Sebastian Baczkiewicz

Writer for televsion and radio
View CV
View PDF version

Biography

Sebastian Baczkiewicz writes for theatre, radio and television. He has written over 40 plays for Radio 4 since being their first writer in residence. He also has co-commissions with Somethin’ Else, CBC Canada, World Service and Radio 3. Sebastian has also written for TV series Holby City.

His long-running series for Radio 4, Pilgrim, drawing on the myth and folkore of the British Isles and starring Paul Hilton as the immortal protagonist, was nominated for the Prix Italia and awarded silver at the Prix Europa.

Other recent work includes a four-part adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo featuring Iain Glen, Toby Jones, and Jane Lapotaire. His work for theatre which includes The Lives of the Saints, Hello Paris, The Man Who Shot the Tiger and Dancing Under the Bridge, has been presented in London, Rotterdam and Warsaw.

CV

Radio

Writer

Elsinore
4 x 45m
2018
 

A thrilling prequel to Shakespeare's Hamlet, set in an alternative 1930s Europe.


Broadcaster BBC Radio 4
 
Between The Ears: In The Shadow of Kafka: Mr Rainbow
2015
 

Mr Rainbow fuses elements of drama with real voices and is inspired by The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. Part of Radio 3's series "In the Shadow of Kafka" exploring the enduring power of the writer's work. 

Production Company BBC
Broadcaster BBC 3 Radio 3
 
Pilgrim, Series 1 - 6
4 x 45"
2000
Producer Marc Beeby and Jessica Dromgoole
Director Marc Beeby
Starring
  • Paul Hilton
  • Joe Dempsie
  • Rachel Davies
    •  

    A series of dark fantasies featuring William Palmer, the immortal wanderer. Pilgrim discovers that an old friend is being haunted by a malevolent spirit. Meanwhile, homeless people are disappearing from a local shelter.

    Production Company BBC Radio 4
     
    Homefront
    2014
    Producer Jessica Dromgoole
     
    Ambitious drama serial charting life on the Home Front during the First World War. The project will run in real time over the four years from 2014 to 2018 to mark the full centenary of the Great War.
    Production Company BBC
    Broadcaster BBC Radio 4
     
    The Manhattan Bee Testimonials
    2013
     

    This is the story of the search for the Manhattan Bee Man. 

    Production Company BBC
    Broadcaster BBC Radio 4
     
    The Count of Monte Cristo
    4 X 60
    2012
    Creator Alexandre Dumas
    Starring
  • Iain Glen
  • Toby Jones
  • Jane Lapotaire
  • Richard Johnson
    •  
    Sebastian's four part adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' classic tale of the man, unjustly imprisoned, who escapes to exact his revenge
    Production Company BBC
    Broadcaster BBC Radio 4
     
    Zeus and Semele
    2008
    Director Jessica Dromgoole
    Starring
  • Daniel Cerqueira
  • Robert Glenister
  • Lyndsey Marshal
    •  
    Sebastian Baczkiewicz’s modern retelling of Ovid’s Zeus and Semele myth

    Broadcaster BBC Radio 4
     
    Celluloid Extras
    1 x 45'
    2008
    Starring
  • John Dougall
  • Claire Grove
  • Patricia Kerrigan
  • Tracy Wiles
    •  
    When Joan Webster insists on heading out to sea towards a marriage of convenience, Catriona and local girl Bridie have a tense wait as the boat heads into a storm. Series exploring the lives of minor characters in major films
    Production Company BBC
    Broadcaster BBC Radio 4
     
    House Rules
    1 x 45'
    2008
    Director Marc Beeby
    Starring
  • Jamie Foreman
  • Christopher Fox
  • Roy Marsden
  • Stuart McLoughlin
    •  
    Burnt out gambler Spike just wants a quiet life. But when his own son comes to him a proposition for one last big stakes game, how can he refuse? Even if the game is with the devil.
    Production Company BBC
    Broadcaster BBC Radio 4
     
    The Trial and Death of Socrates
    1 x 90'
    2008
    Producer Jeremy Mortimer
    Starring
  • Joss Ackland
  • David Calder
  • Michael Feast
  • Greg Hicks
    •  
    A play focusing on the mystery surrounding Socrate's trial and execution. On the eve of his execution his chief accuser Meletus is murdered.
    Production Company BBC
    Broadcaster BBC Radio 3
     
    The Influence
    1 x 45'
    2007
    Director Steven Canny
    Starring
  • Lucy Akhurst
  • Jason Merrells
  • Tom Ward
    •  
    An investigative play about a village being shut down by the military because of an outbreak of avian flu for which there is no antidote
    Production Company BBC
    Broadcaster BBC Radio 4
     
    Steve O'Something
    1 x 45'
    2006
    Producer Tracey Neale
    Starring
  • Ayesha Antoine
  • Tom Brooke
  • Patricia Kerrigan
  • Chris Moran
    •  
    Galen, a talented and successful choreographer, likes order in her life. But then one day Galen's world is turned upside down. She meets the man of her dreams at a party but when she starts to ask about him no-one knows who he is.
    Production Company BBC
    Broadcaster BBC Radio 4
     
    The Employee
    1 x 45'
    2006
    Director Marc Beeby
    Starring
  • Kate Buffery
  • Ron Cook
  • Ray Fearon
  • Carl Prekopp
    •  
    A dark comedy about the pressures of modern life. Iain Adam is Head of Maintenance in the intelligent building, The Elm, and his life is beginning to unravel.
    Production Company BBC
    Broadcaster BBC Radio 4
     
    The Orchid Grower
    1 x 90'
    2006
    Producer Greg DeClute
    Director Toby Swift
    Starring
  • Emma Campbell
  • John Cleland
  • Michael Murphy
  • Leo Vernik
    •  
    In 1964, KGB officer Yuri Nosenko defected to the USA where he then suffered years of torture and imprisonment as civil war raged within the CIA
    Production Company BBC
    Broadcaster BBC Radio 3
     
    The Language of Angels
    1 x 45'
    2005
    Starring
  • M. Emmet Walsh
  • Brendan Coyle
  • Nathan Osgood
  • Helen Longworth
    •  
    Production Company BBC
    Broadcaster BBC Radio 4
     
    Arthur
    3 x 45'
    2004
    Director Jeremy Mortimer and Gordon House
    Starring
  • Eve Best
  • Jane Lapotaire
  • James Laurenson
  • Ian McDiarmid
    •  
    Three plays inspired by Arhurian Legend set in Britain between 493 AD and 515 AD
    Production Company BBC
    Broadcaster BBC Radio 4
     
    Stalingrad Kiss
    1 x 60'
    2003
    Producer Jeremy Mortimer
    Director Mark Burman
    Starring
  • Gillian Bevan
  • Jimmy Chamberlain
  • Raymond Coulthard
  • Anton Lesser
    •  
    Production Company BBC
    Broadcaster BBC Radio 4
     
    Kings
    3 x 45'
    2002
     
    Three of a week of five plays retelling stories from the reign of the biblical King David. True Anointed, Hazar's Chicken and The Loved One which sees the King on the brink of defeat to the Philistines
    Production Company BBC
    Broadcaster BBC Radio 4
     
    Les Miserables
    2001
    Producer Jeremy Mortimer
     
    Multipart adaptation of Victor Hugo's classic novel
    Production Company BBC
    Broadcaster BBC Radio 4
     
    2000 Tales
    5 x 15'
    2000
     
    A series of short plays set over a week, updated versions of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales
    Production Company BBC
    Broadcaster BBC Radio 4
     
    Cruel Sunset
    2000
     
    Mary Jane Cooper wins a trip to fifties Hollywood to meet her favourite film star

     
    The Prettiest Girl In Texas
    1 x 30'
    2000
     
    Production Company BBC
    Broadcaster BBC Radio 4
     
    Altaban the Magnificent
    1 x 45'
    1999
     
    Original play for Radio 4 set in Berlin after WWII; a sergeant, traumatised by his experiences during the war becomes desperate to evade death
    Production Company BBC
    Broadcaster BBC Radio 4
     

    TV

    Writer

    Holby City: multiple episodes
     
    Sebastian has written across four series of the long running drama set in the fictional Bristol hospital