Hard Times Episode 1
Drama of the Week
BBC
3.9 • 1.9K Ratings
🗓️ 4 October 2024
⏱️ 58 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
"Now, what I want is Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life."
Charles Dickens' novel - subtitled 'For These Times' - is a vivid story for our own age - a short, sharp satire of target-driven education, business, and the denial of the imagination. Headmaster Thomas Gradgrind has developed a rigid, facts-driven curriculum for his school. And at home, he raises his two children, Tom and Louisa, within a similar system of utilitarian metrics. But the human spirit has an inherent thirst for wonder and Louisa struggles inside the constraints of her education.
Dramatised by Graham White
Thomas Gradgrind…..David Morrissey
Louisa Gradgrind…..Rachel Harper
Tom Gradgrind…..Ike Bennett
Josiah Bounderby…..Shaun Dooley
Sissy Jupe…..Janey Orchard
Mrs Sparsit…..Jan Ravens
James Harthouse…..Will Close
Stephen Blackpool…..Arthur Hughes
Rachael…..Claire Cage
Mrs Gradgrind/Margaret/Josephine…..Julie Barclay
Mr M’Choakumchild/Slackbridge/Collins…..Richard Elfyn
Bitzer…..Aaron Anthony
Sleary…..Patrick Robinson
Production co-ordinators Lindsay Rees and Eleri Sydney McAuliffe
Sound by Rhys Morris, Nigel Lewis and Catherine Robinson
Directed by Emma Harding, BBC Audio Wales
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Before you listen to this BBC podcast I'd like to tell you why I love |
| 0:03.7 | podcasting. I'm Natasha Aronson I'm an assistant commissioner for the BBC and I work on |
| 0:09.4 | making podcasts my real passion is discovering unbelievable unheard stories and working with the biggest |
| 0:16.9 | stars who can really bring those stories to life. |
| 0:20.1 | I love the whole process of making podcasts from the spark of an idea to hearing the final edit. |
| 0:26.4 | There's nothing like it. What makes BBC Podcast special is that we're working for you. |
| 0:31.0 | So whatever we commission has to reflect the things that you care about and love wherever you are in the |
| 0:36.0 | UK. So if you like this BBC podcast, there's so much more to discover. Have a listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:47.0 | BBC Sounds. BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts. This is Drama of the Week. And the Hard times by Charles Dickens, dramatized by Graham White. |
| 1:15.0 | Episode 1. |
| 1:17.0 | Mother, there's a strange girl outside. |
| 1:24.0 | She's asking to speak to father. |
| 1:26.0 | Tell her is not here this evening. |
| 1:28.0 | We did that. |
| 1:29.0 | But she asked to speak to Mrs Gradgrind if there is one at home. |
| 1:33.0 | Then I'll tell her myself, please. |
| 1:36.0 | She has a strange name, Sissy or something. |
| 1:39.0 | Oh, what do you want? I hope to speak to Mr Gradgrind who runs the schoolman. |
| 1:47.0 | He's not here. |
| 1:48.0 | She's very untidy. Can't they? |
| 1:50.0 | Oh, sh, both of you. |
| 1:52.0 | What business do you have about the school? |
... |
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