This Mediatheque collection brings together a selection of documentaries and interviews that throw light on Dennis Potter’s bold and challenging drama. If you’re inspired by Potter’s trailblazing small screen work, you can discover over 250 TV single dramas from the 1950s to the 1980s in the Mediatheque, including a growing collection of more than 80 surviving editions of the BBC’s groundbreaking Play for Today strand. Episodes from over 100 TV series and serials are also available for your perusal.
Five to try
Tonight: Dennis Potter Interview (1977)
Potter discusses the controversies around his work as a dramatist and TV critic, as well as the role of religion in his work, in this BBC interview with Ludovic Kennedy. This film features additional footage not in the original broadcast.
Dennis Potter: The Last Interview (1994)
Potter, while suffering from incurable cancer, talks to Melvyn Bragg about his work, politics, his fears for the future of British society, and his childhood memories.
Dennis Potter: Under the Skin (1998)
Former colleagues of Potter, including Neil Pearson, Kika Markham and Kenneth Trodd, discuss his life and legacy for BBC arts series Close Up.
Painting the Clouds: A Portrait of Dennis Potter (2004)
This Arena portrait of Dennis Potter marked the tenth anniversary of his death, and looks at his childhood in the Forest of Dean through interviews with his family, and his subsequent career as a TV dramatist.