The Stage

Culture Show special to screen exclusive Poliakoff drama

Published Friday 14 September 2007 at 16:45 by Matthew Hemley

Stephen Poliakoff has created a one-off 45-minute television drama which will be broadcast as part of a special edition of BBC2’s The Culture Show looking at the award-winning director and writer.

Called A Real Summer, the drama has been written for one actor and has been filmed entirely on location.

It acts as a prequel to Poliakoff’s forthcoming BBC2 drama, Capturing Mary, and charts Mary’s relationship in her youth with a young aristocrat called Geraldine.

Ruth Wilson, who won critical acclaim for her performance in the BBC adaptation of Jane Eyre, will play both Mary and Geraldine.

Wilson said the combination of learning a 25-page script and creating two “different but believable characters” had been one of the most challenging aspects of her career.

A Real Summer will be aired as part of The Culture Show’s exploration of Poliakoff’s work and will sit alongside an interview with the writer, who will talk about themes in his productions. Poliakoff will also talk about the state of British television and his hopes for the future.

It will go out later this year.