Kenith Trodd Movies

The line between reality and fiction becomes increasingly blurred as an ailing screenwriter struggles with a story that seems to come to life before his eyes. A self-destructive loaner whose battle with pancreatic cancer has left him embittered and in great pain, Daniel Feeld (Albert Finney) decides to focus his attention on an a new screenplay entitled "Karaoke." A lurid tale concerning the murder of a young girl working in a seedy karaoke bar, the story soon begins to invade Feeld's reality when he overhears people speaking the dialogue that he had written and finds that the people working in a local karaoke dive not only share his character's names, but their lives as well. Drawn to the suspiciously familiar plight of hostess Sandra (Saffron Burrows), Feeld's suspicions of thuggish club-owner Arthur "Pig" Mallion (Hywel Bennett) begin to mount as Feeld increasingly questions both his health and sanity. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Set in 1957, this romantic coming-of-age story follows three childhood friends from a small town in Ireland as they head to Dublin to attend Trinity College. Nan (Saffron Burrows), a year older than her friends and already in her second year at Trinity, is ambitious, romantic, and just a bit reckless. She hopes to win the hand of Simon (Colin Firth), an older Protestant land-owner who would help her rise up the social and economic ladder. Eve (Geraldine O'Rawe), a bit more pragmatic and cautious, finds herself falling for a boy named Aidan (Aidan Gillen). Bernadette (Minnie Driver), called "Benny" by her friends and family, comes from strict parents who won't allow her to live on campus, forcing her to commute back and forth from classes every day. Bennie's father, a haberdasher, has always expected that his daughter, a bit plainer and plumper than her friends, will marry his shop's manager, an odd duck named Sean (Alan Cumming). But at Trinity, Bennie discovers that she fancies a tall, good-looking rugby player named Jack (Chris O'Donnell), and to the surprise of Bennie and everyone else, it turns out that Jack fancies her as well. Circle of Friends gave Minnie Driver her breakthrough film role after her initial success as a television actress in Britain. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A BBC production, Christabel was one of several British TV iniseries seen during the 1988-89 season of the PBS anthology series Masterpiece Theatre. Dennis Potter adapted the teleplay from Christabel Bielenberg's autobiography The Past is Myself. Elizabeth Hurley plays Christabel, a British woman married to a German lawyer. Part One of this four-part drama begins with the wedding in 1934; the couple settles in Berlin and raises a family. Four years later, the husband (Stephen Dillon), concerned over the day-to-day outrages committed by the Nazis, plans to move out of Germany, while Christabel, utterly disinterested in politics, wavers in her commitment to her husband's plans. In part two, Christabel, living in Europe at the outbreak of the war, worries about her parents in England, while her husband joins a pro-British organization and is eventually arrested for treason. Christabel was adapted for television by Dennis Potter, better known for his surrealistic British TV serials Pennies From Heaven and The Singing Detective. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Made for BBC television, After Pilkington stars Bob Peck as Westgate, a dullish Oxford academician. Upon being introduced to the wife of a new faculty member, Westgate discovers that young woman is Penny (Miranda Richardson), his childhood sweetheart. He remembers that Penny used to embroil him in adventures that threatened life and limb. Apparently nothing has changed, and before long Penny has inveigled Westgate into helping her locate a missing archaeologist named Pilkington. This sprightly comedy-mystery first aired in the US in October of 1987 over the A&E cable network. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

With the notable exception of Pennies From Heaven, The Singing Detective was the best-known TV miniseries project of the iconoclastic, darkly humored Dennis Potter. A reworking of Potter's first novel Hide and Seek, the six-part series starred Michael Gambon as crime novelist Philip E. Marlow. Suffering from a hellish skin-and-nerve disease called psoriatic arthroparthy (a painful infliction which ultimately killed the real-life Potter), Marlow was confined to a hospital bed, where under the influence of numerous prescription drugs he began to imagine himself as the hard-boiled hero of his latest detective novel. While trying to solve a difficult case, Marlow continually drifted backward in time to his childhood in the Forest of Dean, occasionally bursting into song to express his emotions. As fantasy and reality merged into one, Marlow was forced into a tortuous session of self-analysis and personal discovery. Virtually everyone in the cast was seen in double and triple roles, including nominal leading ladies Alison Steadman and Joanne Whalley (aka Joanne Whalley-Kilmer). The series earned two BAFTA awards (the British equivalent of the Emmys), one for Best Actor to Michael Gambon. After its initial BBC1 run from November 16, to December 21, 1986, The Singing Detective was shown in the United States via public and cable television, where it picked up another award, the prestigious Peabody, in 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Irreverent British writer Dennis Potter speaks aloud what many literary historians have only postulated in whispers in Dreamchild. The film is set in 1932, on the 100th anniversary of the birth of Alice in Wonderland creator Lewis Carroll. The guest of honor at the New York-based celebration is 80-year-old Alice Liddell (Coral Browne), who as a child inspired Carroll's whimsical novels. Amidst the cajoling of both devoted fans and fast-buck hustlers, the grim-faced Alice tries to remain calm and dignified. What none of the idolaters suspect is that Alice harbors a long-suppressed secret concerning her "very special" relationship with Carroll -- a secret revealed in an extremely tasteful fashion during a flashback sequence, featuring Amelia Shankley as young Alice and Ian Holm as Charles Dodgson, the virginal, child-obsessed clergyman whom the world knew as Lewis Carroll. The darkness of Dennis Potter's vision is lightened by Muppeteer Jim Henson's marvelous three-dimensional renditions of the Wonderland and Looking Glass characters. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The setting of Mike Leigh's Four Days in July is Belfast in the mid-'80s, just before the annual July 12th march of The Orangemen to celebrate the 17th century victory of the Protestant William of Orange over the Catholic King John II. Two couples prepare to have their first child. Collette (Brid Brennan) and Eugene (Desmond McAleer) are Catholic, while Lorraine (Paula Hamilton) and Billy (Charles Lawson) are Protestant. Eugene is injured and awaiting a disability check, so he has time to dote on his pregnant wife. Billy is in the military, and when he's not manning checkpoints, he hangs out with his fellow soldiers, Big Billy (Brian Hogg) and Little Billy (Adrian Gordon). On the 11th, as the celebrations and bonfires are being prepared, Brendan (Shane Connaughton, who later co-wrote the script for My Left Foot) comes by to fix Collette and Eugene's toilet. Then an old friend of Brendan's, Dixie (Stephen Rea), comes by to clean the building's windows. The four of them sit around for a while and chat. The upcoming marches are a sore spot that is briefly alluded to, and Eugene reveals that his injuries were suffered at the hands of the British military. Lorraine goes with Billy to a bonfire, where there's drinking, singing, and high spirits. The next morning, both women go into labor and are brought to the same hospital. In the waiting room, Eugene strikes up a conversation with Billy. Four Days in July was the last film Leigh made for the BBC and one of the first films scored by composer Rachel Portman. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

The arrival of a mysterious stranger disrupts the lives of the members of a British family in this dark, psychological thriller. The stranger is one Martin Taylor (Sting), a dangerous charmer who ingratiates himself with the Bateses, a dignified, older couple (Denholm Elliott and Joan Plowright). The couple becomes especially fond of Martin after he demonstrates a strong, caring rapport with their daughter, a disabled invalid. It is only when he has become a part of the household, unofficially serving as the daughter's caretaker, that Martin's true, potentially demonic nature begins to show itself. Based on a script by Dennis Potter, the creator of the brilliant British television miniseries Pennies from Heaven and The Singing Detective, the film layers its already charged situation with hints of the supernatural, aspiring to be both disturbing family drama and provocatively ambiguous morality play. Some moments of MTV-like stylization threaten to diminish the mood of slow suspense and unhealthy obsession, but Potter's distinctly warped sensibility and the solid performances generally carry the film over its rough patches. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi

Over the course of one night and many miles, the lives of three passengers aboard a trans-European train are changed forever. English businessman Peter (Michael Kitchen) finds to his amazement that the friendship he's struck up with a carefree American woman called Lorraine (Wendy Raebeck) is quickly turning into something far more involved. Meanwhile, an older and demanding Viennese woman named Frau Messner (Dame Peggy Ashcroft) seems to have every intention of trying Peter's patience until they all witness its end. ~ Cammila Collar, Rovi

One of the most controversial works by author Dennis Potter, best known for Pennies from Heaven and The Singing Detective, the searing drama Brimstone and Treacle centers around the heavily troubled Bates family. The marriage between Mr. and Mrs. Bates is rocky, and both are suffering under the strain of caring for their mute, handicapped daughter Pattie. When a mysterious stranger arrives, they welcome him as a surrogate member of the family, especially pleased by his eagerness to help care for Pattie. Martin, however, is not all he appears to be -- indeed, the film ultimately suggests that he may be the devil himself. Potter uses the archetypal scenario of the supernatural visitor to explore the ambiguities of good and evil, as some of Martin's demonic acts have unexpectedly positive effects. Though originally made in 1976 by director Barry Davis, Brimstone and Treacle was subject to a last-minute ban by the BBC, which termed the film "diabolical." As a result, the film was not broadcast until 1987 -- 10 years after the script had been performed as a stage play and five years after the theatrical release of a lesser remake featuring Sting as the enigmatic stranger. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi