Dennis Potter at London Weekend Television (Volume 2)

Star Review

Dennis Potter is one of the most significant writers of the twentieth century, and undoubtedly his greatest successes were some of the single plays he wrote in the 1960s and 1970s. No stranger to controversy, he refused to compromise his art for the sake of shifting standards of decency and public approval.

This new set contains three plays Potter wrote for London Weekend Television during this period, and they give a valuable insight into the gestation of the themes and techniques that would make Potter a household name.

Moonlight on the Highway (1969) stars Ian Holm as an obsessive fan of the popular 1930s singer Al Bowlly, who visits a doctor complaining of sleeplessness and the troubling memories of childhood abuse. After being brushed off with antidepressants, he later breaks down during a meeting of the Al Bowlly Appreciation Society.

Moonlight on the Highway introduces many of Potters’ trademark themes, including loss of innocence, extensive use of flashbacks, the relationship between sexuality and guilt - as well as the prominent use of popular music.

Potter would later re-work the second play, Lay Down Your Arms (1970) as Lipstick on Your Collar (1993). Featuring a young protagonist working in MI3’s translation bureau during the Suez Crises (as did Potter), its themes of disillusionment, anti-establishment sentiment and sexual embarrassment are similarly autobiographical.

Shaggy Dog (1968) stars John Neville as Mr Wilkie, a prickly businessman being interviewed for a job with a hotel chain by an unconventional management consultant who seeks to throw him off by wearing a blonde wig and a comic red nose. Attempting to get to the end of a joke, Wilkie finally snaps with disastrous results.

Shaggy Dog is a quirky effort, and Potter is clearing using Wikie as a mouthpiece for his frustrations with bureaucracy in general, and - no doubt! - the BBC in general.

Previously unreleased in any format, these plays are a must for any Potter fan; one of them, Shaggy Dog (1968), was feared lost forever after its one and only broadcast until it was rediscovered in the LWT archive in 2005.

MovieMail on 17th August 2007

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Film Description

Dennis Potter is one of the most significant writers of the twentieth century and undoubtedly his greatest successes were some of the single plays he wrote in the 1960s and 1970s. No stranger to controversy, he refused to compromise his art for the sake of shifting standards of decency and public approval and was equally candid and forthcoming when

interviewed.

This collection presents three of his plays, accompanied by two interviews Potter did for the South Bank Show in the late 1970s. The plays are Shaggy Dog (Gareth Davies, 1968), Moonlight on the Highway (James MacTaggart, 1969) and Lay Down Your Arms (Christopher Morahan, 1970).

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DVD Extras

• 2 discs
• Brimstone and Treacle: Censorship - A twenty minute extract from a 1979 edition of South Bank Show with an interview with Potter about the banning of Brimstone and Treacle by the BBC and television censorship in general. It also features scenes from the play courtesy of the Open Space Theatre production (starring George Cole, Margery Mason, O'Callaghan, Lynsey Baxter).

Film Details

Cast

Ian Holm

Technical Details