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Mervyn Peake - The History of Titus Groan (BBC)

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From BBC Radio 4. Written by Mervyn Peake (recently discovered ending by Maeve Gilmore); Dramatised by Brian Sibley.

Episode 1: Titus Arrives

A baby is born: Titus Groan, heir to crumbling stone and ancient ritual, only son of Sepulchrave, the 76th Earl of Gormenghast. Whilst the castle flies into state of high excitement, change may at last come creeping through its empty halls, on the heels of a sly but ambitious kitchen boy named Steerpike.

Episode 2: Titus Inherits

As tension between Mr Flay and Swelter, head chef of Gormenghast, takes a deadly turn, Tituss foster mother Keda is drawn back into her old life amongst the bright carvers. Meanwhile, the first of Steerpikes great plans comes to fruition as he manipulates the ladies Clarice and Cora to great and tragic effect.

Episode 3: Titus Discovers

Ten year old Titus Groan, 77th Earl of Gormenghast, makes an unexpected discovery in the forest, as the mystery surrounding his fathers disappearance deepens. Elsewhere, Irma Prunesquallor grows determined to find a husband, and Steerpikes ambitions may well claim the life of a second member of the Gormenghast household.

Episode 4: Titus Departs

Steerpike takes up his new role as the Master of Ritual, and as Titus grows older, so his suspicions about the former kitchen boy grow. When Steerpikes plans at last begin to unravel, a final, tragic trail of bodies is left in his wake and Titus must make a desperate bid for vengeance and, ultimately, freedom from Gormenghast.

Episode 5: Titus Abroad

Far from Gormenghast, Titus finds himself in an alien world. Lost in a country policed by machines, he must trust to the good will of an eccentric zookeeper, and the kindness of a beautiful woman named Juno.

Episode 6: Titus Alive

Titus attracts attention from the strange but alluring Cheeta, and ultimately becomes the victim of a torturous joke. Rescued by old friends but unable to bear their company any longer, he stumbles into a world uncannily like our own - and is drawn to a mysterious artist, whose presence may at last grant him peace.

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100 Years of Mervyn Peake

The intense love for my parents, with its resultant anguish, lives on for me. Sebastian Peake, eldest son of Mervyn Peake, the remarkable author and artist, takes a return trip to the Island of Sark where he spent his childhood.
Peake, whose centenary is being celebrated this week, is best known for his Titus Groan series of novels, and to a lesser degree his art and illustrations; but he was also a passionate husband, married to artist Maeve Gilmore, and family man. Never too busy to indulge his children, he enriched their lives with his fantastical imagination as much as those who read his novels or relished his art.
Here, Sebastian revisits the family home in the Channel Islands, walks the traffic free byways, recalling his remarkable father; the day he sketched 50 of the islanders at the annual fair; the acts of derring-do, climbing down to dangerous coves to gather semi-precious stones for Maeve; his time as one of the Sark Group of painters; and finally the days spent writing his most famous novel, Gormenghast.
With his brother Fabian, he pours over diaries, paintings and sketches to talk about their fathers artistic legacy, from the best loved Treasure Island illustrations to poignant sketches of the last inhabitants of Belsen. With his sister Clare, he mourns his fathers struggles in later life, the onset of Parkinsons and the difficult final years for the family, and their mother in particular.

This is the life of Mervyn Peake, from his youth as an artist, to his untimely death in 1957, having become one of the most truly imaginative and haunting writers in the world, talking to those who knew him best.

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