The Bird Roads: Act 1 Part 3 transcript
Transcript created: 3rd September 2026
Last updated: 3rd September 2026
[This episode opens quietly - the soft hush of the waves and the dripping of water on metal, which creaks occasionally.]
JAMAL: You have to go.
NOOR: (Stubborn and stuffy nosed, as if she’s been crying) Not necessarily.
JAMAL: Yes, necessarily.
NOOR: You need me.
JAMAL: I’ll be fine
NOOR: Will you?
[Noor is audibly upset. A long beat. The plane creaks and whines.]
JAMAL: How long has it been since you got those co-ordinates?
NOOR: I...don’t know. I’ve lost track of time, since-
JAMAL: Ok, new plan. You need sleep. Then you need to go.
NOOR: Jamal, how am I supposed to sleep? You nearly died. I nearly got you killed.
JAMAL: (Chuckling) Okay, last I checked I was an adult man in possession of all his senses. You didn’t make me do anything Blackbird. I chose to go with you because you are my friend and I care about you, and it is because I care about that I cannot let you miss the first chance you’ve had since the world drowned in a storm to find that lover you’re so fond of.
[BEAT.]
JAMAL: Also, I don’t think you glaring at my broken leg is going to make it heal faster. (Chuckles) Noor. Blackbird. Baby, hey, look at me. You need to go.
[Noor breathes shakily as Jamal speaks, clearly holding back tears. Then she exhales, and there’s a rustle of fabric.]
NOOR: I’m coming back for you.
JAMAL: I know. (Chuckles, then makes a sound of pain) You owe me a game of scrabble.
NOOR: Yeah, with a Q tile this time
JAMAL: Fly high, Blackbird. Fly safe.
NOOR: [Kisses JAMAL’s forehead] Don’t go getting into trouble, will you?
JAMAL: If I do then it’ll be entirely your influence
NOOR: I told you it was catching
[Noor gets up, and makes her way across the creaking, scrap-metal covered wreck.
The morse code melody of the theme tune comes in.]
NOOR: [Deep breath]
[Noor jumps into the sea.]
[The theme tune swells up around us as we hear Noor swim back to her plane, and then hear her plane taking off.]
FERAH AHMET: The Bird Roads. Act One. Part Three.
[The theme tune reaches a crescendo before dropping down into a slower, nostalgic melody.]
[Noor is in the air, in her plane, approaching the storm again. Engines whirring, distant, gigantic thunder.]
[Noor clicks a button. Once again, Jamal is coming through distorted by static, and each of Jamal and Noor’s lines end with a beep as they transmit through the radio.]
NOOR: Testing, testing, am I coming through?
JAMAL: Loud and clear, but you’re not in the storm yet
NOOR: I’d noticed
JAMAL: What are you waiting for?
NOOR: Just wanted to hear your voice. One more time.
JAMAL: Noor -
NOOR: (INTERRUPTING) Ok. Let’s do this.
[Noor begins to fly into the storm. Once again, we crescendo into a titanic, violent void. Immediately, JAMAL’s signal gets worse, crunchier and full of static.]
JAMAL: Noor? Can you hear me? Blackbird? Can you hear me?
NOOR: Fuck shit. JAMAL? Jamal can you hear me?
JAMAL: Yeah I got you Blackbird.
NOOR: I can’t see a fucking thing in here!
[The plane creaks under the sheer air-pressure.]
[In an impossible pocket of silence we zoom in aurally on Noor.]
NOOR: Inshallah. Please. Please let me find them.
[The storm comes back with a bang, as if it had been held back by an elastic band. There’s a crash as something breaks.]
[Hail hitting the screen of the plane, thundering like gunshots. Turbulence shaking the plane around.]
NOOR: [Yells as she’s thrown from her seat]
[Thump as NOOR is sent flying, careening sound of the plane being wrenched around by the storm, engines wailing.]
[Cupboards rattling open, items falling out of them.]
[NOOR is forced to clamber vertically back towards the cockpit, using the cupboards as footholds.]
NOOR: NO! I DO NOT GO OUT LIKE THIS! I AM NOT GOING TO DIE LIKE THIS!
[Breaking glass. The radio and Jamal are about six feet away from us at this point, they’re consequently quieter and more distant.]
JAMAL: Noor? NOOR? BLACKBIRD, WHAT’S HAPPENING? CAN YOU HEAR ME?
[More wrenching, ominous creaking as the storm begins to tear the plane apart.]
NOOR: I AM GOING TO SURVIVE THIS. I AM GOING TO FIND FINN. I AM GOING TO SAVE THEM AND I AM GOING TO SAVE MYSELF AND A FUCKING RAINSTORM ISN’T GOING TO FUCKING STOP ME.
NOOR: [Huge effort as she launches herself, jumping upwards towards the cockpit. OOF as she winds herself on the pilot’s seat and climbs bloody-mindedly back into position.]
NOOR: MY NAME IS NOOR LATIF AND I GRADUATED TOP OF MY FUCKING CLASS AT FLIGHT SCHOOL ABOVE THE DAMN ASTRONAUT AND I DO NOT FUCKING DIE LIKE THIS.
NOOR:
[Huge strain as she wrenches the plane into a loop, roaring against the G-force]
[The plane howls against the pressures acting on it. But NOOR does it. She gets back onto an even keel.]
NOOR: [Breathless relief] Hey, Jamal, this is Blackbird! How’s the weather down there?
JAMAL: YES! COME ON! THAT’S MY GIRL! BEST PILOT IN THE NEW PACIFIC!
NOOR: [Starting to laugh]
[Something new. A crackling electric, burning explosion, coming from hundreds of feet above us. A distant explosion that comes whistling, howling closer.]
NOOR: Jamal, there’s something in the sky, it’s burning, i think it’s gonna hit -
[An explosion. Silence.]
CREDITS
[The theme music plays as Ferah speaks.]
FERAH AHMET: The Bird Roads Act One, Part Three, was written and directed by Ella Watts, with music and sound design by Amber Devereux.
Noor was played by Ferah Ahmet and Jamal was played by Edward Selvey.
Our script editor and production manager was Ross McFarlane. This podcast is a Tin Can Audio production.
[The theme music swells for a final crescendo before fading out on the looping morse code melody.]
