Nick McCarty Radio Plays
Nick McCarty has worked as a professional writer since age 23, a very long time ago. One time script editor for TV drama series The Revenue Men and then The Expert. He is married, has two children and a grandson, lives in Kew and from time to time in SW France.
BBC BROADCASTS
SATURDAY NIGHT THEATRE
31.01.76 The Rose Garden*
MIDWEEK THEATRE
None
AFTERNOON THEATRE
19.12.64 You Don't Know Anythin'
15.06.77 Dowry With Two White Doves
28.10.82 One Bright & Sunny Afternoon*
SATURDAY PLAYHOUSE
14.06.97 H.M.S. Ulysses (Alastair Maclean), dram.
13.09.03 The Anonymous Venetian (Donna Leon), dram, 90m
AFTERNOON PLAY
27.09.99 Love among the haystacks (Lawrence), dram.
11.10.99 The Ladybird (Lawrence), dram.
31.01.04 The Walsall Boys (Saturday Play)
02.06.05 Afternoon Romancers
OTHERS: original plays
??.??.84 Anna* (Radio Clyde)
date nk Chinese Dreamers* (Radio Clyde)
date nk Flowers in the Sky* (Radio Clyde)
date nk Jack Squalor’s Time (Midlands)
date nk Elephant Dances (Submitted by Independent radio for
Prix Italia)
date nk Past Glories (Midlands)
date nk A Confidential Agent. (Six plays about a female tec.)
date nk The Chasseur and the Nun
date nk You don't know anythin' (Midlands)
date nk If you can't fight you'd better dance (Capital Playhouse)
date nk Sunday with the tigers (Capital Playhouse)
date nk The End of Lieutenant Borovka Eps 1-6 (World Service)
ADAPTATIONS
date nk The year of mystery and grief* (Leonid Borodin),dram
31.01.00 The picture of Dorian Gray (Wilde), dram, 2 x 60m.
04.08.01 A Tale of Two Cities (rebroadcast by CBC Radio National),dram
date nk The Canterville Ghost (New York Golden Rose Radio best
adaptation)
date nk Far from the Madding Crowd, R4
1995 Shane
The Winslow Boy adapted for World Service
Wild Strawberries Eps 1-2 World Service
A Year of Miracle and Grief
Dracula
Frankenstein (for German radio)
Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde
The Labyrinth Makers
The End of Lieutenant Boruvka
Uncle Silas (for German radio)
The Fox
Love in a Haystack
another novella by DHLawrence
The Germans also did DRACULA (7 episodes) and Jekyll & Hyde
Zorba the Greek 2 Eps
The Absentee 2 Eps(?)
Hard Times, eps. 1-4
Far from the Madding Crowd, 6 episodes. BBC7 rpt.
Books: Troy for Carlton Books, Alexander the Great. A biography for Carlton Books, The Iliad ( a retelling for Kingfisher Books, Publ September 2000, Spearhead (TV tie in for ITV Books/Arrow), The Regiment (TV tie in for Pan Books), Rebecca is a Cypriot for A & C Black (The Strands Series).
Theatre: THE WOLF ROAD for WONDERFUL BEAST at THE GATE THEATRE, played from December 16th 1998 to January 17th 1999; THOMAS TURNER, the life of an 18th Century Shopkeeper; a 90’ one man show performed by Roger Hume at The Thorndyke Theatre. DOWRY WITH TWO WHITE DOVES: Theatro Technis.
Work for Television includes: Dangerfield, Casualty , The Onedin Line, Bergerac, Clap Hands for the Walking Dead, Anne Boleyn (in the series The Six Wives of Henry VIII), The Regiment (which I co-devised), Airline, DRAMARAMA: There were two plays for this slot, TWIST IN THE TALE; an episode for Cloud 9 Prods called FLYAWAY; Cloud 9: CHARLIE, CLOUD 9: THE PIRATE, CLOUD 9: GO FOR GOLD (?), Z CARS...two episodes for this slot, JACK SQUALORS TIME- atv DRAMA, CLAP HANDS FOR THE WALKING DEAD- ATV DRAMA, PARKINS PATCH YTV, SPEARHEAD 17 episodes (Southern TV) Devised by me also; CROWN COURT (1 STORY) Granada, UNITED 30+ storylines, UNITED 2 episodes, THE REVENUE MEN: ALL THAT GLISTERS, CHAMPION HOUSE: BLIND EYE, Home Front (a film for BBC TV), In Suspicious Circumstances, Strike Force ( film for Yorkshire TV), Jack Squalor’s Time, Siege of Golden Hill Series 1, Siege of Golden Hill Series 2 , Both for ATV. Winner Pye Award.
Script Editor: The Revenue Men & The Expert- BBC TV
NOTES ON THE RADIO WORK:
YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHIN'....1964
With John Baddeley, Alan Devereux, Graham Weston, Jon Rollason.
THE ROSE GARDEN....1976
Second World War and present time...with Nigel Anthony and Heather
Barrett.
DOWRY WITH TWO WHITE DOVES....1977
With Cyril Shaps, Rosalind Adams, Gareth Armstrong.
ONE BRIGHT & SUNNY AFTERNOON....1982
With Michael N. Harbour, John Rowe, Terry Molloy. The life of a man who deals with unexploded bombs.
ANNA....1984
Social story ... a marriage doesn't work out quite as planned. With
skilful use of sound effects. Stars Jill Gascoyne as Anna, Michael
MacKenzie as John, Stella Forge as Sophie, John Sheddon as Alex.
Production assistant Maggie Sloane. Produced and directed by Hamish
Wilson. For radio Clyde.
CHINESE DREAMERS....c1986?
With Joss Ackland; radio Clyde.
..................thanks to M.M. at Bournemouth for alerting me to this play
FLOWERS IN THE SKY....c1986?
Radio Clyde.
THE YEAR OF MYSTERY AND GRIEF....c1985(?)
A latter-day witch, Dead Man's Crag, and a young child ...broadcast
as Sunday Playhouse (c1990); with Steve Hodson as Leonid, Tom Lawrence as
Leon, with Mary Wimbush, William Eedle, Carolyn Backhouse, Brett Usher,
Joanna Myers, June Barrie, Norman Jones and Phyllida Nash. Directed in
Bristol by Shaun McLaughlin.
A CONFIDENTIAL AGENT....c1990
Repeated on BBC7, Jan 2005. Entertaining series about a female
detective. Episode titles: 'All that
glisters' (one hour), the other 4 are 45 minute programmes entitled
'Poison in the air', 'A husband
scorned', 'Sharks have pearly teeth' and 'Fire'. - info from Tony
Mitchell- many thanks.
SHANE....1995
The best radio version of a Western you are ever likely to hear.
It is stunning, atmospheric, brilliant.........
HMS ULYSSES....1997
War novel...a ship, and the voyage which pushed its crew to the
limits of human endurance. Stars Ian Bannen, Derek Jacobi, Donald
Sinden, Cal Macaninch, John Standing, James Callis, Keith Baxter.
A TALE OF TWO CITIES....c1999 (CBC rpt)
The famous Dickens story, rebroadcast by CBC (originally a BBC
production). "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" is
the famous phrase which opens this tale of love, self- sacrifice,
revenge and rescue in the dangerous days of the French revolution.
Against the background of Paris and London in the late 1700s, Dickens
sets an intimate story of a family caught up in an important moment
of history.
The book was published in 1859, seventy years after the storming of the Bastille.It was one of the few novels which Dickens set outside his own time and place. But Dickens had lived through a year of revolutions in Europe in 1848, and in the crowded slums of London he saw the potential for further uprisings.
This production stars Charles Dance as Sidney Carton, with John Duttine, Charlotte Attenborough, Barbara Leigh-Hunt, John Moffatt, Richard Pasco and Maurice Denham. Dramatised by Ian Cotterell.
LOVE AMONG THE HAYSTACKS....1999
David Lawrence (played by Philip Jackson) narrates the story
of two farm worker brothers, the harvest, and the arrival of a
young German governess next door. With Benedict Sandiford, Tony
Bell and Sasha Pick. Directed by Hazel Castell.
THE LADYBIRD....1999
David Lawrence (played by Philip Jackson) narrates the story
of an odd love affair between an enemy officer in a prison hospital
and Lady Daphne who visits him. With Emma Fielding, Steve Hodson,
Christopher Bowen; directed by Janet Whitaker.
THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY....2000
Dramatisation of Wilde's famous novel. With Jamie Glover,
Ian McDiarmid and Steven Pacey. Directed by Gordon House.
Broadcast as the Classic Serial in two one-hour episodes.
Here's what was written about Anna, Elephant Dances and Diamonds in the Sky for the International Radio Festival of New York: "This production in 1984 marked the beginning of a unique series produced by Radio Clyde for distribution on the independent local radio network. Eight plays were funded by the Scottish Health Education Council to use drama to educate people on contemporary health issues. All the plays were written by the well established radio playwright Nick McCarty and directed and produced by Hamish Wilson who became the only full time radio drama director in British commercial radio until he left to join BBC Edinburgh. 'Anna' explored alcoholism with a package of advice and interview programmes and on-air counselling. Gill Gascoigne- won a UK Sony award for her performance."
THE ANONYMOUS VENETIAN....2003
A very welcome 90-minute play on Radio 4; the unknown dead Venetian is
found wearing a cheap red dress and satinshoes, lying on waste ground
used by prostitutes. Commissario Brunetti's investigations lead him
into a world where it's not just the canals and the baddies that stink.
Stars Danny Webb, Sylvertra le Touzel, Dylan Charles, Steve Hodson, Jenny Funnell,
Keith Drinkel, Connie Walker, Jennifer Hilary, David Collings, Jonathan
Keeble, Scott Brooksbank, Jonathan Broadbent, Ben Turner, Trevor
Nichols, Valerie Sarruf; dir. Jane Morgan.
THE WALSALL BOYS....2004
R4, Saturday Play, 31 Jan 04. 1892, and a gang of Socialists in the
Black Country town of Walsall are targeted by the Fenian Branch and a group of international
anarchists. The secretary of the local Socialist club becomes drawn
into events and quickly gets out of his depth. With Alex Jones as
the secretary, and Stephen Critchlow, Julia Hills, Tom George,
John Webb, Ann beach, Jo Rafferty, Michael Tudor Barnes, Greg Hobbs and Ben Crowe.
Director: Peter Leslie Wild.
AFTERNOON ROMANCERS....2005
R4, 2 Jun 05.Two musicians embark on an affair that
they promise each other will not end in love. But life has a habit
of not going to plan. With Sally Hawkins and Ewan Stewart. Dir.
John Burgess; prod. Nicholas Newton.
BBC7
ZORBA THE GREEK....2004
In the classic drama 10am slot, 12 Jan 04 (rpt 1am), we have a two-part
Nick McCarty dramatisation of the famous Greek novel Zorba the Greek by
Nikos Kazantzakis. Robert Stephens, Michael Maloney and Mary Wimbush
star in this story about a young writer who encounters a man named
Alexis Zorba - a man who lives without shame and for the moment.
Zorba the Greek was directed by Phillip Martin.
(info. from BBC7 newsletter, 10Jan 04)
THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY....2004
In 7 Drama 26 Jan 04, the second and final episode of Gordon
House's production of The Picture of Dorian Gray...dramatised by
Nick McCarty, it stars Jamie Glover, Ian McDiarmid, Steven Pacey
and Tilly Gaunt.
FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD....date nk
Nick McCarty's six-part dramatisation of Thomas Hardy's Far From the
Madding Crowd continues. Directed by Marilyn Imrie, it stars Janet Maw,
Tim McInnerny, David Burke and Emily Morgan and comes highly recommended.
(BBC7 repeat, Mar 2004)
Nigel Deacon / Diversity Website
