Dennis Christopher George Potter (17 May 1935 – 7 June 1994) was an English dramatist, best known for
The Singing DetectiveThe Singing Detective is a BBC television miniseries written by Dennis Potter, which stars Michael Gambon, and was directed by Jon Amiel. The six episodes were "Skin", "Heat", "Lovely Days", "Clues", "Pitter Patter" and "Who Done It"....
. His widely acclaimed television dramas mixed fantasy and reality, the personal and the social. He was particularly fond of using themes and images from popular culture.
Biography
Dennis Potter was born in
Berry HillBerry Hill is a small village in Gloucestershire, England not far from the town of Coleford.It is notable for being the birthplace of the writer,journalist and TV playwright Dennis Potter.- External links :* * * *...
,
Forest of DeanThe Forest of Dean is a geographical, historical and cultural region in the western part of the county of Gloucestershire, England. The forest is a roughly triangular plateau bounded by the River Wye to the west and north, the River Severn to the south, and the City of Gloucester to the east.The...
,
GloucestershireGloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
. His father, Walter Edward Potter (1906–1975), was a coal miner in this rural mining area between Gloucester and Wales; his mother was Margaret Constance, née Wale (b. 1910). Potter has a sister named June.
Brought up a Protestant he attended the local Salem chapel, and went to
Christchurch Junior SchoolChristchurch Junior School is a school for 7-11 year old boys and girls, located on the edge of the town centre of Christchurch, Dorset, England. The school was rebuilt in 2000 and comprises 16 classrooms, a music room, a library and a hall. The catchment area is located between the River Stour and...
where, in 1946, he passed the eleven-plus entrance examination to Bell's Grammar School at
ColefordColeford is a small market town in Gloucestershire, England in the west of the Forest of Dean with a population of 8,351 . It is situated some four miles east of the Welsh border, and is close to the Wye Valley, a popular walking and canoeing area...
. He then went to
St. Clement Danes SchoolSt. Clement Danes School is a mixed, voluntary-aided, comprehensive school in Chorleywood, Hertfordshire.-Admissions:It has specialist status for languages and science and takes students aged 11 through to 18 ....
in London, while the family lived for a time with his maternal grandfather in
HammersmithHammersmith is an urban centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London, England, in the United Kingdom, approximately five miles west of Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames...
. During this time the ten year old Potter was sexually abused by his uncle, an experience he would later allude to many times in his writing. Between 1953 and 1955, Potter did his
National ServiceNational service is a common name for mandatory government service programmes . The term became common British usage during and for some years following the Second World War. Many young people spent one or more years in such programmes...
and learnt Russian at the
Joint Services School for LinguistsThe Joint Services School for Linguists was founded in 1951 by the British armed services to provide language training, principally in Russian, and largely to selected conscripts undergoing National Service...
, serving with the
Intelligence CorpsThe Intelligence Corps is one of the corps of the British Army. It is responsible for gathering, analysing and disseminating military intelligence and also for counter-intelligence and security...
and subsequently at the
War OfficeThe War Office was a department of the British Government, responsible for the administration of the British Army between the 17th century and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the Ministry of Defence...
.
After national service, in 1956, he won a scholarship and went to
New College, OxfordNew College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.- Overview :The College's official name, College of St Mary, is the same as that of the older Oriel College; hence, it has been referred to as the "New College of St Mary", and is now almost always...
to study Politics, Philosophy and Economics, editing the student magazine
Isis. He graduated in 1958, after obtaining a second-class degree. A tall, lean young man with red hair, he was described by his economics tutor as a "cross between
Jimmy PorterLook Back in Anger is a John Osborne play—made into films in 1959, 1980, and 1989 -- about a love triangle involving an intelligent but disaffected young man , his upper-middle-class, impassive wife , and her haughty best friend . Cliff, an amiable Welsh lodger, attempts to keep the peace...
and
Keir HardieJames Keir Hardie, Sr. , was a Scottish socialist and labour leader, and was the first Independent Labour Member of Parliament elected to the Parliament of the United Kingdom...
".
On 10 January 1959 he married at the Christchurch parish church Margaret Amy Morgan (1933–1994), a local girl he met at a dance. They lived a "surprisingly quiet private life" at
Ross-on-WyeRoss-on-Wye is a small market town with a population of 10,089 in southeastern Herefordshire, England, located on the River Wye, and on the northern edge of the Forest of Dean.-History:...
,
HerefordshireHerefordshire is a historic and ceremonial county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire" NUTS 2 region. It also forms a unitary district known as the...
, and had a son, Robert and two daughters, Jane and
SarahSarah Potter is a former cricketer who played seven Test matches and eight One-Day Internationals for the England Women's team between 1984 and 1987. She currently writes on women's cricket for The Times. She was a left-arm fast bowler and a middle order batsman...
, who was to achieve prominence in the 1980s as an international
cricketCricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er. Margaret Amy Potter died of cancer a week before her husband.
After Oxford, Potter joined the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, initially as a trainee in radio and then television journalism, during which time he worked on
PanoramaPanorama is a BBC Television current affairs documentary programme, which was first broadcast in 1953, and is the longest-running public affairs television programme in the world. Panorama has been presented by many well known BBC presenters, including Richard Dimbleby, Robin Day, David Dimbleby...
about the closure of coalpits in the
Forest of DeanThe Forest of Dean is a geographical, historical and cultural region in the western part of the county of Gloucestershire, England. The forest is a roughly triangular plateau bounded by the River Wye to the west and north, the River Severn to the south, and the City of Gloucester to the east.The...
. He did not take to television journalism and left, joining the
Daily Herald newspaper. From August 1961 he became a television critic for the
Herald and its successor,
The SunThe Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...
in its pre-Murdoch incarnation.
Potter soon returned to television, writing sketches for
That Was The Week That WasThat Was The Week That Was, also known as TW3, is a satirical television comedy programme that was shown on BBC Television in 1962 and 1963. It was devised, produced and directed by Ned Sherrin and presented by David Frost...
with
David NathanDavid Nathan was a British journalist.Born in Manchester, he joined the Daily Herald in 1955. Initially employed as a general reporter, he became a drama critic and entertainment writer on the newspaper...
. He attempted to become a
LabourThe Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
Member of ParliamentA Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(see below), without success. He then embarked on his career as a television playwright, largely after watching the 1963
GranadaGranada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....
version of
Leo TolstoyLev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...
's
War and PeaceWar and Peace is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in 1869. The work is epic in scale and is regarded as one of the most important works of world literature...
, based on
Erwin PiscatorErwin Friedrich Maximilian Piscator was a German theatre director and producer and, with Bertolt Brecht, the foremost exponent of epic theatre, a form that emphasizes the socio-political content of drama, rather than its emotional manipulation of the audience or on the production's formal...
's celebrated stage production. Potter had called the Granada production, "surely the most exciting evening that TV has ever given us".
Television
Potter's career as a television playwright began with
The Confidence Course, an exposé of the
Dale CarnegieDale Breckenridge Carnegie was an American writer, lecturer, and the developer of famous courses in self-improvement, salesmanship, corporate training, public speaking, and interpersonal skills...
Institute that drew threats of litigation. Although Potter effectively disowned the play, it is notable for its use of non-naturalistic dramatic devices (in this case breaking the
fourth wallThe fourth wall is the imaginary "wall" at the front of the stage in a traditional three-walled box set in a proscenium theatre, through which the audience sees the action in the world of the play...
) which would become hallmarks of Potter's subsequent work. Broadcast as part of the BBC's
The Wednesday PlayThe Wednesday Play was an anthology series of British television plays which ran on BBC1 from October 1964 to May 1970. Every week's play was usually written for television, although adaptations from other sources also featured...
strand early in 1965,
The Confidence Course proved successful and Potter was commissioned to make further contributions. His next play,
Alice (1965), was a controversial drama chronicling the relationship between
Lewis CarrollCharles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
and his muse
Alice LiddellAlice Pleasance Liddell , known for most of her adult life by her married name, Alice Hargreaves, inspired the children's classic Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, whose protagonist Alice is said to be named after her.-Biography:...
. Potter's most highly regarded works from this period are the semi-autobiographical plays
Stand Up, Nigel Barton! and
Vote, Vote, Vote for Nigel Barton. The former recounts the experience of a miner's son going to Oxford University where he finds himself torn between two worlds, culminating in Barton's participation in a television documentary. This mirrored his creator's participation in
Does Class Matter (1958), a television documentary made while Potter was an Oxford undergraduate. The second play featured the same character standing as a Labour candidate — his disillusionment with the compromises of electoral politics is based on Potter's own experience. Both plays received praise from critics' circles but aroused considerable tension at the BBC for their potentially incendiary critique of party politics. In his James MacTaggart Memorial Lecture in 1993, Potter recalled how he was asked by "several respected men at the corporation why I wanted to shit on the Queen" (
Occupying Powers, 1993)
After several poorly received projects, Potter contributed
Moonlight on the HighwayMoonlight on the Highway is a television play by Dennis Potter, first broadcast on 12 April 1969 as part of ITV's Saturday Night Theatre strand...
to
ITVITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
's
Saturday Night Theatre strand broadcast on 12 April 1969. The play centred around a young man who attempts to blot out memories of the sexual abuse he had suffered as child in his obsession with the music of
Al BowllyAlbert Allick Bowlly was a Southern-African singer, songwriter, composer and band leader, who became a popular Jazz crooner during the 1930s in the United Kingdom and later, in the United States of America. He recorded more than 1,000 records between 1927 and 1941...
. As well as being an intensely personal play for Potter, it was his first foray in the use of popular music to heighten the dramatic tension in his work. Four days later Potter's
Son of ManSon of Man is a television play by British playwright Dennis Potter which was directed by Gareth Davies. It premiered in The Wednesday Play slot on 19 April 1969 starring Irish actor Colin Blakely and was an alternative depiction of the last days of Jesus, leading to Potter being accused of...
went out as a
Wednesday Play on BBC1 with the Irish actor
Colin BlakelyColin George Blakely was a Northern Irish character actor. He was considered an actor of great range.-Early life:...
in the lead role of
JesusJesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
in which the dramatist gives an alternative view of Christ's last days. It led to Potter being accused of
blasphemyBlasphemy is irreverence towards religious or holy persons or things. Some countries have laws to punish blasphemy, while others have laws to give recourse to those who are offended by blasphemy...
, and the first of many clashes with morality campaigner
Mary WhitehouseMary Whitehouse, CBE was a British campaigner against the permissive society particularly as the media portrayed and reflected it...
.
Casanova, Potter's first television serial, was broadcast on BBC2 in 1971. Inspired by William R. Trask's 1966 translation of
CasanovaGiacomo Girolamo Casanova de Seingalt was an Italian adventurer and author from the Republic of Venice. His autobiography, Histoire de ma vie , is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of the customs and norms of European social life during the 18th century...
's memoirs (
Histoire de ma vieHistoire de ma vie is both the memoir and autobiography of Giacomo Casanova, a famous 18th century Italian adventurer...
), Potter recast the Venetian libertine as a man haunted by his dependency on women. The serial was told using a non-linear narrative structure and, as the critic Graham Fuller noted in
Potter on Potter, "as chamber-piece and identity quest,
Casanova strongly anticipates [later works such as]
The Singing DetectiveThe Singing Detective is a BBC television miniseries written by Dennis Potter, which stars Michael Gambon, and was directed by Jon Amiel. The six episodes were "Skin", "Heat", "Lovely Days", "Clues", "Pitter Patter" and "Who Done It"....
." It did, however, prove controversial for its frank depiction of nudity and was criticized for its sexual content. Controversy also dogged another play,
Brimstone and Treacle-Potter on Brimstone and Treacle:In 1978, Potter said:I had written Brimstone and Treacle in difficult personal circumstances. Years of acute psoriatic arthropathy—unpleasantly affecting skin and joints—had not only taken their toll in physical damage but had also, and perhaps inevitably, mediated...
(
Play for TodayPlay for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted...
, 1976), the original version was unscreened by the BBC for over a decade owing to the depiction of the rape of a disabled woman by a man who is implied to be the devil incarnate. It was eventually broadcast on
BBC2BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
in 1987, although a 1982 film version had been made, with Sting in the leading role (see below) and a stage version performed in Sheffield at the
Crucible TheatreThe Crucible Theatre is a theatre built in 1971 and located in the city centre of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. As well as theatrical performances, it is home to the most important event in professional snooker, the World Snooker Championship....
.
Potter continued to make news as well as winning critical acclaim for drama serials with
Pennies From HeavenPennies From Heaven is a 1978 BBC television drama serial written by Dennis Potter. The title is taken from a song of the same name written by Johnny Burke and Arthur Johnston...
(1978), which featured
Bob HoskinsRobert William "Bob" Hoskins, Jr. is an English actor known for playing Cockney rough diamonds, psychopaths and gangsters, in films such as The Long Good Friday , and Mona Lisa , and lighter roles in family films such as Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Hook .- Early life :Hoskins was born in Bury St...
as a sheet music salesman and was Hoskins's first performance to receive wide attention. It demonstrated the dramatic possibilities old recordings of popular songs.
Blue Remembered HillsBlue Remembered Hills is a television play by Dennis Potter, originally broadcast on January 30, 1979 as part of the BBC's Play for Today series....
was first shown on the BBC on 30 January 1979; it returned to the British small screen at Christmas 2004, and again in the summer of 2005, showcased as part of the winning decade (1970s) having been voted by
BBC FourBBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....
viewers as the golden era of British television. The adult actors playing the roles of children were
Helen MirrenDame Helen Mirren, DBE is an English actor. She has won an Academy Award for Best Actress, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, four Emmy Awards, and two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards.-Early life and family:...
,
Janine DuvitskiJanine Duvitski is an English actress, known for her roles as Jane Edwards in Waiting for God and Pippa Trench in One Foot in the Grave. She also created and played the role of Angela in Mike Leigh's play Abigail's Party.-Personal life:Duvitski was born in Nottingham. Her father was Polish...
,
Michael ElphickMichael John Elphick was an English actor. Elphick was known in the UK for his trademark croaky voice and his work on British television, in particular his roles as the eponymous private investigator in the ITV series Boon and later Harry Slater in BBC's EastEnders.Robust and ruggedly good-looking...
,
Colin JeavonsColin Jeavons is a Welsh television actor.-Career:Jeavons is best known as Inspector Lestrade in the Granada television serials The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, or the part of the undertaker, Shadrack, in the television situation comedy written by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall from...
,
Colin WellandColin Welland is a British actor and screenwriter. He won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for his script for Chariots of Fire ,,,....
,
John BirdJohn Bird is an English satirist, actor and comedian.-Early life:Born in Bulwell, Nottingham, England, and educated at High Pavement Grammar School, Nottingham, Bird briefly joined the Socialist Party of Great Britain, while still at school...
, and
Robin EllisRobin Ellis is an English actor best known for his role as Captain Ross Poldark in 29 episodes of the BBC classic series Poldark, adapted from a series of books by the late British author, Winston Graham...
. It was directed by Brian Gibson. The moralistic theme was "the child is father of the man". Potter had used the dramatic device of adult actors playing children before, for example in
Stand Up, Nigel Barton.
A lucrative deal with LWT, and semi-independence, followed an aborted project to adapt
Anthony PowellAnthony Dymoke Powell CH, CBE was an English novelist best known for his twelve-volume work A Dance to the Music of Time, published between 1951 and 1975....
's
A Dance to the Music of TimeA Dance to the Music of Time is a twelve-volume cycle of novels by Anthony Powell, inspired by the painting of the same name by Nicolas Poussin. One of the longest works of fiction in literature, it was published between 1951 and 1975 to critical acclaim...
for the BBC. A series of six single plays by Potter for ITV, with a further three written by
Jim AllenJames "Jim" Allen was a socialist playwright from England, best known for his collaborations with Ken Loach.- Early life :...
, was planned. Budget overspends meant only three of the Potter plays were produced: the BAFTA-winning
Blade on the FeatherBlade on the Feather is a television drama by Dennis Potter, broadcast by ITV on 19 October 1980 as the first in a loosely-connected trilogy of plays exploring language and betrayal...
,
Rain on the RoofRain on the Roof is a television drama by Dennis Potter, broadcast by ITV on 26 October 1980.It is the second in a loosely-connected trilogy of plays exploring language and betrayal produced for London Weekend Television by the independent company Potter and producer Kenith Trodd established after...
and
Cream in My CoffeeCream in My Coffee is a television drama by Dennis Potter, broadcast on ITV on 2 November 1980 as the last in a loosely-connected trilogy of plays exploring language and betrayal. A juxtaposition between youth and old age, the play combines a non-linear narrative with the use of popular music to...
, which won Grand Prize at the
Prix ItaliaThe Prix Italia is an international Italian television, radio-broadcasting and Website award. It was established in 1948 by RAI - Radiotelevisione Italiana in Capri...
.
He also wrote the scripts for the widely praised but seldom seen miniseries of
F. Scott FitzgeraldFrancis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost...
's
Tender Is the NightTender Is the Night is a novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. It was his fourth and final completed novel, and was first published in Scribner's Magazine between January-April, 1934 in four issues...
(1985) with
Mary SteenburgenMary Nell Steenburgen is an American actress. She is best known for playing the role of Lynda Dummar in Jonathan Demme's Melvin and Howard, which earned her an Academy Award and a Golden Globe.-Early life:...
as Nicole Diver.
The Singing DetectiveThe Singing Detective is a BBC television miniseries written by Dennis Potter, which stars Michael Gambon, and was directed by Jon Amiel. The six episodes were "Skin", "Heat", "Lovely Days", "Clues", "Pitter Patter" and "Who Done It"....
(1986), featuring
Michael GambonSir Michael John Gambon, CBE is an Irish actor who has worked in theatre, television and film. A highly respected theatre actor, Gambon is recognised for his roles as Philip Marlowe in the BBC television serial The Singing Detective, as Jules Maigret in the 1990s ITV serial Maigret, and as...
, used the dramatist's own battle with the skin disease
psoriasisPsoriasis is an autoimmune disease that appears on the skin. It occurs when the immune system mistakes the skin cells as a pathogen, and sends out faulty signals that speed up the growth cycle of skin cells. Psoriasis is not contagious. However, psoriasis has been linked to an increased risk of...
, for him an often debilitating condition, as a means to merge the lead character's imagination with his perception of reality.
Potter's TV serial,
BlackeyesBlackeyes is a multi-layered novel which was later adapted as a TV drama by British playwright Dennis Potter. The TV version was highly controversial at the time....
(1989, also a novel- see below), a drama about a
fashion modelA model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....
was reviewed as self-indulgent by some critics, and accused of contributing to the
misogynyMisogyny is the hatred or dislike of women or girls. Philogyny, meaning fondness, love or admiration towards women, is the antonym of misogyny. The term misandry is the term for men that is parallel to misogyny...
Potter claimed he intended to expose. The critical backlash against Potter following
Blackeyes led to him being nicknamed 'Dirty Den' by the British tabloid press, after the soap opera
characterDennis Alan "Den" Watts is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by actor Leslie Grantham. He became well known for his tabloid nickname, "Dirty Den"....
, and resulted in a long period of reclusion from television. In 1990 Mary Whitehouse claimed on BBC Radio that Potter had been influenced by witnessing his mother engaged in adulterous sex. Potter's mother won substantial damages from the BBC and
The Listener. Potter was actually an admirer of Mrs Whitehouse. The journalist Stanley Reynolds found in 1973 that he "loves the idea of Mrs Whitehouse. He sees her as standing up for all the people with ducks on their walls who have been laughed at and treated like rubbish by the sophisticated metropolitan minority."
In 1992 he directed a film,
Secret Friends (from his novel,
Ticket to Ride), starring
Alan BatesSir Alan Arthur Bates CBE was an English actor, who came to prominence in the 1960s, a time of high creativity in British cinema, when he demonstrated his versatility in films ranging from the popular children’s story Whistle Down the Wind to the "kitchen sink" drama A Kind of Loving...
.
Secret Friends premiered in New York at the
Museum of Modern ArtThe Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
as the gala closing of the
Museum of Television & RadioThe Paley Center for Media, formerly The Museum of Television & Radio and The Museum of Broadcasting, founded in 1975 by William S...
’s week-long Potter retrospective. Potter proposed to write an "intermedia" stage play for Geisler-Roberdeau based on
William HazlittWilliam Hazlitt was an English writer, remembered for his humanistic essays and literary criticism, and as a grammarian and philosopher. He is now considered one of the great critics and essayists of the English language, placed in the company of Samuel Johnson and George Orwell. Yet his work is...
’s
Liber Amoris, or The New Pygmalion, but he died before it could be commenced. Potter's romantic comedy
Lipstick on Your CollarLipstick on Your Collar is a 1993 British television serial written by Dennis Potter, originally broadcast on Channel 4 expanded from Potter's earlier play Lay Down Your Arms...
(1993) was a return to more conventional themes and the familiar format of six hour-long episodes, but did not become the desired popular success, although it helped launch the career of
Ewan McGregorEwan Gordon McGregor is a Scottish actor. He has had success in mainstream, indie, and art house films. McGregor is perhaps best known for his roles as heroin addict Mark Renton in the drama Trainspotting , young Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy , and poet Christian in the...
.
Film
In 1978,
Herbert RossHerbert Ross was an American film director, producer, choreographer and actor.-Early life and career:Born Herbert David Ross in Brooklyn, New York, he made his stage debut as Third Witch with a touring company of Macbeth in 1942...
was shooting
NijinskyNijinsky is a 1980 American biographical film directed by Herbert Ross. Hugh Wheeler, whose screenplay centers on the later life and career of Vaslav Nijinsky, used the legendary dancer's personal diaries and his wife's 1933 book Life of Nijinsky as his primary source materials.-Synopsis:The film...
at
Shepperton StudiosShepperton Studios is a film studio in Shepperton, Surrey, England with a history dating back to 1931 since when many notable films have been made there...
and invited Potter to write the screenplay for his next project
Unexpected Valleys. After watching
Pennies from Heaven on television one evening, Ross contacted Potter about the prospect of adapting it for the cinema. The project was launched at
MGMMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
as an 'anti-musical' with
Steve MartinStephen Glenn "Steve" Martin is an American actor, comedian, writer, playwright, producer, musician and composer....
and
Bernadette PetersBernadette Peters is an American actress, singer and children's book author from Ozone Park, Queens, New York. Over the course of a career that has spanned five decades, she has starred in musical theatre, films and television, as well as performing in solo concerts and recordings...
in the lead roles. According to Potter, the studio demanded continual rewrites of the script and made significant cuts to the film after initial test screenings. The film was released in 1981 to mixed critical reaction and was a box office disaster. Potter was, however, nominated for the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar that year alongside
Harold PinterHarold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
for
The French Lieutenant's WomanThe French Lieutenant's Woman is a 1981 film directed by Karel Reisz and adapted by playwright Harold Pinter. It is based on the novel of the same title by John Fowles...
.
Having already adapted
Brimstone and Treacle for the stage after the television production was banned by the BBC, Potter set about writing a film version. Directed by
Richard LoncraineRichard Loncraine is a British film and television director.Loncraine received early training in the features department of the BBC, including a season directing items for Tomorrow's World...
, who also directed Potter's
Blade on the Feather at LWT, the film featured a soundtrack by The Police while Sting played the role of the devil; Denholm Elliot reprised his role from the original television production playing Mr Bates while
Joan PlowrightJoan Ann Plowright, Baroness Olivier, DBE , better known as Dame Joan Plowright, is an English actress, whose career has spanned over sixty years. Throughout her career she has won two Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award and has been nominated for an Academy Award, an Emmy, and two BAFTA Awards...
took the
Patricia LawrencePatricia Lawrence was an English actress.She may have been best-known for playing the formidable Sister Ulrica, a Dutch prisoner of war in the BBC television drama Tenko.-Credits:Other TV credits include:* Son of Man * Softly, Softly* Van der...
role as Mrs Bates. Although a British film made by Potter's own production company (Pennies Productions), the casting of Sting piqued the interest of American investors. As a result, references to Mr Bates' membership of the
National FrontThe National Front is a far right, white-only political party whose major political activities took place during the 1970s and 1980s. Its popularity peaked in the 1979 general election, when it received 191,719 votes ....
and a scene discussing racial segregation were omitted —as were many of the non-naturalistic flourishes that dominated the television production— although, ironically, the film was much more graphic in its depiction of sexual abuse and rape. The film though was not a success at the box office, but Sting's cover of "
Spread a Little HappinessSpread a Little Happiness is a song by English musical comedy composer Vivian Ellis from his 1929 musical Mr. Cinders. Ellis was suffering from a fever of 103 degrees when he wrote this song. In the original production it was sung by Bobby Howes as Jim, but Binnie Hale was the singer on the 78...
" reached number sixteen in the
UK Singles ChartThe UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
.
Potter's screenplay for
Gorky ParkGorky Park is a 1983 film based on the novel Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith. It was directed by Michael Apted from a screenplay by Dennis Potter ....
(1983) earned him an
Edgar AwardThe Edgar Allan Poe Awards , named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America...
from the
Mystery Writers of AmericaMystery Writers of America is an organization for mystery writers, based in New York.The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday....
, although it emerged as a shadow of
Martin Cruz SmithMartin Cruz Smith is an American mystery novelist.-Early life and education:Born Martin William Smith in Reading, Pennsylvania, he was educated at the University of Pennsylvania, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in creative writing in 1964...
's
original novelGorky Park is a 1981 crime novel written by Martin Cruz Smith set in the Soviet Union. It follows Arkady Renko, a chief investigator for the Militsiya, who is assigned to a case involving three corpses found in Gorky Park, an amusement park in Moscow, who have had their faces and fingertips cut off...
. He also wrote the screenplay for
DreamchildDreamchild is a 1985 British drama film produced by Verity Lambert, directed by Gavin Millar and written by Dennis Potter. It stars Coral Browne, Ian Holm, Peter Gallagher, Nicola Cowper and Amelia Shankley and is a fictionalized account of Alice Liddell, the child who inspired Lewis Carroll's...
(1985), a cinematic adaptation of his earlier
Alice script. In her last film role,
Coral BrowneCoral Browne was an Australian-American stage and screen actress.-Career:Coral Edith Brown was the only daughter of a restaurant-owner. She and her two brothers were raised in Footscray, a suburb of Melbourne, where she studied at the National Gallery Art School...
portrayed the elderly Alice Hargreaves who recalls in flashbacks her childhood when she was the inspiration for
Lewis CarrollCharles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
's
Alice in Wonderland. In 1987, he adapted his television play
Schmoedipus (1975) for the cinema. The ensuing film,
Track 29Track 29 is a 1988 film directed by Nicolas Roeg. It was produced by George Harrison's HandMade Films with Rick McCallum. The film was nominated for and won a few awards at regional film festivals. The writer, Dennis Potter, adapted his own 1974 television play, Schmoedipus, changing the setting...
, directed by
Nicolas RoegNicolas Jack Roeg, CBE, BSC is an English film director and cinematographer.-Life and career:Roeg was born in London, the son of Mabel Gertrude and Jack Nicolas Roeg...
, was the last project Potter would pursue in Hollywood. However, Potter did provide uncredited script work on
James and the Giant PeachJames and the Giant Peach is a 1996 musical fantasy film directed by Henry Selick, based on the 1961 novel of the same name by Roald Dahl. It was produced by Tim Burton and Denise Di Novi. The film is a combination of live action and stop-motion animation....
(released 1995) — his chief contribution providing dialogue for the sardonic caterpillar. Potter makes a sly reference to this in
KaraokeKaraoke is a British television drama written by Dennis Potter with the knowledge that he was dying from cancer of the pancreas.It forms a pair with the serial Cold Lazarus...
when the character Daniel Feeld (
Albert FinneyAlbert Finney is an English actor. He achieved prominence in films in the early 1960s, and has maintained a successful career in theatre, film and television....
) is invited to provide dialogue for an "arthritic goat" in a children's film.
Potter's reputation within the American film industry following the box office disappointments of
Pennies from Heaven and
Gorky Park ultimately led to difficulty receiving backing for his projects. Potter is known to have written adaptations of
The Phantom of the OperaLe Fantôme de l'Opéra is a novel by French writer Gaston Leroux. It was first published as a serialisation in "Le Gaulois" from September 23, 1909 to January 8, 1910...
,
The Mystery of Edwin DroodThe Mystery of Edwin Drood is the final novel by Charles Dickens. The novel was left unfinished at the time of Dickens' death, and his intended ending for it remains unknown. Though the novel is named after the character Edwin Drood, the story focuses on Drood's uncle, choirmaster John Jasper, who...
,
The White HotelThe White Hotel is a novel written by the English poet, translator and novelist D. M. Thomas. It was first published in January 1981 by Gollancz in Great Britain and in March 1981 by The Viking Press in the United States...
and his own 1976 television play
Double DareDouble Dare is a television play by Dennis Potter, first broadcast on BBC1 on 6 April 1976 as part of the Play for Today series. The play explores the link between author and viewer, one of Potter's major themes, and is referenced several times in his later work...
: all reaching the preproduction stage before work was suspended. More fortunate was
MesmerMesmer is a 1994 Biographical film directed by Roger Spottiswoode from a script by Dennis Potter. It stars Alan Rickman as Franz Anton Mesmer and depicts his radical new ways as a pioneering physician.-Plot:...
(1993), a
biographical filmA biographical film, or biopic , is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person or people. They differ from films “based on a true story” or “historical films” in that they attempt to comprehensively tell a person’s life story or at least the most historically important years of their...
of 19th century pseudo-scientist Franz Anton Mesmer.
The last film Potter actively worked on was
Midnight Movie (1994), an adaptation of Rosalind Ashe's novel
Moths. The film starred
Louise GermaineLouise Germaine is an English actress and model best known for her appearance as usherette Sylvia Berry in the 1993 Dennis Potter serial Lipstick on Your Collar...
and
Brian DennehyBrian Mannion Dennehy is an American actor of film, stage and screen.-Early years:Dennehy was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the son of Hannah and Edward Dennehy, who was a wire service editor for the Associated Press; he has two brothers, Michael and Edward. Dennehy is of Irish ancestry and was...
(who had appeared in
Lipstick on Your Collar and
Gorky Park, respectively) and was directed by Renny Rye. Unable to secure financing from the Arts Council, Potter invested half a million pounds into the production; BBC Films provided the rest of the capital. The film was not given a cinema release owing to a lack of interest from distributors and remained unseen until after Potter's death. It was finally broadcast on BBC2 in December 1994 as part of a
Screen Two season two months after a remake of his
lostWiping or junking is a colloquial term for action taken by radio and television production and broadcasting companies, in which old audiotapes, videotapes, and telerecordings , are erased, reused, or destroyed after several uses...
1967 play
Message for Posterity was transmitted.
A film version of
The Singing DetectiveThe Singing Detective is a 2003 film based on the BBC serial The Singing Detective, a work by Dennis Potter. It stars Robert Downey, Jr...
, based on Potter's own adapted screenplay, was released in 2003 by
Icon ProductionsIcon Productions LLC is an American independent production company founded in August 1989 by actor/director Mel Gibson and Australian producing partner Bruce Davey.-History:Icon started when Gibson was having trouble in financing the 1990 film Hamlet...
. Robert Downey, Jr. played the lead alongside Robin Wright Penn and
Mel GibsonMel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in...
. Gibson also acted as producer.
Literary journalism and novels
Potter published his first non-fiction work,
The Glittering Coffin, in 1960 through the
Gollancz PressSir Victor Gollancz was a British publisher, socialist, and humanitarian.-Early life:Born in Maida Vale, London, he was the son of a wholesale jeweller and nephew of Rabbi Professor Sir Hermann Gollancz and Professor Sir Israel Gollancz; after being educated at St Paul's School, London and taking...
. The book was a rumination on the changing face of England in the prosperity following the end of the war years. It was followed in 1962 by
The Changing Forest: Life in the Forest of Dean Today. Based on the "Between Two Rivers" documentary Potter had made for the BBC's
Panorama strand in 1960, the book is a study of class and social mobility that demonstrates an early fascination with the effects of the mass media on British cultural life. Apart from his newspaper columns for the
Daily Herald and the pre-
MurdochKeith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG is an Australian-American business magnate. He is the founder and Chairman and CEO of , the world's second-largest media conglomerate....
Sun, Potter abandoned political writing in the late 1960s in favour of pursuing fictional subjects.
Hide and Seek (1973) was a meta-fictional novel exploring the relationship between reader and author and contains a central protagonist, 'Daniel Miller', who is convinced he is the plaything of an omniscient author. This concept forms the core of Potter's next two novels, and portions of
Hide and Seek would reappear in several of his television plays (most notably
Follow the Yellow Brick RoadFollow the Yellow Brick Road is a television play by Dennis Potter, first broadcast in 1972 as part of BBC Two's The Sextet series of eight plays featuring the same six actors. The play is notable for its central theme of popular culture becoming the inheritor of religious scripture, which...
and
The Singing Detective, respectively).
Ticket to Ride (1986) was written between drafts of
The Singing Detective and concerns a
herbithologistIn botany, a herbarium – sometimes known by the Anglicized term herbar – is a collection of preserved plant specimens. These specimens may be whole plants or plant parts: these will usually be in a dried form, mounted on a sheet, but depending upon the material may also be kept in...
who is unable to make love to his wife unless he imagines her as a prostitute. This was followed in 1987 by
Blackeyes: a study of a model whose abusive uncle, a writer, has stolen details of his niece's experiences in the glamour industry as the basis for his latest
potboilerPotboiler or pot-boiler is a term used to describe a poor quality novel, play, opera, or film, or other creative work that was created quickly to make money to pay for the creator's daily expenses . Authors who create potboiler novels or screenplays are sometimes called hack writers...
.
To tie-in with the release of the
MGMMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
production of
Pennies from Heaven in 1981, Potter wrote a novelisation of the screenplay. Potter turned down the option of writing a novelisation for the film version of
Brimstone and Treacle, allowing his daughter Sarah to write it instead.
Stage plays
Although Potter only produced one play exclusively for theatrical performance (
Sufficient Carbohydrate, 1983 – later filmed for television as
Visitors in 1987), he adapted several of his television works for the stage.
Vote, Vote, Vote for Nigel Barton, which featured material from its sister-play
Stand Up, Nigel Barton, was premiered in 1966, while
Only Make Believe, which incorporated scenes from
Angels Are So Few, made the transition to the stage in 1974.
Son of Man appeared in 1969 with
Frank FinlayFrancis Finlay, CBE is an English stage, film and television actor.-Personal life:Finlay was born in Farnworth, Lancashire, the son of Margaret and Josiah Finlay, a butcher. A devout Catholic, he belongs to the British Catholic Stage Guild. He was educated at St...
in the title role (Finlay would also play Casanova in Potter's 1971 serial) and was restaged by
Northern StageNorthern Broadsides is a theatre company formed in 1992 and based at Dean Clough Mill in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. The founder and artistic director is Barrie Rutter. The company performs in Halifax and on tour, a mix of Shakespeare and other productions. Music is specially written for...
in 2006.
Brimstone and Treacle was adapted for the stage in 1977 after the BBC refused to screen the original television version. The play text for
Blue Remembered Hills was first published in the collection
Waiting for the Boat (with
Joe's Ark and
Blade on the Feather) in 1984 and has since enjoyed several successful stage performances.
Final works
His final two serials were
Karaoke and
Cold LazarusCold Lazarus is a four-part British television drama written by Dennis Potter with the knowledge that he was dying of cancer of the pancreas....
(two related stories, both starring
Albert FinneyAlbert Finney is an English actor. He achieved prominence in films in the early 1960s, and has maintained a successful career in theatre, film and television....
as the same principal character, one set in the present and the other in the far future). They were aired posthumously in the United Kingdom as part of a rare collaboration between the BBC and rival Channel 4 in accordance with Potter's wishes.
Both series were released on DVD release on 6 September 2010.
Style and themes
Potter's work is distinctive for its use of non-naturalistic devices. The 'lip-sync' technique he developed for his "serials with songs" (
Pennies from Heaven;
The Singing Detective and
Lipstick on Your Collar), extensive use of
flashbackFlashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
and nonlinear plot structure (
Casanova;
Late Call), direct to camera address (
Vote, Vote, Vote for Nigel Barton) and works where "the child is father to the man", in which he used adult actors to play children, (
Stand Up, Nigel Barton;
Blue Remembered Hills) have all become Potter trademarks. They are frequently deployed in works where the line between fantasy and reality becomes blurred, often as a result of the influence of popular culture (Willie, the Wild West obsessive played by
Hywel BennettHywel Thomas Bennett is a Welsh film and television actor. Bennett is best known for his recurring title role as James Shelley in the television sitcom Shelley from 1979 to 1984 and its sequel The Return of Shelley from 1988 to 1992....
in
Where the Buffalo Roam) or from a character's apparent awareness of their status as a pawn in the hands of an omniscient author (the actor Jack Black (Denholm Elliot) in
Follow the Yellow Brick RoadFollow the Yellow Brick Road is a television play by Dennis Potter, first broadcast in 1972 as part of BBC Two's The Sextet series of eight plays featuring the same six actors. The play is notable for its central theme of popular culture becoming the inheritor of religious scripture, which...
).
Potter's pioneering method of using music in his work emerged when developing the ground-breaking 1978 drama
Pennies from Heaven. He asked actors to mime along to period songs. "Potter tried out the concept himself by lip-syncing to old songs while looking into a mirror. Potter himself once revealed that, working on harnessing songs in his plays, he was most productive "
at night, with old Al BowllyAlbert Allick Bowlly was a Southern-African singer, songwriter, composer and band leader, who became a popular Jazz crooner during the 1930s in the United Kingdom and later, in the United States of America. He recorded more than 1,000 records between 1927 and 1941...
records playing in the background." Potter had previously experimented with Bowlly's voice in
Moonlight on the HighwayMoonlight on the Highway is a television play by Dennis Potter, first broadcast on 12 April 1969 as part of ITV's Saturday Night Theatre strand...
(1969).
Following in this spirit of non-naturalism, Potter's characters are frequently "doubled up"; either by
using the same actor to play two different rolesIn fiction and folklore, a doppelgänger is a paranormal double of a living person, typically representing evil or misfortune...
(
Kika MarkhamKika Markham is an English actress.Markham was born in Macclesfield, Cheshire. She is a daughter of actor David Markham and writer Olive Dehn . She has led a long career in the cinema, television, and theatre as an actress...
as the actress and escort in
Double DareDouble Dare is a television play by Dennis Potter, first broadcast on BBC1 on 6 April 1976 as part of the Play for Today series. The play explores the link between author and viewer, one of Potter's major themes, and is referenced several times in his later work...
;
Norman RossingtonNorman Rossington was an English actor best remembered for his roles in The Army Game, the Carry On films and the Beatles film A Hard Day's Night.-Early life:...
as Lorenzo the gaoler and the English traveller in
Casanova) or two different actors whose characters'
destinies and personalities appear interlinkedDualism denotes a state of two parts. The term 'dualism' was originally coined to denote co-eternal binary opposition, a meaning that is preserved in metaphysical and philosophical duality discourse but has been diluted in general or common usages. Dualism can refer to moral dualism, Dualism (from...
(Bob Hoskins and
Kenneth ColleyKenneth Colley is an English actor. A long-time character actor, he came to wider prominence through his role as Admiral Piett in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi....
as Arthur and the accordion man in
Pennies from Heaven; Rufus (
Christian RodskaChristian Rodska is an English actor who has appeared in many television and radio series and narrated a number of audiobooks...
) and Gina the bear in
A Beast With Two BacksA Beast With Two Backs is a television play by Dennis Potter, first broadcast on BBC1 in 1968 as part of The Wednesday Play strand.The play is a fictional account of an event that happened in the Forest of Dean in the 1890s when four Frenchmen came over the border from Gloucester with dancing...
).
One major motiff in Potter's writing is the concept of betrayal, and this takes many forms in his plays. Sometimes it is personal (
Stand Up, Nigel Barton), political (
Traitor;
Cold LazarusCold Lazarus is a four-part British television drama written by Dennis Potter with the knowledge that he was dying of cancer of the pancreas....
) and other times it is sexual (
A Beast With Two Backs;
Brimstone and Treacle-Potter on Brimstone and Treacle:In 1978, Potter said:I had written Brimstone and Treacle in difficult personal circumstances. Years of acute psoriatic arthropathy—unpleasantly affecting skin and joints—had not only taken their toll in physical damage but had also, and perhaps inevitably, mediated...
). In
Potter on Potter, published as part of
Faber and FaberFaber and Faber Limited, often abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in the UK, notable in particular for publishing a great deal of poetry and for its former editor T. S. Eliot. Faber has a rich tradition of publishing a wide range of fiction, non fiction, drama, film and music...
's series on auteurs, Potter told editor Graham Fuller that all forms of betrayal presented in literature are essentially religious and based on "the old, old story"; this is evoked in a number of works, from the use of popular songs in
Pennies from Heaven to Potter's
gnosticGnosticism is a scholarly term for a set of religious beliefs and spiritual practices common to early Christianity, Hellenistic Judaism, Greco-Roman mystery religions, Zoroastrianism , and Neoplatonism.A common characteristic of some of these groups was the teaching that the realisation of Gnosis...
retelling of
JesusJesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
' final days in
Son of Man.
The "Pinteresque" device of a disruptive outsider entering a claustrophobic environment is another recurring theme. In plays where this occurs, the outsider will commit some liberating act of sex (
Rain on the Roof) or violence (
Shaggy Dog) that gives physical expression to the unsublimated desires of the characters in that setting. While these more malevolent visitors are often supernatural beings (
Angels Are So Few), intelligence agents (
Blade on the FeatherBlade on the Feather is a television drama by Dennis Potter, broadcast by ITV on 19 October 1980 as the first in a loosely-connected trilogy of plays exploring language and betrayal...
) or even figments of their host's imagination (
Schmoedipus), there are also —rare— instances of benign visitors whose presence resolves personal conflicts rather than exploits them (
Joe's Ark;
Where Adam StoodWhere Adam Stood is a television play by Dennis Potter, first broadcast on BBC2 in 1976. It is a free adaptation of Edmund Gosse's autobiographical book Father and Son .-Synopsis:...
).
Parliamentary aspirations
Potter stood as the Labour Party candidate for
Hertfordshire EastEast Hertfordshire was a parliamentary constituency in the county of Hertfordshire. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.-History:...
, a safe
Conservative PartyThe Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
seat, in the
1964 general electionThe United Kingdom general election of 1964 was held on 15 October 1964, more than five years after the preceding election, and thirteen years after the Conservative Party had retaken power...
against the incumbent
Derek Walker-SmithDerek Colclough Walker-Smith, Baron Broxbourne PC, TD, QC, Bt. , known as Sir Derek Walker-Smith, Bt., from 1960 to 1983, was a British Conservative Party politician....
. By the end of the campaign, he claimed that he was so disillusioned with party politics he did not even vote for himself. His candidacy was unsuccessful.
Media and Rupert Murdoch
In 1993 Potter was given a half hour in prime time by
Channel 4Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
in their
Opinions strand produced by
Open MediaOpen Media is a British television production company, best known for the discussion series After Dark, described by The Daily Mail as "the most intelligent, thought-provoking and interesting programme ever to have been on television"....
. Broadcast just before the third episode of
Lipstick on Your Collar, itself a rumination on the effects of the mass media, in this case through popular music, Potter's chosen topic was what he perceived to be a contamination of news media and its effect on declining standards in British television.
Craig BrownCraig Edward Moncrieff Brown is a British critic and satirist from England, probably best known for his work in Private Eye.-Biography:...
described the programme in
The Sunday TimesThe Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
(owned by
Rupert MurdochKeith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG is an Australian-American business magnate. He is the founder and Chairman and CEO of , the world's second-largest media conglomerate....
):
-
- "Potter announced at the beginning: I'm going to get down there in the gutter where so many journalists crawl... what I'm about to do is to make a provenly vindictive and extremely powerful enemy... the enemy in question is that drivel-merchant, global huckster and so-to-speak media psychopath, Rupert Murdoch... Hannibal the Cannibal....
-
- As a performance, it had a lot going for it. I have never seen a talking head on television so immediate or so unabated in its anger. In many ways, it felt like being collared by a madman on the Tube. Filmed disturbingly close to camera, seemingly ad-libbing the entire half-hour, now mumbling, now rasping, Potter somehow managed to cut through the vacuum that on television usually separates viewer from viewee. This made the performance extraordinary."
Last interview
On 14 February 1994, Potter learned that he had
terminalTerminal illness is a medical term popularized in the 20th century to describe a disease that cannot be cured or adequately treated and that is reasonably expected to result in the death of the patient within a short period of time. This term is more commonly used for progressive diseases such as...
pancreatic cancerPancreatic cancer refers to a malignant neoplasm of the pancreas. The most common type of pancreatic cancer, accounting for 95% of these tumors is adenocarcinoma, which arises within the exocrine component of the pancreas. A minority arises from the islet cells and is classified as a...
metastasisMetastasis, or metastatic disease , is the spread of a disease from one organ or part to another non-adjacent organ or part. It was previously thought that only malignant tumor cells and infections have the capacity to metastasize; however, this is being reconsidered due to new research...
ed to his
liverThe liver is a vital organ present in vertebrates and some other animals. It has a wide range of functions, including detoxification, protein synthesis, and production of biochemicals necessary for digestion...
. It was thought that this was a side effect of the medication he was taking to control his
psoriasisPsoriasis is an autoimmune disease that appears on the skin. It occurs when the immune system mistakes the skin cells as a pathogen, and sends out faulty signals that speed up the growth cycle of skin cells. Psoriasis is not contagious. However, psoriasis has been linked to an increased risk of...
. With typical sardonic humour, he named his cancer "Rupert", after Rupert Murdoch, who represented so much of what he found despicable about British mass media. On 15 March 1994, three months before his death, Potter gave an interview to
Channel 4Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
(he had broken most of his ties with the BBC as a result of his disenchantment with Directors-General
Michael ChecklandSir Michael Checkland was Director-General of the BBC from 1987 to 1992, having been appointed after the forced resignation of Alasdair Milne.- Early life :...
and especially John Birt, whom he had famously referred to as a "croak-voiced
DalekThe Daleks are a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Within the series, Daleks are cyborgs from the planet Skaro, created by the scientist Davros during the final years of a thousand-year war against the Thals...
"), in which he described his work and his determination to continue writing until the end. As he sipped on a
morphineMorphine is a potent opiate analgesic medication and is considered to be the prototypical opioid. It was first isolated in 1804 by Friedrich Sertürner, first distributed by same in 1817, and first commercially sold by Merck in 1827, which at the time was a single small chemists' shop. It was more...
cocktail, he told a visibly moved
Melvyn BraggMelvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg FRSL FRTS FBA, FRS FRSA is an English broadcaster and author best known for his work with the BBC and for presenting the The South Bank Show...
that he had two works he intended to finish (
Cold Lazarus and
Karaoke) before his impending death: "My only regret is if I die four pages too soon". The interview was shown on 5 April 1994.
Psoriatic arthropathy
In 1962 Potter began to suffer from an acute form of psoriasis known as psoriatic arthropathy that affected his skin and caused
arthritisArthritis is a form of joint disorder that involves inflammation of one or more joints....
in his joints. For the rest of his life, Potter was frequently in hospitals, sometimes completely unable to move and in great pain. The disease eventually ruined his hands, reducing them to what he called "clubs." He could only write by strapping a pen to his hand. Potter kept working between bouts of pain, nausea, and diarrhea, clutching a pen in his clawed fist and writing in longhand. "I can't use a typewriter," he said, "because my trailing fingers would hit more than one key at once." The script of
Son of Man, mostly written in hospital, was delivered with drops of blood and cortisone grease splashed upon it.
Widowerhood and death
Months before Potter was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer his wife, Margaret Morgan Potter, was diagnosed with
breast cancerBreast cancer is cancer originating from breast tissue, most commonly from the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. Cancers originating from ducts are known as ductal carcinomas; those originating from lobules are known as lobular carcinomas...
. Despite his own deteriorating condition and punishing work schedule, Potter continued to care for her until she died on 29 May 1994. He died nine days later, in
Ross-on-WyeRoss-on-Wye is a small market town with a population of 10,089 in southeastern Herefordshire, England, located on the River Wye, and on the northern edge of the Forest of Dean.-History:...
,
HerefordshireHerefordshire is a historic and ceremonial county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire" NUTS 2 region. It also forms a unitary district known as the...
, England, aged 59.
Criticism
Potter was sometimes attacked by other television writers, most notably
Alan BennettAlan Bennett is a British playwright, screenwriter, actor and author. Born in Leeds, he attended Oxford University where he studied history and performed with The Oxford Revue. He stayed to teach and research mediaeval history at the university for several years...
and
Matthew GrahamMatthew Graham is a British television writer, and the co-creator of the BBC/Kudos Film and Television science fiction series Life on Mars, which debuted in 2006 on BBC One and has received international critical acclaim....
, for a perceived lack of humility and self-criticism; Graham described him as having "come undone" after
The Singing Detective and beginning to believe "every line that dripped from his pen was a work of genius". Bennett referred in his 1998 diaries to a television programme "that took Potter at his own self-evaluation (always high), when there was a good deal of indifferent stuff which was skated over".
Private EyePrivate Eye is a fortnightly British satirical and current affairs magazine, edited by Ian Hislop.Since its first publication in 1961, Private Eye has been a prominent critic and lampooner of public figures and entities that it deemed guilty of any of the sins of incompetence, inefficiency,...
once lampooned him as Dennis Plodder, due to the slow pace of some of his work, whilst also branding him as "the whingeing playwright".
Legacy
Although Potter won few awards, he is held in high regard by many within the television and film industry, and he was an influence on such creators as
Steven BochcoSteven Ronald Bochco is a US television producer and writer. He has developed a number of popular television hits including Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, and NYPD Blue, as well as some notable flops such as Cop Rock....
,
Alan BallAlan E. Ball is an American writer, director, actor and producer for film, theatre and television.-Early life:Ball was born in Atlanta, Georgia, to Frank and Mary Ball, an aircraft inspector and a homemaker...
,
Andrew DaviesAndrew Wynford Davies is a British author and screenwriter. He was made a Fellow of BAFTA in 2002.-Education and early career:...
,
Charlie KaufmanCharles Stuart "Charlie" Kaufman is an American screenwriter, producer, and director. His film work includes Being John Malkovich, Human Nature, Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Synecdoche, New York...
,
Peter BowkerPeter Bowker is a British playwright and screenwriter. He is best known for the television serials Blackpool , a musical drama about a shady casino owner; Occupation , which follows three military servicemen adjusting to civilian life after a tour of duty in Iraq; and Desperate Romantics , a...
,
Margaret EdsonMargaret Edson is an American playwright. She graduated with a B.A. in Renaissance History from Smith College, and received a master's in English literature from Georgetown University...
and
Alain ResnaisAlain Resnais is a French film director whose career has extended over more than six decades. After training as a film editor in the mid-1940s, he went on to direct a number of short films which included Nuit et Brouillard , an influential documentary about the Nazi concentration camps.He began...
. His work has been the subject of many critical essays, books, websites and documentaries.
BBC Four marked the tenth anniversary of Potter's death in December 2004 with a major series of documentaries about his life and work, accompanied by showings of
Pennies from Heaven and
The Singing Detective, as well as several of his single plays — many of which had not been shown since their maiden broadcast. His influence has also extended into popular music: Welsh band
Manic Street PreachersManic Street Preachers are a Welsh alternative rock band, formed in 1986. They are James Dean Bradfield, Nicky Wire, Richey Edwards and Sean Moore. The band are part of the Cardiff music scene, and were at their most prominent during the 1990s...
used quotes from Potter on the inner sleeves to their single "Kevin Carter" and
greatest hitsForever Delayed is a greatest hits album by the Manic Street Preachers, released in October 2002. The album included three singles which had never appeared on earlier albums , the latter being one of the band's two UK #1 hits, along with "If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next." Several...
collection, while Scottish
art rockArt rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, with influences from art, avant-garde, and classical music. The first usage of the term, according to Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, was in 1968. Influenced by the work of The Beatles, most notably their Sgt...
band
Franz FerdinandFranz Ferdinand are a Scottish post-punk revival band formed in Glasgow in 2002. The band is composed of Alex Kapranos , Bob Hardy , Nick McCarthy , and Paul Thomson .The band first experienced chart success when their second single, "Take Me Out", reached #3 in...
modelled the
promotional videoA music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
for their song "
The Dark of the Matinée"The Dark of the Matinée", also known simply as "Matinée" is a song by Scottish rock band Franz Ferdinand. It was released as the fourth track on the self-titled album Franz Ferdinand on 9 February 2004...
" after
Blue Remembered Hills and
The Singing Detective.
Guy GarveyGuy Edward John Patrick Garvey , is the singer/guitarist in the band Elbow, as well as a presenter for BBC 6 Music and A&R manager of Skinny Dog Records...
, lead singer with
ElbowElbow are an English rock band. They have played together since 1990 and recorded five studio albums, the most recent of which is Build a Rocket Boys!, released in March 2011...
, has said he named his band after the exchange in
The Singing Detective where the central character claims that word to be the most beautiful in the English language.
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