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91-434: Odile (Azéma), a business executive, is married to weak, furtive Claude (Arditi). In the past Odile was close to successful businessman Nicolas (Bacri), now married with kids and returning to Paris after an eight-year absence. She is looking for a new, bigger apartment from estate agent Marc (Wilson). Her younger sister Camille (Jaoui), has just completed her doctoral thesis in history and is a Paris tour guide. Simon (Dussollier)

182-487: A Labour candidate at the 1964 general election , his health was affected by the onset of psoriatic arthropathy which necessitated Potter to change career and led to his becoming a television dramatist. He began with contributions to BBC1 's regular series The Wednesday Play from 1965, and he continued to work in the medium for the rest of his life, including writing screenplay adaptations for Hollywood studios. Potter died of pancreatic cancer in 1994. Dennis Potter

273-414: A normal distribution resulting in the familiar bell curve which reliably predicts how many test takers gain each different score. For example, only 15.866% score more than one standard deviation above the mean (+1σ generally represented as 115 SAS) as can be seen by adding up the proportions in this graph based on the original provided by M. W. Toews). By standardising on just the cohort of applicants,

364-408: A standard score is calculated the results is a negative value for any values below the mean. As it would seem very strange to be given a negative score Goldstein and Fogelman (1974) explain, "It is common to 'normalise' the scores by transforming them to give a distribution with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15." Thus a normalised SAS of 100 indicates the mean (average) achievement whilst

455-501: A British film made by Potter's own production company (Pennies Productions), the casting of Sting piqued the interest of American investors. As a result, references to Mr Bates' membership of the National Front and a scene discussing racial segregation were omitted—as were many of the non-naturalistic flourishes present in the television production—although the film was much more graphic in its depiction of sexual abuse and rape. The film

546-453: A child should receive: different skills required different schooling. In some local education authorities the Thorne plan or scheme or system developed by Alec Clegg , named in honour of Thorne Grammar School . which took account of primary school assessment as well as the once-off 11+ examination, was later introduced. The Tripartite System of education, with an academic, a technical and

637-572: A children's film. Potter's reputation within the American film industry following the box office disappointments of Pennies from Heaven and Gorky Park ultimately led to difficulty receiving backing for his projects. Potter is known to have written adaptations of The Phantom of the Opera , The Mystery of Edwin Drood , The White Hotel and his earlier television play Double Dare (1976): all these reached

728-544: A cinema release owing to a lack of interest from distributors and remained unseen until after Potter's death. It was finally broadcast on BBC2 in December 1994 in the Screen Two series, two months after a remake of his lost 1967 play Message for Posterity was transmitted. A film version of The Singing Detective , based on Potter's own adapted screenplay, was released in 2003 by Icon Productions . Robert Downey, Jr. played

819-404: A common test, there may be as many as 70 different 11+ tests set across the country meaning it is not possible to refer to the eleven plus test as a single entity. Tests are multiple choice. The number of questions varies but the guidance provided by GLA shows that full length Maths and English Comprehension tests are both 50 minutes duration and consist of about 50 questions. Verbal Reasoning

910-562: A disruptive outsider entering a claustrophobic environment is another theme. In plays where this occurs, the outsider will commit some apparently liberating act of evil (rape in Brimstone and Treacle ) or violence (murder in Shaggy Dog ) that gives physical expression to the un-sublimated desires of the characters in that setting. While these more malevolent visitors are often supernatural beings ( Angels Are So Few ), intelligence agents ( Blade on

1001-415: A functional strand, was established in the 1940s. Prevailing educational thought at the time was that testing was an effective way to discover the strand to which a child was most suited. The results of the exam would be used to match children's secondary schools to their abilities and future career needs. When the system was implemented, technical schools were not available on the scale envisaged. Instead,

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1092-542: A novel. An exposé of the Dale Carnegie Institute, it drew threats of litigation from that organisation. Although Potter effectively disowned the play, excluding it from his Who's Who entry, it used non-naturalistic dramatic devices (in this case breaking the fourth wall ) which would become hallmarks of Potter's subsequent work. The Confidence Course script was liked by Wednesday Play script editor Roger Smith who then commissioned Potter to write what became

1183-501: A public consultation, pupils sitting the Eleven-Plus exam are only required to do a Mathematics and Verbal Reasoning paper. In Essex , where the examination is optional, children sit Verbal Reasoning, Mathematics and English. Other areas use different combinations. Some authorities/areas operate an opt-in system, while others (such as Buckinghamshire) operate an opt-out system where all pupils are entered unless parents decide to opt out. In

1274-573: A reaction to a programme like that, achieving such intimacy with an audience. Nothing stacks up against it in terms of impact." Potter's final commission came from The Daily Telegraph Arts & Books section, prompted by the TV interview in March, to which he replied on 16 May, after honouring his television commitments: "I am pleased to tell you that I have completed Karaoke and Cold Lazarus – which I regard as essentially one eight-part piece. Now all that effort

1365-450: A school with for example, 100 places which regularly gets 800 applications can set a minimum pass mark of 115 which selects approximately 127 applicants filling all of the places and leaving about 27 on the waiting list. The downside of this local standardisation , as it has been called, is parents are frequently unaware that their children are being judged as much by the standard of other applicants as their own abilities. Another issue with

1456-572: A score of 130 would be two standard deviations above the mean. A score achieved by only 2.2% of the population . Most, but not all, authorities normalise follow this convention. The following table showing the normalisation values used by some for 2017 entry (tests taken in 2016). The system in Northern Ireland differed from that in England. The last eleven-plus was held in November 2008. A provision in

1547-407: A television playwright. He had begun to suffer in 1962 from a condition known as psoriatic arthropathy causing arthritis to develop in his joints as well as affecting his skin with psoriasis . It also made futile any attempt to follow a conventional career path. Potter's career as a television playwright began with The Confidence Course ( The Wednesday Play , 1965) which Potter had begun as

1638-439: Is 60 minutes containing 80 questions. Non-Verbal Reasoning is 40 minutes broken into four 10-minute separately-timed sections each containing 20 questions. At a rate of one question every 30 seconds, it could be argued that the test is one of speed rather than intelligence. One mark is awarded for each correct answer. No marks are deducted for incorrect or un-attempted responses. There are usually five possible answers, one of which

1729-543: Is a standardised examination administered to some students in England and Northern Ireland in their last year of primary education , which governs admission to grammar schools and other secondary schools which use academic selection . The name derives from the age group for secondary entry: 11–12 years. The eleven-plus was once used throughout the UK, but is now only used in counties and boroughs in England that offer selective schools instead of comprehensive schools . Also known as

1820-470: Is a regular on Camille's tours because he's attracted to her, although he claims to be researching his historical radio dramas. Camille has fallen for Marc, and they begin an affair. Nicolas is also looking for an apartment, since he hopes to eventually have his family join him in Paris. The most original feature of this "musical" is that characters break into songs as sung by the original artists, i.e. depending on

1911-472: Is always correct meaning a random guess has a 20% chance of being correct and a strategy of guessing all un-attempted questions in the last few seconds of the exam will, if anything, gain the candidate a few additional marks which may make the difference needed to gain a place. The actual marks from these tests, referred to as raw marks, are not disclosed by all schools, and instead parents are given Standard Age Scores (SAS). A standard score shows how well

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2002-554: Is evaluating academic ability developed over previous years, which implicitly indicates how supportive home and school environments have been. Introduced in 1944, the examination was used to determine which type of school the student should attend after primary education : a grammar school , a secondary modern school, or a technical school . The base of the Tripartite System was the idea that skills were more important than financial resources in determining what kind of schooling

2093-517: Is known for its use of non-naturalistic devices. These include the extensive use of flashback and nonlinear plot structure ( Casanova ; Late Call ), direct to camera address ( Vote, Vote, Vote for Nigel Barton ) and works where "the child is father to the man", in which he used adult actors to play children ( Stand Up, Nigel Barton ; Blue Remembered Hills ). The ' lip-sync ' technique he developed for his "serials with songs" ( Pennies from Heaven ; The Singing Detective and Lipstick on Your Collar )

2184-416: Is of course evaporating into an overwhelming sense of loss, I itch to scribble something ." Immediately he was prompted to consider "the prospect of confronting imminent death" and on 25 May he submitted "my first and last short story" titled "Last Pearls", which was published on 4 June, days before he died. The two related stories, Karaoke and Cold Lazarus , were eventually broadcast in 1996. One set in

2275-694: Is perhaps the best known of the Potter trademarks. They are frequently used in works where the line between fantasy and reality becomes blurred, often as a result of the influence of popular culture (Willie, the Wild West obsessive played by Hywel Bennett in Where the Buffalo Roam ) or from a character's apparent awareness of their status as a pawn in the hands of an omniscient author (the actor Jack Black (Denholm Elliott) in Follow

2366-570: Is sexual ( A Beast With Two Backs ; Brimstone and Treacle ). In Potter on Potter , published as part of Faber and Faber 's series on auteurs , Potter told editor Graham Fuller that all forms of betrayal presented in literature are essentially religious and based on "the old, old story" ; this is evoked in a number of works, from the use of popular songs in Pennies from Heaven to Potter's gnostic retelling of Jesus ' final days in Son of Man . The device of

2457-708: The EastEnders character) by the British tabloid press, and resulted in a period of reclusion from television. The serial was adapted into a novel (see below), In 1990, referring to a scene in The Singing Detective , Mary Whitehouse claimed on BBC Radio that Potter had been influenced by witnessing his mother engaging in adulterous sex. Potter's mother won substantial damages from the BBC and The Listener . Potter had at least at times actually been an admirer of Mrs Whitehouse:

2548-759: The César Award for Best Film , Best Actor , Best Supporting Actor , Best Supporting Actress , Best Writing , Best Editing and Best Sound in 1998. It won the Louis Delluc Prize in 1997. At the 48th Berlin International Film Festival in 1998, Resnais won the Silver Bear for outstanding artistic contribution . The film opened in France the same week as Alien Resurrection , opening on 158 screens and grossing 30.3 million French Francs ($ 5.3 million) for

2639-718: The North Yorkshire , Harrogate / York area, children are only required to sit two tests: Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning. Independent schools in England generally select children at the age of 13, using a common set of papers known as the Common Entrance Examination . About ten do select at eleven; using papers in English, Mathematics and Science. These also have the Common entrance exam name. England has 163 grammar schools 155 of which control their own admissions including

2730-545: The Northern Ireland Assembly , where cross-party support for the changes did not exist. Some schools, parents and political parties object to the new legal framework. As a result, many post-primary schools are setting their own entrance examinations. The 11-plus was a result of major changes which took place in English and Welsh education in the years up to 1944. In particular, the Hadow Report of 1926 called for

2821-585: The Suez Crisis of 1956 like the much earlier Lay Down Your Arms (1970), elements of which it recycled, this six-parter did not become a popular success and in it Potter returned to use of lip-synched musical numbers in the manner of Pennies from Heaven . It helped to launch the career of actor Ewan McGregor . On 15 March 1994, three months before his death while his health was deteriorating, Potter gave an interview to Melvyn Bragg , later broadcast on 5 April 1994 by Channel 4 . He had broken most of his ties with

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2912-586: The transfer test , it is especially associated with the Tripartite System which was in use from 1944 until it was phased out across most of the UK by 1976. The examination tests a student's ability to solve problems using a test of verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning, with most tests now also offering papers in mathematics and English. The intention was that the eleven-plus should be a general test for intelligence (cognitive ability) similar to an IQ test , but by also testing for taught curriculum skills it

3003-475: The 11+ exams used by Altrincham Grammar School for Boys, who stated, "Our examination provider, GL Assessment Limited (GL) is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOI) as it is not a public body.“, whilst their main rival CEM successfully argued in court that, "one of the benefits of its 11+ testing is that it is 'tutor proof'” and releasing the raw marks would undermine this unique selling point. When

3094-466: The 11-plus also claimed that there was a strong class bias in the exam. JWB Douglas , studying the question in 1957, found that children on the borderline of passing were more likely to get grammar school places if they came from middle-class families. For example, questions about the role of household servants or classical composers were far easier for middle-class children to answer than for those from less wealthy or less educated backgrounds. In response,

3185-579: The 11-plus specifically. The proportions of schoolchildren gaining a place at a grammar school varied by location and sex. 35% of pupils in the South West of England secured grammar school places as opposed to 10% in Nottinghamshire . In some areas, because of the continuance of single-sex schooling in those areas, there were sometimes fewer places for girls than for boys. Some areas were coeducational and had equal number of places for each sex. Critics of

3276-447: The 11-plus was redesigned during the 1960s to be more like an IQ test. However, even after this modification, grammar schools were largely attended by middle-class children while secondary modern schools were attended by mostly working-class children. By testing cognitive skills the child's innate ability is evaluated as a predictor to future academic performance and is largely independent of background and support . The problem lies with

3367-630: The BBC as a result of his disenchantment with Directors-General Michael Checkland and John Birt . Using a morphine and champagne cocktail as pain relief, and chain smoking , he revealed that he had named his cancer "Rupert", after Rupert Murdoch , who Potter said represented so much of what he found despicable about the mass media in Britain. He described his work and his determination to continue writing until his death. Telling Bragg that he had two works he intended to finish, he proposed that these works, Karaoke and Cold Lazarus , should be made with

3458-556: The BBC television plays Blue Remembered Hills (1979) and Brimstone and Treacle (1976). His television dramas mixed fantasy and reality , the personal and the social, and often used themes and images from popular culture . Potter is widely regarded as one of the most influential and innovative dramatists to have worked in British television. Born in Gloucestershire and graduating from Oxford University , Potter initially worked in journalism. After standing for parliament as

3549-600: The Christ Church parish church in Berry Hill. They lived at Ross-on-Wye , Herefordshire , and had three children, Robert, Jane, and Sarah. In 1961, while covering a meeting of the Young Conservatives, Potter was suddenly unable to rise from the press table and his knee felt hot. He was taken to a hospital, where his other major joints became inflamed and swollen, also, and his skin scalded off his body overnight. Potter

3640-521: The Education Order (NI) 1997 states that "the Department may issue and revise guidance as it thinks appropriate for admission of pupils to grant-aided schools". Citing this on 21 January 2008, Northern Ireland's Education Minister Caitríona Ruane passed new guidelines regarding post-primary progression as regulation rather than as legislation . This avoided the need for the proposals to be passed by

3731-538: The English traveller in Casanova ) or two actors whose characters' destinies and personalities appear linked (Bob Hoskins and Kenneth Colley as Arthur and the accordion man in Pennies from Heaven ; Rufus ( Christian Rodska ) and Gina the bear in A Beast With Two Backs ). A motif in Potter's writing is the concept of betrayal and this takes many forms in his plays. Sometimes it is personal ( Stand Up, Nigel Barton ), political ( Traitor ; Cold Lazarus ) and other times it

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3822-596: The Feather ) or even figments of their host's imagination ( Schmoedipus ), there are also—rare—instances of benign visitors whose presence resolves personal conflicts rather than exploits them ( Joe's Ark ; Where Adam Stood ). Although Potter won few awards, he was and remains held in high regard by many within the television and film industry and was an influence on such creators as Mark Frost , Steven Bochco , Andrew Davies , Alain Resnais and Peter Bowker . Alan Bennett

3913-457: The Night (1985) with Mary Steenburgen as Nicole Diver. The Singing Detective (1986), featuring Michael Gambon , used the dramatist's own problems with the skin disease psoriasis , for Potter an often debilitating condition leading to hospital admission, as a means to merge the lead character's imagination with his perception of reality. Following Christabel (1988), Potter's adaptation of

4004-512: The Sun" and Garry Bushell "that sub-literate homophobic , sniggering rictus of a lout". His talk was published in The Guardian in abbreviated form as "Murdoch's Desolate View of Human Life" Craig Brown described the programme in the ( Rupert Murdoch owned) Sunday Times : The last serial broadcast during Potter's lifetime was the romantic comedy Lipstick on Your Collar (1993). Set during

4095-439: The Tripartite System came to be characterised by fierce competition for places at the prestigious grammar schools . As such, the eleven-plus took on a particular significance. Rather than allocating according to need or ability, it became seen as a question of passing or failing. This led to the exam becoming widely resented by some although strongly supported by others. The structure of the eleven-plus varied over time, and among

4186-712: The Tripartite System still survive, the eleven-plus continues to exist. Today it is generally used as an entrance test to a specific group of schools, rather than a blanket exam for all pupils, and is taken voluntarily. For more information on these, see the main article on grammar schools . Eleven-plus and similar exams vary around the country but will use some or all of the following components: Eleven-plus tests take place in September of children's final primary school year with results provided to parents in October to allow application for secondary schools. In Lincolnshire children will sit

4277-674: The Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning. In Buckinghamshire children sit tests in Verbal Reasoning, Mathematics and Non-Verbal reasoning. In Kent, where the eleven-plus test is more commonly known as the Kent Test, children sit all four of the above disciplines; however the Creative Writing, which falls as part the English test, will only be used in circumstances of appeal. In the London Borough of Bexley from September 2008, following

4368-540: The Week That Was . Their first piece was used in the edition of 5 January 1963. Potter stood as the Labour Party candidate for Hertfordshire East , a safe Conservative Party seat, in the 1964 general election against the incumbent Derek Walker-Smith . By the end of the unsuccessful campaign, he claimed that he was so disillusioned with party politics he did not even vote for himself. Potter now embarked on work as

4459-475: The Yellow Brick Road (1972) and The Singing Detective . Ticket to Ride (1986) was written between drafts of The Singing Detective and concerns a herbithologist who is unable to make love to his wife unless he imagines her as a prostitute. This was followed in 1987 by Blackeyes : a study of a model whose abusive uncle, a writer, has stolen details of his niece's experiences in the glamour industry as

4550-411: The Yellow Brick Road first broadcast in 1972). Potter's pioneering method of using music in his work emerged when developing Pennies from Heaven (1978), one of his biggest successes. He asked actors to mime along to period songs. "Potter tried out the concept himself by lip-syncing to old songs while looking into a mirror. Potter himself once revealed that, working on harnessing songs in his plays, he

4641-595: The basis for his latest potboiler . To tie-in with the release of the MGM production of Pennies from Heaven in 1981, Potter wrote a novelisation of the screenplay. Potter turned down the option of writing a novelisation for the film version of Brimstone and Treacle , allowing his daughter Sarah Potter to write it instead. Although Potter only produced one play exclusively for theatrical performance ( Sufficient Carbohydrate , 1983 – later filmed for television as Visitors in 1987), he adapted several of his television scripts for

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4732-455: The choice of test. (143 Academy Converters, six Foundation schools and six Voluntary aided schools control their own admissions. Admissions for the remaining seven Community Schools and one Voluntary Controlled school are determined by the local authority.; Over 95% of grammar schools now determine their own admissions policies, choosing what tests to set and how to weight each component. Although some form consortia with nearby schools to agree on

4823-555: The cinema. The ensuing film, Track 29 (1988), directed by Nicolas Roeg , was Potter's last filmed American project. However, Potter did provide uncredited script work on James and the Giant Peach (released 1995)—his chief contribution providing dialogue for the sardonic caterpillar. Potter makes a sly reference to this in Karaoke when the character Daniel Feeld ( Albert Finney ) is invited to provide dialogue for an "arthritic goat" in

4914-437: The circumstances, a female character may all of a sudden start singing in a male voice and vice versa. The judicious choice of songs and variety of styles make for some very funny surprises, considering the complete and voluntary absence of transitions between the talking and singing. The film's debt to Dennis Potter is acknowledged with a dedication in the opening credits. Filming began on 6 January 1997. The film won

5005-490: The different counties which used it. Usually, it consisted of three papers: Some exams have: Most children took the eleven-plus in their final year of primary school: usually at age 10 or 11. In Berkshire and Buckinghamshire it was also possible to sit the test a year early – a process named the ten-plus ; later, the Buckinghamshire test was called the twelve-plus and taken a year later than usual. Originally,

5096-561: The division of primary and secondary education to take place on the cusp of adolescence at 11 or 12. The implementation of this break by the Butler Act seemed to offer an ideal opportunity to implement streaming, since all children would be changing school anyway. Thus testing at 11 emerged largely as an historical accident, without other specific reasons for testing at that age. The test, composed of Maths, English and Verbal Reasoning could not be passed by 10-year-olds who had not been trained for

5187-506: The government are considering a national selection test which would remove the lack of consistency between different 11+ tests. Between them, GL and CEM earn an estimated £2.5m annually from setting and marking the 11+ tests. Releasing the raw marks would bring some clarity to the admissions process but attempts to do so have generally been unsuccessful. GL have used the fact that they are not covered by Freedom of Information legislation to withhold information made for information relating to

5278-519: The grandest word – art". Potter wrote the screenplay for Dreamchild (1985), a film which shared themes with his script for the Alice (1965) television play. In her last film role, Coral Browne portrayed the elderly Alice Hargreaves who recalls in flashbacks her childhood when she was the inspiration for Lewis Carroll 's Alice in Wonderland . Potter adapted his television play Schmoedipus (1974) for

5369-474: The individual has performed relative to the mean (average) score for the population although the term population is open to interpretation. GL Assessment, who set the majority of 11+ tests, say it should be, "a very large, representative sample of students usually across the UK"; however, grammar schools may standardise their tests against just those children who apply to them in a given year, as this enables them to match supply to demand. Test results follow

5460-431: The journalist Stanley Reynolds found in 1973 that he "loves the idea of Mrs Whitehouse. He sees her as standing up for all the people with ducks on their walls who have been laughed at and treated like rubbish by the sophisticated metropolitan minority". In 1979 in an interview for The South Bank Show , he rejected "the chorus of abuse" suffered by Whitehouse because she accepted the "central moral importance of – to use

5551-503: The lack of national standards in testing is it prevents any comparison between schools. Public perception may be that only pupils who are of grammar school standard are admitted to grammar schools; however, other information such as the DfE league tables calls into question the existence of any such standard . Competition for places at Sutton Grammar School is extremely fierce with, according to an online forum over 2,500 applicants in 2016. At

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5642-706: The lead alongside Robin Wright Penn and Mel Gibson . Gibson also acted as producer. Potter's screenplay of The White Hotel was adapted as a radio play and broadcast in September 2018. In 1993, Potter was given a half-hour slot in prime time by Channel 4 in their Opinions strand produced by Open Media . Potter's chosen topic was what he perceived to be a contamination of news media and its effect on declining standards in British television "particularly journalists who criticised his Channel 4 series Lipstick on Your Collar ", Kelvin MacKenzie "the sharp little oaf who edits

5733-411: The memoirs of Christabel Bielenberg , his next TV serial, Blackeyes (1989) was a major disappointment in his career. A drama about a fashion model , it was reviewed as self-indulgent by some critics, and accused of contributing to the misogyny Potter claimed he intended to expose. The critical backlash against Potter following Blackeyes led to Potter being labelled 'Dirty Den' (after Den Watts ,

5824-475: The other end of the scale, Buckinghamshire council website says, "If your child's STTS is 121 or above, they qualify for grammar school. We expect that about 37% of children will get an STTS of 121 or more." Official statistics show 100% of those admitted to Sutton Grammar School have, "high prior attainment at the end of key stage 2", compared to only 44% of those who attend Skegness Grammar School. The Grammar Schools Heads Association's Spring 2017 newsletter says

5915-558: The preproduction stage before work was suspended. More fortunate was Mesmer (1993), a biographical film of the 19th century pseudo-scientist Franz Anton Mesmer . Potter's film, Secret Friends (1991), from his novel, Ticket to Ride , starring Alan Bates , premiered in New York at the Museum of Modern Art as the gala closing of the Museum of Television & Radio 's week-long Potter retrospective. The last film Potter actively worked on

6006-534: The present and the other in the far future, both feature Albert Finney as the same principal character. Both series were released on DVD on 6 September 2010. Hide and Seek (1973) is a meta-fictional novel exploring the relationship between reader and author and contains a protagonist, Daniel Miller, who is convinced he is the plaything of an omniscient author . This concept forms the core of Potter's next two novels, and portions of Hide and Seek would reappear in several of his television plays, especially Follow

6097-420: The rival BBC and Channel 4 working in collaboration, a suggestion which was accepted. The Bragg TV interview had revealed the "real" Dennis Potter as gentle and thoughtful and the immediate response was intense. The Guardian printed a full transcript the next day while Bragg reported: "Thousands of people reacted with phone calls and letters." Michael Grade , Channel 4’s chief executive said: "I've never known

6188-522: The same desperately repeated question I asked myself without any sort of an answer, or any ability to tell my mother or my father, when at the age of ten, between V.E. Day and V.J. Day , I was trapped by an adult's sexual appetite and abused out of innocence." His family returned to the Forest of Dean in 1952, having first left it in 1945, but Potter remained in London. Between 1953 and 1955, his national service

6279-493: The second Nigel Barton play for the new anthology series. Alice (also 1965), his next transmitted play, chronicled the relationship between Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by his nom de plume , Lewis Carroll, and his muse Alice Liddell . The play drew complaints from the descendants of Dodgson, and of Macmillan, the publisher, who objected to the way the relationship was depicted. George Baker played Dodgson. Potter's most highly regarded works from this period were

6370-547: The semi-autobiographical plays Stand Up, Nigel Barton! and Vote, Vote, Vote for Nigel Barton , which featured Keith Barron . The former recounts the experience of a miner's son attending Oxford University where he finds himself torn between two worlds, culminating in Barton's participation in a television documentary. This mirrored Potter's participation in Does Class Matter (1958), a television documentary made while Potter

6461-502: The stage after the television production was banned by the BBC, Potter set about writing a film version. It was directed by Richard Loncraine , who also directed Potter's Blade on the Feather at LWT, with Denholm Elliott reprising his role of Mr. Bates from the original television production, while Sting and Joan Plowright , replaced Michael Kitchen and Patricia Lawrence in the roles of Martin Taylor and Mrs Bates respectively. Although

6552-408: The stage. Vote, Vote, Vote for Nigel Barton , which featured material from its sister-play Stand Up, Nigel Barton , was premiered in 1966, while Only Make Believe (1973), which incorporated scenes from Angels Are So Few (1970), made the transition to the stage in 1974. Son of Man appeared in 1969 with Frank Finlay in the title role (Finlay would also play Casanova in Potter's 1971 serial) and

6643-648: The tenth anniversary of Potter's death in December 2004 with documentaries about his life and work, accompanied by showings of Pennies from Heaven and The Singing Detective , as well as several of his single plays—many of which had not been shown since their initial broadcast. Potter's papers, including unproduced plays and unpublished fiction, are being catalogued and preserved at the Dean Heritage Centre in Gloucestershire. Potter married Margaret Amy Morgan (14 August 1933 – 29 May 1994) on 10 January 1959, at

6734-461: The test was voluntary; as of 2009 , some 30% of students in Northern Ireland do not sit for it. In Northern Ireland, pupils were awarded grades in the following ratios to pupils sitting the exam: A (25%), B1 (5%), B2 (5%), C1 (5%), C2 (5%), D (55%) and there was no official distinction between pass grades and fail grades. There are 163 remaining grammar schools in various parts of England, and 67 in Northern Ireland. In counties in which vestiges of

6825-410: The test. A former highmaster of Manchester Grammar School asserted on BBC Radio 4's The Moral Maze that no child who had not seen the verbal reasoning tests that formed the basis of the 11-plus before attempting them would have a "hope in hell" of passing them, and he had dispensed with the 11-plus as "worthless". Instead he used personal interviews. Children in school were drilled in the 11-plus until it

6916-476: The testing of academic subjects, such as Maths and English, where a child from a working class background with a less supportive school and less educated parents is being measured on their learning environment instead of potential to succeed . Passing – or not passing – the 11-plus was a "defining moment in many lives", with education viewed as "the silver bullet for enhanced social mobility." Richard Hoggart claimed in 1961 that "what happens in thousands of homes

7007-523: The week, compared to 38.9 million French Francs for Alien Resurrection from 507 screens, and finishing in second place at the French box office. It went on to gross $ 39 million. Dennis Potter Dennis Christopher George Potter (17 May 1935 – 7 June 1994) was an English television dramatist , screenwriter and journalist. He is best known for his BBC television serials Pennies from Heaven (1978) and The Singing Detective (1986) as well as

7098-511: Was Midnight Movie (1994), an adaptation of Rosalind Ashe's novel Moths . The film starred Louise Germaine and Brian Dennehy (who had appeared respectively in Lipstick on Your Collar and Gorky Park ) and was directed by Renny Rye . Unable to secure financing from the Arts Council , Potter invested £500,000 in the production; BBC Films provided the rest of the capital. The film was not given

7189-406: Was "coming out of their ears". Families had to play the system, little booklets were available from local newsagents that showed how to pass the exam and contained many past papers with all the answers provided, which the children then learned by rote. Criticism of the 11-plus arose on a number of grounds, though many related more to the wider education system than to academic selection generally or

7280-535: Was a rumination on the changing face of England in the prosperity following the end of the war years. It was followed by The Changing Forest: Life in the Forest of Dean Today (1962), which was based on the "Between Two Rivers" documentary. This book is a study of class and social mobility that demonstrates an early fascination with the effects of the mass media on British cultural life. He soon returned to television. Daily Herald journalist David Nathan persuaded Potter to collaborate with him on sketches for That Was

7371-426: Was an Oxford undergraduate. The second play features the same character standing as a Labour candidate—his disillusionment with the compromises of electoral politics is based on Potter's own experience. Both plays received praise from critics but aroused considerable tension at the BBC for their potentially incendiary critique of party politics. In his James MacTaggart Memorial Lecture in 1993, Potter recalled how he

7462-493: Was asked by "several respected men at the corporation why I wanted to shit on the Queen." In 1978, Herbert Ross was shooting Nijinsky at Shepperton Studios and invited Potter to write the screenplay for his next project Unexpected Valleys . But after watching Pennies from Heaven on television one evening, Ross contacted Potter about the prospect of adapting that series for the cinema. The film version of Pennies from Heaven

7553-462: Was born in Berry Hill , Forest of Dean , Gloucestershire. His father, Walter Edward Potter (1906–1975), was a coal miner in this rural mining area between Gloucester and Wales; his mother was Margaret Constance (née Wale; 1910–2001). Potter had a sister named June. In 1946, Potter passed the eleven-plus and attended Bell's Grammar School at Coleford . Most of his secondary education, however,

7644-400: Was critical, referring in his 1998 diaries to a television programme "that took Potter at his own self-evaluation (always high), when there was a good deal of indifferent stuff which was skated over", and believed that Potter's health was a factor in his fame, saying "he visibly conformed to what the public thinks artists ought to be—poor or promiscuous, suffering or starved". BBC Four marked

7735-678: Was diagnosed with psoriatic arthropathy . On 14 February 1994, Potter experienced more than his usual daily pain. He was told he was suffering from incurable pancreas and liver cancer. Months before Potter was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, his wife, Margaret, was diagnosed with breast cancer . Despite his own deteriorating condition and punishing work schedule, Potter continued to care for his wife until she died on 29 May 1994. Nine days later, on 7 June 1994, Potter died of pancreatic cancer in Ross-on-Wye , Herefordshire , England, at age 59. Eleven-plus The eleven-plus ( 11+ )

7826-582: Was in London at St. Clement Danes Grammar School in Hammersmith (since demolished). It was in a street near Hammersmith Broadway that the ten-year-old Potter was sexually abused by his uncle, an experience he would later allude to many times in his writing. During his speech at the 1993 James MacTaggart Memorial Lecture , Potter referred to this event when explaining his decision to switch from newspaper journalism to screenwriting: "Different words had to be found, with different functions. But why? Why, why, why;

7917-707: Was in the Intelligence Corps of the British Army and he learned Russian at the Joint Services School for Linguists . Having won a State Scholarship to New College, Oxford , he studied philosophy, politics and economics . Potter began his career as a journalist with the Daily Herald . Potter's first non-fiction work, The Glittering Coffin , was published by the Gollancz Press in 1960. The book

8008-541: Was launched at MGM as an 'anti-musical' with Steve Martin and Bernadette Peters in the lead roles. According to Potter, the studio demanded continual rewrites of the script and made significant cuts to the film after initial test screenings. The film was released in 1981 to mixed critical reaction and was a box-office failure. Potter, however, was nominated for the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar that year. Having already adapted Brimstone and Treacle for

8099-564: Was most productive 'at night, with old Al Bowlly records playing in the background'". Potter had previously experimented with Bowlly's voice in Moonlight on the Highway (1969). Potter's characters are frequently "doubled up"; either by Doppelgänger , using the same actor to play two roles ( Kika Markham as the actress and the escort in Double Dare ; Norman Rossington as Lorenzo the gaoler and

8190-472: Was not a success at the box office. Potter's screenplay for Gorky Park (1983) led to his gaining an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America . Potter's career in the early 1980s was spent as a screenwriter for the cinema. He returned to the BBC for a co-production with 20th Century Fox , writing the scripts for a widely praised but seldom-seen miniseries of F. Scott Fitzgerald 's Tender Is

8281-641: Was restaged by Northern Stage in 2006. Brimstone and Treacle was adapted for the stage in 1977 after the BBC refused to screen the original television version. The play text for Blue Remembered Hills was first published in the collection Waiting for the Boat (with Joe's Ark and Blade on the Feather ) in 1984 and has since enjoyed several successful stage performances. Potter proposed to write an "intermedia" stage play for producers Geisler-Roberdeau based on William Hazlitt 's Liber Amoris, or The New Pygmalion , but he died before it could be commenced. Potter's work

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