Monday, May 31, 2010

I remember when I could make a whole ward sing… is a line from episode 2 of Karaoke, which is blowing me away nearly 16 years after Dennis Potter died and just over 14 years since the series was first broadcast. I’m not sure why it has taken me until now to watch it. What would we do without 4oD? The line is spoken by Albert Finney, who plays a writer who keeps finding people speaking his lines. He lies in his hospital bed, winces with pain and says, “Blockage… Writer’s block… I remember when I could make a whole ward sing,” and smiles, which is surely Dennis Potter lying in agony and remembering The Singing Detective. Ian McDiarmid (the Emperor in the Star Wars films)  looks scarily like Potter (he plays a writer who sees people speaking his lines in a film written by Finney’s character, who is speaking lines written by Potter… close brackets). Confused? The thing is, Potter wrote in such away that everything made sense.

I remember watching with wonder as George Best would run rings around the opposition. I haven’t seen anyone play with such skill, finesse and brilliance since. Not that I ever watch football or would know a good from a bad player. But with George Best it was obvious. Like Torvill and Dean. Or SuBo?

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