DENNIS POTTER: BETWEEN TWO WORLDS This page intentionally left blank Dennis Potter Between Two Worlds A Critical Reassessment Glen Creeber First published in Great Britain 1998 by MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 978-0-333-71390-7 ISBN 978-0-230-37465-2 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230374652 First published in the United States of America 1998 by ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC., Scholarly and Reference Division, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 ISBN 978-0-312-17774-4 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Creeber, Glen, 1962- Dennis Potter : between two worlds : a critical reassessment I Glen Creeber. p. em. Includes bibliographical references (p.) and index. ISBN 978-0-312-17774-4 (cloth) I. Potter, Dennis--Criticism and interpretation. 2. Television plays-History and criticism. I. Title. PR6066.077Z62 1998 822'.914---dc21 97-26514 CIP © Glen Creeber 1998 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1998 978-0-333-71389-1 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London WIP 9HE. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. 10987654 3 2 I 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00 99 98 For Mum and Dad This page intentionally left blank Contents List of Plates viii Acknowledgements ix Introduction 'Switch on, tune in and grow' 1 1. In Search of an Author: Biography, Authorship and Methodology 11 2. Between Two Worlds: Class, Nostalgia and the 'Democratic Medium' 30 3. Between Good and Evil: Religion and the Romantic Vision 70 4. 'Banality with a Beat': The Paradox of Popular Culture 110 5. Mothers and Mistresses: Women, Sexuality and the Male Unconscious 149 Conclusion 'A Fitting Memorial?' 190 Filmography 199 Bibliography 204 Index 211 vii List of Plates 1 Blue Remembered Hills (1979): Audrey (Janine Duvitski) and Angela (Helen Mirren) are literally caught between two worlds. 2 Son of Man (1969): Potter's Christ (Colin Blakely) is crucified. 3 Where the Buffalo Roam (1966): Willie (Hywel Bennett) and his mother (Megs Jenkins) grapple with the printed word. 4 The Singing Detective (1986): Philip Marlow's (Michael Gambon) loathing of women is physically turned in on himself. All photographs are reproduced by kind permission of the BBC Photograph Library and Archive. Vlll Acknowledgements This book originally began as research for a PhD thesis at the University of East Anglia. V.ery special thanks therefore goes to my supervisor Professor Roger Sales for his invaluable help, support and continued encouragement. My thanks also goes to the British Academy who funded my research and made it possible for me to visit the Museum of Television and Radio in New York (where Potter's work was the subject of a comprehensive retro spective in 1992). To the staff at the BBC Written Archives Cen tre at Caversham and at the BBC Television Script Unit (sadly no longer in existence). To Stephen Lesley at the BBC who helped me to obtain copies of video material and to John Wyver and Philip Purser for their help in acquiring archive material. Thanks should also go to the members of various conferences who kindly commented on papers which were incorporated into the final book- in particular the 1994 and 1995 Screen Studies conferences at Glasgow University and the 1994 conference of 'The Romantic Child' held at the University of Keele. Finally I would like to thank my commissioning editor Charmian Hearne for her help and support, and all those who kindly gave their permission to reproduce copyright material. Particular thanks to Faber and Faber, Media, Culture and Society and the Judy Daish Associates Ltd. A book of this kind is always built upon a deeper foundation than those who helped specifically with its construction. Thanks must therefore go to all my friends and colleagues at the Uni versity of North London, Lancaster University, the University of East London and the University of East Anglia. Very special thanks to Rita and Melanie Broughton, Claire and James Buckland, Warren Buckland, Dani Cavallaro, Jack Creeber, Kevin Donnelly, Tony Gillings, Laurel Goss, Clifford Harris, Pat Jackson, Jason Jacobs, Cormack Kirby, David Lewis, Alan McMurtrie, Jane Scott Moss, Dermot Power, Derek and Pam Newland, Georgia Poulopoulou, David Shaddick, Eileen Spowart, Karl Swainston, Delia Toberty, Jane Woolf, Eckart Voigts Virchow, 'Z Block 94', and to all my students past and present. Finally, very special thanks to Karen Broughton, without whom none of this would have been possible. ix