Transcript created: 3rd September 2026

Last updated: 3rd September 2026

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[A lighter, lighting a cigarette. The waves.]

 

NOOR: (Takes a long drag, blows it out, long pause before she speaks) Not sure if Finn or Aster is going to be angrier about the fact that the spicy little death sticks survived the apocalypse. [The beep of her switching the radio on]. Well, lovers. If you don’t want me smoking, you’re just going to have to show up and stop me yourselves.

 

[Nothing but the gentle lap of waves.]

 

[LONG BEAT - as if Noor is genuinely waiting for them to appear on the empty blue horizon.]

 

NOOR: (Another long drag, blow, pause) Yeah. That’s what I thought. 

 

[The waves]

 

NOOR: (Casual) We’re doing good for rations. It’s not like Finn and I didn’t have a sense of what we were getting into when we set out on D-Day. That’s what I’m calling it, by the way. Deluge-Day, but it’s got that fun double entendre. Look at me, being cute. You love it when I do that. 

Another pause, as if she’s waiting for an answer.

 

[Nothing but the waves.]

 

NOOR: (Sighs) Fresh water - well, the tank I packed burst when we crashed, but the water filtration system survived and I taped the tank back up with duct tape. Truly, duct tape is the cockroach of human ingenuity. (Chuckles) Alhumdillah.
 

The point is, I’m not going to die of thirst or hunger any time soon. And sleeping in the pilot seat is surprisingly comfortable. Like this, the waves rock me like a baby, gentle as if they never woke up and decided to eat the world.
 

I think that’s how I want to go, by the way. In my sleep, obviously, that’s basic. But if they swallow me whilst I’m sleeping, that’d be perfect. I can go sink to the bottom of the ocean with everybody else

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Of course, I’m not going to make myself easy to swallow. I owe you that much. 

 

[BEAT. Noor smokes her cigarette. As she speaks, hopeful music slowly fades in beneath her.]

 

NOOR: (Long drag, blow out) Turns out that dating the tall glass of water called the most gifted aerospace engineer of their generation has the side effect of giving you a fighting chance of surviving exactly this situation. I think I’ve fixed the fuselage, and the navigational controls managed to mostly survive intact. If I can get this bird back into the air, we’ll be flying with the roof down, but that’s fine. I can stay low. Besides, I always wanted a convertible.

 

(Fond) Aster said that was my mid-life crisis showing 

 

Given that they’re mostly put together with duct tape and safety pins, I’m not trusting most of these instruments as far as I can throw them. And it’s not like I can get spare parts in the middle of what I think used to be Europe. 

 

That’s a point - if all the oceans are mixed together now, how are we navigating? Is this still The North Sea? Or is it all just one big Ocean? What’s the water equivalent of Pangaea? (Sighs) The world’s worst swimming pool.
 

I used to love the fact there’s marine limestone on Everest. The world’s tallest mountain, came all the way up from the bottom of the sea. You can find fossilised shells there, amidst the snow and frozen corpses. I used to love that: something about the immensity of time and space in it. That no matter how big you are, you’re never bigger than the sea.

 

[The music stops.]

 

NOOR: (Long drag, blow out) No signs of life. Not even birds. Which, you know, Finn made me read The Odyssey. And the Rime of the Ancient Mariner. I don’t even know if the albatrosses could have survived that. I hope if they did that no one shoots them.

 

There’s no people. I’ve not seen any boats, any planes. Not so much as a parachuting nudist. Nothing’s come through the radio, either. 

 

I can’t be the only one left. 

 

I can’t be.

 

[The waves. The morse code of the theme tune comes in, swelling to an orchestral crescendo.]

 

FERAH AHMET: The Bird Roads. Act Three. Part Two.

 

[The theme music ends.]

 

[Noor is attempting to start her plane’s engine. We hear the metal clink as she tries to spin the propeller, it starts on the third try with a rusty growl.]

 

NOOR: (Pitched above the engine) So there’s a non-zero chance the old girl will explode. She’s not exactly designed for water landings. But my old flight school instructor always told me I was destined to go out in a blaze of glory.

 

There’s weak hissing sounds. Noor tries the engine again - it sputters and groans.

 

NOOR: I think he meant that as an insult, actually. But I am nothing if not resourceful and there is nothing that an old white guy can use against me that I can’t turn to my advantage

 

[Noor tries the engine again.]

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NOOR: [Reacting in surprise] The engine stays on this time, building in volume and strength.

 

NOOR: Come on baby. Come on baby. Come on, show Mama you remember how to fly

 

[The plane coasts through the water and then - finally! Pulls up into the air]

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NOOR: [Elated, triumphant, laughing and cheering] Yes! The plane soars into the sky. The waves finally get distant. 

 

NOOR: (Yelling over the wind in her open cockpit) You can’t hold me down! Do you hear me? Alhumdillah. I am not beaten yet! (Laughing)

 

[We hear the plane engine triumphantly roar across the sky. Then silence.]

 

[It’s night. Noor is cold and shivering. The engine is a quiet purr, the wind whistles around us.]

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NOOR: [Shivering]

 

NOOR: Ok, so one thing I didn’t account for was how fucking cold it was going to be here. And you might be wondering - hey Noor, weren’t you just stuck in the North Sea for an entire week? And to that I’d say, yeah, but the ocean was weirdly warm. Probably because it’d just eaten every industry of the 21st century. I hope we gave the bitch heartburn. 

 

[Noor leans down in the cockpit.]

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NOOR: I know I have a shock blanket in here somewhere. Even if I didn’t pack one, Finn puts an extra in every plane I’ve ever flown and there’s no way they wouldn’t have snuck one into the Blackbird. Or three.

Noor is scrambling through various tools and boxes, clinking instruments. 

 

[We hear a very quiet voice coming through, heavily muffled and distorted by the radio. The radio beeps, almost covered by the engine and Noor’s searching.]

 

NOOR: [Various efforts] Noor finds a shock blanket.

 

[The blanket being pulled out and wrapped tightly around NOOR]

 

NOOR: Jackpot!

 

JAMAL: No, no, Jackpot won’t do at all. First of all, I haven’t drawn any J’s.

 

[Noor rushes forward and fumbles for her radio]

 

NOOR: Hello?? Hello??? My name is Noor Latif, flying the Blackbird

 

[Long silence. The theme music fades in quietly.]

 

NOOR: Hello? Hello? Scrabble man, I need you to tell me if you’re real because I honestly thought my mental breaking point would involve a lot more sexy naked women

 

[The radio beeps. More silence.]

 

NOOR: Ugh. Hello??

 

JAMAL: I - shit - sorry, this is, uh, Jamal Jackson. Flying The Blue Lady. (Laughs) Congratulations, Blackbird. You’re not alone.

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CREDITS

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[The theme music plays as Ferah speaks.]

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FERAH AHMET: The Bird Roads Act Three, Part Two, 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 dialogue editor, script editor and production manager is 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.]