Dennis Potter: The Authorised Biography (Paperback)

Potter on Potter (Directors on Directors) by Dennis Potter £12.99

Fight and Kick and Bite: Life and Work of Dennis Potter by W.Stephen Gilbert

The Singing Detective [DVD] [1986] DVD ~ Michael Gambon 5.0 out of 5 stars (18)  £11.78

Dennis Potter - Blue Remembered Hills [DVD] DVD ~ Michael Elphick 5.0 out of 5 stars (1)  £13.48

Dennis Potter At London Weekend Television - Vol 2 [DVD] DVD ~ Dennis Potter at Lwt 5.0 out of 5 stars (1)  £10.98

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Amazon.co.uk Review
Dennis Potter was a brave man. His private life was a torture of extreme psoriasis coupled with arthritis that turned his hands into claws and his skin into snowflakes. His public life was a constant bombardment of censorial criticism as he pushed the boundaries of television with his challenging psychosexual dramas. Despite this, his genius was never questioned and the viewing public was forced to readjust their couch position. The biography takes us from Potter's childhood in the Forest of Dean, through a highly political Oxford career up to his marriage, to his childhood and lifelong sweetheart. After this the work becomes a mutated hybrid of Potter's own life and his dream world constructed from songs and sexual fantasies. Carpenter treads carefully; there are still many living friends and relatives, and some of the material is emotionally complex. He presents Potter through detailed accounts of his work and extensive interviews with friends, lovers and colleagues, leaving readers to make up their own minds about this fiery, brilliant, demanding man. Potter's life has often been reduced to a tabloid blur of slur and, as a writer, he is mainly known forPennies from Heaven. There was much more to him than that. Carpenter's offers readers a chance to see the man in all his guises. --Hannah Griffiths

Review
'No biography!' snarls writer Daniel Feeld in Potter's final work Cold Lazarus. Many took that line to be an indication of Potter's own last wish; if they are right, Carpenter's 600-page study of Britain's most famous television playwright is an affront to his ghost. It's a huge book. Every detail of Potter's life and work has been painstakingly researched, from his poverty-stricken childhood in the Forest of Dean and the onset of his crippling psoriasis to his sadly obsessive involvements with Caroline Seebohm and Gina Bellman, star of the controversial Blackeyes. Carpenter does a laudably thorough job, painting a portrait of a guilt-driven yet spiritual man, but the magic is missing; the heart of Potter's talent seems strangely resistant to biographical interpretation. In the end, perhaps the best way to approach Potter is through hsi fictional manifestations; Karaoke's Daniel Feeld and Philip Marlow in The Singing Detective ultimately have more light to shed on this complex, frighteningly clever man than any number of biographies. (Kirkus UK)

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