"Ronnie" Comedy/Drama

Harry Wilson

Program concept

Comedy drama <based on fact and fiction>

First thoughts

Ronnie is a small time crook from the late fifties early sixties<who is now in his 70's>,who has fallen on hard times in his later years.Back in the early years Ronnie used to work for a number of well known villains,before launching his own capers.

Forwhich he received a custodial sentence of 15 years,meeting inside many well known criminals .

Although today he still has many contacts within the criminal fraternity .The story unfolds whereby today in 2007 Ronnie finds times are tough especially for an old lag.With things like rent to pay and rates etc,Ronnie finds it difficult to keep up with todays heavy demands.

He finds out that financially <due to his advanced years>he could qualify for sheltered housing in an old peoples home,where the pressure of day today living would be removed.This transpires into a typical old peoples home where the residents are left all day sitting in big high back old tatty chairs,arranged in circles,a very run down and boring establishement.Where most of the residents are old before their time,some of this due to the situation and environment they find themselves in.Just sitting 'waiting for god' as the saying goes.

Ronnie moves in and finds a very depressed and rundown place,with a very boring and depressing outlook for the residents.Along with a very high handed attitude by the care staff who don't want to be there either,as most tend to be foreigners who can hardly speak English and need the money.

Ronnie decides he's not having this,eventhough he's short of cash he is not short of contacts in the criminal world.He decides to liven up the residents lives.Over a period of time he starts to transform the place,and suddenly the residents all have mobile phones so they can contact their relatives on the outside<as inside feels like a prison>.Suddenly they are off to the seaside in a brand new coach all supplied by Ronnies contacts.

Ronnie then organizes parties for the residents and brings in entertainers etc.

The staff wonder whats going on,and Ronnie discovers that the staff have been slowly ripping off the residents so arranges an awayday for the staff.

Then proceeds to have their houses broken into and plants drugs in there houses,forwhich the police are tipped off and raid the properties.They discover drugs which transpires to be Viagra,however during there search they discover  evidence of their crimes against the residents and are all arrested.

<Within this section there could be a number of storylines that could be written and included>.

In this section we have a number of funny incidents that took place during some of Ronnies crimes.

So here I have taken a couple of stories<so this part is actually occurred>.

One day Ronnie and his associates decide to rob a greyhound stadium<this is the early 60's>in east Anglia.Part of their plan in those early days was rather than get stopped in roadblocks<which the police were fond of>each crime they committed they would simply put the money into large boxes and post their ill gotten gains home through the post office service.Two days later after this first crime Ronnie is sitting at home and there is a knock at the door ,it's the postman with a parcel,which is full of cash,kindly delivered by the post office.

In the meantime Ronnie and his young gang decide to hit the stadium again a couple of weeks later,as they believed no one would expect it.

Shortly after they decide to go again Ronnie bumps into his older brother,who at that time was short of cash and needed an earner<although he had never been involved in Ronnies escapades>.He asks Ronnie can he take part as the getaway driver.Ronnie feels sorry for him and decides to give him a chance.Ronnie asks his brother to give him a run in his car and demonstrate how good a driver he is for the job.His brother hits him with a bombshell by telling him he has not got a driving licence and is currently having driving lessons.Roninie asks him how the hell can he be the getaway driver if he can hardly drive.Ronnie decides to give him a chance after much thought and understanding.

Ronnie jumps in the car and tells his brother ok lets go for it.His brother starts to move forward and before Ronnie realises his brother is poodling along at 29mph.Ronnie shouts at him how the bloody hell do you expect to be a getaway driver if you go at this speed,for christs sake put your foot to the floor<as there is no speed cameras in those days>.They approach a set of traffic lights and his brother duly stops,by which time Ronnie is spitting blood,and tells him keep going don't stop.

After a few arguments and a few driving tips from Ronnie it is decided to give him a go.So a few weeks later the day of the robbery Ronnie is waiting at an agreed meeting point to meet the gang and his brother.Ronnie looks down the road in amazement,he see's his brother driving towards them not only in his own car but it has 'L' plates on it.

Ronnie tells him we cant rob a stadium in your bloody car with 'L'plates on .We need to steal a car for the job,so they proceed and steal another vehicle.At this stage Ronnies brother is panicking 'I cant drive this car as I have only got used to my car'.Ronnie tells him to shut up get in and drive,so his brother jumps in crunches the gears and up the road they go.On reaching the venue Ronnie informs his brother to wait outside and they will be 10-15 minutes and out.

The team go in rob the stadium<not hurting anyone>and run out to the car.Not only do they find the engine turned off ,but the doors are locked and his brother is having a cat nap.They smash the windows move Ronnies brother out of the driving seat and speed off,stopping at a different post office and mailing back the cash.It transpired that Ronnies brother was so nervous he took some valium inorder to calm his nerves in the morning.

These again are the days before all cash was transferred by security vans  and money was transferred by many different ways and one was using mini cabs.Ronnie had a contact in a mini cab firm,who informed him his boss was about to pick up a couple of new cars for his mini cab firm.He also informed him that his boss was car mad,and was about to pick up a large quantity of cash for a bank in his new car.So he hatched a plan to hijack and steal the cash.The route was planned out and the plan was formed.Apparently transferring the cash from one location to the bank,involved a crossroads by which the bank and police station was located across the road.They decided to take two cars one which followed the mini cab<which believe it or not had the money on the back seat without the doors being locked.Ronnie sat in his car and as the mini cab approached he drove straight into the front of the mini cab,the driver having just picked up his new car jumps out in hysterics forgetting the money in the back of his car.By this time there is a mellee and a crowd gathers,Ronnie quietly slips away in the crowd and the second vehicle approaches the crashed mini cab.One of the team jumps out quietly gets in the back of the mini cab and removes the money.By this time there is a big crowd standing around Ronnies car staring at the damage.The second vehicle drives slowly past the side of the mini cab.and suddenly the police appear and move the crowd aside so the car can get by.They drive down the road and pick Ronnie up and post the cash home.

The team have been watching a dairy and decided to rob it on their cash collection day.The team arrives robs the dairy<again not hurting anyone>as they walk in one of Ronnies younger members <who is quite headstrong>picks up a pint of milk and drinks it.On the way out he asks the guy in the dairy howmuch the milk is and leaves the change on the way out.

As it was getting late they decided to keep the cash in the boot and make for home< which is the East End>.On the way they realized they needed some petrol so pull into a garage and filled up.The young headstrong lad said don't worry I will pay for the petrol as he wanted to buy some cigarrettes.

He gets back into the car and urges the driver to get going,Ronnie asks why whats the hurry.Anyway they drive on and suddenly hit a road block 20miles down the road.Bear inmind there were not many cars on the road in those days,they thought it was just maybe one of their lights maybe out.

It transpired the young lad got his cigarettes but also decided to take the contents of the till why he was there.The team were hoping mad as they had a car boot full of cash,so why rob the petrol cash till,they were all nicked.