The Beiderbecke Affair (TV Mini Series)
That Was a Very Funny Evening (1985)
Alison Skilbeck: Helen
Quotes
-
Mr. McAllister : [Trevor has been invited for Sunday lunch] If you want to be entertained in my house, you need to be more careful about the company you keep.
Trevor Chaplin : [Noting the outdoor swimming pool] It's a smashing house, Mr. McAllister, but I don't know what you're talking about.
Mr. McAllister : [to his daughter] Helen, would you leave us?
Trevor Chaplin : [Helen starts to comply but...] Where are you going?
Helen : I think there's some man-to-man talk brewing.
Trevor Chaplin : There's no such thing! I've got no secrets... though I don't know about your father?
Mr. McAllister : Helen's right: it's man-to-man talk.
Trevor Chaplin : Does it affect Helen?
Mr. McAllister : It relates to her, yes.
Trevor Chaplin : Then she should stay and listen.
Mr. McAllister : What's all this? Women's Lib all of a sudden? Did you get it from that woman you're living with?
Trevor Chaplin : If you want a straight answer, yes, I did.
Mr. McAllister : Well if we're having a straight talk, let's get it clear. If you want to be entertained in this house, you move back into your flat, damned quick.
Trevor Chaplin : I see. Any more instructions?
Mr. McAllister : [Retreating slightly] Suggestions, Trevor, that's all. I never tell anyone how to live his life.
Trevor Chaplin : You got any more 'suggestions'?
Mr. McAllister : [Still wanting his daughter to leave] Helen...
Helen : My mother will be needing help in the kitchen.
Trevor Chaplin : I think you should stay, Helen. You might learn something about men... or, at least, about your father. Yes, Mr. McAllister?
Mr. McAllister : Alright. I also suggest that you keep away from that mob on the estate.
Trevor Chaplin : Big Al?
Mr. McAllister : I don't know any of their names - I keep my distance.
Trevor Chaplin : And get other people to put the pressure on?
Mr. McAllister : Pressure? I've no idea what you mean.
Trevor Chaplin : I mean funny phone calls and sabotaging election meetings and smashing up a fellow's greenhouse. That's what I mean!
Mr. McAllister : [Feigning ignorance] Sounds to me like hysterical rambling!
Trevor Chaplin : A few people get together to organise a little mail order business off their own back. Simple, self-help organisation...
Mr. McAllister : [Interrupting] If people need goods and services, they should go to the proper place!
Trevor Chaplin : Like shops?
Mr. McAllister : Yes, like shops!
Trevor Chaplin : Well you're bound to believe in that, aren't you? After all, you've got hundreds of bloody shops!
Mr. McAllister : It's about equilibrium - it's not about shops!
Trevor Chaplin : Equilibrium?
Mr. McAllister : There has to be a balance in the way we organise society. If something disturbs that balance...
Trevor Chaplin : [Interrupting] You lose your swimming pool?
Helen : [Trying to calm down the antagonism] I think lunch is ready.
Mr. McAllister : Trevor, get rid of your fancy-woman, get rid of your dubious friends... and come and have some lunch.
Trevor Chaplin : [Rising to leave] No, Mr McAllister. You get rid of your friends and I might just stay for lunch... one of these days... but not today!
-
Helen : [Chasing after Trevor as he storms out of her father's house following an argument] Don't go!
Trevor Chaplin : I'm particular about who I eat with!
Helen : You're being silly - he's an old softie, really.
Trevor Chaplin : He can afford to be! It's time you liberated yourself, sweetheart...
Helen : [Interrupting, sarcastically referring to Trevor's devotion to Jill] Like you have?
Trevor Chaplin : [Ignoring her] ... unless you're going to go on living off your old man's pieces of silver for the rest of your life.
Helen : [Referring to her previous relationship with Trevor] My God but you've changed!
Trevor Chaplin : Well that's the general idea, isn't it? We grow up, stuff like that.
Helen : I liked you better the way you were before.
Trevor Chaplin : You mean when I took orders without question?
Helen : Yes.
Trevor Chaplin : [Getting into his van] He's dead and buried, that loveable Geordie schoolteacher! This is the new, dynamic Trevor Chaplin!
Helen : I don't like him.
Trevor Chaplin : [Referring to how love rivals Helen and Jill decided who would 'win' him] That's up to you but I'll tell you this for nothing: nobody wins me at the toss of a coin. It may have worked in old money but not now.
Helen : My mother will be very disappointed.
Trevor Chaplin : Why?
Helen : [Referring to her mother having taken time to prepare lunch] She wanted to see you again... and she was up half the night with her Stroganoff.
Trevor Chaplin : [Feigning ignorance of foreign dishes] There you go! What's the use of money if you haven't got good health?
Helen : [as Trevor starts the van] I'll see you?
Trevor Chaplin : [Driving away] Goodbye forever!