British Comedy Guide
Line Of Duty. Vicky McClure. Copyright: BBC
Roots

Roots

  • Radio sitcom
  • BBC Radio 4
  • 2020
  • 1 pilot

Businessman Craig Shields attempts to help the workshop that started his career. Stars Vicky McClure, Justin Brady, Spike Fearn, Harpal Hayer, Kelly Jaggers and more.

F
X
R
W
E

Key details

Genre
Sitcom
Broadcast
2020
Channel
BBC Radio 4
Episodes
1 Pilot
Creators
Pete Jackson and Mario Stylianides
Stars
Vicky McClure, Justin Brady, Spike Fearn, Harpal Hayer, Kelly Jaggers, Narisha Lawson, Joel Morris, Jorden Myrie and more
Writer
Ava Pickett
Director
Ian Smith
Producer
Mario Stylianides
Company

Comedy starring Line Of Duty's Vicky McClure and the extraordinary talents of the Bafta Award-winning Television Workshop.

Roots tells the story of Craig Shields, a rich, successful businessman who decides to go back to where it all began - the Workshop in Nottingham that transformed his life - to help similarly disadvantaged kids make something of their own lives. Two problems: they don't want his help and he's got the wrong keys to unlock their potential.

Craig's altruistic homecoming is not what he envisaged. Support he was relying on from old friends and colleagues doesn't materialise. While Craig would prefer to forget most of his troubled Nottingham past, there is one person that will always have a place in his heart - his long time ex Sandra (Vicky McClure). A spark that was lit 15 years ago is rekindled with Craig's reappearance in Nottingham.

Over the years the Nottingham Television Workshop has spawned This is England, Samantha Morton, Vicky McClure and Jack O'Connell, among many others. Anyone who wants to cast funny, authentic, young, working-class actors goes to the Workshop. Fittingly the show is directed by the person who helped launched the careers of the actors mentioned above and who ran the Workshop for 30 years - Ian Smith.

The show was created by Love In Recovery's Pete Jackson and Mario Stylianides. It is written by Ava Pickett.

Additional details

Production
Studio

Broadcast details

First broadcast
Friday 31st January 2020 at 11:30am on BBC Radio 4
Episode length
30 minutes
All previous repeats
  • Friday 16th July 2021 at 2:15pm on Radio 4

Share this page