CLOSE -UP ON OSMOND OSMOND Well the... er... DIRECTOR'S VOICE (OFF) Go ahead... OSMOND ...the time's now just on 1400, and in the last half hour or so, er, Christopher has been... preoccupied to a very great extent with time and we've had numerous discussions on this. In the interval, he... er, tried to instruct me as to how to work his recording machine and unfortunately we were quite unable to work it! He has also been listening to a certain amount of music. Now, I'm going to ask him once more to go over the (UNINTELLIGABLE) sentence that I did, and also to take away seven from a hundred. CAMERA PANS RIGHT TO A CLOSE UP ON MAYHEW Now, Christopher, would you be prepared to do that for me please? MAYHEW Well, you've got me... at what I would call... my, um... er... period of time when I'm capable of doing it. OSMOND Right, well now I'll repeat the sentence. "To be rich and prosperous, a nation must have a safe, secure supply of wood." MAYHEW (FAULTLESSLY) "To be rich an prosperous, a nation must have a safe, secure supply of wood" - I got the two... OSMOND Well done! Now would you like to take away seven from a hundred again? MAYHEW Ninety-three... eighty-six... seventy-nine... seventy-two... sixty-six... sixty... er, seventy-two... whatever it is... sixty-five... erhh... fifty-eight... fifty-one... er... forty... I can see (UNINTELLIGABLE)... forty-four... er, thirty....seven... thirty... twenty-three... twenty three... now I'm off again, Humphry... In my period of time, I'm off again for long periods but you won't notice, probably, that I've gone away for... OSMOND When are you coming back again? To get on with the... hundred minus seven... MAYHEW Well, er, certainly in time... I'm now in your time... OSMOND Yes. MAYHEW ...so I can come back instantaneously, probably. OSMOND Well could you, er, give us the rest of the hundred minus seven test? In this time? MAYHEW Err... I might just be able to start. Ni... I don't... I. I. I. yes, wait a moment... (FLIES OFF AGAIN) OSMOND It's a bit difficult... MAYHEW Wa... wa... (UNINTELLIGABLE) No, I'm back now, where I was... OSMOND Mm-hmm. MAYHEW ...and I think I got to about forty-one... OSMOND Mm-hmm. MAYHEW ...anyway, let's call it that. So it's down to thirty-four... down thirty-four... and then to twenty-seven... twenty... thirteen... err, six... OSMOND Mm-hmm. MAYHEW ...yes. OSMOND Well, er, could you tell me a little bit, Christopher, about... you've been very interested in time, and also you heard some music. MAYHEW Yes. OSMOND I wonder if you could tell us, er, a little bit about both of those? MAYHEW About the time... OSMOND Yes. MAYHEW ...yes, well, as I say, Humphry, we're up against it. I'm on your time now, and I'm on your level of consciouness, and therefore all I can say is that I'm terribly sorry that from time to time, waves, like the physical sensation of nausea, er, I mean associated, you know, wave in the same sense as that is a wave... er, a mental wave... takes me out of your time altogether... and out of your space... and , er, and... um... I can quite see that, to you, it's instantaneous, but to me, to be perfectly clear, and infinitely where I don't have to wait for anything to happen, I don't, er... OSMOND This is implying that you're experiencing a... a... a different time, and a different space? MAYHEW Er, I'm perfectly certain of that! I haven't the slightest doubt. And I'm saying that with my conscious mind now, as well as my unconscious mind. OSMOND And that has a... the same degree of reality and validity as the, er, one which you are now enjoying this... MAYHEW At the present time, yes, within the context of this experiment... OSMOND Mm-hmm. MAYHEW ...I would say that, er, the time and space that is unfamiliar to you, is as real as the time and space that is familiar to you. OSMOND I suppose of course, I'm not really, but suppose I were to deny the reality of this other time and space, wold that feel annoying or foolish? MAYHEW No... it wouldn't... it wouldn't, er... OSMOND Or would it not touch you? MAYHEW It wouldn't touch me. I'm interested! OSMOND Mm-hmm. You... MAYHEW I mean, I... intellectually, I'd like to argue it with you, but I'm not emotionally involved. OSMOND It wouldn't... eh... it wouldn't feel worried or angry or anything in particular? MAYHEW No. Well, ah... is that quite clear? Yes, I'd say no. OSMOND Now, you were telling us a little bit about music, Christopher... MAYHEW Yes? OSMOND ...and of certain, ah... experiences in between pieces of music? MAYHEW Yes? OSMOND I wonder if perhaps you could tell us a bit more about that? MAYHEW (PAUSE) No. I can't now, not just at this moment. OSMOND Is that because you're fluctuating out of... MAYHEW No, it's because I'm conscious of the film... and whether it's going to run out or not. OSMOND Yes. MAYHEW For some reason it's inhibiting me. OSMOND Now, there's now, I think, an effect of this time you were telling us is that your appreciation of time, present, here and now, er, our... our time, the one... the socially recognised time... MAYHEW Yes? OSMOND ...was somewhat different, and if you remember, we played with the recorder and er... MAYHEW I remember that embarrassing... yes... OSMOND What happened then? MAYHEW Er, well, I had moments when I could have worked the recorder like I do every day, but then I had moments in which I could look at the recorder, and you were fumbling with it, and then I had moments in which I wasn't even conscious of you fumbling with the recorder, and I would insist again that the moments in which I wasn't even conscious of you fumbling with the recorder took the longest time... OSMOND Yes. Now, you remember we were playing with the recorder for some time and you became concerned that it must have run through several discs... MAYHEW Yes. OSMOND ...do you remember that? MAYHEW Quite right. OSMOND Now this was, again, a means of the... our 'here and now' time, as it were, had somehow altered. Could you tell us in what way that has altered. You've told us there's another time which you're experiencing, but I don't think you've said very much about the, er, what our here and now time, er... what it seems to you. MAYHEW I'm sorry, you've just asked that question as I was going off, Humphry. OSMOND Er, you... MAYHEW Er, when I say 'going off', I mean going off in my technical sense... OSMOND Yes... MAYHEW ...I didn't mean I was going to sleep... OSMOND No, no... MAYHEW ...I mean that I was leaving your space, and your time... OSMOND Yes. MAYHEW ...and going to this other space and time. And now I'm back again! OSMOND Well, now you're back here, do you think you could let us know how our time seems to you? You... MAYHEW Very short. Yes. OSMOND You mean it goes very quickly or very slowly? MAYHEW Very quickly indeed. OSMOND Yes, and the consequence of that... MAYHEW Er, wait a minute, do I mean that? I mean, in Earthly language I get muddled up often... OSMOND Yes... MAYHEW ...and so... I would say... that, um... it seems to me that your time goes shortly, yes. OSMOND Does this experiment appear to have gone on a very short time or a very long time? MAYHEW It depend on which time I'm in... OSMOND In this one here! MAYHEW While my mind's on your level it seems to have been quite reasonably brief... OSMOND Yes. MAYHEW ...but while my mind's not on your level, it seems to have gone on so long, I can't think why you have the patience to stay here. OSMOND Mm. Now, you were at one time a bit concerened about the, er, er, the... team might have gone home, I think. MAYHEW Yes. OSMOND On which level were you operating then? MAYHEW Um, oh, I think my unfamiliar level. OSMOND Mm-hmm. And at... at that moment then, it must have been difficult to differentiate between the two. MAYHEW (PAUSE) Now you're confusing me, Humphry, I'm sorry. OSMOND Er... er, how did I confuse you? MAYHEW You confused me because, er, I wasn't sure then, er, at which level I was talking to you. I'm so sorry. OSMOND Mm-hmm, no, I mean, it's easy enough because, er, we can put each other off a bit can't we! MAYHEW I mean, now I'm back on your time and space... OSMOND Yes? Well, now... now you were worried that the... that the team might have been here a very very long time, or might ev... even have gone home, I think you said. MAYHEW Yes, I probably was, yes... OSMOND And... and... and... and this was because of the... that... er... MAYHEW That's when I'd come back from my time to your time... OSMOND Yes, yes... MAYHEW ...I'm naturally worried because it seems to me as though a very long period of time has elapsed and therefore the team would have been getting fed up and want to get to the pub and we'd run out of film. OSMOND Yes. MAYHEW And now I... of course I realise I'm silly to get so worry about the film... because, er, the film will go on alright... OSMOND Yes, yes. MAYHEW ...in your time! OSMOND Yes. Now, this particular er, er, time we've been having the film out, does it seem to have gone on for a long time or..? MAYHEW Ages. Er, well, of course there've been lucid intervals where I've known quite clearly that it's gone on for a short time, but during this period of filming, there have been moments where I've removed myself from your time and your space and thos emoments have gone on for a very long time. OSMOND Mm-hmm. Do you feel that, in this state, it would be difficult to carry out ordinary business or easy for you? MAYHEW It would be impossible. I mean, one would have to make up one's mind what er... time and space to adopt. OSMOND And it's not always, er, er, possible to be sure which one to adopt, is that right? MAYHEW Um... no, I'm afraid not. I couldn't make a conscious choice between them. OSMOND Mm-hmm. MAYHEW My conscious mind is some other mind, er, and I can't therefore consciously choose between my conscious mind and this other mind. And I'm aware now, on the conscious level, that I'm speaking rather more clearly than I would, without your drug. OSMOND Yes, yes. So, so... er, then... in this... in... in... in this way really, er, err, it would mean that ordinary everyday affairs would be, as it were, be intruded on... MAYHEW I've just thought of something, may I interrupt... OSMOND Certainly. MAYHEW Of course, the bore is, you see, that this will be a... a... a bore to people in your space and time because it has lasted very shortly and what have appeared to me as long excursions in space and time are instantaneous things which in fact... didn't happen at all. OSMOND Mm-hmm. But perhaps we may be... we may be able to hear about those when you have a little time to tell us... because I think you told me one of the difficulties is of communicating these things in, what we could call the time available. MAYHEW I may be... the... the thing that I felt ws sure to happen - you told me, you warned me - that there was no language in which exactly this moment, to describe this transition from one to the other, but I don't despair, Humphry, as I understand it, in your time, my time hasn't run out yet... OSMOND Yes. MAYHEW ...I don't despair of... of still being able to describe to you this transition in space and time from one continuum to the other. OSMOND Good, good. DIRECTOR'S VOICE (OFF) Cut. FILMING CUTS Panorama: The Mescaline Experiment - session rushes Roll 2, Sequence 1 - 02/09/55

The chatter about "long excursions in space and time" should sound familiar as it formed the middle section of TV Hell's short montage of events in its 'A-Z Of TV Hell' feature.

Dr Osmond presents Mayhew with a series of art prints, perhaps hoping to initiate a similar response to Aldous Huxley's reactions as described so eloquently in The Doors of Perfection.

	OSMOND ...Mado... which Madonna is this? DIRECTOR'S VOICE (OFF) (UNINTELLIGABLE) ...and then give him the picture. OSMOND Yes. DIRECTOR'S VOICE (OFF) Off you go, please. MAYHEW (PAUSE) Me is it? Well, this is my... one of my lucid moments. Er, I'm back on earth so to speak. Er, I've no sense though of what the time is now. I really don't know. Um, and Rex Morforth has given me some instructions, in a last lucid moment... which, er, now, I'm afraid, no longer applies to me. I can't cope with them. OSMOND Christopher, would you care to look at the picture and make such comments as you feel, er, perhaps you can tell what picture it is? MAYHEW Yes, it's a Madonna and Child, and, er... er, this comes from the, er, wonderful collection in Leningrad, the Hermitage, and this was presented to me... by the Russians... but, er, I'm not much good at paintings, Humphry, and, er... this means no more to me than, er, other things. It's different in the way that other things are different to me at the present time. And er... No, the fact that it's a painting... has no significence in this experiment to me. OSMOND You... do you want to see other paintings or would you prefer not to? MAYHEW Um... I don't think you'd find them significant. Show me them if you like. OSMOND Would you like to see some pictures of the family? OSMOND PROFERS A SMALL BOOKLET CONTAINING PHOTOS MAYHEW (GRINS) Yes... OSMOND Mm-hmm. MAYHEW IDLY LEAFS THROUGH THE BOOKLET MAYHEW Yes, well, I... you've caught me at a lucid moment now, and I'd say 'dear Tessa', and I feel very affectionate towards her. (PAUSE) And I, I feel... I feel that... yes... OSMOND HANDS OVER A SECOND BOOKLET OF PHOTOS OSMOND And the other ones? MAYHEW I'm still in a lucid moment, Humphry... (PAUSE) ...and er... well, I'm half-way. OSMOND Mm-hmm. MAYHEW (PAUSE) I'll wait 'til I come... no, I must be back now. So, I am back, and I say 'dear children'. Yes. OSMOND You... you mean that at other times they... they... they... they don't seem as interesting as they do when you're here? MAYHEW No, I think probably... er, it may be that, but it may be simply, Humphry, that I thought in advance what my emotions to my children were going to be in this experiment... OSMOND Mm-hmm. MAYHEW ...and I thought it was quite likely that, as the drug got underway, that I would become more detatched towards them... OSMOND Mm-hmm. MAYHEW ...so that, er, may have prejudiced what I am now saying. OSMOND Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. W.. would you like to see a... another of the Russian pictures? MAYHEW LOOKS OVER AT THE DIRECTOR WHO HAS APPARENTLY MADE A SIGNAL FILMING CUTS Panorama: The Mescaline Experiment - session rushes Roll 3, Sequence 1 - 02/09/55

The next sequence is brief and accidental, but follows on from the previous.

	SAME SHOT AS BEFORE. MAYHEW IS AWAITING A CUE. OSMOND'S RING-FOLDER OF NOTES IS IN VIEW. THE DIRECTOR WALKS IN FRONT OF THE CAMERA, OBSCURING OUR VIEW OSMOND ...talked to your wife in the dining... FILMING CUTS Panorama: The Mescaline Experiment - session rushes Roll 3, Sequence 2 - 02/09/55

This is followed by another sequence of Mayhew, this time cutting straight in, mid chat.

	SAME SHOT AS BEFORE. MAYHEW IS TALKING TO OSMOND MAYHEW ...and, um. I can see that, er... a whole lot of things have happened, but in little pieces, to which I can give no sequence in time... Er, and now, er... My... I'm fairly lucid, Humphry, and I can hear the cameras going... and I can see you looking at me... and my time is now your time... and I shall look at my watch... (HE DOES SO) and, er, it's now... eighteen minutes to three... but, er, I'm now... I know now that, er... my time and space changes... and that, er, soon, er, I shall go into a different time and a different soace, which will seem instantaneous to you, I know, and therefore it will be as though I'm talking gibberish, as though I'd been here all the time... I quite see that, from your point of view that'll look nonsense, but, er, I do try and assure you that, from my point of view, between the time that I, perhaps, begin this sentence... and the time that I end it, I shall have gone... (PAUSE) a long time has elapsed, Humphry... and, er... OSMOND Will things have happened in that time? MAYHEW (PAUSE) I can see you... you (UNINTELLIGABLE) Try again. OSMOND Will things have happened in the long time that elapses? To you. MAYHEW (LONG PAUSE) Er... it will be a state... it will be a state of existance. OSMOND (PAUSE) Of some duration? MAYHEW Yes, of infinite duration! Yes. Now I'm lucid again. Sorry, Humphry. I haven't said anything. DIRECTOR'S VOICE (OFF) Okay, cut! FILMING CUTS Panorama: The Mescaline Experiment - session rushes Roll 3, Sequence 3 - 02/09/55

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