A new blue plaque has just been unveiled marking the childhood home of Dennis Potter in the Forest of Dean.

It was a Friday, May 17th 1935, when Dennis Christopher George Potter was born in the small hamlet of Joyford, just stone's throw from the larger neighbouring village of Berry Hill itself a mile and half from the small market town of Coleford. Potter's family were living with his father Walt's parents, and it's on the outside of this house, today called Holmdale, that the plaque has been erected. So cramped was accommodation in 1935 Dennis' mother Margaret gave birth next door at Brick House. As the young Dennis grew up he played in the woods and fields near by; walked up the lane to Christchurch School; and attended the local chapel. Later he gained entry to Bell's Grammar School in Coleford. He would finish his schooling in London, before completing National Service, and then a degree at Oxford. He become a BBC trainee, journalist, stood for Parliament, and then...became one of the most influential television dramatists of his time, a producer, screenwriter, commentator. Throughout all of this time the Forest of Dean remained crucial to him both personally and creatively. He would return to it again and again in his work - in print and on TV. Despite the demands of work being centred on London he would return frequently to see his parents, family, friends, visit 'The Club'. In 1966 he returned with is wife and young family to live in the Forest, at Lydney, before finally settling in near by Ross-On-Wye where he would live for the rest of his life. Potter's relationship to the Forest - in the Forest of Dean - has perhaps too often been portrayed as 'problematic'. Certainly his unflinching honesty regarding both its problems and his sometimes complex feelings towards it did not endear him to everyone in the area. From his first appearance on television (as an Oxford Undergraduate) to his documentary Between Two Rivers (1960), and his dramas that featured the Forest, it could be guaranteed that a slew of letters would arrive at the local Forest of Dean newspapers, many criticising his work. But as many would be written in his defence and in praise of his latest television outing. In his early career he engaged with his local critics, often corresponding with the local paper in response to specific letters, often with some whit. The Forest of Dean remained an important part of Dennis Potter his whole life, and in recent years his importance to the Forest of Dean has begun to be properly, publicly, recognised. In 2004 there was a week-long festival in his honour; there have been other events; two fine public artworks have been created; and the Dennis Potter Archive & Exhibition has been established at The Dean Heritage Centre. and now, this Blue Plaque irrevocably marks, in perhaps the simplest yet most widely recognised and easily understood way, the link between the Forest and one of its finest ever creative minds.  

The plaque has been erected by the Foresters Forest Landscape Partnership, funded through the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Other Blue Plaques are to follow, as well as the project's own Green Plaques marking individuals who though of less national importance are of considerable local significance.  

It was often said that the attitude to Dennis Potter amongst the people of his native Forest of Dean was, at best, ambivalent. With the local festival celebrating his life and work in 2004, a series of subsequent exhibitions and screenings, and perhaps most significantly of all the archiving of his papers at the Dean Heritage Centre, that assertion has become increasingly difficult to support. And perhaps now it can finally be put to bed, with his depiction in a new piece of public art in his home-town of Coleford. A new mural by prolific local artist Tom Cousins shows Potter alongside two fellow Forest authors, the popular poet, performer and memoirist Joyce Latham, and first world war poet, solicitor to the poor and later BBC broadcaster F . W Harvey. The mural was inaugurated on Saturday (November 3rd) with a gathering at nearby Cafe 16 of friends, family and fans of the three late writers, as well as local dignitaries. The new artwork is part of the Reading the Forest project run by the University of Gloucestershire and funded through the Foresters' Forest HLF Landscape Partnership programme. Historian and Reading the Forest's co-director Dr Roger Deeks said, "This mural is all about inspiring the next generation of writers.  If they see this mural depicting people who grew up near-by, and realise that they too could be successful writers, then that's job done!" The mural has generated a great deal of interest and, supported by an information campaign, is bringing new people to the work of all three writers. Co-chair of Reading the Forest, University of Gloucestershire's Jason Griffiths said, "It's been a joy of the past few years to discover the breadth and depth of the Forest's literary heritage. To a certain generation Dennis Potter is perhaps the most recognisable writer on our two murals, but he's just one of dozens of local writers that have been writing about and setting stories in the area for hundreds of years." 

The mural showing Potter is sister to the project's other local writers mural in near-by Cinderford representing writers from West Dean. The Cinderford mural shows Leonard Clark, Winifred Foley, and Harry Beddington. 

Walking in the Middle of the Road: Working-class homecoming in British TV Drama
Birkbeck Cinema, 2nd November 2018: 18:00 – 21:00

If only the experience of Nigel Barton, over 50yrs ago, had nothing to say about the contemporary experience of students from a working-class background at university today, but sadly it seems it does. That's the premise of a screening of Potter's Wednesday Play Stand Up Nigel Barton (1965)  being organised by Birkbeck, University of London at their Birkbeck Cinema. The television play - later adapted for the stage - is being show alongside Alan Plater's Land of Green Ginger (1973). Potter's play draws heavily on his own experience as a student from a working-class background at Oxford in the 1950's. Although not purely auto-biographical, scenes from Potter's appearance as a student in the television documentary Does Class Matter (1958) are reproduced shot-for-shot with the play's star Keith Baron in place of the young Dennis. As the billing for this latest screening puts it, it is perhaps as relevant now as it was then:
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"The idea of the 'flattened' culture is being exposed for the myth that it is, and the 'classless society' truly has never arrived."

Fin our more about the screening, and book tickets, at the link here.   

One of Dennis Potter's unmade screenplays will make it to broadcast this Saturday 8th September (2018) - not on TV or cinema, but on Radio. As part of BBC Radio 4's strand Unmade Movies his screen adaptation of D M Thomas's The White Hotel will be heard as a radio drama, with Anne Marie Duff and Bill Patterson. It has been directed by Jon Amiel who directed Potter's brilliant The Singing Detective. Read more about this exciting story in The Gaurdian online... 

A sort of 'on this day in history' courtesy of The Guardian with this review of Pennies from Heaven (1978) by Nancy Banks-Smith, 8th March 1978. Hard to remember / imagine (depending on your age!) that Potter was, as Nancy points out, only 42 when this was produced. Groundbreaking television at the time, a prompt for wistful thoughts on Potter alive today - Netflix? Cross platform? Transmedia experience? Spotify playlister? 

Christmas 1977 saw Dennis Potter once again return to the theme of The Forest of Dean in a special programme for BBC Radio 4. A Christmas Forest, was broadcast on Boxing Day, and was described in the Radio Times thus:

Dennis Potter spent his childhood in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire. The sounds of childhood Christmas still ring in his ears, and the images remain as powerful as ever. 
BBC Radio 4 FM, 26th December 1977 14:15

The programme, produced with Brian Patten of BBC Bristol, included Berry Hill Band and the children of Berry Hill School.  One of the readers was Potter's own son Robert. It seems that as ever Dennis was involved hands on in the making of the programme as evidenced by an intriguing recording held by the Dennis Potter Archive at the Dean Heritage Centre in Soudley, Forest of Dean. Potter's daughter, Jane, recalls how her father purchased a Grundig reel-to-reel tape recorder in 1965. Amongst the fascinating recordings of every day Potter family life, are the raw unedited recordings made in Berry Hill of the school children singing and the band playing/rehearsing for the Christmas radio programme. Whether these are copies of those made for the programme by the production team, or Potter's own recordings is unclear. This, and the other recordings in the collection offer an invaluable insight into the important role of family and community in Potter's life and work - and ever more so in all our minds at this time of year. 

​A Christmas Forest was repeated the following year on 23rd December.

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The BBC are reporting that actor Keith Barron has passed away at the age of 83 after a short illness. Although known more recently for his role in the sit-com Duty Free, one of his early roles was as the eponymous 'Nigel Barton' in two of Potter's early plays for television. In Stand Up Nigel Barton (1965) he plays the young Oxford educated Nigel struggling to adjust to his new social standing. Coming from a mining community yet now moving amongst the elite he's now 'between two rivers' - no longer feeling he fits in either setting. In Potter's sequel play Vote, Vote, Vote for Nigel Barton (1965) he stands for election. Much of the two plays see Barron acting out scenes remarkably close to those of Potter's own life. Barron also playied the young Nigel in flashback - adults playing children, a technique that resurfaced to great effect many years later in Blue Remembered Hills (1979).

​After the show - Praveen and Russel with Dennis's daughter Jane 

How to capture the essence of writer, his biography, work, influences, impact? And when it’s a writer such as Dennis Potter – dramatist, journalist, novelist, commentator. There’s realism, naturalism of course – tell the story, facts, dates, works. But that wouldn’t do for a writer who famously felt that drama was the better form for telling ‘truth’ – and at that, drama that further played with ideas of inside and outside the head, the past and present, and multiple layers of ‘reality’ intersecting and interplaying. ‘No biography’ gasps Daniel in his last breath, a request ignored by those who reanimate his head for the purposes of entertainment (in DP's Cold Lazarus).

So, what a relief – what a thrill – to finally get to see Project Adorno’s Dennis Potter in the Present Tense. Developed and written after extensive research, interviews with scholars, enthusiasts, and members of his family, it’s incredibly well-informed. It is though a million miles from any dusty academic study or realist biography. With songs, audio clips and striking – often abstract - visuals the show (for that’s the only way to describe it) was an entertaining, amusing, thought provoking and touching, tour de force. As Potter fans, the (sadly too small) audience at this performance at Coleford’s Festival of Words, were appreciative of the insights the pair had clearly got from their visits to the Forest of Dean, and studying Dennis Potter's work. There were references to his upbringing in the Forest, but also fabulous songs and clips relating to Al Bowly, Hammersmith Bridge, razoxane, and Blackeyes - and much more. A feast for the brain, eyes, ears and soul, if you ever get the opportunity to see this short but wonderfully formed show – grab it! 

As part of this year's Festival of Words the entertaining and thought-provoking duo Project Adorno bring their mixed-media show Dennis Potter in the Present to Coleford. Written following extensive research, including visiting the Dennis Potter Archive and talking to people in the Forest of Dean, the show uses music, song, and audio recordings to explore Potter's life and his relevance today. The show on 6th July is just one of a packed programme of events at this year's festival in Coleford. Tickets can be booked in advance via Eventbrite or through Coleford Tourist Information Centre

82 years ago today Dennis Potter was born, at Brick House, Joyford, just down the lane form Berry Hill in the Forest of Dean. Who would have known he would go on to have such an influence on the mass culture  in the Uk (and wider world) in the latter half of the twentieth century? With a massive impact on television - drama in particular - he was also a journalist, commentator and novelist. So, over twenty years after his untimely death is the memory of the man and his work fading away? Well, not quite. There seems to be very much a flurry of activity - imminent (yes Ken) but promising to bear fruit very very soon...A new theatre production is in development that promises to bring a whole new audience to Potter, his work, and ideas. With a team that includes people behind some of the biggest West End adaptations of recent years it seems set for success. Meanwhile, Project Adorno's 'Dennis Potter in the Present Tense' will be performed at the Forest of Dean literary week 'Coleford Festival of Words' in June this year. After a last minute cancelation (not Adorno's fault) their mixed media show is eagerly awaited. Other projects in the Forest of Dean should see at last a permanent recognition of  DP through a piece of public art as new project Reading the Forest is working with a local mural artist hoping to paint Potter large in Coleford, the nearest town to Berry Hill. And only today, that same project has launched it's Forest authors page with who else, but Dennis Potter.

And this one's for you Dennis....! 
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