#1

Any fans?

Had a bit of a mental block about some of Potter’s work due to the musical element, but got into this one this week and it’s bloody brilliant. Surreal as fuck. Made just before he died as well, so feels quite autobiographical.

#2

Watched the Singing Detective when the BBC repeated it a couple of years back. Was good.

#3

I should watch/ rewatch more of his stuff. What I have seen was at the time it came out and I was pretty young

Feel like he has his own unique “feel” to all his stuff, like a British David Lynch

#4

Watched Karaoke a few years back and loved it. Doesn’t it tie in directly with the series Cold Lazarus as well? Dennis Potter was doing the shared universe thing way before Marvel!

#5

Singing Detective is exceptional. Gets a bit silly towards the end but the first 4 or so episodes are remarkable television.

#6

Singing Detective and Pennies from Heaven are both ace
probably some problematic bits in the latter that i can’t quite remember, Bob Hoskins was the man though

#7

Yeah Karaoke and Cold Lazarus were the last things he wrote I think, the latter follows on from the former.

#8

I think that’s based in the future. The main character in this talks about being cryogenically frozen.

There’s something brilliant about Brirish TV of a certain era, sort of from the very late seventies to the very early nineties. It just looks authentic, sort of grainy, the colour palettes seem minimal. I assume it was because of the cameras used, but never really been sure.

Another good thing about this, and lots of the better programs of that time, are the amount of faces familiar now who just pop up. In one episode along there’s Keeley Hawes, Martin and Matthew2 from Game On, Steven Mackintosh, Liz Smith, Fay Ripley.

#9

I remember finding the Singing Detective incredibly dull when it came out. That could have been something to do with me being a teenager.

#10

Yes, I completely understand what you mean by the graininess. I was actually talking about this the other week. I can’t work out though if it was that grainy to begin with or it’s got grainier over time. I always think of A Touch of Frost as being really grainy like that

#11

I was an extra in one of his TV series. It was a boring job. The proper actors were pretty nice and friendly though. The extras who wanted to be proper actors were a pain.