Dennis Potter at London Weekend Television, Vol 2

Synopsis: A collection of three of Dennis Potter’s plays made for London Weekend Television that have been unavailable for nearly forty years: Shaggy Dog, Moonlight on the Highway and Lay Down Your Arms. Accompanied by two interviews Potter did for the South Bank Show in the late 1970s.
Language: English
Country: Great Britain
Year of release: 2007
Year of production: 1965-1986
Subjects: Drama; Media studies
Keywords: Potter, Dennis (1935-1994); television drama

Title: Moonlight on the Highway
Synopsis: Stars Ian Holm as an obsessive fan of the popular 1930s singer Al Bowlly, who visits a doctor complaining of sleeplessness and the troubling memories of childhood abuse. After being brushed off with antidepressants, he breaks down during a meeting of the Al Bowlly Appreciation Society. The play introduces many of Potter’s trademark themes, including loss of innocence, extensive use of flashbacks, the relationship between sexuality and guilt - as well as the prominent use of popular music. Made in 1969. Broadcast in the ‘Saturday Night Theatre’ strand.
Title: Lay Down Your Arms
Synopsis: Potter would later rework the second play, LAY DOWN YOUR ARMS (1970), as LIPSTICK ON YOUR COLLAR (1993). Featuring a young protagonist working in MI3’s translation bureau during the Suez Crisis (as did Potter), its themes of disillusionment, antiestablishment sentiment and sexual embarrassment are similarly autobiographical.Broadcast in the ‘ITV Saturday Night Theatre’ series on ITV on 23/5/1970.
Title: Shaggy Dog
Synopsis: SHAGGY DOG (1968) stars John Neville as Mr Wilkie, a prickly businessman being interviewed for a job with a hotel chain by an unconventional management consultant who seeks to throw him off by wearing a blonde wig and a comic red nose. Attempting to get to the end of a joke, Wilkie finally snaps, with disastrous results. Broadcast on ITV on 10/11/1968.

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British Universities Film & Video Council