Dennis Potter At London Weekend Television on DVD
Network has announced the release of Dennis Potter At London Weekend Television on 8th September 2008. This is a four-disc DVD compilation of TV productions Dennis Potter wrote for LWT between 1968 and 1980.
Special features include two interviews the television playwright did for The South Bank Show which offer a deep and candid insight into the mind of one of Britain’s most critically acclaimed dramatists.
The plays in this set are controversial. Indeed, one of Dennis Potter’s strongest critics was Mary Whitehouse, who frequently complained about the sexual content in his work. But Dennis Potter was determined not to compromise his art for the sake of shifting standards of decency and public approval.
These TV dramas star acclaimed actors such as Donald Pleasence (Halloween, The Great Escape, Fantastic Voyage), Ian Holm (the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Alien, Chariots of Fire) and Martin Shaw (Judge John Deed, The Professionals, Cranford). Peggy Ashcroft (The 39 Steps, A Passage to India, The Nun’s Story) and Denholm Elliott (The Boys From Brazil, A Bridge Too Far, Raiders of the Lost Ark) turn in BAFTA-winning performances.
Disc One:
Blade on the Feather
A retired spy, his peculiar butler and two beautiful women live together in a creepy cliff-top house. Enter a sinister visitor - but what is his agenda?
Starring Donald Pleasence, Tom Conti, Denholm Elliott and Kika Markham
Directed by Richard Loncraine
Original ITV Transmission 19 October 1980
Rain on the Roof
A bored, frustrated housewife gives reading lessons to Billy, an illiterate man. Unfortunately, illiteracy isn't his only problem...
Starring Cheryl Campbell, Malcolm Stoddard, Ewan Stewart and Madeline Hinde
Directed by Alan Bridges
Original ITV Transmission 26 October 1980
Disc Two:
Cream in my Coffee
46 years on, Jean and Bernard go back to the scene of their early promises. The hotel is still 5-star, although the band is smaller, the food is indigestible and the porters don't know their place. But the tawdry present is overwhelmed by memories - especially of a '30s crooner who made a special fan of the young Jean....
Starring Lionel Jeffries, Peggy Ashcroft and Martin Shaw
Directed by Gavin Millar
Original ITV Transmission 2 November 1980
Disc Three:
Shaggy Dog
Mr. Wilkie arrives for an interview for a job at "Rest Awhile", a top-flight hotel chain. Naturally nervous about the interview, he is pushed to breaking point by the eccentric management consultant...
Starring John Neville, Cyril Luckham, Ann Bell and Ray Smith
Directed by Gareth Davies
Produced by Stella Richman
Original ITV Transmission 10 November 1968
Moonlight on the Highway
David Peters visits the psychiatrist to help him with his "wickedness". Clearly a disturbed young man, it becomes apparent that he is fixated on a past case of possible sexual abuse and the music of Al Bowlly. He is prescribed antidepressants and warned not to mix them with alcohol – a warning he forgets...
Starring Ian Holm, Anthony Bate and Deborah Grant
Directed by James MacTaggart
Produced by Kenith Trodd
Original ITV Transmission 12 April 1969
Dennis Potter - Man of Television
In this twenty-minute extract from a 1978 edition of the long-running and celebrated arts programme The South Bank Show, Dennis Potter is interviewed about his life and work.
Original ITV Transmission 11 February 1978
Disc Four:
Lay Down Your Arms
It is the momentous summer of 1956. Suez and Hungary are in the air, Anne Shelton is top of the pops, and 22920071 National Service Private Hawk, R., is about to start as a Russian-language clerk in a highly secret War Office department called MI3. Finding it hard to fit in, he begins inventing personas for himself, dependent upon the company he keeps.
Starring Nikolas Simmonds, Peter Cellier and John Warner
Directed by Christopher Morahan
Produced by Kenith Trodd
Original ITV Transmission 23 May 1970
A Kestrel Films production for London Weekend Television
Brimstone and Treacle: Censorship
This twenty-minute extract from a 1979 edition of The South Bank Show has an interview with Potter about the banning of Brimstone and Treacle by the BBC, and television censorship in general. It also features a scene from the play courtesy of the Open Space Theatre production (starring George Cole, Margery Mason, Richard O'Callaghan and Lynsey Baxter).
Original ITV Transmission 11 February 1979
Special Features:
Dennis Potter - Man of Television
Brimstone and Treacle: Censorship
