
three words we already know will be
in the 6am message. “Weather,”
obviously, and —
HUGH ALEXANDER
— “Heil bloody Hitler.”
ALAN TURING
Heil bloody Hitler.
Joan searches through a PILE, finding:
JOAN CLARKE
Here’s the 6 o’clock message from
this morning.
Joan holds the message as they all run out to:
Alan runs from Hut 8 to Hut 11, the team chasing behind him.
Alan, Joan, John, Peter and Hugh burst in —
ALAN TURING
Hugh — the right hand letter-rings.
Set them to —
HUGH ALEXANDER
— I know, I know. “Veter.”
“Hitler.”
— Hugh turns the rings while —
ALAN TURING
— Peter, John — Run voltage from
those rings through the back
scramblers —
— John and Peter go around back —
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
— So we’ll use the loops?
ALAN TURING
— Yes. Joan, what’s the last 6am
message?
Joan reads aloud to Alan as he enters it in:
JOAN CLARKE
L - H - W - A - U - Q - X - K...
They all stand back as Alan TURNS ON the machine.
They watch the CLACK CLACK CLACK of Christopher as he processes the message...
— They’re nervous, fretting, anxiously awaiting his calculations...
... Finally, Christopher STOPS.
Silence, as a SERIES OF ROTORS on the side of Christopher snap into place, displaying a SET OF LETTERS.
PETER HILTON
What happened? Did it work?
Alan SCRIBBLES down the letters (”EXBAO...”) and they all run back to —
Where Alan takes a DUMMY ENIGMA MACHINE, turns the machine’s rotors to the setting he wrote down (”EXBAO...”) —
ALAN TURING
Give me a fresh message. The last
one we intercepted.
Peter hands Alan one from a nearby folder —
— Alan starts typing one of today’s gibberish encrypted messages into Enigma —
— As John TAKES DOWN the decoded German letters —
— Hugh looks at what John is writing and TRANSLATES the German into English —
HUGH ALEXANDER
“KMS Jaguar... Is auf punkt — is
directed - 53 degrees, 24 minutes
north... And auf punkt 1 degree
west...”
HUGH ALEXANDER (CONT’D) ALAN TURING “... Heil Hitler.” “... Heil Hitler.”
Alan and Hugh look at each other: Oh my god.
ALAN TURING
Turns out that’s the only German
you need to know to break Enigma.
The team EXPLODES WITH JOY.
LAUGHING, HOOTING, SCREAMING, JUMPING, HUGGING.
This is the happiest moment of their lives.
John even starts to TEAR UP, and TRIES TO HUG ALAN —
— Who just STANDS THERE, limp.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
(re: Alan)
Not a hugger. Probably could have
guessed that.
Dawn rises over Bletchley Park.
The team has been there working all through the night.
There’s a flurry of activity: Decoding messages, translating the decrypts, reading the information contained within.
Hugh steps back for a moment to look at the product of their work: A BIG MAP ON THE WALL.
ON THE MAP: It’s the Atlantic Ocean. Blue pins represent the Allied ships, red ones represent the Axis ships.
HUGH ALEXANDER
You did it.
(turns to Alan)
Bloody hell, you did it. You just
defeated Nazism with a crossword
puzzle. What does it feel like to
do the impossible?
ON ALAN’S FACE: He’s not sure. Something is bothering him, but he can’t figure out what.
John steps back from his work to join Hugh.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
There are five people in the world
who know the position of every ship
in the Atlantic. They are all in
this room.
Now Joan joins Hugh and John in seeing the full map for the first time.
JOAN CLARKE
Oh my good God.
HUGH ALEXANDER
I don’t think even He has the power
that we do right now.
JOAN CLARKE
(getting closer to map)
There’s going to be an attack on a
British passenger convoy. There.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
You’re right. Those U-Boats are
only twenty or thirty minutes away.
JOAN CLARKE
Civilians. Hundreds of them. We can
save their lives.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
And knock out a whole German fleet
in the process.
HUGH ALEXANDER
I’ll call Denniston. Have him radio
his Admirals immediately.
Hugh picks up the phone —
ALAN TURING
(figuring something out)
No.
JOAN CLARKE
Is there enough time to save them?
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
Should be. If we can get a message
to the passenger convoy, she can
turn —
Hugh DIALS —
ALAN TURING
(louder)
No. No.
HUGH ALEXANDER
(into phone)
— Commander Denniston’s office —
ALAN TURING
NO.
HUGH ALEXANDER
(into phone)
— This is urgent, top priority —
ALAN TURING
NO!!!
Alan LEAPS ACROSS THE ROOM and GRABS THE PHONE FROM HUGH.
HUGH ALEXANDER
What the bloody hell?
Hugh tries to grab the phone back —
— But Alan pulls away sharply.
Everyone STOPS. Turns. Looks at Alan.
HUGH ALEXANDER (CONT’D)
Are you mad?
ALAN TURING
No. No. You can’t call Denniston.
You can’t tell him about the
attack.
JOAN CLARKE
Alan, are you all right? What’s
going on?
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
We can have air support over the
passenger convoy in ten minutes.
ALAN TURING
No. Let the U-Boats sink the
convoy.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
Look, this has been a big day,
maybe you’re going through a bit of
shock —
HUGH ALEXANDER
— There’s no time for this.
Hugh tries to GRAB THE PHONE from Alan —
— but Alan PULLS it away and SMASHES THE PHONE AGAINST THE GROUND.
JOAN CLARKE
Alan!
Hugh can’t take it anymore —
— He TAKES A SWING AT ALAN —
— Who CRUMPLES AT THE BLOW ON HIS JAW —
— Hugh stares down at Alan, who’s bleeding on the floor —
— Hugh WINDS UP FOR ANOTHER PUNCH —
— When Joan CATCHES HIS ARM mid-swing —
— Surprised, Hugh instinctively SWINGS AT HER —
— Smacking Joan hard across the face.
— He’s stunned by what he’s done as she responds by PUSHING HIM INTO A TABLE —
— And Hugh falls to the floor, next to Alan.
Joan stands above them.
JOAN CLARKE (CONT’D)
(to Hugh)
If you hurt him, you will just
barely live to regret it.
Silence. Just the sounds of panting.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
Everyone stop. Please. Calm down.
PETER HILTON
The attack is in minutes. We don’t
have time to calm down.
ALAN TURING
Do you know why people like
violence, Hugh? Because it feels
good.
(wipes blood from his nose)
It would feel good to blow those U-
Boats out of the Atlantic. But
sometimes we can’t do what feels
good. We have to do what’s logical.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
What’s logical?
ALAN TURING
The hardest time to lie is when the
other person is expecting to be
lied to.
JOAN CLARKE
(getting it)
Oh my God.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
What?
ALAN TURING
If they’re waiting for a lie, you
can’t just give them one.
JOAN CLARKE
Oh my God. Damn it. Alan’s right.
PETER HILTON
What?!?
ALAN TURING
What will the Germans think if we
destroy those U-Boats?
PETER HILTON
Nothing. They’ll be dead.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
(getting it)
No. No. You can’t be right.
PETER HILTON
Am I the only one who’s still not
getting this?
ALAN TURING
Suddenly our convoy veers off
course and a fleet of RAF bombers
magically descends on the location
of a pack of U-Boats? What will the
Germans think?
PETER HILTON
Hugh?
HUGH ALEXANDER
... The Germans will know we broke
Enigma.
JOAN CLARKE
They’ll put a halt on radio
communication by noon.
And they’ll have the design of
Enigma changed by the weekend.
ALAN TURING
Two years of work. Everything we’ve
done here. It’ll all be for
nothing.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
There are 500 people in that
convoy. Civilians. Women. Children.
We’re about to let them die.
ALAN TURING
Our job wasn’t to save one
passenger convoy. It was to win the
war.
HUGH ALEXANDER
Our job was to break Enigma.
ALAN TURING
Done. Now for the hard part:
keeping it a secret. Forever.
Peter looks at the map...
PETER HILTON
It’s the Carlisle.
They all look at him.
JOAN CLARKE
What?
PETER HILTON
The convoy you’re about to...
It’s... The HMS Carlisle is one of
the ships.
ALAN TURING
So?
PETER HILTON
We can’t act on every piece of
intelligence? Fine. We won’t. Just
this one. The Germans won’t find us
out if we stop one attack.
JOAN CLARKE
What’s gotten into you, Peter?
PETER HILTON
... My brother. Phillip. He’s on
the Carlisle. Gunnery ensign.
Silence. Fuck.
ALAN TURING
I’m sorry.
PETER HILTON
Who the hell do you think you are?
This is my brother. My big brother.
He was the only one — Look, he was
there after my mum — He’s my big
brother, alright, and you have a
few minutes to call off his murder.
ALAN TURING
It’s not my fault.
Peter DIVES for Alan —
— But John stops him.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
Alan is right. We can’t.
PETER HILTON
AND WHY THE BLOODY HELL NOT? I am
begging you. Alan. Joan. Hugh.
John. Please. I am begging you.
Just this once. Just one time. The
Germans won’t get suspicious just
because we stopped one attack. It’s
one time. No one will know. I’m
asking you. As your friend. If I
mean anything to you. Please.
Silence. This is the hardest thing anyone in this room has ever had to do.
ALAN TURING
I’m so sorry.
PETER HILTON
You’re not God, Alan. You don’t get
to decide who lives and who dies.
ALAN TURING
Yes, we do.
PETER HILTON
Why? Why?
ALAN TURING
Because no one else can.
Alan and Joan ride the train from Bletchley into London.
They know what they have to do.
Alan and Joan exit the train and walk down the platform.
In a quiet TEA SHOP, Alan, Joan, and Stewart Menzies sip their Twinings. Outside the GLASS WINDOWS, NURSES help WOUNDED SOLDIERS out of an AMBULANCE and into a local HOSPITAL.
STEWART MENZIES
... Why are you telling me this?
ALAN TURING
We need your help to keep this from
the Admiralty. Army. RAF. No one
can know we broke Enigma, not even
Denniston.
STEWART MENZIES
Who is in the process of having you
fired.
JOAN CLARKE
You’ll take care of that.
ALAN TURING
While we develop a system for
determining how much intelligence
to act on. Which attacks to stop,
which to let through. Statistical
analysis. The minimum number of
actions it’ll take to win the war,
but the maximum number we’re able
to take before the Germans get
suspicious.
STEWART MENZIES
You’re going to trust this all to
statistics? To maths?
ALAN TURING
Correct.
JOAN CLARKE
And then MI-6 can come up with the
lies we’ll tell everyone else.
ALAN TURING
We’ll require a believable
alternate source for each piece of
information we use.
JOAN CLARKE
A false story that exlains how we
got that information, that has
nothing to do with Enigma. And then
you’ll need to leak those stories
to the Germans.
ALAN TURING
And the rest of our military.
JOAN CLARKE
Can you do that?
STEWART MENZIES
Maintain a conspiracy of lies
through the highest levels of our
government? Yes, that sounds right
up my alley.
ON ALAN AND JOAN: Okay. Let’s do it.
STEWART MENZIES (CONT’D)
(smiling)
Alan, I so rarely have cause to say
this. But you are exactly the man I
always hoped you would be.
Alan and Joan ride the train back to Bletchley.
She reaches out and puts her hand in his. They’re in this so deep now... But at least they’re in it together.
At 6am, dawn is threatening to break across the Park.
ALAN TURING (V.O.)
They codenamed it “Ultra.”
But in the WREN’S HUT, the women eagerly await the coming of the day’s first messages —
— And a sudden BEEP BEEP BEEP announces that they have. The WRENs quickly take down the first messages —
ALAN TURING (V.O.)
And it quickly became the largest
store of military intelligence in
the history of the world.
A WREN removes the first few dozen from a pile —
— And hands it over to another WREN —
— In Hut 11, the WREN gives the day’s first messages to Hugh, who enters them into Christopher —
ALAN TURING (V.O.)
It was like having a tap on
Himmler’s intercom.
— Christopher HUMS —
— And Hugh, after a few minutes, reads the day’s Enigma settings on the machine’s read-out: “FSOQR”
Jack turns his Enigma machine to the day’s setting — “FSOQR” — and one by one types in the newly intercepted messages, recording the now decrypted results in a BOOKLET. On the cover, the booklet is marked: “ULTRA.”
ALAN TURING (V.O.)
Secrecy became the primary concern.
And for some reason they trusted
me.
Alan organizes stacks of similar ULTRA booklets when he has trouble finding one of them — He looks up to see Peter walking nearby.
ALAN TURING
Peter, do you have the 9:30
decrypts —
But instead of answering, Peter BUMPS HARD against Alan’s shoulder, scattering Alan’s papers to the floor.
Jack looks over. Peter keeps on walking.
No one helps Alan as he bends down to clean up his papers. Peter LEAVES Hut 8 without speaking a single word.
ON ALAN: He’s kneeling down in front of John’s MESSY DESK, picking up papers from the floor, when his eyes come level with something on the desk...
... It’s a BOOK. Buried underneath CRYPTOGRAPHIC PAPERS.
Alan stares at it strangely. Something about its shape and colour look familiar... He UNCOVERS it...
IT’S A BIBLE.
Holy shit.
There’s a page dog-eared. Alan opens to the page — it’s Matthew 7:7. “Seek and ye shall find...”
ON ALAN: JOHN CAIRNCROSS IS THE SOVIET SPY.
Suddenly:
JOHN CAIRNCROSS (O.S.)
Peter will come around eventually.
Alan turns and stands — there’s John, right behind him.
ON JOHN: He sees something on Alan’s face. Something is wrong. He looks down at the desk... AND SEES THE UNCOVERED BIBLE.
What’s John going to do? Alan is terrified...
JOHN CAIRNCROSS (CONT’D)
... Jack, could you give Alan and I
a moment?
Across the room, Jack looks over. Whatever is going on between Alan and John, he wants no part of it.
Jack leaves.
Alan is now alone with John, the Soviet spy.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS (CONT’D)
... The Soviets and us, we’re all
on the same side. What I’m doing
will help Britain.
ALAN TURING
I’ll tell Denniston.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
No you won’t. Because if you tell
him my secret, I’ll tell him yours.
ON ALAN: Oh God, John was the one person he trusted.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS (CONT’D)
Do you know what they do to
homosexuals? You’ll never be able
to work again. Never be able to
teach. Your precious machine —
doubt you’ll ever see him again.
ON ALAN: Looks down. He’s beaten.
He puts an understanding hand on Alan’s shoulder.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS (CONT’D)
Until the history books are ready
to call you a hero, sometimes you
have to play the villain.
And with that, John takes his bible and leaves.
ON ALAN: What’s he going to do?
Alan borrows a phone in the central mansion.
ALAN TURING
(into phone)
I need to speak to Menzies...
... But frustrated by the response he hears, Alan HANGS UP.
Alan bursts into Joan’s flat to tell her what he’s found.
ALAN TURING
Joan! Joan! Are you there?
It’s dark. He FLICKS ON THE LIGHT...
REVEAL: The room has been ransacked.
Clothes, books, papers scattered everywhere.
ALAN TURING (CONT’D)
— Joan?!?
He quickly moves through the flat: What happened here?
ALAN TURING (CONT’D)
Joan, are you okay? Where are you?
Runs to the back bedroom, where he finds...
... Stewart Menzies. Calmly looking over some papers.
ALAN TURING (CONT’D)
Where’s Joan?
STEWART MENZIES
Military prison.
ALAN TURING
What have you done?
STEWART MENZIES
(holding up papers)
Decoded Enigma intercepts. A stack
of them under her nightstand.
ON ALAN: Fuck.
ALAN TURING
I gave those to her. A year ago.
When she was with the clerks I was—
STEWART MENZIES
— Yes yes yes, I’m sure. But
Denniston has been looking for a
Soviet spy, and he’s been looking
for one inside Hut 8.
ALAN TURING
I know who the Soviet agent is.
It’s not Joan.
Menzies looks at Alan: Who is it if not her?
ALAN TURING (CONT’D)
... I found the bible... The spy is
John Cairncross.
Menzies SMILES. As if he’s impressed.
STEWART MENZIES
... God, how I wish you’d been the
spy. You’re so much better at this
than he is.
ALAN TURING
You knew Cairncross was the spy?
STEWART MENZIES
Well of course Cairncross was the
bloody spy.
I’ve known that since before he got
to Bletchley. Why do you think I
had him placed here?
QUICK CUT TO:
Flash to the first scene where Alan met his new team after arriving at Bletchley. Commander Denniston explains how Enigma works, while Menzies stands in the corner, observing.
Menzies keeps a special eye on Cairncross as Alan and Hugh compete over who knows more about cryptography.
STEWART MENZIES (V.O.)
You said yourself he was a piss-
poor mathematician.
CUT BACK TO:
ALAN TURING
You placed a Soviet agent at
Bletchley?
STEWART MENZIES
It’s quite useful to be able to
leak whatever we like to Stalin.
QUICK CUT TO:
A year earlier, John Cairncross exits the Main Gate of Bletchley carrying a SUITCASE —
STEWART MENZIES (V.O.)
Churchill is too damned paranoid.
He won’t share a shred of
intelligence with the Soviets.
CUT TO:
Cairncross walks through the village with the suitcase —
STEWART MENZIES (V.O.)
Even information that will help
them against the Germans. So much
secrecy...
CUT TO:
Cairncross comes to a MAILBOX, where under cover of night he OPENS HIS CASE —
— Removing A FOLDER OF COPIED ENIGMA INTERCEPTS —
— Which he then places in the mailbox.
STEWART MENZIES (V.O.)
Cairncross has no idea we know, of
course. Really not the brightest
bulb.
Cairncross WALKS AWAY into the night.
After he leaves, two MI-6 AGENTS come and UNLOCK THE MAILBOX—
— Removing his FOLDER —
— The Agents take SOME MESSAGES OUT, and put other NEW ONES BACK IN —
— Before re-sealing the folder and putting it back in the mailbox —
— And RE-LOCKING the mailbox lid.
CUT BACK TO:
STEWART MENZIES
That’s why I’ll need your help now
to work out what to leak to John.
What to feed the Soviets, as well
as the British.
ON ALAN: Flustered. Terrified.
ALAN TURING
I’m not a spy. I’m just a
mathematician.
STEWART MENZIES
I know a lot of spies, Alan. You’re
holding on to more secrets than the
best of them.
Menzies holds up the stolen decrypts. The threat is palpable.
ALAN TURING
You must promise to get Joan out of
prison.
STEWART MENZIES
She’s at the market. She’ll be back
in an hour. I lied.
(puts the decrypts into his pocket)
I’d better hold on to these. If
anyone finds out about them, prison
will be the least of her worries.
ON ALAN: What choice does he have? He looks down.
STEWART MENZIES (CONT’D)
Oh Alan. We’re going to have such a
wonderful war together.
Joan walks towards Hut 8, showing her ID to the new GUARDS who are closely monitoring entry to the Huts.
In front of Hut 8, Alan watches her. Steeling himself up for what he has to do.
As she approaches, she sees Alan waiting for her. She smiles at him, but he doesn’t return it. Something is wrong.
Alan and Joan talk behind Hut 8.
ALAN TURING
... I need you to leave Bletchley.
JOAN CLARKE
(annoyed)
What?
ALAN TURING
Menzies. I don’t trust...
ON ALAN: He wants to tell her, but he can’t. It’s too dangerous.
ALAN TURING (CONT’D)
... I don’t think it’s safe here.
JOAN CLARKE
You think it’s safe somewhere else?
ALAN TURING
You need to leave, and you need to
get very far away from me.
JOAN CLARKE
Alan. What’s happened?
ON ALAN: This isn’t working. He’s going to have to try a different approach.
ALAN TURING
... We can’t be engaged anymore.
Your parents will have to take you
back and find you a husband
elsewhere.
JOAN CLARKE
What is wrong with you?
ALAN TURING
... There’s something I have to
tell you. I’m... I’m a homosexual.
JOAN CLARKE
Alright.
ON ALAN: What?
ALAN TURING
Men, Joan. Not women.
JOAN CLARKE
So what?
ALAN TURING
I just said —
JOAN CLARKE
— So what? I had my suspicions. I
always did. But we’re not like
other people. We love each other in
our own way, and we can still live
the life together that we want. You
won’t be the perfect husband? I can
promise you I harboured no
intention of being the perfect
wife. I’ll not be fixing your lamb
all day awaiting your return from
the office, will I? I’ll work.
You’ll work. We’ll have each
other’s company. We’ll have each
other’s minds. Sounds like a better
marriage than most. Because I care
for you. And you care for me. And
we understand one another more than
anyone else ever has.
ON ALAN: He needs to get rid of her, to save her, and she is making this impossible.
ALAN TURING
I don’t.
JOAN CLARKE
What?
ALAN TURING
Care for you. I never did. I only
needed you to break Enigma. And now
I’ve done it, so you can leave.
She SLAPS HIM.
JOAN CLARKE
I am not going anywhere. I have
spent entirely too much of my life
worried about what you think of me,
or what my parents think of me, or
what the boys in Hut 8 or the girls
in Hut 3 think, and you know I am
done with it. This work is the most
important thing I will ever do in
my life. And no one will stop me.
Least of all you.
Joan turns to walk away, and then, angry, she turns back.
She TOSSES HER WIRE ENGAGEMENT RING AT ALAN.
JOAN CLARKE (CONT’D)
... They were right. John. Hugh.
Peter. You really are a monster.
Alan watches her walk away, struggling to maintain his facade of icy indifference.
CUT TO:
Young Alan enters the HEADMASTER’S OFFICE.
YOUNG ALAN
You wanted to see me, Sir?
HEADMASTER
Turing. Sit down.
YOUNG ALAN
Is something the matter?
HEADMASTER
You and Christopher Morcom are
quite close.
YOUNG ALAN
I wouldn’t say that.
HEADMASTER
Your mathematics teacher says you
two are positively inseparable.
YOUNG ALAN
We’re the best students in the
class.
HEADMASTER
He caught you passing notes the
other day.
YOUNG ALAN
Cryptography. To pass the time. The
class is too simple.
HEADMASTER
You and your friend solve maths
problems during maths class because
maths class is too dull?
YOUNG ALAN
He’s not my friend.
HEADMASTER
I’ve been told he’s your only
friend.
YOUNG ALAN
Who said that?
HEADMASTER
Something has come up. About
Morcom.
YOUNG ALAN
Why am I here?
HEADMASTER
Christopher is dead.
YOUNG ALAN
... I don’t understand.
HEADMASTER
His mother sent word this morning.
The family was on holiday, you see.
YOUNG ALAN
I don’t understand.
HEADMASTER
He had bovine tuberculosis, as I’m
sure he told you. This mustn’t be a
shock, but all the same, I’m sorry.
YOUNG ALAN
You’re mistaken.
HEADMASTER
Did he not tell you? He’s been sick
for a long time. Knew this was
coming soon, but he had a stiff
upper lip about it. Good lad.
ON ALAN’S FACE: Christopher never told him.
HEADMASTER (CONT’D)
Are you all right, Turing?
YOUNG ALAN
Yes. Of course. As I said, I didn’t
know him well.
HEADMASTER
Ah. Very well then.
YOUNG ALAN
May I leave, Headmaster?
HEADMASTER
Of course. Oh, but Turing?
YOUNG ALAN
Yes, Sir?
HEADMASTER
Do pay more attention in maths
class, will you?
CUT TO:
Alan, Joan, John, Hugh, and Peter decrypt messages together for another two exhausting years.
ALAN TURING (V.O.)
The war dragged on for another two
solitary years.
Alan spends two years pressed shoulder-to-shoulder with the woman whose heart he broke. With the man whose dark secret he uncovered. With the man whose brother he allowed to die.
ALAN TURING (V.O.)
Every day we performed our blood-
soaked calculus. Every day we
decided who lived and who died. And
every day we guided the Allied
armies to victory without anyone
knowing.
INTERCUT WITH ARCHIVAL FOOTAGE: The FRONTLINE BATTLES whose outcomes, good and bad, are determined by the work of Hut 8. The MEDITERRANEAN FLEET is RAVAGED outside Sicily... 6,000 SHIPS launch for the surprise attack on Normandy...
ALAN TURING (V.O.)
Stalingrad? The Ardennes? Normandy?
None of those victories would have
been possible without the
intelligence we produced.
IN HUT 8: Peter and Hugh each decrypt a message, placing TWO BLUE PINS on the board, and then one RED. They look to Alan: Two British ships, and they can only save one of them.
Alan runs a statistical analysis of their options. We see KEY WORDS: “LIKELIHOOD OF DETECTION,” “CASUALTIES,” “MATERIAL LOSSES” interspersed with mathematical equations. Alan places his results into a GREEN FOLDER. A MESSENGER comes in and takes the folder to —
AN MI-6 WAR ROOM: The Messenger delivers the Green Folder to Menzies and a TEAM OF MI-6 AGENTS. They look over Alan’s analysis and decide what military actions to take. The Agents TELEPHONE Churchill’s office in London.
ARCHIVAL FOOTAGE: We see the impact of Hut 8’s work as a dozen British ships are BLOWN OUT OF THE OCEAN just north of Algiers, sacrificed for the greater good in Operation Torch.
BACK IN HUT 8: The team learns of the outcome as they decode more German messages. Peter takes the BLUE PIN down from the map, tossing it angrily in the trash. He looks at Alan, who looks away — another ship they could not save.
OUTSIDE BLETCHLEY VILLAGE: Alan RUNS at night on a dirt path along the outskirts of Bletchley. He runs for miles, sweating, panting, until his legs almost give way.
ALAN TURING (V.O.)
People talk about the war as this
epic battle between civilizations.
Good versus evil, liberty versus
tyranny. Armies of millions
bleeding into the mud, fleets of
ships that weighed down the oceans,
packs of airplanes that dropped
bombs until they blotted out the
sun itself. But it wasn’t.
QUIET MOMENTS IN HUT 8: Hugh lays a folded-up coat under a sleeping Peter’s head as a pillow. John makes tea for Joan.
ALAN TURING (V.O.)
The war was really just a half-
dozen crossword enthusiasts in a
tiny village in the south of
England.
ARCHIVAL FOOTAGE: On V-E Day, Churchill speaks to millions from a balcony in Whitehall. Truman dedicates the victory to Roosevelt as Times Square erupts into drunken cheers.
The whole world kisses. The whole world cries.
ALAN TURING (V.O.)
Was I God? No. Because God didn’t
win the war. I did.
All of Bletchley Park is celebrating the end of the war.
Flags are being waved, people are dancing, cheering.
But inside the central mansion:
Alan and his team are assembled before Stewart Menzies.
HUGH ALEXANDER
... What happens now? Back to the
university for us?
STEWART MENZIES
Yes. You’ve only one thing left to
do before your service to your
government is concluded.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS
What’s that?
STEWART MENZIES
Burn everything.
HUGH ALEXANDER
What?
STEWART MENZIES
We told you when you started that
this was a top secret program. Did
you think we were joking?
HUGH ALEXANDER
But the war is over.
ALAN TURING
This war is over. But there will be
more. And we know how to break a
code that everyone else thinks is
unbreakable.
STEWART MENZIES
(with a smile at Alan)
Alright. Tear it down, light it up,
sweep away the ashes. None of you
have ever met before. None of you
have ever even heard the word
Enigma. Have a safe trip home.
Behave, and with a bit of luck none
of you will ever see me — or one
another — again in your lives.
CUT TO:
Alan Turing finishes telling his story to Detective Nock.
DETECTIVE NOCK
That’s... Unbelievable.
ALAN TURING
That’s the Imitation Game.
DETECTIVE NOCK
I don’t know what to do now.
ALAN TURING
Now, Detective, you get to judge.
That’s how the game works. I
answered your questions. You know
my story. That’s the point of the
game. We are all pretending to be
something. Imitating something.
Someone. And we are no more, and no
less, than what we can convince
other people that we are. So tell
me: What am I? Am I a person? Am I
a machine? Am I a war hero? Am I a
criminal?
DETECTIVE NOCK
I can’t judge you.
ALAN TURING
Well then you’re no help to me at
all.
ON ALAN: Turning away. He’s done with Nock.
CUT TO:
A PLAINCLOTHES OFFICER walks through the police station, carrying a NEWSPAPER under his arm.
He makes his way to —
— Detective Nock’s desk.
PLAINCLOTHES OFFICER
Congratulations, Sir.
The Officer drops the newspaper in front of Nock.
The headline reads: “CAMBRIDGE PROFESSOR SENTENCED FOR INDECENCY”, above a photo of Alan.
ON NOCK: This should make him happy. But instead he feels only empty and sick.
We find Alan in his study. He’s gained weight since last we saw him — he’s grown paler as well. Haggard. And the place is a horrible mess.
He compares his half-built NEW MACHINE to the plans on his desk — his work progresses. Slowly.
(This is the machine we saw in the opening scene, which appears different but related to the Bletchley machine — like a newer model of the same basic concept.)
The doorbell RINGS. Alan ignores it, focused on his work.
It RINGS again. Irritated, he gets up and shuffles through his house —
— He’s walking with an odd limp, like it’s hard for him to move his legs normally —
— And as the bell keeps RINGING insistently he reaches the front door, opening it to find:
JOAN CLARKE
I had to find out from the bloody
newspapers.
CUT TO:
Joan takes a seat while Alan fusses, embarrassed at the state of the place and trying to clean up for her.
JOAN CLARKE
... You never responded to my
letters.
(silence from Alan)
I would have come. I would have
testified.
ALAN TURING
And what would you have said? That
I wasn’t a homosexual?
JOAN CLARKE
I would have said something. This
is serious. They could send you to
jail —
Alan tries to move a glass of water...
... Which he DROPS, shattering it.
ALAN TURING
Damn it...
JOAN CLARKE
Your hands... You’re twitching.
ALAN TURING
No I’m not.
He is.
JOAN CLARKE
Alan.
ALAN TURING
... It’s the medication.
JOAN CLARKE
The medication?
ALAN TURING
I have to go in for weekly
oestrogen treatments. At the
hospital.
JOAN CLARKE
What are you talking about?
ALAN TURING
The judge gave me a choice. Prison.
Or “hormonal therapy.”
JOAN CLARKE
Oh my god. Oh my god. That’s —
ALAN TURING
— Chemical castration. Yes. To cure
my homosexual predilections. Of
course I chose that. I wouldn’t be
able to work from prison.
Joan is HORRIFIED.
ALAN TURING (CONT’D)
Well how would I even have got
parts in jail? It just makes no
sense.
JOAN CLARKE
All right. This is what we’re going
to do. I’m going to speak to your
doctors. I’m going to speak to your
lawyer. We’re going to find a way
out of this.
ALAN TURING
No.
JOAN CLARKE
You are not thinking clearly. There
are a million chemicals flowing
through your brain. This treatment—
ALAN TURING
— I’m fine.
JOAN CLARKE
Please let me help you.
ALAN TURING
I don’t need your help.
JOAN CLARKE
You do not have to do this all
alone.
ALAN TURING
Alone? I’m not alone. I never have
been.
He looks lovingly at his machine — at Christopher.
ALAN TURING (CONT’D)
... Christopher has got so smart.
If I stop the treatment, they’ll
take him away from me. You can’t
let them do that. You can’t. Don’t
let them leave me alone.
Joan looks at Alan. And at Christopher. His true love.
Looking at his machine, Alan starts to have a small PANIC ATTACK — he’s getting more emotional, twitching more, getting teary — the hormones are flowing through him.
JOAN CLARKE
(re: Alan’s freak out)
Here, it’s alright. It’s alright.
Sit down.
She sits him in a chair, trying to contain his hyperventilating.
Alan, embarrassed at this uncontrollable display, tries to play it off, but of course he can’t stop it.
With her hand on his shoulder, he notices her WEDDING RING.
ALAN TURING
(trying to seem normal)
... It’s a much nicer ring than the
one I got you.
JOAN CLARKE
His name is Jock. We work together
in Eastcote. He’s gotten me into
coin collecting. Can you believe
it?
Joan looks around the room for a tea cup, a glass of water, anything that isn’t mouldy she can have him sip from.
She sees the newspaper she brought in, grabs it.
JOAN CLARKE (CONT’D)
Do you want to do a crossword? For
old times’ sake. It’ll only take
five minutes. Or in your case, six.
She tries to get him to smile at her joke.
Joan opens the paper to a PUZZLE.
Alan looks down at it.
His fingers twitch. He stares at the puzzle, confused. He doesn’t know how to do it.
Alan moves his hand away from the puzzle.
ALAN TURING
... Perhaps later.
The treatment has wrecked his brain so badly that he can’t do crossword puzzles anymore.
Joan watches and her heart utterly breaks.
ON JOAN: He’s gone forever. And she knows it.
Alan sees her sadness. He’s embarrassed, angry, bitter.
ALAN TURING (CONT’D)
... At least it worked out for one
of us.
ALAN TURING (CONT’D)
You got what you wanted, didn’t
you? Work. A husband. A normal
life.
She looks at him quietly for a moment.
JOAN CLARKE
But no one normal could have done
this.
(gestures to Christopher)
This morning I took a train through
a city that would not exist if it
wasn’t for you. I bought a ticket
from a man who would likely be dead
if it wasn’t for you. I read up on
my work, a whole field of
scientific inquiry that only exists
because of you. If you wish you
could have been ‘normal’, I can
promise you, I do not. The world is
an infinitely better place
precisely because you weren’t.
ALAN TURING
Is that what you think?
JOAN CLARKE
... I think that sometimes it is
the very people who no one imagines
anything of who do the things that
no one can imagine.
CUT TO:
Young Alan sits under the tree where Christopher first taught him about cryptography. He’s holding the book that Christopher gave him.
He starts to cry. He’s alone now, and he will be for a very long time.
CUT TO:
Alan sits at his desk, going over papers. He closes a book. Gets up. Walks past Christopher, giving him a look. He turns off the light, walking away down the dim hallway.
A familiar scene: A HALF-DOZEN POLICE OFFICERS swarm the Manchester home of (former) mathematics professor Alan Turing.
Detective Nock passes the double-parked police cars and ascends the front steps of Alan’s house.
Remembers the first time he was here.
A CONSTABLE leads Detective Nock upstairs, gesturing into the open BEDROOM door.
In the doorway, we see a team of COPS tending to something on the bed. There’s an APPLE on the nightstand.
CONSTABLE
Suicide, looks like. Half-eaten
apple next to the bed. Some sort of
white powder all over it.
DETECTIVE NOCK
Cyanide.
(off the Constable’s look)
You’ll find a tub of it downstairs.
The Constable makes a curious face: How can you know that?
Nock approaches the bed, and stares into the lifeless face of Alan Turing.
ON NOCK: Alan Turing made the world a better place... And Nock killed him for it.
CUT TO:
Alan, Joan, Hugh, John, and Peter stand before the MASSIVE BONFIRE that’s been built in the center of the Park.
TITLE: Alan Turing committed suicide in 1954.
TITLE: His machine was never perfected, though it generated a whole field of research into what became nicknamed “Turing Machines.” Today, we call them “computers.”
Hugh comes over and puts one arm around Alan, another around Joan. They have a moment: They did it. They won the war.
John throws a stack of Enigma messages high into the air —
— They watch as the papers flutter down into the fire.
They laugh, and one by one they all join in:
They FROLIC and PLAY as they throw every document, every slip of scratch paper, every bit of evidence they were there into the fire.
TITLE: In 1990, John Cairncross publicly confessed to having been a Soviet agent. He was never prosecuted.
TITLE: In 2013, Turing was granted an official pardon by the government. Approximately 49,000 other gay men were convicted and punished under the same code between 1885 and 1967.
TITLE: The logo of Apple Computer - an apple with a bite taken out of it - has long been rumored to be a silent tribute to Turing. These rumors have never been confirmed.
ALAN TURING (V.O.)
Well then.
ON ALAN AND THE TEAM: Hugging and playing as everything they did is burnt to a crisp.
ALAN TURING (V.O.)
Any questions?
BLACK.
THE END