Monica Dolan credited as playing...
Marion Thorpe
- [over breakfast, Marion is questioning Jeremy about his "Bunnies can - and will - go to France" love letter to Norman Scott, which has just been published in the newspapers]
- Jeremy Thorpe: "Bunnies"?
- Jeremy Thorpe: [to his son] Rupert, darling, I want you to take that piece of toast and eat it in your room. There's a good boy.
- Jeremy Thorpe: [to Marion] Technically, he was "Bunny", singular.
- Marion Thorpe: Then why did you say "Bunnies"? Were there two of you? Are *you* a Bunny? Am I married to a Bunny?
- Jeremy Thorpe: No, I was using a generic noun in an imperative clause.
- Marion Thorpe: Well, thank God it's grammatically correct, because the whole country's reading this! Bunnies!
- [later scene: Jeremy returns home]
- Jeremy Thorpe: Well, I saw David Steel. Handed him my letter. I have resigned as leader of the Liberal Party. One word. One bloody word brought me down.
- Marion Thorpe: No, it wasn't "Bunnies". It's because you lied. You told the party you hardly knew Norman Scott, then the "Bunnies" letter caught you out. From that moment on, your position was untenable.
- [after the "Bunnies" letter has been published, Jeremy is explaining himself to Marion]
- Jeremy Thorpe: Before I met you, um, before I met Caroline... I had moments... certain nights, unfortunate nights, involving alcohol... and, um... with no women in the vicinity, I... I would dabble, to relieve myself... and that's all.
- [Marion looks sceptical but not shocked]
- Marion Thorpe: So this thing with Norman Scott, it wasn't a relationship?
- Jeremy Thorpe: Oh! How could it be?
- Marion Thorpe: Jeremy, I'm not a fool. I practically grew up with Benjamin Britten. I've seen something of the world. I fled from Hitler, for God's sake. My own son married a hippie in a yurt. And I've toured with orchestras. I couldn't begin to tell you the things I've seen, so there's no need to protect me.
- Jeremy Thorpe: I made mistakes, and I've stopped. And I swear I had nothing to do with that gun and the dog and...
- Marion Thorpe: Of course you didn't, Jeremy!
- Jeremy Thorpe: Absolutely nothing to do with me.
- Marion Thorpe: I'm not even asking. I won't dignify it with discussion, and there's an end to it.
- Jeremy Thorpe: Thank you.
- Marion Thorpe: For what it's worth, I think people have focussed on the word "Bunnies". But the last thing you wrote in that letter was "I miss you". I think that's a wonderful thing for a man to say to his friend.