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"Play for Today" Double Dare (1976)
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Double Dare (1976)
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Overview
TV Series:
"Play for Today" (1970)Original Air Date:
6 April 1976 (Season 6, Episode 24)Plot:
For the BBC's PLAY FOR TODAY series, Dennis Potter wrote this reflexive commentary on writers and actresses... more | add synopsisPlot Keywords:
User Comments:
Potter with some self-discipline moreCast
(Episode Credited cast) | Alan Dobie | ... | Martin Ellis |
| Kika Markham | ... | Helen / Carol |
| Joe Melia | ... | Ben |
| John Hamill | ... | Peter |
| Stanley Lebor | ... | Waiter |
| Ian Munro | ... | Security Guard |
| rest of cast listed alphabetically: | |||
| Linda Beckett | ... | The Client's Wife |
| Elaine Donnelly | ... | The Maid |
| John Joyce | ... | The Barman |
| Sarah Nash | ... | The Receptionist |
| Colin Prockter | ... | The Porter |
| Malcolm Terris | ... | The Client |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Add content advisory for parentsRuntime:
70 minCountry:
UKLanguage:
EnglishFAQ
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I saw this a few years ago on BBC4 (apparently only the second time it has been broadcast in the UK) and was very impressed. Dennis Potter wrote this at about the same time as "Brimstone and Treacle", but this has a much clearer structure and a more obvious point than "Brimstone".
Just about all Potter's plays were versions of incidents in his own life, this one even more than most. And, amusingly, the film makes it perfectly clear that we (the viewers) are supposed to draw some conclusions from this. (I especially like the scene when the actress telephones a friend to say "This writer gives me the creeps, I think he's going off his head".) For all his faults, Potter was very self-aware, even though he liked to play games with viewers and interviewers.
Unlike most of Potter's plays, "Double Dare" ends with a clear message - that the male writer's fantasies about women could have appalling consequences if they spilt over into the real world. However, I like even more Kika Markham's suggestion of an extension to that scene: the woman could get up from the bed and say "Wait a minute - you can't do that to me !" This film could very well be remade today - I wish someone would.