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MovieMail's Review
Dennis Potter is undoubtedly one of the great television writers of post-war Britain, notably for Pennies from Heaven and The Singing Detective. Peter Wild sings along to the Connie Francis title track in this final entry to Potter’s musical triptych.
Coming hard on the heels of Karaoke and Cold Lazarus, the reissue of Dennis Potter’s Lipstick on my Collar, thought by many to be a triumphant conclusion to the trilogy that began with Pennies from Heaven and The Singing Detective, is great news for all fans of classic TV drama.
The action unfolds within a British Military Intelligence office in Whitehall, where Mick Hopper (played by Ewan McGregor in his first starring role) translates Russian documents and, like many Potter protagonists before him, daydreams his life away, his colleagues bursting into imaginary song and dance at the drop of a hat.
Although there is the seething undercurrent of sex and violence seasoned Potter viewers would no doubt expect (particularly in the pairing of Louise Germaine and Douglas Henshall), Lipstick on Your Collar is arguably one of his most straightforward dramas (and some would say the closest he ever got to writing an out and out rom-com). Interestingly, the drama is set in 1956 but Connie Francis’ eponymous hit single was not released until 1959.
Ewan McGregor stars in Dennis Potter's hilarious musical recreation of fifties England, Lipstick On Your Collar.
Austerity be gone! The war is over. It's time for frothy coffee in Soho cafes, teenage kicks and rock 'n' roll music - well almost. Not for Private Hopper (McGregor), a man in his last months of national service. Hopper has been assigned to the War Office where he is responsible for translating anything that comes from the Russians, and brewing regular cups of the 'barely bloody drinkable'. At least when he gets bored he can always dream himself into a musical landscape where anything is possible.
In the real world Hopper finds himself caught up with a real cast of characters. Private Francis Francis, new to the big city and completely out of his depth; the Corporals, Colonels and Majors who make life not worth living on a daily basis; cinema organist Harold Atterbow (Roy Hudd), a man with a dark and sweaty secret, and the beautiful temptress Sylvia (Louise Germaine) - bountiful blonde usherette at the local Odeon - who will bring them all crashing onto the rocks of desire.
