A sheet music salesman in Depression-era England yearns to live the life promised by the songs he sells. Unable to communicate his desires to his wife, he falls for a country schoolteacher, and they start a desperate romance. BROADCAST in the UK beginning in March 1978 on the
BBC, and in the US as part of PBS's "Masterpiece Theatre" in 1980 Undeniably Bob's major breakthrough role, Arthur Parker is the type of multi-dimensional character that must make actors foam at the mouth: he is a compulsive liar and cheat, yet his simple, desperate longings for love and beauty in the world give this common man an uncommon nobility. And in the series' boldest device, he also lip-synchs and dances along to popular songs, his complex fantasy life far more enriched than his reality. While there can be no underestimating the sheer brilliance of Dennis Potter's concept and writing, Bob also deserves credit for taking a character who could easily come across as despicable and infusing him with such passion and humanity to make him irresistible. For a seeming multitude of reasons, this miniseries was only broadcast a few times, and had never been commercially released on video until 2004, perhaps adding to its legend. The series was remade as a feature film in 1981 with Steve Martin and Bernadette Peters, and MGM, the film's distributor, required that the series not be broadcast again for 10 years after the film's release (or something like that - I'm working from memory here), which Potter agreed to as he didn't think anyone would be interested in watching the series again anyway. Also, the series contains dozens of songs from the 20's and 30's, so that it seems securing home video rights for them all would have been a staggering challenge and expense (as the home video market was nonexistent when the series was produced). LINKS
AWARDS Nominated - BAFTA TV Awards - Best Actor Winner - BAFTA TV Awards - Outstanding Drama Series
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