Mr Thomas Gradgrind is the notorious headmaster in Dickens's novel Hard Times who is dedicated to the pursuit of profitable enterprise.
Hard Times has been adapted twice for BBC Radio, first in 1998 starring John Woodvine as Gradgrind, Tom Baker as Josiah Bounderby and Anna Massey as Mrs. Sparsit, and again in 2007 starring Kenneth Cranham as Gradgrind, Philip Jackson as Bounderby, Alan Williams as Stephen, Becky Hindley as Rachael, Helen Longworth as Louisa, Richard Firth as Tom and Eleanor Bron as Mrs. Sparsit.