The Black and Blue Lamp (1988)
Satirical and surreal play by Arthur Ellis, dealing with the manner in which the British police force has been represented on TV for four decades. In 1949 Tom Riley is arrested for the murder of PC George Dixon. As he awaits interrogation at the station he is mysteriously transported into an episode of The Filth - a 1988 police series where the hard men rule, where he is told by the local CID that he'll be confessing to the murder or else his genitals are getting cut off ! This black comedy questions whether the police have changed or is it the way film and television present them.
Cast
Kenneth CranhamSupt. Cherry
Karl JohnsonPC "Taffy" Hughes
Sean ChapmanTom Riley
John WoodvineSupt. Hammond
Ralph BrownInsp. DruryNick StringerSgt. Brooks
Ian BrimblePC TotleyPeter LovstromPC SneedBarry WoolgarInsp. Rogers
Garrick HagonPolice SurgeonAnthony SmeeMr Bromley JuniorPaddy RyanMr Bromley SeniorJonathan ChaterFat Boy
Kathy BurkeVoiceoverChristopher DriscollVoiceover
