The most impressive thing about this interview.
Which was broadcast on Channel 4 on April 5th 1994.
Having taken place a couple of weeks before.
On March 15th 1994
Is how it has stuck with me.
For 25 years.
Remember.
I was 27 when I saw it.
And I remember still some of the phrases.
Even though I only ever saw it once.
I remember how Dennis Potter confirmed to Melvyn Bragg that he was dying.
I remember the honesty of Dennis Potter in how he explored the idea that he had been a coward.
And I remember thinking that I could never do that.
I remember thinking that I could never say such a thing out loud.
Even though.
At the time.
I did think it.
And I remember wondering.
Way back then.
Whether knowing that I was going to die would change that.
I remember wondering whether a greater awareness of my own mortality would make me brave enough to admit that I was a coward.
How ironic.
The Pen.
Dennis Potter was an amazing man.
I’d wager that there is more beautiful, off-the-cuff storytelling in this 50 minute interview with Dennis Potter than you will hear in a hundred interviews from any other writers.
Listen out for what he says about the pen.
And what childhood actually feels like.
I’ve never forgotten that.
Dennis Potter.
Dennis Potter died on June 7th 1994.
So just 2 months after what you are about to watch.
