The Pickerskill Reports starring Sheridan Smith and Ian McDiarmid, BBC Radio 4 Extra
The Pickerskill Reports on BBC Radio 4Extra
Starring Ian McDiarmid and Sheridan Smith
Written and Directed by Andrew McGibbon
Visit the BBC Radio 4 programme page ww.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b012wwtw
EPISODE 4 – RICHARD AND GREGORY SEVERIN
In the late 40s, Richard and Gregory, soon to head off to university, become entranced by the in-vogue teachings of Lenin, Marx and Trotsky.
More details below
Critic Reviews
“Funny, well-crafted and beautifully acted, this is a gem”
“Ian McDiarmid is brilliant as Dr Pickerskill”
Gillian Reynolds, The Telegraph
“…a narrative punch…a paean, in a way to original thought”
Lisa Mullen, Time Out
“Ian McDiarmid has stepped brilliantly into the central role… McGibbon’s evocation of a boys’ school in the sixties was like The History Boys stripped bare of idealism, a jungly training ground for the world. This was laugh out loud comedy, stabs of truth doled out with the humour “
Moira Petty, The Stage
“Sharp. witty and told with the warm wisdom of your favourite teacher” Lousie Cohen, The Times
“A darkly comic look at his (Pickerskill’s) most entertaining pupils”
David Brown, Radio Times
“It’s very funny, in a sinister, sarcastic sort of way, beautifully written and brilliantly played”
Gillian Reynolds, The Telegraph
INTERVIEW WITH IAN MCDIARMID
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8220011.stm
Series 1 Episode Guide
EPISODE 1 – HARRY HINDLE RAND – 28th AUGUST 2009.
A saintly pupils exploits one of the master’s weakness for altar wine while bribing him for end of term exams
EPISODE 2 – KAWS AND EFFECT – 4th SEPTEMBER 2009
Technically-minded prankster Francis Kaws avoids expulsion by agreeing to complete a long-forgotten Haunchurst engineering project.
EPISODE 3 – CADMUS WILCOX – 11th SEPTEMBER 2009
Massachussetts born pupil Cadmus Wilcox is denied entry to the school’s senior cadets shooting team because he’s not a British citizen even though he’s the only hope the school has of winning the interschool’s shooting cup
EPISODE 4 – CRISPIN BIGGERSTAFFE – 17th SEPTEMBER 2009
Dr Pickerskill is forced to intercept love letters from a pupil as they threaten to expose and embarrass the boy’s father, a well known Conservative MP.
Series 2 Episode Guide
EPISODE 1 – PAUL WHITNEY BEACHAMP – 27TH JULY 2011
When day boy Beauchamp is picked on repeatedly and brutally by Castlereagh House bullies, his mother Lady Sylvia Beauchamp puts Dr Pickerskill on the spot by arriving unannounced at Haunchurst requesting her child attend a different school.
EPISODE 2 – PATRICK TRUMBALL – 3RD AUGUST 2011
Patrick Trumball’s strange fascination for thunderstorms, lightening and other epic forces of nature appear to mark him out as an unusual, otherworldly child confirmed by Pickerskill when he discovers that the boy also possesses a perfect photographic memory.
EPISODE 3 – TIMOTHY SPOONTZ – 11TH SEPTEMBER 2011
When the new progressive headmaster Mike Poulson Jabby decides to impose an austerity drive, the quality of the school’s food is compromised, but the inventive agricultural talents of young boarder Timothy Spoontz provide a solution.
EPISODE 4 – RICHARD AND GREGORY SEVERIN – 18TH SEPTEMBER 2011
In the late 40s, Richard and Gregory, soon to head off to university, become entranced by the in-vogue teachings of Lenin, Marx and Trotsky.