It is a powerful piece about children excluded from a failing school.

And for Michael, now Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Huddersfield, Excluded has strong resonances. He too was once excluded from school.

"It's something that I feel very strongly about. I was excluded from a secondary school.

"I missed my second year at the school. It was the best thing that happened to me.

"I became friends with a guy and we became so unmanageable that the school decided that they would have to split us up."

It was thought that two had the potential to create as much havoc outside the school as they had in, hence the decision to separate them.

"Staff virtually tossed a coin as to which of us would be sent home and which would be made to sit outside the headmaster's office."

Michael reckoned he won the best half of the deal.

"I was made to sit outside the headmaster's office every day for a year"

"They gave me a stack of work every morning and collected it at the end of the day."

"In the first year, I was bottom of English and maths because I messed about so much.

"At the end of this second year, I was second to top in maths and the same in English."

And the other boy? "He went off the rails and I heard that he'd been in Strangeways."

So young people excluded from schools in a system that talks about failing schools and special measures is something that Michael not only understands but has real empathy with.

"These children are not only excluded, they are isolated."

It has provided powerful images both verbally and pictorially in the photographs used to promote the broadcast which goes out on Radio 4 on Tuesday May 29 at 2.15pm.

"I went into schools in Yorkshire to interview students who had been excluded.

"I have to say that I had this fear and dread of meeting them. Then I thought, I was that age once.

"Some of them were horrible. But one or two were very bright and were just causing trouble because they were bored. They were not being challenged in school.

"There's this prestige about being cheeky to teachers and others being impressed."

The broadcast next week is a real milestone for Michael in the development of Excluded.

It stars Howard Chadwick, Sacha Dhawan (The History Boys, Bradford Riots), Lucy-Jo Hudson (Coronation Street, Wild At Heart), Mikey North (Sing Yer Heart Out for the Lads, Mark of Cain) and Leigh Symonds; and is directed by Gary Brown.

"I won the Alfred Bradley Bursary Award in 2003 and apart from cash, they were supposed to broadcast the winning play, only its subject and language were not thought suitable for an afternoon slot."

Asked to come up with some new ideas, Michael did just that. And after about 20 pitches, they took up Excluded.

Michael was born in Salford and moved to Yorkshire 12 years ago. He studied for his degree at Leeds University before moving to Bradford five years ago.

These days, Michael combines his job as writer in residence at Theatre-in-the-Mill in Bradford with his new creative writing and English post at Huddersfield.

It's almost three years since he wrote a piece for the Lawrence Batley Theatre's Youth Theatre at the invitation of Andrew Loretto, who co-directed with Balbir Singh.

That youth theatre show, called The Cabinet Of Terrible Terrors (too terrible to mention) was adapted from an original tale by Edgar Allen Poe.

It pushed a lot of buttons with LBT youth theatre youngsters.

Michael is still pushing the right buttons, this time with a piece about young people who have been excluded.

"Excluded is set in a failing comprehensive in Bradford. The action takes place during an OFSTED reinspection that could see the school closed down.

"Three kids have been excluded and basically the head doesn't want the inspectors to see them. He sends them off site in the school minibus with a teacher who has also been having problems.

"Everything goes wrong. But when the teacher crashes the bus in the middle of nowhere, he sees the kids in a different light."

"If there is a message, it is not `Hug a hoodie.' It's yes, some kids are a pain, they can be obnoxious, but that there are reasons for that.

"Sticking kids like this in an isolation unit for five years isn't the answer.

"One of the girls that I interviewed for Excluded said that one of the worst things was to sit in a room on your own staring at the wall and feeling completely outside of everything.

"Their friends are their family. It's all these kids have. It's like psychological torture."

Michael is now working with Bradford-based theatre company Red Ladder to adapt Excluded for the stage.

He has also been working on a new theatre piece, Xrossing The Line.

* Excluded by Michael Stewart is on Radio 4 at 2.15pm on May 29. If you are interested in studying Creative Writing at Huddersfield, please give the admissions tutor, Derek Bousfield, a ring on 01484 473592 or email: d.bousfield@hud.ac.uk