Barry Davis

Tom and Elizabeth Carter inhabit the cultural desert of 1970s English suburbia. Their marriage seems empty of passion but one of Tom’s passions persists: his boyhood passion for model railways, which they attempt to discuss over breakfast. Elizabeth consistently mocks Tom’s enthusiasm for his hobby. “You’re so hot and passionate at the breakfast table, Tom.” Tom sets off to work and, shortly after his departure, Elizabeth takes a phone call from a neighbour who warns her that she’s spotted a strange man watching Elizabeth’s house. Elizabeth checks and, as she goes to ring her neighbour back, or maybe the police, so the doorbell rings and there is Glen, a young man in his twenties. “I’ve come a long, long way to see you…and to track you down, Elizabeth Alice Dale,” says Glen. “For God’s sake, who are you?” demands Elizabeth. “Your baby boy, momma dear,” is Glen’s reply…Read More »

Dennis Potter’s most controversial work by a country mile, BRIMSTONE AND TREACLE was a BBC Play For Today production that tackled an almost unthinkable subject. A bickering, middle-aged couple with a brain-damaged daughter (Pattie) are visited one typically fraught evening by an overbearingly polite young man named Martin, who claims to be a friend of Pattie’s. The mother is thoroughly charmed by the stranger, the father is less convinced, but – in desperate need of some respite from the round-the-clock attention their daughter requires – they allow Martin to stay with them anyway. Trouble is, Martin is an extremely disturbed individual who either is – or believes himself to be – the Devil incarnate, and takes to raping Pattie when her parents aren’t at home.Read More »