Mr Pye

Mr Pye is a short 1953 novel by English novelist Mervyn Peake.

Plot

Mr. Pye travels to the Channel Island of Sark to awaken a love of God in all the islanders. His landlady on the island, Miss Dredger, quickly becomes a devout follower of his teachings. and even agrees to allow the person she hates the most, Miss George, to stay in her house. As Pye does good works he gradually feels a stinging feeling on his back. On further investigation he discovers that he has started to grow angel's wings, and after consulting with a Harley Street doctor, he concludes the best thing to do is to stop doing good deeds, and instead does bad deeds.

He engages in some deliberately malicious acts, and after a time this results in him growing horns on his forehead. He is unable to decide what to do, but eventually decides to reveal his horned condition to the islanders, who chase him to the edge of a cliff, which Pye flies off using his wings.

Adaptions

Radio

In 1957 Mr Pye was adapted into a radio play, by the author, retitled "For Mr. Pye – An Island" and broadcast by the BBC on 10 July 1957. It was a 30-minute radio play, produced by Francis Dillon. The script for this radio play is printed in the book "Peake’s Progress" (pp. 517–560).^[1]

Television

In 1986 Mr Pye was adapted as a four-part Channel 4 miniseries starring Derek Jacobi filmed on Sark itself.

Cast

• Derek Jacobi as Mr. Pye
• Judy Parfitt as Miss. Dredger
• Betty Marsden as Miss. George
• Richard O'Callaghan as Thorpe

^[2]

Reruns

It was reshown on More4 (Sister station of Channel 4) between 8 October 2007 to 13 October 2007 as part of the run-up to Channel Four's 25th birthday celebrations.

All four episodes are available from Channel 4 on Demand from here.

References

1. ^ Peake STUDIES (the periodical dedicated to the life and work of Peake): Peake in Print (Part e)
2. ^ IMDB listing for Mr. Pye

External links

• Mr Pye at the Internet Movie Database
• Channel 4 on Demand: Mr. Pye (all four episodes)