Dennis Potter’s Followers (34)

Dennis Potter

Born

in Berry Hill, Gloucestershire, The United Kingdom

May 17, 1935

Died

June 07, 1994

Genre

Drama, Magic Realism

edit data

Dennis Christopher George Potter (17 May 1935 – 7 June 1994) was an English dramatist, best known for The Singing Detective (1986). 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. Such was his reputation that he convinced BBC 2 and Channel 4 to co-operate in screening his final two works, written in the months he was aware of his impending death.

Potter's career as a television playwright began with The Confidence Course, an exposé of the Dale Carnegie 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 breaki Dennis Christopher George Potter (17 May 1935 – 7 June 1994) was an English dramatist, best known for The Singing Detective (1986). 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. Such was his reputation that he convinced BBC 2 and Channel 4 to co-operate in screening his final two works, written in the months he was aware of his impending death.

Potter's career as a television playwright began with The Confidence Course, an exposé of the Dale Carnegie 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 wall) which would become hallmarks of Potter's subsequent work. Broadcast as part of the BBC's The Wednesday Play strand in 1965, The Confidence Course proved successful and Potter was invited for further contributions. His next play, Alice (1965), was a controversial drama chronicling the relationship between Lewis Carroll and his muse Alice Liddell. Potter's most celebrated works from this period are the semi-autobiographical plays Stand Up, Nigel Barton! and Vote, Vote, Vote for Nigel Barton; the former the tale of a miner's son going to Oxford University where he finds himself torn between two worlds, the latter featuring 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.

Potter's Son of Man (The Wednesday Play, 1969), starring the Irish actor Colin Blakely, gave an alternative view of the last days of Jesus, and led to Potter being accused of blasphemy. The same year, Potter contributed Moonlight on the Highway to ITV's Saturday Night Theatre strand. The play centred around a young man who attempts to blot out memories of the sexual abuse he suffered as child in his obsession with the music of Al Bowlly. As well as being an intensely personal play for Potter, it is notable for being his first foray in the use of popular music to heighten the dramatic tension in his work.

Potter continued to make news as well as winning critical acclaim for drama serials with Pennies From Heaven (1978), which featured Bob Hoskins 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 Hills 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 Four viewers as the golden era of British television. The adult actors playing the roles of children were Helen Mirren, Janine Duvitski, Michael Elphick, Colin Jeavons, Colin Welland, John Bird, and Robin Ellis. 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.

The Singing Detective (1986), featuring Michael Gambon, used the dramatist's own battle with the skin disease psoriasis, for him an often debilitating condition, as a means to merge the lead character's imagination with his perception of reality.

His final two serials were Karaoke and Cold Lazarus (two related stories, both starring Albert Finney as the same principal character, one set in the present and the other in the far future).

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 flashback and nonlinear plot ...more

Combine Editions
Dennis Potter’s books

Average rating: 3.72 · 1,341 ratings · 134 reviews · 61 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Singing Detective 4.26 avg rating — 234 ratings — published 1986 — 16 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Blue Remembered Hills 3.41 avg rating — 246 ratings — published 1971 — 10 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Ticket to Ride 3.38 avg rating — 229 ratings — published 1986 — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Blackeyes 3.43 avg rating — 162 ratings — published 1987 — 15 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Seeing the Blossom: Two Interviews and a Lecture 4.39 avg rating — 56 ratings — published 1994	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Pennies from Heaven by Dennis Potter, Kenith Trodd (Introduction) 3.84 avg rating — 63 ratings — published 1981 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Hide and Seek 3.71 avg rating — 62 ratings — published 1973 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Brimstone and Treacle 3.73 avg rating — 55 ratings — published 1978 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Potter on Potter 4.21 avg rating — 48 ratings — published 1993 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Karaoke & Cold Lazarus 4.02 avg rating — 49 ratings — published 1996 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Dennis Potter…

Quotes by Dennis Potter (?)

“I also believe in cigarettes, cholesterol, alcohol, carbon monoxide, masturbation, the Arts Council, nuclear weapons, the Daily Telegraph, and not properly labeling fatal poisons, but above all else, most of all, I believe in the one thing that can come out of people's mouths: vomit.”
― Dennis Potter, The Singing Detective

tags: hatred, misanthropy

32 likes

“You just don't know writers. They'll use anything, anybody. They'll eat their young.”
― Dennis Potter, The Singing Detective

tags: writing

31 likes

“The trouble with words is that you never know whose mouths they've been in.”
― Dennis Potter

tags: language

23 likes

See all Dennis Potter's quotes »

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
Challenge: 50 Books: Rosie's 50 Books for 2009!	77	244	Aug 09, 2009 12:06AM
Cozy Mysteries : Mystery ABC's, Round 2	12168	1133	Mar 21, 2016 12:30PM
Reading the 20th ...: The Angry Years: A Literary Chronicle by Colin Wilson (Feb/March 2018)	76	27	Apr 21, 2018 05:10AM
Ersatz TLS: Literary Birthdays - May 17th through May 23rd	2	13	May 17, 2021 11:16AM
Gigi's Company: Author - Title Game	4474	919	Jul 08, 2023 03:27PM
The Patrick Hamil...: Kitchen Sink Dramas / Angry Young Men	272	89	Aug 12, 2025 02:19AM
Works of Thomas H...: The Mayor of Casterbridge: 5th thread: Chapter 37-45	166	22	Aug 30, 2025 07:41PM
Works of Thomas H...: The King's Arms Hotel Lounge - Chat thread	400	115	Sep 10, 2025 11:20AM
Never too Late to...: Name a Classic that contains the word Harvest or Moon in the title	3548	375	2 hours, 21 min ago

More…

Dennis Potter’s Followers (34)

Dennis Potter

Combine EditionsDennis Potter’s books

Topics Mentioning This Author

Combine Editions
Dennis Potter’s books