'The Coach With the Dragon Tattoo' by Patrick Ness

Ram is struggling to come to terms with his new prosthetic leg, avoiding his friends’ calls and unable to confide in his father; his lack of focus draws the attention of Coach Dawson, who is unhappy at Ram’s performance on the football pitch. After practice, Assistant Coach Carroll is skinned alive in the showers by a huge dragon – one that looks exactly like the tattoo squirming across Coach Dawson’s back… The following day Charlie, Tanya and April worry about Ram and the threat of the rift, while Miss Quill finds herself the object of the attention of a school inspector from Ofsted, who sits in her class silently making notes. In his office, Coach Dawson struggles to maintain control over his dragon tattoo, and then disposes of the unpleasant contents of a plastic bag. Ram sneaks out to the bins for a cigarette and gets chatting to a cleaner – but their conversation is interrupted by the reappearance of the dragon, which skins the poor woman alive. Forced to hide, Ram finds himself soaked with blood again; once the dragon has gone he takes a shower and then goes home to call Tanya about the dragon. That night, Ram and Tanya investigate the bins; noting how they have been thoroughly cleaned, they are stopped by Coach Dawson, who orders them home. After the students have left, the coach berates his tattoo, which moves across his skin… The next day, Miss Quill’s Science Class receives another visit from the school inspector; he gives her a bad report; she checks him out online, but can find nothing at all about the name other than his name, ‘Paul Smith’. Out on the football pitch, Ram manages to please Coach Dawson by scoring a goal. Miss Quill begins a silent war against the ever-present inspector in her classes, before finally snapping and demanding who he is and what he wants; the inspector refers the matter to the head teacher, Mr Armitage, who agrees to let him review Miss Quill again, under threat of reporting her to the board of governors. Tanya tells Charlie and April about Ram’s encounter, and confesses that she has been trying to hack into the secret files of UNIT, the Unified Intelligence Taskforce. The trio decide to ask Mr Armitrage about the missing cleaner, but during the conversation a rift opens behind the head teacher and the dragon bursts through, skinning the teacher alive and then dragging his remains back into the tear. Elsewhere, Coach Dawson’s tattoo returns to its host; Dawson regains control, but his eyes glow green… Charlie, Tanya and April seek Miss Quill’s help, but her implant renders her unable to use any weaponry. That night, Tanya, Charlie and April tell Ram over a video call about the dragon; when Charlie shows them a picture he has drawn, Ram recognises it as Coach Dawson’s tattoo. The gang send Miss Quill to talk to the coach, but she is intercepted by the inspector; when Miss Quill asks him what he wants he shows her one word on his notepad, ‘YOU’. Miss Quill immediately snogs the inspector, but they are forced to stop and flee when the dragon suddenly appears; cornered in a classroom, Miss Quill shoves the inspector at the dragon – but he turns out to be a robot, so the creature goes for her instead. Meanwhile, Ram leads Charlie, April and Tanya to the bins, where they see Coach Dawson disposing of the remains of Mr Armitage; they confront the coach, just as Miss Quill arrives, the dragon close behind her. As the monster closes in, the coach explains that it is the mate of the dragon on his back, which came through the rift and bonded with him, becoming trapped on his skin. The dragon has to kill to give its mate blood to live, and now Coach Dawson wants it to kill the four students. Ram reasons with the dragon, entreating it to force the coach into releasing its mate; the creature agrees, and drags the protesting teacher through the rift. Later, everyone finds their own ways to come to terms with events: April plays her violin, and Ram tries football practice at home; when his father offers to help, Ram finally shows his dad his new prosthetic limb. Elsewhere, Miss Quill examines the remains of the robotic inspector, and notes that it was sent after her by the governors…


Katherine Kelly (Miss Quill), Greg Austin (Charlie), Fady Elsayed (Ram Singh), Sophie Hopkins (April MacClean), Vivian Oparah (Tanya Adeola), Jordan Renzo (Matteusz), Ben Peel (Coach Dawson), David McGranaghan (Assistant Coach Carroll), Aaron Neil (Varun Singh), Nigel Betts (Mr. Armitage), Jami Reid-Quarrell (The Inspector [Paul Smith]), Cally Lawrence (Cleaner)

Directed by Ed Bazalgette
Produced by Derek Ritchie
Executive Producers Brian Minchin, Steven Moffat and Patrick Ness
A BBC Wales production

TX (BBC Three):
22nd October 2016 @ 10.00

Notes:
*Featuring Miss Quill, Charlie, April, Ram, Tanya and Matteusz

*This episode and episode 1, 'For Tonight We Might Die', were both released on BBC Three at the same time

*This episode was later shown on BBC 1 on 16th January 2017 @ 10.45 pm