''Brimstone and Treacle'' is a 1976 BBC television play by Dennis Potter. Originally intended for broadcast as an episode of the series ''

Play for Today ''Play for Today'' is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage ...

'', it remained untransmitted until 1987. The play was made into a film version (released in 1982) co-starring Sting. Both versions also star Denholm Elliott. The play features a middle-aged middle-class couple living in a

north London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames and the City of London. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshi ...

suburb whose life has been catastrophically affected by a hit-and-run accident which has left their beautiful undergraduate daughter totally dependent upon them. Their lives are dramatically changed by the arrival of a mysterious young stranger.

Plot

A demon, under the guise of Martin Taylor, stalks the streets to find his next victim. He attempts to convince Tom Bates that they have met previously, and learns through the conversation that Tom's daughter, Pattie, has been left in a vegetative state following a hit-and-run incident two years prior. Martin tells Tom that he knew Pattie, and feigns a collapse at the news of her condition. Tom promises to bring his car to assist Martin, but does not return. Nevertheless, Martin tracks him down using his stolen wallet. At the Bates' residence, Martin meets Tom's wife, Amy, and also sees Pattie. Pattie is physically recovered, but remains incapable of speech and everyday functions; Amy believes she is more aware of her surroundings than she can express, but Tom insists she is as good as dead. Martin elaborates on his claims of a prior relationship with Pattie, convincing Amy that he had proposed marriage and that Pattie had promised him an answer after three years. He persuades the couple to allow him to stay in Pattie's old room. The following day, Martin encourages Amy to leave the house. Left alone with Pattie, he mocks and then rapes her. When Amy returns, Martin instigates a prayer over Pattie, where his full demonic powers are revealed. Over dinner, Tom is concerned that his daughter was left alone with a stranger, upsetting Martin. Amy is keen for him to stay after her earlier taste of renewed independence, and Martin offers to continue to run the household. Appealing to his fondness for home comforts and National Front-aligned beliefs, Martin manages to talk Tom into accepting his offer. However, when he attempts to incite Tom into more extreme political ideologies, evoking

Nazism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...

, Tom backs away and rejects the National Front. Overnight, Martin attempts to rape Pattie again, but she awakens from her condition and cries out. Martin flees the house but immediately alights on his next victim. Pattie asks her father what happened, and it is revealed that her hit-and-run was tangentially caused by her discovery of Tom's affair with her friend.

Television version

''Brimstone and Treacle'' was originally written by Potter as a television play, commissioned, paid for and recorded in 1976 by the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, for their series ''

''. The cast were Denholm Elliott (Tom Bates), Michael Kitchen (Martin),

Patricia Lawrence Patricia Lawrence (19 November 1925, Andover, Hampshire, Andover, Hampshire – 7 March 1993, Chelsea, London, Chelsea, London) was a British actress. Personal life In 1947 she married writer and arts administrator Greville Poke (1912–2000) i ...

(Amy Bates) and Michelle Newell (Pattie); plus minor characters. The original 1976 play was withdrawn shortly before its scheduled transmission (despite being listed in the ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in September 1923 by John Reith, then general manage ...

'') because then Director of Television Programmes Alasdair Milne found it "nauseating" though "brilliantly made". It was finally shown in August 1987 and has been released as a DVD. Rewritten by Potter for the stage, the play premiered on 11 October 1977 at the Crucible Theatre,

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

and transferred to the West End the following year. In the introduction to the play script, published in 1978, Potter recalled that "the BBC received several letters of congratulation for 'taking a stand' against the rising tide etc. of filth etc. and blasphemy etc. which ever threatens etc. to swamp our already beleaguered land". Justifying the play, he wrote: "''Brimstone and Treacle'' is an attempt both to parody certain familiar forms of faith and yet at the same time to give them expression. … we cannot even begin to define 'good' and 'evil' without being aware of the interaction between the two. It is from these things the play draws whatever power or whatever disturbance that earned it an unwelcome notoriety."

Film adaptation

film adaptation A film adaptation transfers the details or story of an existing source text, such as a novel, into a feature film. This transfer can involve adapting most details of the source text closely, including characters or plot points, or the original sou ...

was released in 1982. Directed by

Richard Loncraine Richard Loncraine (born 20 October 1946) is a British film and television director. Loncraine was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Loncraine received early training in the features department of the BBC, including a season directing i ...

, it stars Denholm Elliott as Bates,

Joan Plowright Joan Ann Olivier, Baroness Olivier (; 28 October 1929 – 16 January 2025), commonly known as Dame Joan Plowright, was an English actress whose career spanned over six decades. She received several accolades including two Golden Globe Awards, an ...

as Norma Bates,

Suzanna Hamilton Suzanna Hamilton (born February 8, 1960) is an English actress, notable for playing the role of Julia (1984), Julia in the Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984 film), 1984 film adaptation of George Orwell's classic novel, ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'', as well ...

as Pattie, and Sting as Martin. In the film, Mrs. Bates' first name is Norma instead of Amy. The

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

includes works by

The Police The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. Within a few months of their first gig, the line-up settled as Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar, primary songwriter), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussi ...

, Sting,

The Go-Go's The Go-Go's are an American all-female Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1978. Except for short periods when other musicians joined briefly, the band has had a relatively stable lineup consisting of Charlotte Caffey on lead guitar ...

and Squeeze. Sting's cover of " Spread a Little Happiness" reached No. 16 in the UK Singles Chart.Sting UK chart history
The Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2 June 2012. ''Brimstone & Treacle'' was released to DVD by MGM Home Video in 2003 as a Region 1 widescreen DVD.

Potter on ''Brimstone and Treacle''

In 1978, Potter said:

I had written ''Brimstone and Treacle'' in difficult personal circumstances. Years of acute
psoriatic arthropathy Psoriasis is a long-lasting, noncontagious autoimmune disease characterized by patches of abnormal skin. These areas are red, pink, or purple, dry, itchy, and scaly. Psoriasis varies in severity from small localized patches to complete b ...
— unpleasantly affecting skin and joints — had not only taken their toll in physical damage but had also, and perhaps inevitably, mediated my view of the world and the people in it. I recall writing (and the words now make me shudder) that the only meaningful
sacrament A sacrament is a Christian rite which is recognized as being particularly important and significant. There are various views on the existence, number and meaning of such rites. Many Christians consider the sacraments to be a visible symbol ...
left to human beings was for them to gather in the streets in order to be sick together, splashing vomit on the paving stones as the final and most eloquent plea to an apparently deaf, dumb and blind God. ..I was engaged in an extremely severe struggle, not so much against the dull grind of a painful and debilitating illness, but with unresolved, almost unacknowledged "spiritual" questions.

References

External links