Brimstone & Treacle [1982] Sting

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Brimstone & Treacle (1982)


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083693/

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Brimstone and Treacle a 1976 play by Dennis Potter follows the fortunes of a middle-aged middle-class couple living in a North London suburb. Their life has been catastrophically affected by a hit-and-run accident which has left their beautiful undergraduate daughter in a coma, but their existence is dramatically changed by the arrival of a mysterious young stranger.


Sting ... Martin Taylor
Denholm Elliott ... Tom Bates
Joan Plowright ... Norma Bates
Suzanna Hamilton ... Patricia Bates
Benjamin Whitrow ... Businessman
Dudley Sutton ... Stroller
Mary MacLeod ... Valerie Holdsworth
Tim Preece ... Clergyman
Elizabeth Bradley ... Woman Passer By
Hugh Walters ... Man
Christopher Fairbanks ... Drunk


Brimstone and Treacle was originally written by Potter as a television play, commissioned, paid for and recorded (1976) by the BBC, for their Play for Today slot. It was not shown, because then Director of Television Programmes Alasdair Milne found it "nauseating". Later, between 1982 and 1987, Milne was Director-General of the BBC, in which role he ironically became a hate figure of the Thatcher government for, among other reasons, not being censorious enough.

A film version directed by Richard Loncraine and starring Denholm Elliott (Bates), Joan Plowright (Mrs. Bates), Suzanna Hamilton (Pattie) and Sting (Martin) was released in 1982 . In the film, Mrs. Bates' first name is Norma instead of Amy.

Rewritten by Potter for the stage, the play premiered on October 11, 1977 at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield.

The original television production of Brimstone and Treacle was finally shown in 1987. The cast were Denholm Elliott (Mr. Bates), Michael Kitchen (Martin), Patricia Lawrence (Mrs. Bates) and Michelle Newell (Pattie); plus minor characters.