Cold Lazarus


Cold Lazarus is a four-part British television drama written by Dennis Potter with the knowledge that he was dying of pancreatic cancer. It forms the second half of a pair with the television serial Karaoke. It is Potter's only science fiction work.

Plot

Cold Lazarus is set in the 24th century, in a dystopian Britain where the ruined streets are unsafe, and where society is run by American oligarchs in charge of powerful commercial corporations. Experiences are almost all virtual, and anything deemed authentic has either been banned or replaced by synthetic substitutes.
At a cryonics research institute in London, funded by the pharmaceuticals tycoon Martina Masdon, a group of scientists led by Dr. Emma Porlock is working on reviving the mind of the 20th-century writer Daniel Feeld, whose head was frozen after Feeld's death shortly after the events of Karaoke. Unable to see any profit in the project, Masdon considers discontinuing it, but the media mogul David Siltz, who has been spying on Masdon, envisages making a fortune from broadcasting Feeld's memories on TV, and proposes to Porlock that her team work for him.
Porlock is unaware that a member of her team, Fyodor Glazunov is a member of the resistance group RON, which attempts to undermine the reliance of society upon advanced technology by carrying out violent attacks. Glazunov identifies Kaya, another of Porlock's team, as a potential recruit to his superior Andrew Milton, but Milton kills Kaya, believing her unsuitable. Angered by Kaya's murder, Glazunov kills Milton. Porlock then discovers the truth about Glazunov but, to distract him from the possibility of killing her, consults with him about the Siltz deal. Glazunov approves of the broadcast of Feeld's memories, which he believes might provoke a revolt against the 'inauthentic' life propagated by the authorities. It is shortly after this that Porlock accepts Siltz's offer, just as Masdon realises the potential of the Lazarus project.
As more of Feeld's thoughts and memories are unearthed, it becomes evident not only that Feeld's mind is conscious of its predicament, but also that Feeld is attempting to communicate with the scientists, and is pleading to be allowed to die. At this point Glazunov, Porlock and Luanda Partington begin to doubt the morality of their project. Another of their team, Watson, having been coerced into informing on his colleagues, unwittingly denounces Glazunov as a RON member and saboteur. Having been warned, Glazunov heads for the laboratory to put Feeld out of his misery. In the confrontation that ensues, Glazunov is able to kill Siltz, and, after a final communication with Feeld, he destroys the laboratory, Feeld's head, and himself, in the process.

Episodes

  • Episode 1: "One". First broadcast: 26 May 1996. Running time: 50 or 52 minutes.
  • Episode 2: "Two". First broadcast: 2 June 1996.
  • Episode 3: "Three". First broadcast: 9 June 1996.
  • Episode 4: "Four". First broadcast: 16 June 1996.

    Cast

The series also featured an early TV appearance by Rupert Penry-Jones as a militiaman. Additionally, some of the cast of Karaoke appear in Feeld's flashbacks.

Production

Karaoke and Cold Lazarus were filmed as a single production by the same team; both were directed by Renny Rye and feature Albert Finney as the writer Daniel Feeld. The plays were unique in being co-productions between the BBC and Channel 4, something Potter had expressly requested before his death.
Parts of Karaoke and Cold Lazarus were filmed in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, which is where Potter was born and raised. Children from local schools, including St Briavels Parochial Primary School, appeared in the series as extras in flashbacks. Other filming locations included a Nottinghamshire power station.

Broadcast and release

The show was first broadcast on Channel 4 in 1996 on Sunday evenings, with a repeat on BBC1 the following day. This first broadcast of episode 1 drew an audience of 3.8 million viewers. Viewing figures for the series averaged 2 to 3 million.
The series was broadcast in the United States in 1997 on Bravo. The series had previously been offered to PBS.
Both Karaoke and Cold Lazarus were released on DVD from Acorn Media in September 2010. The four episodes are embodied in two discs. The discs include biographies.
Both series are available to watch online via the Channel 4 website.

Reception

Christpher Dunkley said that Cold Lazarus is "astonishing".

Legacy

Many of the futuristic costumes made for the actors to wear in Cold Lazarus were later bought by the film company Wibbell Productions and subsequently used in the feature film The Vampires of Bloody Island in 2007. Wibbell later sold many of them individually to private collectors in 2013.
A spaceship prop, in 2023, was in Leighton Buzzard and for sale.

General references

  • David Bianculli and New York Daily News. "Money Woes Affecting Noted Writer's Last Works". Chicago Tribune. 25 April 1995.
  • , The Independent, 26 March 1996
  • Andy Lavender, "Dennis Potter: the parting shots", The Times, 8 April 1996, p 11
  • Andrew Cuif, "Plays that are pure Potter produce a posthumous put-down", The Guardian, 16 April 1996, p 3
  • Nancy Banks-Smith, "Gone, banging the door behind him", The Guardian Weekly, 5 May 1996, p 26
  • Jasper Rees, "Frankie goes to Pinewood", The Independent, 17 May 1996
  • W Stephen Gilbert, "Cold comforts", The Independent, 23 May 1996
  • Stephen Poole, "Television preview", The Independent, 24 May 1996
  • Lucy Ellman, "Dennis the ancient menace", The Independent, 1 June 1996
  • Tom Shales. "Dennis Potter's Welcome Last Works". The Washington Post. 2 June 1997.
  • John J. O'Connor. "A Posthumous Send-Off For a British Original" in Critic's Notebook. The New York Times. 20 June 1996.
  • Thomas Sutcliffe, "Am I alone in thinking that we could all be reading too much into this search for meaning?", The Independent, 21 June 1996
  • Nancy Banks-Smith, "Right royal trials of life", The Guardian Weekly, 30 June 1996, p 26
  • Peter Lennon, "Last will and testament", The Guardian Weekly, 3 September 1996, pp 26-27
  • Humphrey Carpenter. Dennis Potter: A Biography. Faber and Faber. 1998. ISBN 0-571-19721-3. pp 16, 417, 461, 548, 549, 552, 555, 559-561, 564-569, 571, 573, 574, 583-588, 593, 597, 600 & 640-641.
  • Glen Creeber. Dennis Potter: Between Two Worlds: A Critical Reassessment. Macmillan Press. 1998. ISBN 0-333-71389-3. pp 1, 15, 27, 34, 79, 192-194, 196, 197 & 202.
  • W Stephen Gilbert. The Life and Work of Dennis Potter. The Overlook Press, Peter Mayer Publishers. Woodstock and New York. 1998. pp xiii, 276, 282, 292 to 295 & 363. Previously published under the title "Fight and Kick and Bite" by Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1995.
  • Vernon W Gras and John R Cook. The Passion of Dennis Potter: International Collected Essays. Macmillan Press. 2000. ISBN 0-333-80028-1. pp 3, 4, 8, 11, 17, 19, 21, 25, 29, 36, 39, 42, 44, 74, 78, 82, 83, 87, 92, 122, 161, 163-166, 169-173, 177, 207, 219, 221-224, 228, 235, 237, 254-256 & 261.
  • Val Scullion, "Gothic dissent in Dennis Potter's Cold Lazarus" 10 Gothic Studies Gale
  • Andrew Male, "Finney at the Double" in "What's on TV on Demand", The Sunday Times, 24 February 2019