Blue Remembered Hills

[poliphilo]

Blue Remembered Hills is the notorious TV play, by Dennis Potter, in which seven adult actors pretend to be children and romp through an idyllic summer afternoon in wartime doing unspeakable things. It was first broadcast in 1979. For some reason I didn't catch it then. Shame on me. I should have cancelled whatever else was on the menu and made sure I was sitting in front of the box for the transmission of what is- certainly- one of T.V.s greatest  masterpieces. Fortunately, being a masterpiece, the passage of nearly thirty years hasn't dimmed it at all, and it's still absolutely fresh and true and horrific. This is exactly what kids are like. And- when you strip away the gloss of education and socialization- what adults are like too.  I watched it last night with sharp intakes of breath, sitting well back in my chair lest the ghastliness reach out from the screen and take me by the throat. 

The seven actors have had widely differing careers.

Colin Welland went on to write Chariots of Fire
Robin Ellis starred in Poldark
Michael Elphick played a succession of TV hard nuts (some of them lovable)
John Bird is a satirist
Colin Jeavons has been one of TV's most reliable character actors
Helen Mirren is a dame
Janine Duvitski does comedy- usually as some funny male's even funnier sidekick 

They are all bloody marvellous. Especially Duvitski. 

I don't really subscribe to the view that TV then was better than TV now. But one thing has changed. Back in the day TV  had an avant-garde. It's name was Denis Potter. If TV today is less daring and experimental  than it  was thirty years ago it's because Denis Potter is dead.

Comments

[ex-redrain.livejournal.com]

That sounds like an amazing piece!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It's a jewel in the BBC's crown. I think you'll find it's available on DVD.

[sovay]

I just saw Dreamchild, my first exposure to Dennis Potter. But about half a dozen people have told me to see Pennies from Heaven, so that's probably up next.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Dreamchild is the one about Alice Liddell, isn't it?

Pennies from Heaven is extraordinary.

[sovay]

Dreamchild is the one about Alice Liddell, isn't it?

Yes; Coral Browne, Ian Holm, Amelia Shankley. I loved it.

[currawong.livejournal.com]

Duvitski was wonderful in Waiting For God" and "The Worst Week of my Life" ... Mirren is a demi divinity, the only woman for whom I might go straight ...and Michael Elphick is memorable for one big role and two cameos ... he is the traitorous sargeant-major in the wonderful tragi-comic film, "Privates on Parade", (a sort of "it Ain't Half Hot, Mum" with brains). he was vile to poor John Hurt in "The Elephant Man" and he is a hit man for a Richard in Ian McKellan's "Richard III" ...however brief his appearances, they are always powerful.

What a writer Potter was.

[currawong.livejournal.com]

Once you've seen "Pennies From Heaven" you may want to see his other, rather demanding masterpiece, "The Singing Detective".

[sovay]

his other, rather demanding masterpiece, "The Singing Detective".

So noted! Thank you.

[currawong.livejournal.com]

Many critics thought it the best dramatic series ever screened for television.