Course information about Cornish Nasties - Wycliffe Day School.

Cornish Nasties - Wycliffe Day School

From: 10-10-2009 to 10-10-2009

This Day School, which includes a screening of a full length episode and a visit to locations associated with the novels and the TV series, will explore Wycliffe from a Cornish Studies perspective.

Are you one of those people who watched Wycliffe, the TV detective series from the 1990s, as much for its Cornish settings as for its storylines? What did it say about Cornwall? About the Cornish? About you, and the ‘meanings’ you attach to Cornwall?

Day School Leader: Geoff Swallow

Geoff has an MA in Cornish Studies, and is currently researching an MPhil at the Institute of Cornish Studies. Like most people, he first came across Wycliffe through the 1990s TV series, only discovering the books after his own relocation to Cornwall in 1997. Jack Sheppard’s Wycliffe, and W. J. Burley’s Wycliffe – the detective of the TV series and of the novels – are very different, but what is arguably most important to both the television and the books is the relationship between Wycliffe and the other main character in the series – Cornwall.

Among Geoff’s research interests are literary constructions of Cornwall, the Cornish and ‘Cornishness’.

The Day School

The day school will focus on how Cornwall is represented in one of Geoff’s own favourite episodes of the first TV series, The Scapegoat, first screened in August 1993, based on the 1978 novel, Wycliffe and the Scapegoat.

In the morning of the day school, Geoff will introduce Wycliffe from a specifically ‘Cornish Studies’ perspective, through comparing and contrasting extracts from the novel with its TV adaptation. There will be a screening, followed by discussion, of the 1993 TV episode The Scapegoat.

In the afternoon, Geoff will take the day school out on location. Following lunch at the Tinner’s Arms in Zennor (not included in the fee for the Day School), participants will get a guided tour around the evocative and enigmatic fictional settings and TV locations of The Scapegoat, (and a few other literary connections) around Zennor, a few miles along the coast from St Ives.

Return transport between St Ives and Zennor is provided. Lunch at The Tinner’s Arms is not included in the fee.

Who is it for?

Anyone with an interest in Cornwall, Cornish landscapes, places and people, the fictional detective Wycliffe or the TV series, or would just be interested in a day out with a difference exploring the Cornish coast!

What do I need?

Nothing special. Participants might feel more able to join in with discussions if they had read W. J. Burley’s novel Wycliffe and the Scapegoat (1978) before the Day School (widely available in bookshops in a new reprint from Orion) but this is not essential – extracts of key passages will be provided on the day.

How do I book?

The Day School costs £25 per person (no concessions), and numbers are limited to 16, so it is recommended that you book early. Places will be confirmed only on receipt of payment. The fee includes return transport between St Ives and Zennor, but not lunch. E-mail us at geoff@secretspot-stives.com or ring on 01736 797912 to book a place.