Today’s recording is episode 2 of Porterhouse Blue which I do have on my tapes, but I didn’t really say much about it, so I’ll dip into it here.
Head Porter, Mr Skullion, played by David Jason, is sporting a dreadful shiner, after an encounter with a student who was coming in after curfew.
The offending student is Lionel Zipser, played by John Sessions. He’s unusual at Porterhouse for being a swot. Everyone else there is basically just loafing, but they’re all gentlemen so that’s OK.
But Zipser is also developing a sexual obsession with his bedder, Mrs Biggs.
Ian Richardson is Sir Godber Evans, the new Master of Porterhouse, appointed by the government, rather than selected from within college, and he wants to reform the place, and make it accept actual scholars. Naturally, all the old guard hate him, especially Skullion.
And because this is Tom Sharpe, his wife is a bossy woman who wants the new hall that’s to be named after her to be co-educational. Tom Sharpe really did hate his idea of what feminists are.
Skullion runs a service for those students who want a degree but don’t want to study. Skullion’s Scholars.
Sir Godber learns (from the Bursar, Harold Innocent) that the reason Porterhouse has such bad students is that they are specially selected from rich families, who will then give large donations to the college so that their children will get degrees.
Skullion is sent to ask for the help of Sir Cathcart D’Eath, played by Charles Gray. He knew Sir Godber when he was a student. Skullion asks him if he can rally other old graduates to stop the new Master making all his changes.
Zipser sees one of the masters about his obsession with Mrs Biggs, but because the master is deaf, he has to use a megaphone, which means that he can be heard throughout the college quad.
The Master calls a college meeting and tells them of his changes. He wants to abolish High Table, the ludicrously excessive meals they have, and replace it with a self service canteen, accepting candidates based on academic merit, and accepting women.
Zipser becomes somewhat obsessed with getting condoms. I guess this story predated all the safe sex TV sparked by the AIDS epidemic. He ends up getting four gross from the supplier.
Media Centre Description: Dramatisation of Tom Sharpe’s satire centred on a naive undergraduate’s experiences at a college hidebound by tradition. Lionel Zipser is in trouble. He has left Skullion for dead, and his obsession with Mrs Biggs is getting out of control.
Recorded from More 4 on Wednesday 3rd October 2007 23:33
After this, there’s the start of Without a Trace.
Here’s the ad breaks.
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VHiStory 