School Drama

Tom Hollander stars as a washed-up TV actor brought in to turn around a failing academy by staging a school playNewly rebranded Deer Park Academy is struggling to turn itself around after being placed in special measures. Hoping to inspire the students (and tick the 'creative learning' box for the next Ofsted inspection), the headmaster decides to put on a production of Romeo and Juliet.But inspiration can be dangerous, and when has-been ex-TV star Geoff Cathcart is brought in to direct, he opens a Pandora's box of problems. Geoff is a maverick with little time for rules and regulations, a laissez-faire attitude to health and safety and his own, somewhat unorthodox, ideas about education and creativity. The management doesn't realise what a fire it's lighting and the flames are soon out of control. Then, with opening night looming, a background check reveals that he isn't quite who he appears to be. However, the show must go on, and as the curtain finally rises, the students take to the stage...Written by Andy Mulligan, whose novel Trash has been translated into 35 languages, this funny, moving 4-part drama stars Tom Hollander (Rev, The Night Manager) and Sian Gibson (Peter Kay's Car Share), performing alongside the staff and students of Portsmouth Grammar School. The final episode comprises an actual, hour-long production of Shakespeare's tragedy of star-crossed lovers, as performed by the pupils of Deer Park Academy with a little help from Tom Hollander as the Friar, Rob Jarvis (Hustle) as Capulet and Suzie Baxter (Suffragette) as the Nurse.Production creditsWritten by Andy MulliganRomeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare and adapted by Andy MulliganProduced by Emma HearnDirected by John DrydenMusic by Jon OuinSound by Steve BondA Goldhawk Production for BBC Radio 4CastGeoff/Friar Lawrence - Tom HollanderMichelle - Sian GibsonHeadmaster - Tony GardnerGail - Heather CraneyFestival Administrator - Vincent EbrahimTom/Capulet - Rob JarvisCharlie/Romeo - Divian LadwaNaia/Juliet - Rebecca EmertonLouie/Mercutio - Rory GreenwoodBen/Paris - Rob MerriamRyan/Benvolio - Finn ElliotSchool Secretary/Nurse - Susie BaxterZoe - Floss WillcocksVehicle Manager - Angus KennedyRadio Presenter - Jason KingTybalt - Stevie BasaulaLady Capulet - Lily-Fleur BradburyFriar John - Caolan McCarthyLady Montague - Abby MossChorus - Poppy GoadPrince - Joe McCueAll other parts played by students and teachers at Portsmouth Grammar School: Abby Moss, Poppy Goad, Thomas Locke, Joe McAuley, Freddie Fenton, Douglas James, Joe Haylock, Jay Pasricha, JM Hopkinson, Caleb Barron, Joe McCue, Floss Willcocks, JM HopkinsonFirst broadcast BBC Radio 4, 18-21 May 2016(c) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd(p) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd