The Black and Blue Lamp

Overview

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.

Directed by Guy Slater

Top cast

Kenneth Cranham

Supt. Cherry

Karl Johnson

PC "Taffy" Hughes

Sean Chapman

Tom Riley

John Woodvine

Supt. Hammond

Ralph Brown

Insp. Drury

N

Nick Stringer

Sgt. Brooks

Ian Brimble

PC Totley

P

Peter Lovstrom

PC Sneed

B

Barry Woolgar

Insp. Rogers

Garrick Hagon

Police Surgeon

A

Anthony Smee

Mr Bromley Junior

P

Paddy Ryan

Mr Bromley Senior

J

Jonathan Chater

Fat Boy

Kathy Burke

Voiceover

C

Christopher Driscoll

Voiceover

Details