Welcome to Curtains For Radio

Curtains For Radio is an independent production company specialising in the production of comedy, drama and factual programmes and films for the BBC, Channel 4 and ITV.

 

 PICKERSKILL:

 

 THE FINAL REPORTS

 

 

PREMIERES

 

JANUARY 2013

 

STARRING IAN MCDIARMID AND SHERIDAN SMITH 1ST EPISODE STARTS WEDNESDAY 27TH JULY 2011 AT 11:30AM BBC RADIO 4

THE CORNWELL ESTATE

 

SERIES 2

 

 

"Andrew McGibbon's fantastic (in every sense) comedy "The Cornwell Estate" had the ridiculously versatile Phil Cornwell in completely Euro-bonkers mode as Hank Zuttermilk, the Dutch lorry driver - his English an explosion of suffixed 'ishes'...What makes this series work so well is the preposterousness allied with minute observation in both the writing and performance. The series' co-creator Phil Cornwell plays a different character in each episode, the style of which is pitched midway between Alan Bennett and Alan Partridge. This is comedy drama which holds its nerve, not always going for the obvious joke, bundling nerdiness up with edginess. The opener had Cornwell as a teacher muddling his way blindly through a minefield of potential racism as he tries to coax ethnicity from pupils whose origins may have been far-flung but who were firmly rooted in Potter's Bar".

Moira Petty, The Stage, 11th November 2010

 

WEDS 1st December 2010

 

AT 23:15

 

ON BBC RADIO 4

 

WATCH THE FILM

 

TRAILERS FROM THE

 

SERIES

 

EP 3 - BOB CREVICE

 

Starring Phil Cornwell, Roger Lloyd Pack, Kate Terence and Paul Brennen

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCRVmXr7y6Y

 

EP 4 - HANK ZUTTERMILK

 

Starring Phil Cornwell, Abby Hollick, Toby Longworth, Ricky Champ and Cyril Nri

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLOBpDq1kTw&feature=related

 

SEASON FINALE

Wednesday 1st DECEMBER AT 23:15!

 

EPISODE SIX - SWITZERLAND MCNAUGHTIEHORSE

Switzerland McNaughtiehorse or Switzy to his friends is a ex pat from the South Bronx in New York living on the Cornwell Estate. He is also a deeply passionate Anglophile. He says he loves the Royal family and our peculiar English way of doing things.

He also loves his work as a "specialist disposal expert"

 

 

RORY BREMNER'S

 

 INTERNATIONAL SATIRISTS

 

MONDAY MARCH 8th/15th/22nd 2010

 

AT 23:00 ON BBC RADIO 4

 

 

THE PICKERSKILL REPORTS

 

SERIES TWO STARTS SUMMER 2011

 

STARRING IAN MCDIARMID

Written and Directed by

Andrew McGibbon

 

"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

 

EPISODE 1 - HARRY HINDLE RAND - AUGUST 28TH.

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 - SEPTEMBER 4TH

Technically-minded prankster Francis Kaws avoids expulsion by agreeing to complete a long-forgotten Haunchurst engineering project.

 

EPISODE 3 - CADMUS WILCOX - SEPTEMBER 11TH

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 - SEPTEMBER 18TH

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.

 

A CYMBAL TALE

             

1:30 PM TUESDAY 10TH NOVEMBER 2009 BBC RADIO 4

A Cymbal Tale tells theimagined story of a one hundred and seventy-five year old cymbal. Along this journey the magic of cymbals - plates of bronze and tin alloy beaten into a concave shape and "tuned" on a lathe is explored.

We trace the earliest cymbals from Ancient Assyria and China, their use in Turkish janissary bands to their arrival in Europe in the 1670s, their unlimited deployment by modern orchestral composers and jazz musicians and why cymbals became so popular in the sixties and now form part of every rock drummer's kit. We also hear what a one hunded and seventy five year old cymbal sounds like!

 

 With dynamic contributions and insight into cymbals and crotales from Heather Corbett, chief percussionist with the Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Archeomusicologist Richard Dumbrill from the British Musuem showing us the earliest cymbals ever found, and John Keeble of Spandau Ballet revealing his cymbal tales, the show includes interviews with manufacturers. metallurgists and composers who help to unravel the intriguing delights of this evocative, iconic idiophone.

 

THE CORNWELL ESTATE

 

SERIES 1

                           

***SECOND SEASON COMING TO BBC IN 2010***

Starring Phil Cornwell (Stella Street) Tony Gardner (Lead Balloon) Mike Sarne (Eastern Promise) Daisy Haggard (Green Wing) Felix Dexter (Armstrong and Miller) Geoffrey Hutchings (Benidorm) Cyril Nri (The Bill), Abigail Hollick and Alan Perrin

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY ANDREW McGIBBON

"a bright new series...a very good cast, good production and sharp
  script make it both real and surreal'

  Gillian Reynolds, The Daily Telegraph

"quirky new series"   Stephanie Billen, The Observer

"Cornwell's observation of the London Wide-boy patois is spot on so
  much that you might have trouble understanding him"

  Gary Rose, Radio Times

"hilarious consequences...there's enough here to keep you listening up
  to the final, bathetic revelation"  Chris Campling, The Times