Skallagrigg
Encyclopedia
Skallagrigg is a 1987 novel written by William Horwood
and influenced by Horwood's relationship with his own daughter Rachel, who has cerebral palsy
.
in 1994 with screenplay by Nigel Williams
and won a BAFTA
for Best Single Drama in 1995. It starred John McArdle
, Richard Briers
, Kerry Noble and Ian Dury
.
William Horwood (novelist)
William Horwood is an English novelist. He grew up on the East Kent coast, primarily in Deal, within a model modern family—fractious with "parental separation, secret illegitimacy, alcoholism and genteel poverty"....
and influenced by Horwood's relationship with his own daughter Rachel, who has cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy is an umbrella term encompassing a group of non-progressive, non-contagious motor conditions that cause physical disability in human development, chiefly in the various areas of body movement....
.
Plot introduction
The story concerns Arthur, a young boy suffering from cerebral palsy, abandoned in a grim hospital in the north of England and subject to extreme cruelty and neglect; Esther, a keenly intelligent teenager who also suffers from CP but whose talents are recognised in these enlightened days; and Daniel, an American computer-gaming genius. They are linked by the Skallagrigg; whatever or whoever it is will transform their lives. Esther sets out on a quest to find the truth of the Skallagrigg, founded in the life and experiences of Arthur. She encapsulates what she finds in a tortuously complex computer game, knowing that the truth is never likely to be uncovered. A man named Martin has heard the word Skallagrigg from his senile grandmother and when he hears of Skallagrigg the game, he is determined to solve it and discover what it means...Screen adaptation
Skallagrigg was shown on BBC2's Screen TwoPlay for Today
Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted...
in 1994 with screenplay by Nigel Williams
Nigel Williams (author)
Nigel Williams is an English novelist, screenwriter and playwright.-Biography:He was educated at Highgate School and Oriel College, Oxford, is married with three sons and lives in Putney, south-west London...
and won a BAFTA
British Academy Television Awards
The British Academy Television Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts . They have been awarded annually since 1954, and are analogous to the Emmy Awards in the United States.-Background:...
for Best Single Drama in 1995. It starred John McArdle
John McArdle
John McArdle is an English actor. He is most notable for playing Billy Corkhill in the soap-opera Brookside, with many other smaller appearances in other soaps and dramas...
, Richard Briers
Richard Briers
Richard David Briers, CBE is an English actor whose career has encompassed theatre, television, film and radio.He first came to prominence as George Starling in Marriage Lines in the 1960s, but it was in the following decade when he played Tom Good in the BBC sitcom The Good Life that he became a...
, Kerry Noble and Ian Dury
Ian Dury
Ian Robins Dury was an English rock and roll singer, lyricist, bandleader and actor who initially rose to fame during the late 1970s, during the punk and New Wave era of rock music...
.