Dennis Potter’s Karaoke

4-part TV Series

Acorn Media

R2 DVD

4 Disc Boxed Set

Daniel Freed is a successful author. His speciality is writing TV scripts, but now he is troubled – he keeps hearing other people using the words of his latest script, “Karaoke”. The film has not been publicly shown yet but characters and phrases keep popping up in the conversations of ordinary people. It is as if he has written a script that is now taking on a life of its own in the real world. His script deals mainly with the relationship between a girl named Sandra, her boyfriend and an underworld type Arthur Maillion.

These characters from his script now seem to exist in real life, particularly the dangerous thug and seedy club owner “Pig” Maillion. The line between reality and his script seems to be increasingly blurred. The script seems to have a life of its own and the real people are commenting that someone seems to be putting words in their mouth.

Daniel also has major health problems developing, from a life of hard drinking and smoking, and he has been told he only has a couple of months to live. He has become attached to Sandy, a girl he knows mainly from his script but who also now seems to exist in reality. Sandy works for Maillion and is deathly afraid of him after what he did to her mother.

Can Daniel change his script to reflect this new reality and give it a happy ending? It has already been filmed and would seem to be locked in, but can the editors recut the film to reflect Daniel’s changes (if he can change anything?).

Dennis Potter was a prolific author and writer of screenplays. It has been noted that much of his work alludes to problems in his own life, such as illness and sexual abuse. When he wrote Karaoke and Cold Lazarus it was a condition that the shows be jointly produced by the BBC and their rival Channel 4. They followed his wishes in this but the reluctant collaboration has made the posthumous rights rather troubled. With these sets it looks like the matter has finally been sorted out.

It must be said that the strength of the actors carries what could otherwise be a rather confused plot. Albert Finney plays Daniel in both series, giving wonderful characterisations of Daniel becoming cranky and offensive as his illness progresses, the cold calculating Daniel who realises he is dying and there are things to be done, and in the retro scenes of Cold Lazarus when we see other events that shaped Daniel’s life. Another actor worth noting is Roy Hudd, who plays Daniel’s long-suffering agent. His gentle sympathy is a refreshing contrast with the irascible Daniel. By contrast, Hywell Bennett, whom I haven’t seen in anything for years, gives a powerful performance as the aptly-named “Pig”.

Dennis Potter’s Cold Lazarus

Cold Lazarus follows on from Dennis Potter’s Karaoke, but at a distance of nearly four hundred years. Daniel Freed has died long ago but had his head cryogenically preserved. His last words before he died were “No biography”.

The world is now a much different place. Countries have disappeared and the world is ruled by large corporations. Profit is their only motive and anything natural, such as cigarettes, has been made extinct or illegal and replaced by virtual reality equivalents. For the ordinary people life is dreary in the decaying cities. There is resistance, typified by a group called RON (Reality or Nothing) who are actively attacking the wealthy minority. These wealthy ones must guard their homes and apartments with armed guards.

A small laboratory in a multinational ‘s complex in what was once England has inherited the last remaining frozen heads and is working on unlocking the memories stored in the brains. Their motives are altruistic, to let people experience the reality of life four hundred and seventy years ago. They are using chemical combinations to stimulate various areas of the brain and are finally achieving some success with Daniel’s brain. At first the memories are innocuous, such as a football game, but soon they stumble across dark areas that Daniel has successfully hidden for years – he was raped as a youngster, may have been involved in a an atrocity while in the army, and murdered “Pig” Maillion near the end of his life. The combination of drugs is slowly making Daniel self-aware – not alive, but able to suffer tremendous mental anguish as his suppressed memories are brought back to the surface and inspected by strangers. The medical team is quite unaware of what they are doing to him.

The team has its own problems. The multinational’s owner is ready to shut them down as they continually go over budget and their work doesn’t seem to be going anywhere profitable. A media magnate, however, is well aware of their work and can see huge amounts of money to be made if he can gain control of it and the head. He is particularly interested in Daniel’s sexual memories as these are what will sell to people with Virtual Reality helmets. To further complicate things one of the team is a member of RON and another is an internal spy for the multinational. RON’s interest is that if they can make people aware of what life was like they may be able to convince people to revolt against the present system and go back to a better past. And all the while Daniel is becoming more aware of what is being done to him.

The story exudes a feeling of hopelessness. Like Daniel, no individual seems to be in a position to do anything by themselves to improve affairs. There seems little opportunity of saving society, just as Daniel has little chance of ending his torture before he is driven into madness,

The effects and settings are a little unsatisfactory, with that slightly seventies look that detracts a little from the series. Many of the characters are stereotypes. In spite of these minor problems Cold Lazarus is still a powerful story with an intelligent plot.

Reviews appear on the Synergy website with a single cover image. In the digital and print edition, reviews appear with multiple images and with expanded content. We recommend you download the free digital edition (or buy the print edition) to get the most from Synergy Magazine.

This review will appear in Volume 3 No. 4 of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.

If you came to this page directly (and missed our menu), click here to go to the front page of Synergy Magazine Website or use the following link: http://www.synergy-magazine.com