Battle With The Law

"Battle With The Law" would be the first episode of drama Locked In The Press. It would become the first episode of series 1, and will be written by Tony John Williams. In the episode, Carl McQuarrie encounters criminal damage and investigates the life of criminal Ryan Reynolds, who he persuades to give himself up to the police.

Synopsis
Brentwood Shopping Centre is broken into by Ryan Reynolds, whose bizarre behaviour is captured on CCTV. He remains outside a closed pizza shop, and fights with his subconscious over breaking into the shop. The day after his marriage separated and his wife departed their home, Carl McQuarrie enters his living room, which he finds a complete mess and notices a half empty bottle of whisky sitting on top the TV. His telephone starts to ring, but he chooses not to answer, leading him to hear his wife Roberta's voice on the answerphone, which unsettles him. He starts to clear up his mess, when his phone starts to vibrate on the counter. He picks up his phone and notices that his colleague Jasmine Cheng is calling him. When he responds to the call, she asks why he is not at work, to which he replies he never "realised the time". He immediately goes to work at Stokefield Crescent House, where he hears the slurs of his colleagues in the newsroom. He finds Jasmine and sits next to her, before another colleague Craig Gladwell approaches them, and starts to irritate McQuarrie, before Jasmine tells him to "push off". Their manager Malcolm Wicks then enters the newsroom and uses sign language to instruct McQuarrie to approach him. Inside the office, Wicks almost sacks McQuarrie for always turning up late, until he is given a sob story and decides to give him a second chance. McQuarrie then visits Brentwood Shopping Centre and witnesses Ryan smashing the window of Lorenzo's Pizza shop, before the police turn up and arrest them and McQuarrie follows them to Brentwood Police Station. He tries to start a conversation with Ryan, but he does not reply. Officer Foreman then steps into reception and McQuarrie learns Ryan's name when it is used by the officer, who wonders who McQuarrie is and asks whether he was Ryan's father, but when he denies that he was, the sergeant tells him to leave the building if he has nothing to report. McQuarrie waits in his car outside the police station, whilst Ryan is cross-examined by officer Foreman and Inspector Armstrong, who show a video clip of him smashing a mosque's window. Although Ryan is still not speaking and only utters the words "no comment". He ultimately runs out of the building and is followed home by McQuarrie. Ryan slams the door in McQuarrie's face, but he refuses to give up and keeps on knocking, which frustrates Ryan's father Stanley, who threatens to call the police, if McQuarrie did not leave. Albeit Ryan then chose to talk to McQuarrie and they met up at The Crown pub, where he reveals his battle with Vivaan Singh, who once tried to kill him, after catching him kissing his daughter Aahna. McQuarrie later discovers that quite a lot of Ryan's relatives have disowned him, his friends have all ended their friendships with him and his colleagues want him to quit his job. McQuarrie interviews Stanley and his wife Dana at their house, and is taken aback when they refuse to believe Ryan's crimes, they delude themselves with assuming the crimes are made up by people who hate him. McQuarrie then meets Vivaan Singh and Aahna at their house, where Aahna pleads with her father not to go through with his plans of revenge. He then meets Ryan's maternal grandmother Gloria and his aunt Tracey at his parents house. His grandmother declares her disappointment with Ryan and states she wishes he would give up on crime, to which she is reprimanded by her daughter Dana. Eventually, Ryan is driven to the police station and persuaded to give himself in to the police by McQuarrie. When Stanley discovers this, he assaults McQuarrie and tells him not to go near Ryan again. Ryan later appears in court at his trial, which is attended by McQuarrie, Stanley, Dana, Vivaan and his wife. He is sentenced to six months imprisonment, which upsets his parents, but pleases Vivaan, who cheers loudly. McQuarrie combines the events and publishes the article on the Brentwood Telegraph website. He returns home to find Roberta collecting the last of her possessions and fails to persuade her to stay. She hands back her wedding ring and leaves the flat. McQuarrie picks up a bottle of whisky and watches from the window Roberta driving off, before drinking.

Characters
Carl McQuarrie

Jasmine Cheng

Craig Gladwell

Malcolm Wicks

Ryan Reynolds

Inspector Armstrong

Officer Foreman

Stanley Reynolds

Dana Reynolds

Vivaan Singh

Aahna Singh

Gloria Hills

Tracey Hills

Roberta McQuarrie

Locations
Carl McQuarrie's flat

Stokefield Crescent House

Brentwood Shopping District

Brentwood Police Station

Ryan Reynolds' house

The Crown public house

Vivaan Singh's house

Zoe Carpenters' flat

Brentwood Magistrates Court