Double Act

Ruby and Garnet grow up together with Dad and Gran in Birmingham after their mother Opal dies. They are happy at first, but their world changes when Dad starts dating Rose, a woman the twins instantly dislike.

Dad loses his job and moves the family to the countryside to open a bookshop. Gran is sent to a Senior Citizens' Home during the upheaval, leaving the twins with a lot of change to absorb.

The sisters adjust to life away from Birmingham and face friction at school. They clash with a bully named Jeremy, nicknamed Blob, while Garnet befriends a girl named Judy.

Feeling miserable in the new life, the twins scheme to get expelled from school so they can return to Birmingham. They push boundaries and act out to provoke punishment.

Realizing the harm of their plan, Ruby and Garnet apologize to Dad and bake biscuits as a peace offering. The moment marks a turning point in their relationship with him.

Ruby discovers a newspaper advert for a TV adaptation of The Terrible Tempest Twins and persuades Garnet to give it a try. It sets their hopes on a new future.

To fund the trip and audition, Ruby steals money from Rose and Garnet sells their grandmother's doll for £20. They head to Birmingham for the audition with a mix of excitement and anxiety.

The casting director is impressed by Ruby and Garnet, but Dad discovers them at the audition and takes them home. The moment underscores the tension between the twins' ambitions and parental authority.

That night, Ruby appears on the news waving to the camera, and the broadcast shows the filming location for the episode at Marnock Heights, a boarding school. The sisters begin to imagine a future there.

Ruby writes to the headteacher to seek a place for herself and Garnet, and they receive a brochure inviting them to apply. The prospect of Marnock Heights becomes more real.

They learn the school costs £10,000 unless they win a scholarship, turning their dream into a high-stakes race. They sit the entrance exam hoping for a prize, one twin will win.

During the run-up to the move to Marnock Heights, Ruby's jealousy leads her to violently cut Garnet's pigtails. The sisters drift apart, but on the day Garnet goes to Marnock Heights, Ruby regains her temper and apologizes, and they reconcile, even staying in touch via a new mobile phone.

The film closes with the line 'We'll always be Ruby and Garnet... for ever and ever and ever.' The closing credits feature the song It Takes Two by Marvin Gaye and Kim Weston, heard earlier in the film during the audition.