My understanding is that it's about the relationship between good and evil, which isn't as straightforward or one dimensional as is often portrayed. Something positive can come out of an evil act.
The young woman is Michelle Newell. Now aged 73. She has been in many tv dramas and soap opera's. A Wikipedia bio here:- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Newell
Amazing play, so good to embrace something not woked. Dennis Potter never failed, his own dark experiences filtered into his work with incredible results. Excellent acting from all the cast
@@mootpointjones8488yes, you know... where every character is black, Asian, trans, lesbian or simply a man hater. Refreshing to watch something like this with normal people in it and not gruesome 21st century constructs.
There are so many elements in this play that are similar to 'Entertaining Mr Sloane'. Interesting to think that Joe Orton may well have had an influence on Dennis Potter's writing.
I never knew of this version. I remember waching the version with Sting in the early eighties. I never forgot the story. The versions are slightly different but both are eerily good.
Wonderful! I’d forgotten that Michael Kitchen was the young man. He holds his own with Denholm Elliot, which is no mean feat. Many thanks to ED, who has posted so many great tv plays from Britain.
@@emmajanewatts4388 If Grant hadn't been available for Withnail & i, would Kitchen have been good in the part ? ( who else at the time would have fitted the part ?)
@@birdman4274 I've only seen that version once, but i didn't like it. It looked like they filmed in a real house that was big and roomy; i liked the TV one because it had a 'cramped' and 'claustrophobic' feel to it, which i thought fitted the story better.
@@adrianparker-e9f Yes, I smell what you're cooking. The TV version had better atmosphere. Film versions often disappoint me in lots of TV stuff. Play For Today was a wonderful programme. One other thing that destroys the atmosphere of many TV and Film now is the overuse of background music. It's my pet hate.
Good luck smuggling this one past the BBC's copyright department! But seriously, though, many thanks for posting these plays. It's about time they were liberated from the archive.
The BBC is hopeless at enabling access to it's archive. All those who pay the licence fee ought to be able to access its programs going back to the 60s and beyond.
Wow. That was Awesome. The acting superb. The script excellent and as a Northern Irish Catholic well I got the shot in the air and missed and laughed. We do the Paddy Irishman, Paddy Englishman, Paddy Scotsman jokes. Poor Paddy always gets it hard lol.
ED, you are doing a marvellous service. Why can't the BBC just give us access to the entire PFT catalogue on the iplayer? Anyway, more Dennis Potter please. Double Dare, Pennies from Heaven, Blackeyes. Gangsters!!!
I shared all I have. "Gangsters" I've seen, but that was episode was completely blocked, so it wouldn't let me upload it last year. The BBC doesn't make these all available, but a lot of episodes were lost or deleted.
Been trying to find the Vampires one ..remember watching it before the BBC showed Dracula with Louis Jordan,January 1979.I was 10 years old and scared silly 😂 remember this one too will give it a watch ..
Thanks for this and the other content you have been putting up recently. Some I have seen, some not. Some appeal, some don’t. It is good to have this offering in its entirety and not the sliced up episodic versions!
demonstration of brilliant character acting to brilliant script . Work with time barriers not ever changing this message. Demons are out there in many disguises. 😮 ❤
Brilliant piece of drama, I'd love to see the original version of the play someday (the DVD replaced the Louis Prima & Keely Smith recording of That Old Black Magic due to copyright)
@@LANCSKID Thanks I just googled him he is in alot of things I have seen but none of it was as amazing as this performance on PLAY FOR TODAY. You really believe he is the devil LOL!
@@bettycrowe797 Yes, this was very early in his TV acting career. Remarkably versatile, not forgetting Foyle’s War. He is one of my favourite actors. I have never seen him in anything that I haven’t thoroughly enjoyed. He certainly brings something to every role he plays.
He's in a fantastic episode of Thriller from the first half of the seventies. It's entitled, I think, Now The Killing Starts with other well known faces from that era.
Thanks for sharing this, so good to see this again. I am only sorry that your channel had to host the ignorance in some of the comments below. I imagine the message in this work flew straight over their heads. Hard to imagine they are even vaguely educated enough to comprehend Potter. If this was my channel I'd simply delete them rather die of embarrassment.
The original 1976 play was withdrawn shortly before its scheduled transmission (despite being listed in the Radio Times) because then Director of Television Programmes Alasdair Milne found it "nauseating" though "brilliantly made". It was finally shown in August 1987 and has been released as a DVD. Rewritten by Potter for the stage, the play premiered on 11 October 1977 at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield and transferred to the West End the following year. In the introduction to the play script, published in 1978, Potter recalled that "the BBC received several letters of congratulation for 'taking a stand' against the rising tide etc. of filth etc. and blasphemy etc. which ever threatens etc. to swamp our already beleaguered land". Justifying the play, he wrote: "Brimstone and Treacle is an attempt both to parody certain familiar forms of faith and yet at the same time to give them expression. … we cannot even begin to define 'good' and 'evil' without being aware of the interaction between the two. It is from these things the play draws whatever power or whatever disturbance that earned it an unwelcome notoriety.
@@executivedecision6141 the Potter estate is extremely pro-active in shooting down stuff that appears on here, as with the play that was posted at the weekend. I hope this stays up and I hope you avoid a C&D.
@@67Parsifal You Tube doesn't have to deal with cease & desist orders. If they object to certain copyrighted material, they'll block it in some or all regions up front. This one wasn't deemed to be in that category. That's why for the past year I pre-emptively deleted those videos not allowed seconds after uploading them. That goes for American and British shows -- not particularly Dennis Potter plays. The YT algorhythm does a check on the video instantly, and if it contains protected music, I'll sometimes mute that music while preserving the dialog and background sounds.
@@trevorbailey1486 Yes, it would be interesting how things might go ! The girl had a bad accident and she's been in a bad state for how long ? Both parents could say it's just 'hallucinations' from the accident. Even she could be made to believe that. What happened to the friend ? What might she say ? ( the father could buy her off i suppose ?) The mother is probably the sort to forgive ? Was it the father that hit her with the car ? Did she know it was him, if that was the case ? Was it deliberate ? For many people, just carrying on as normal might be the easiest course of action.
Brimstone and Treacle is a 1976 BBC television play by Dennis Potter. Originally intended for broadcast as an episode of the series Play for Today, it remained untransmitted until 1987. The play was made into a film version (released in 1982) co-starring Sting. Both versions also star Denholm Elliott.
“All I want is the English I know”, no truer words today. At this point in time, segregation of cultures seems to be the only way to maintain ones culture. Assimilation is one thing, and thats what we all hope for, but seems too many people today want to enjoy the benefits of some societies without appreciating, contributing or participating in that societies culture.
😂 This play ridicules the father's old-fashioned patriotic English beliefs & paints him as a degenerate hypocrite who is as evil as Martin. Hence, him being a member of the NF & is prejudice against foreigners. This is woke propaganda at its finest.
Deliciously wicked, they don't make brilliant TV like this anymore. Dennis Potter is amazing. Thanks for sharing.
I agree. This is brilliant. I remember watching it years ago and lots of other brilliant PFT episodes. Quality TV.
Incredible. Acting, script, the whole movement of the piece was so ahead of its time and simply fascinating
A calmer kinder London (much missed by many)
Arch, mannered, hyper reality that brilliantly skewers very real life characters. Gone, never forgotten.
Goodness knows why they don’t allow them on UA-cam because nobody would see them anywhere else they might as well. Let people enjoy them.
The BBC are greedy monolith corporation that just wants to make money for it's rich echalon.
Some of the plays like this one are available on dvd. I also managed to buy a few on Prime.
Exactly
I say what a weird quirky strange story - Michael Kitchen was absolutely brilliant. Thanks so much for posting.
This was made into feature film staring malevolent Colin as Sting.
So much enjoyed this play best l have sèen in ages.The girl who played pattie was fantasic
Fabulous, cant believe how young everyone is !
I remember watching this as a youngster. A great play about evil and how it always portrays itself as good.
Very apt for today's world.
I remember seeing this on TV when it came out but I didn’t know that’s what it was supposed to be about. I just thought it was frightening.
That describes our government.
My understanding is that it's about the relationship between good and evil, which isn't as straightforward or one dimensional as is often portrayed.
Something positive can come out of an evil act.
Many thanks for all of the 'Play For Today's. I was slightly too young to appreciate them at the time but will enjoy a catch up now.
That was fantastic! Michael Kitchen does creepy to perfection. Thank you for this.
Thank you for all those amazing plays
Wonderful! Haven't seen this for years,watching it tonight
I was a child when this was on , my parents loved it . I remember the great big hoo ha about it at the time
Omg, this play is an absolute jem of a play, getting the chance to see it again thanks to you. 👏👏
The acting in this is of event horizon proportions. Fantastical.
Nah, it's better than Laurence Fishburne
Genius. As Mr Potter’s critics said: “diabolical”. He was a great, great writer & man.
An amazing performance from young woman who played the servely disabled person in the drama.
The young woman is Michelle Newell. Now aged 73. She has been in many tv dramas and soap opera's. A Wikipedia bio here:-
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Newell
Michelle Newell, a friend of mine.
@@helenakosta I remember her Esmarelda.. She was lynched in the end! Still somewhat traumatised 50 years later...
Amazing play, so good to embrace something not woked. Dennis Potter never failed, his own dark experiences filtered into his work with incredible results. Excellent acting from all the cast
Woked?
@@mootpointjones8488Woked = ruined by over use of political correctness and the denial of biology, science, history and facts.
@@mootpointjones8488yes, you know... where every character is black, Asian, trans, lesbian or simply a man hater. Refreshing to watch something like this with normal people in it and not gruesome 21st century constructs.
There are so many elements in this play that are similar to 'Entertaining Mr Sloane'. Interesting to think that Joe Orton may well have had an influence on Dennis Potter's writing.
I never knew of this version. I remember waching the version with Sting in the early eighties. I never forgot the story. The versions are slightly different but both are eerily good.
Yes, me neither! A total surprise to discover this news
"Why this...why this is the best batch yet" said the captain.
Brilliant. Michael Kitchen in ‘caught on a train’ was brilliant
Ah. Was waiting for this!
Wonderful! I’d forgotten that Michael Kitchen was the young man. He holds his own with Denholm Elliot, which is no mean feat. Many thanks to ED, who has posted so many great tv plays from Britain.
He reminds me of a young Richard E Grant
@@emmajanewatts4388 I can see that too.
Omg noooo! Thanks for this tidbit
This is a cracking play
@@emmajanewatts4388 If Grant hadn't been available for Withnail & i, would Kitchen have been good in the part ? ( who else at the time would have fitted the part ?)
At last- _the_ best adaptation. Michael Kitchen never fails to deliver the finest. Thanks.
Agreed the best
Is this the same as the original play ? If not, what's different ? ( i like this one !)
Didn't Sting act in a version of Brimstone & Treacle ?
@@birdman4274 I've only seen that version once, but i didn't like it. It looked like they filmed in a real house that was big and roomy; i liked the TV one because it had a 'cramped' and 'claustrophobic' feel to it, which i thought fitted the story better.
@@adrianparker-e9f Yes, I smell what you're cooking. The TV version had better atmosphere. Film versions often disappoint me in lots of TV stuff. Play For Today was a wonderful programme. One other thing that destroys the atmosphere of many TV and Film now is the overuse of background music. It's my pet hate.
Good luck smuggling this one past the BBC's copyright department! But seriously, though, many thanks for posting these plays. It's about time they were liberated from the archive.
yt-dlp to the rescue
Yes, this play got taken down when it was uploaded a few years ago. Here's hoping they don't notice.🤫
The BBC is hopeless at enabling access to it's archive. All those who pay the licence fee ought to be able to access its programs going back to the 60s and beyond.
@@heiltd1286 I agree with you
@@heiltd1286 they're too busy with Gary Linekar and Eastenders.
I can remember watching this, very powerful
Just had a thought. Kitchen would have made a good Dr.Who.
Excellent thought, I’m not a fan of the series but I can see this actor would have been excellent in the role of Dr Who
Fortunately he was spared that particular embarrassment.
@@brianlopez8855 Dr.Who COULD be good ! Maybe they could have two versions running at the same time ? Dr.Who 'lite' and Dr.Who 'original'.
THANK YOU SOOO MUCH FOR FINDING & SHARING THIS (disturbing) GEM!
Wow. That was Awesome. The acting superb. The script excellent and as a Northern Irish Catholic well I got the shot in the air and missed and laughed. We do the Paddy Irishman, Paddy Englishman, Paddy Scotsman jokes. Poor Paddy always gets it hard lol.
I saw the picture of Mick Jagger, and immediately thought of the Stones song, “Sympathy for the Devil”.
The song was based on the novel " The Master and Margarita " excellent novel set in pre revolutionary Russia, highly recommend it
Virtuoso performance by Michael Kitchen!
Thank you for uploading this. Finally seeing it after so long.
this one more creepier than sting version
I liked the studio sets in this one. Very 'shut in' which fits the theme of the story better.
ED, you are doing a marvellous service. Why can't the BBC just give us access to the entire PFT catalogue on the iplayer? Anyway, more Dennis Potter please. Double Dare, Pennies from Heaven, Blackeyes. Gangsters!!!
I shared all I have. "Gangsters" I've seen, but that was episode was completely blocked, so it wouldn't let me upload it last year.
The BBC doesn't make these all available, but a lot of episodes were lost or deleted.
@@executivedecision6141 Criminal BBC😡🤬🗣️📢 ALL BROUGHT AND PAID FOR TV?
But if your British alas for thee😞🤫🆘🇬🇧👎🙏💪😇🧐
Because the BBC seems to forget that we might want something for our licence fee that isn't Eastenders.
I don't know why the BBC care it's not like anyone buys Dvds anymore
Blue remembered hills please 👍🏻
unbelievably wonderful.
Been trying to find the Vampires one ..remember watching it before the BBC showed Dracula with Louis Jordan,January 1979.I was 10 years old and scared silly 😂 remember this one too will give it a watch ..
The idea that good may come from an evil is what scandalised many.
Thanks for this and the other content you have been putting up recently. Some I have seen, some not. Some appeal, some don’t. It is good to have this offering in its entirety and not the sliced up episodic versions!
It's deeper than the film ,but both fantastic examples
Superb. Well done ED
Wonderful
demonstration of brilliant character acting to brilliant script .
Work with time barriers not ever changing this message.
Demons are out there in many disguises.
😮
❤
Brilliant piece of drama, I'd love to see the original version of the play someday (the DVD replaced the Louis Prima & Keely Smith recording of That Old Black Magic due to copyright)
Michael Kitchen such a natural performer. Maltese Tony in minder 👏
Maltese Tony???
Was he the poker player???
@
No he was a money launderer bringing money in from the continent.
Anthony Valentine was the poker player great performer too
i have always enjoyed michael kitchens acting.
Quiet Deep and meaningful in many ways
Wow what a classic episode the devils tale
a masterpiece,, xxx
In the darkest possible way.
Greatness that comes from Dennis POTTER.💪🎥🙏💪🥇🇬🇧 RIP 😇
we live in the shadows - sooooooooo much better than the cinema version !
I remember his hair he was almost another Leo Sayer back then.😅
It was a popular hairstyle at the time, inspired by the "afro".
Handsome Mr Kitchen.
Michael Kitchen was an excellent actor..why havent I seen him before this????
Was? Still is! Search out ‘Caught on a train’ where is up against the marvellous Dame Peggy Ashcroft.
@@LANCSKID Thanks I just googled him he is in alot of things I have seen but none of it was as amazing as this performance on PLAY FOR TODAY. You really believe he is the devil LOL!
@@bettycrowe797 Yes, this was very early in his TV acting career. Remarkably versatile, not forgetting Foyle’s War. He is one of my favourite actors. I have never seen him in anything that I haven’t thoroughly enjoyed. He certainly brings something to every role he plays.
The BBC won't repeat them
He's in a fantastic episode of Thriller from the first half of the seventies. It's entitled, I think, Now The Killing Starts with other well known faces from that era.
I had a sneaking suspicion! When he called the friend girl a ‘slut!’
I’m flabbergasted that this was played on tv at that time. There must’ve been plenty of complaints for this on points of view at the time
Excellent drama. Michael Kitchen so talented..
I remember this.
Micheal Kitchen at his best
Brilliant love it ❤
'Play For Today '
Absolutely brilliant back in the 70s as a child watching with Mother & Absolutely thrilled to watch in bed 😊
Good old Dennis Potter.
Denholm
@@brianlopez8855he’s an actor. I was talking about the playwright.
Thanks for sharing this, so good to see this again. I am only sorry that your channel had to host the ignorance in some of the comments below. I imagine the message in this work flew straight over their heads. Hard to imagine they are even vaguely educated enough to comprehend Potter. If this was my channel I'd simply delete them rather die of embarrassment.
The mother was the in the BBC Japanese WW2 woman prisoner war camp tv drama Tenko.
Sister Ulrica ❤
what was the name of the film version of this? I've seen references in the comments but can't find an answer
I prefer this to the sting version as Martin is a normal character rather than handsome . He has to manipulate his way through. With verse language
Yes Sting is much too glamorous and sounds like a fan of this play reciting memorised dialogue.
Im sure Michael will be thrilled
The original 1976 play was withdrawn shortly before its scheduled transmission (despite being listed in the Radio Times) because then Director of Television Programmes Alasdair Milne found it "nauseating" though "brilliantly made". It was finally shown in August 1987 and has been released as a DVD. Rewritten by Potter for the stage, the play premiered on 11 October 1977 at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield and transferred to the West End the following year.
In the introduction to the play script, published in 1978, Potter recalled that "the BBC received several letters of congratulation for 'taking a stand' against the rising tide etc. of filth etc. and blasphemy etc. which ever threatens etc. to swamp our already beleaguered land". Justifying the play, he wrote: "Brimstone and Treacle is an attempt both to parody certain familiar forms of faith and yet at the same time to give them expression. … we cannot even begin to define 'good' and 'evil' without being aware of the interaction between the two. It is from these things the play draws whatever power or whatever disturbance that earned it an unwelcome notoriety.
🎭😈👺
Da Kitchen is brilliant
Michael k,Itchen was amazing
1: 25 minutes according to IMDb so looks like the censor has been out with his scissors. Thank you for post.
This away posted this morning and is still here nearly a day later! What’s happening? A week ago, Angels Are So Few lasted all of two hours….
Why wouldn't it still be here ? You Tube will let it stand, and I'm not deleting it.
@@executivedecision6141 the Potter estate is extremely pro-active in shooting down stuff that appears on here, as with the play that was posted at the weekend. I hope this stays up and I hope you avoid a C&D.
@@67Parsifal You Tube doesn't have to deal with cease & desist orders. If they object to certain copyrighted material, they'll block it in some or all regions up front. This one wasn't deemed to be in that category.
That's why for the past year I pre-emptively deleted those videos not allowed seconds after uploading them. That goes for American and British shows -- not particularly Dennis Potter plays. The YT algorhythm does a check on the video instantly, and if it contains protected music, I'll sometimes mute that music while preserving the dialog and background sounds.
Many thanks
A young Foyle
It was originally banned from TV.
I saw it on TV when it was written.
Elliott was so funny in this. First rate by all!
An amazing actor he was.
Elliot was incredible actor and here was one of his great performances in this drama.
Met him in 1981 (Abbey Road NW 8) he was outside by the road cleaning his motorcycle.
Insane.
Mr Foyle was such a cad! 😂
The wife is Sister Ulrica off Tenko.
Yes, brilliant TV. Makes you think
I think you'll find it's spelled "Brimstone".
I have a suspicion that channels deliberately misspell the titles of their videos to try and fool the censors or copyright rules.
I've never seen this. Do you recommend it?
Amazing 😎👌
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh gosh first-class 😊
Spread a little happiness 👍😀
Patty says: Thank you daddy!
Perfect ending.
No happiness song by sting?
Brilliant
I love this episode - fuckin genius !
id like the ending to be longer and see the parents delight of seeing there daughter talk more
Remember, her recovery was born of evil. What did she know then, what will she say now, what will become of the family?
@@trevorbailey1486lndeed.....
@@trevorbailey1486 was it incest the flashback at the end
@@trevorbailey1486 the father having a affair
@@trevorbailey1486 Yes, it would be interesting how things might go ! The girl had a bad accident and she's been in a bad state for how long ? Both parents could say it's just 'hallucinations' from the accident. Even she could be made to believe that. What happened to the friend ? What might she say ? ( the father could buy her off i suppose ?) The mother is probably the sort to forgive ? Was it the father that hit her with the car ? Did she know it was him, if that was the case ? Was it deliberate ? For many people, just carrying on as normal might be the easiest course of action.
Can’t you smell the Sulphur sulphur
Wow!! 😃
Dennis potter at his best.
Brimstone and Treacle is a 1976 BBC television play by Dennis Potter. Originally intended for broadcast as an episode of the series Play for Today, it remained untransmitted until 1987. The play was made into a film version (released in 1982) co-starring Sting. Both versions also star Denholm Elliott.
Dennis potter was always contrveral but brilliant playwrite.
Wasn’t there one with Sting?
Yes . I believe his rendition of the song"spread a little happiness as you go by" accompanied the show .
That was a film made in 1982.
“All I want is the English I know”, no truer words today. At this point in time, segregation of cultures seems to be the only way to maintain ones culture. Assimilation is one thing, and thats what we all hope for, but seems too many people today want to enjoy the benefits of some societies without appreciating, contributing or participating in that societies culture.
😂 This play ridicules the father's old-fashioned patriotic English beliefs & paints him as a degenerate hypocrite who is as evil as Martin. Hence, him being a member of the NF & is prejudice against foreigners. This is woke propaganda at its finest.
Bore off
The good old days when people where ashamed of voting for NF.(Nigel Farrage 😂)
@@boomhauer65 so in other worlds you want to see an entire culture gone forever. Ok, got it.
@springsogourne Well said!
Also very good movie with STING
I actually enjoyed the re make with Sting instead of Michael !!!! ....Shock horror ...put your prejudices to one side and give it a chance
I'll watch both.
Diabolic usage of advertising to disrupt and sabotage .