70 minSeason 1 • Episode 6
LatestThe young Philip Marlow returns to the country railway station following his mother's death in London. Forty years on, Marlow the hospital patient still dreams about the homecoming and the frightening figure of the scarecrow that now erupts into the ward.
Tormented and bedridden by a debilitating disease, a mystery writer relives his detective stories through his imagination and hallucinations.
Writing
Potter's autobiographical script rewrote what TV could handle.
Acting
Gambon's volcanic performance—vulnerable, vicious, unforgettable.
Direction
Seamless weaving of three timelines, none of them 'real.'
Creator
Dennis Potter
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Potter wrote this during his own hospitalization for psoriatic arthropathy; the skin condition on screen is his.
The 1940s songs aren't soundtrack—they're diagetic, characters lip-syncing to WWII radio in Marlow's head.
GB
