Episodes
| Series | Episode | Title | First Broadcast | Repeated | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Last Report | 20130527 | A special one-off finale of the long running series The Pickerskill Reports. Set in a public school, The Pickerskill Reports finds a long retired English master remembering his favourite students - the ones he thought most likely to make a real difference to the world and who also possessed a streak of anarchy and subversion. In The Final Report, he has to see off a cult leader Faye Hornette, whose shady organization The Constancy wants to take over Haunchurst College. With Elaine Cassidy, (BBC 1's The Paradise), Mark Heap (Big Train, Green Wing), Tony Gardner, (Fresh Meat, Bluestone 42), Thomas Brodie-Sangster (Game of Thrones), Michael Feast (State of Play) and starring Ian McDiarmid (Star Wars I-III, V-VI) in the title role of Dr Henry Pickerskill. Script Editors: Nick Romero and David Quantick Written and Directed by Andrew McGibbon A Curtains For Radio production for BBC Radio 4. Retired teacher Dr Henry Pickerskill must act, when the school is threatened by a cult. By Andrew McGibbon. English master Dr Henry Pickerskill looks back on his favourite pupils | |||
| 01 | 01 | Harry Hindle-rand | 20090828 | 20100809 (R4) | Ian McDiarmid stars as Dr Henry Pickerskill, retired English master of Haunchurst School for boys, looking back on his favourite pupils and their fortunes in the adult world - based on their school reports and their letters to him after they left. Harry Hindle-Rand, an apparently saintly pupil and school chorister, secretly encourages one of the master's weakness for altar wine in exchange for answers to end of term exams. While the boy may be a heavenly singer, Pickerskill uncovers Hindle-Rand's darker motives and predicts correctly that he will become successful as an adult. Just not in the way one might have expected. Dr Henry Pickerskill - Ian McDiarmid Harry Hindle-Rand - Thomas Sangster Lefty Rogers - Tony Gardner The Chaplain - Mike Feast The Colonel - Richard Johnson Elfyn Wynn Thomas Evans - Philip Madoc Collyer - Tom Kane Stealgroynes - Louis Williams Written and directed by Andrew McGibbon. Producers: Nick Romero and Jonathan Ruffle A Curtains For Radio production for BBC Radio 4. Retired English master Dr Henry Pickerskill recalls a very mischievous chorister. By Andrew McGibbon. English master Dr Henry Pickerskill looks back on his favourite pupils |
| 01 | 02 | Kaws And Effect | 20090904 | 20100816 (R4) | Ian McDiarmid stars as Dr Henry Pickerskill, retired English master of Haunchurst School for boys, looking back on his favourite pupils and their fortunes in the adult world - based on their school reports and their letters to him after they left. Dr Pickerskill encourages Francis Kaws, whose great engineering talents are being wasted on clever and inventive school pranks, putting him in danger of being expelled. Pickerskill harnesses the boy's gifts, encouraging him to adapt an old tractor to run on Haunchurst College's defunct narrow-gauge railway line. Dr Henry Pickerskill - Ian McDiarmid Elfyn Wynn Thomas Evans - Philip Madoc Francis Kaws - Louis Williams The Colonel - Richard Johnson Mike Poulson Jabby - Mike Feast Stanislaw - Mike Sarne Jack Rousseau - Tony Gardner Written and directed by Andrew McGibbon. Producers: Nick Romero A Curtains For Radio production for BBC Radio 4. Retired English master Dr Henry Pickerskill recalls a pupil with engineering talents. By Andrew McGibbon. English master Dr Henry Pickerskill looks back on his favourite pupils |
| 01 | 03 | Cadmus Wilcox | 20090911 | 20100823 (R4) | A pupil with American diplomat parents is denied access to the senior cadets shooting team by the Colonel because he's not a British citizen - even though he is the only hope the school have of winning the prestigious inter-school's shooting cup. But when he visits Haunchurst as an adult with an Olympic medal for shooting with his US team, the Colonel is totally unimpressed. Why? Dr Henry Pickerskill - Ian McDiarmid Colonel Bradshaw - Richard Johnson A.R.F. Somerset-Stephenson - Mike Sarne Young Cadmus Wilcox - Tom Kane Adult Cadmus Wilcox - Dominic Hawksley Wentworth - Louis Williams Written and Directed by Andrew McGibbon. Producer: Nick Romero A Curtains For Radio production for BBC Radio 4. Retired English master Dr Henry Pickerskill recalls a pupil set for Olympic glory. By Andrew McGibbon. English master Dr Henry Pickerskill looks back on his favourite pupils |
| 01 | 04 | Crispin Biggerstaffe | 20090918 | 20100830 (R4) | Ian McDiarmid stars as Dr Henry Pickerskill retired English master of Haunchurst School for boys, looking back on his most favourite pupils and their fortunes in the adult world based on their school reports and their letters to him after they left. Pickerskill is forced by the Warden, A.R.F. Somerset-Stephenson to intercept intimate letters left carelessly by a love sick pupil as they threaten to expose and embarrass the boy's father, a well-known Conservative MP. Dr Henry Pickerskill - Ian McDiarmid Crispin Biggerstaffe - James Rowland ARF Somerset-Stephenson - Mike Sarne Chadwick - Tom Kane Calman - Louis Williams Mrs Pickerskill / Bernadette Feane - Abigail Hollick Written and Directed by Andrew McGibbon. Producer: Nick Romero A Curtains For Radio production for BBC Radio 4. Retired English master Dr Henry Pickerskill recalls a large lad with a big crush. By Andrew McGibbon. English master Dr Henry Pickerskill looks back on his favourite pupils |
| 02 | 01 | Paul Whitney Beauchamp | 20110727 | 20120522 (R4) | Dr Henry Pickerskill recalls a bullied day boy and his mother. Stars Ian McDiarmid. By Andrew McGibbon. English master Dr Henry Pickerskill looks back on his favourite pupils |
| 02 | 02 | Patrick Trumball | 20110803 | 20120529 (R4) | Written and Directed by Andrew McGibbon. 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. Cast: Dr Henry Pickerskill ....... Ian McDiarmid Fintan Grice ....... Toby Longworth Patrick Trumball ....... Louis Williams A.R.F. Somerset Stephenson ....... Mike Sarne Stealgroynes ........ Jack Edwards Calman .......Kris Saddler Moorcroft - Joe Cooper Matron ....... Mia Soteriou Producers: Nick Romero and Andrew McGibbon A Curtains For Radio Production for BBC Radio 4. Retired teacher Dr Henry Pickerskill recalls an unusual boy fascinated by thunderstorms. By Andrew McGibbon. English master Dr Henry Pickerskill looks back on his favourite pupils |
| 02 | 03 | Timothy Spoontz | 20110810 | 20120605 (R4) | Written and Directed by Andrew McGibbon. When the new progressive headmaster Mike Poulson Jabby decides to impose an austerity drive in the seventies, the quality of the school's food is compromised as part of the tedious process. But the inventive agricultural talents of young boarder, Timothy Spoontz, helped by his successful father's growing agricultural business, provide the school and Castlereagh House with it's own privately delivered supply of food - until Mike Poulson Jabby gets wind of it. Cast: Dr Henry Pickerskill - Ian McDiarmid Timothy Spoontz ....... Harry McEntire Mike Poulson Jabby - Mike Priest Lefty Rogers ....... Tony Gardner Stanislaw ....... Mike Sarne Stealgroynes - Jack Edwards Calman ........ Kris Saddler Moorcroft - Joe Cooper Matron ... ... Mia Soteriou Producers: Nick Romero and Andrew McGibbon A Curtains For Radio Production for BBC Radio 4. The new progressive headmaster Mike Poulson Jabby decides to impose an austerity drive. By Andrew McGibbon. English master Dr Henry Pickerskill looks back on his favourite pupils |
| 02 | 04 | Richard And Gregory Severin | 20110817 | 20120612 (R4) | Written by Andrew McGibbon. It is the late forties and Gregory and Richard Severin, soon to head off to university, become entranced by the in-vogue teachings of Lenin, Marx, Engels and Trotsky and the Soviet experiment. In a bid to save himself from being bored to death by their endless Spartist dogma, Pickerskill uses a detention with them to say that he is secretly one of them - a communist, and that they must remain silent until he gives them the signal to join him in the vanguard of the great British workers proletarian rebellion. Unfortunately, his false pledge of allegiance is overheard by the cook of Castlereagh House who happens to be the daughter of a murdered White Russian anti-communist. Cast: Dr Henry Pickerskill ....... Ian McDiarmid Richard Severin ........Tom Kane Gregory Severin - James Rowland A.R.F. Somerset Stephenson ....... Mike Sarne Mrs Stroove - Mia Soteriou Cartwright/Dawson .......Toby Longworth The Colonel/Pyotr Stroove - Andrew McGibbon Producers: Nick Romero and Andrew McGibbon Directed by Andrew McGibbon A Curtains For Radio Production for BBC Radio 4. In the late 1940s, the master dupes two brothers entranced by Lenin, Marx and Trotsky. By Andrew McGibbon. English master Dr Henry Pickerskill looks back on his favourite pupils |