Angela Savey is a young single mother trapped on one of London’s worst housing estates. Struggling to make ends meet she relies on loan shark and corrupt ‘father figure’ Lloyd to help her pay her bills and keep her head above water. But Angela is in a very tight spot and soon falls behind with her payments to Lloyd. Predictably, Lloyd turns violent and one day beats Angela within an inch of her life.
Out of loneliness and desperation Angela becomes involved with one of the estate’s resident crack-heads, Billy. One night, Angela pours out her heart to Billy and reveals her despair about her situation. Seeing Angela in tears, Billy dreams up a plan to free her of Lloyd once and for all. A week later, and quite unexpectedly, Billy turns up stoned in the middle of the night, and boasts to Angela that he has killed Lloyd, who sure enough, is found shot to death a day later. At first Angela is horrified, but she is so relieved to be free of Lloyd she is quickly reconciled to his passing.
With Lloyd out of the way Angela feels she is now free to resume her life with renewed hope. But Billy has problems of his own and their relationship quickly develops into an intense spiral of blackmail and sexual and emotional obsession. Trapped between her guilt and the desperately insecure and manipulative Billy, Angela soon wonders if she was better off with Lloyd. Things come to a head when fearing for her daughter Sophie’s safety, Angela approaches her local council and begs to be re-housed away from the estate.
Some weeks later, following a protracted ordeal at the hands of Billy, Angela is finally offered a transfer to a home some distance away.
Nevertheless, the night before she is due to leave, a desperate and paranoid Billy abducts Sophie and weeping down the phone threatens to kill her. In a nail bitingly tense and agonising pursuit through London’s mean streets, Angela hurtles towards a final violent showdown with Billy in a filthy crack-den, which culminates in an explosive and unforgettable climax.
Patrick Astwood and Ewen Glass (c) 2009 All Rights Reserved
