In 1968 Dennis Potter was already a controversial figure in his native Forest of Dean when for his next play he took as inspiration a notorious local event: 'the killing of the bears'. In 1889 four Frenchmen touring the district with their dancing bears were attacked by a mob prompted by a false rumour that a local child had been killed by one of their bears. The men were badly beaten and both bears were killed - a source of disgrace for the Forest, and controversy to this day as to which community was responsible. Such was the potency of this dark moment in Forest history that reaction against Potter’s choice of subject prompted a slew of letters to the local newspapers even before filming had started. This correspondence provides a fascinating insight into the Forest community’s relationship with the events of (then) eighty years before, but even more so with Potter himself. Delving into the production and local reception of Dennis Potter’s television play A Beast with Two Backs (1968) as played out through the pages of the local Forest newspapers, this talk by Dr Jason Griffiths will address the relationship at the time between Potter and this particular audience, how he engaged with it through his own correspondence, and will question what impact this had on him and his writing.
