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Distributor:
Roadshow Home Entertainment
6x65 minute episodes | Region
4
Writer: Dennis Potter | Producer: Kennith Trodd
Available to buy
Extras: Yes
ANYONE
IN IT WE KNOW?
Bob
Hoskins, Cheryl Campbell, Gemma Craven, Kenneth Colley, Hywel Bennett,
Freddie Jones, Dave King, Spencer Banks
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WHAT’S
IT ABOUT THEN?
In
the 1930's commercial traveller
and seller of sheet music Arthur
Parker (Hoskins) would rather
live in the world of his
favourite songs than in the real
world, trapped in an unhappy
marriage to the repressed Joan
(Gemma Craven) he drifts into an
affair with the innocent Eileen,
from there things begin to
spiral out of control as Arthur
gets Eileen involved in
prostitution and murder
eventually rears its ugly head.
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Without
question or hesitation Dennis
Potter is Britain's most
important TV playwright and this
his most important work, full of
depth, brooding sexual
obsessiveness and redemptive
power Pennies From Heaven is
never less than totally
enthralling, over the course of
6 episodes full of Busby Berkely
style musical interludes (over
60 songs feature in the serial)
in which the characters mime to
popular songs of the day (Roll
Along Prairie Moon, Pennies From
Heaven, Love is the Sweetest
Thing et al).
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The
kind of production that leaves
you thinking Pennies starts out
as a suburban family drama with
Arthur and Joan's marriage
falling apart, Arthur seemingly
obsessed with sex whilst his
wife doesn't want to know about
before it turns into a murder
mystery (Arthur has something of
a doppelganger in the form of a
strange accordion player who
appears in each episode to
generally unsettling effect and
is the murderer that sparks a
hunt in the final third of the
series.
Even
after you have finished watching
the production you'll certainly
want to watch the final episode
again, we won't go into too much
detail here but Potter's
original assertion that "no
matter what, everything is
alright" seems to hold true
here.
FINAL
VERDICT
This
landmark TV series is a must
have for any fan of classic
British Television and is
certainly Potter at his very
best.
ANY
SPECIAL FEATURES?
The
extras consist of an audio
commentary on the first and last
episodes from Producer Kenith
Trodd and director Piers
Haggard.
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