Screening: Dennis Potter, 'Stand Up, Nigel Barton' (1965)

Taking place as part of the public programmes for Hilary Lloyd Very High Frequency, this screening programme surveys key and rarely seen works by Dennis Potter.

The programme primarily focuses on Potter’s work for the BBC’s groundbreaking anthology drama series The Wednesday Play (1964–1970) and its successor Play for Today (1970–1984). Reflecting then-contemporary social and political contexts, these single-play formats became platforms for provocative storytelling that encompassed realism, satire and experimental drama. The series, which included Potter’s early semi-autobiographical works such as Stand Up, Nigel Barton (1965), helped launch his career, alongside directors such as Ken Loach and, later, Alan Clarke and Stephen Frears.

Two special marathon screenings showcase Dennis Potter’s most significant television serials. Pennies From Heaven (1978) marked Potter’s first major popular success and is recognised for transforming the possibilities of television drama. The Singing Detective (1986), widely regarded as his masterpiece, combines the themes and experimental structures of his earlier work to explore noir fantasy, childhood memory and musical interludes in a brilliant, hallucinatory narrative.

Potter’s readiness to engage with complex themes, including politics, class, illness, sexuality and religion, is a significant reminder of a time when a limited number of television channels vied for public attention and challenging content was broadcast to a mass audience.

Stand Up, Nigel Barton (1965)Wednesday 24 September 2025, 7–8.15 pm

First broadcast in 1965 on BBC1 as part of The Wednesday Play series, Stand Up, Nigel Barton is a semi-autobiographical work that draws from Dennis Potter’s experience as a working-class Oxford student from a small mining community.

Inspired by Potter's own student interview for the 1958 BBC series Does Class Matter? and filmed, in part, in Potter’s hometown, the Forest of Dean, the play has been described as the most autobiographical of Potter’s works. Played by Keith Barron, the protagonist faces class prejudice from both sides of the social divide when he is awarded a scholarship to Oxford University. Using adults to play children in flashback scenes and direct asides to the camera, Stand Up, Nigel Barton is one of the earliest examples of what would become signature devices, anticipating how Potter’s later works would develop.

Writer: Dennis Potter; Director: Gareth Davies; Producer: Graeme MacDonaldRuntime: 75 mins

Content warning

Contains strong language, depictions of class prejudice, and themes of social inequality and discrimination. Age guidance:12+

Image credit

Dennis Potter, The Singing Detective, 1986. Film still. Copyright BBC Archive.