Mr Pye

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Mr Pye: Episode 2

Episode 2

BBC Radio 4 - Mr Pye, Episode 2

Mr Pye’s on the horns of a diabolic dilemma in Mervyn Peake's classic.

Harold Pye struggles against his better nature in Glyn Maxwell's dramatisation of Mervyn Peake's satire of good and evil. Miss George plots revenge and Sark is fiercely divided.

“There is no problem on earth that cannot be solved by love!” announced the little evangelist, Harold Pye, as he arrived on the tiny Channel Island of Sark.

He certainly started to spread love around, galvanising a community rife with disputes, grudges and feuds. His good deeds seemingly knew no bounds. He even appeared to be developing certain actual angelic qualities, as he invited all the islanders to a grand midnight picnic at Derrible Bay. But now there’s a literal whiff of disaster in the air and his schemes begin to unravel.

There’s all to play for as Mr. Pye (Adrian Scarborough)  fights with the voices of his conscience, the monstrous Miss George (Jane Whittenshaw) plots against him and Miss Dredger (Deborah Findlay) finds love taking her in unexpected directions.

Artist poet and novelist Mervyn Peake, perhaps best known for his Gormenghast trilogy, wrote this darkly comic modern fable in the 1950s and set it on Sark, a place he knew well. This modern tale about an island divided against itself has been dramatised by New Generation poet and playwright, Glyn Maxwell (The Gambler, Cyrano de Bergerac, Shakespeare’s Fire).

Cast:
Adrian Scarborough........................Mr. Pye
Deborah Findlay..............................Miss Dredger
Christopher Harper.........................Thorpe/ Major Overshot
Emily Bowker...................................Tintagieu
Jane Whittenshaw............................Miss George, Dr. Moraine
Emma Noakes...................................Kiki, Mrs. Porter
Alex Blake..........................................Pawgy
Thomas Delacourt..............................Pepe

From the novel by Mervyn Peake dramatised by Glyn Maxwell
Directed by Frank Stirling 
A 7digital production for BBC Radio 4

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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Mervyn Peake's charming, dramatic and troubling satire on the nature of good and evil.

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