Lipstick on Your Collar

Plot synopsis:
The main story is set in a British Military Intelligence Office in Whitehall during 1956, where a small group of foreign affairs analysts find their quiet existence disrupted by the Suez Crisis. Mick Hopper (Ewan McGregor) is completing his national service as an interpreter of Russian documents. Bored with his job, Hopper spends his days creating fantasy daydreams that involve his colleagues breaking into contemporary hit songs. Sylvia Berry (Louise Germaine) is married to the violent Corporal Pete Berry (Douglas Henshall). Sylvia is an object of desire for Mick's fellow clerk Private Francis Francis (Giles Thomas) and a middle-aged theatre organist named Harold Atterbow (Roy Hudd). In contrast to the street-wise Hopper, Francis is a clumsy Welsh intellectual whose academic career has been interrupted by his army call up. The appearance of the bookish niece of a seconded American officer enables the two conscripts to pair off with suitable partners, after initial mismatching.
The main theme of the series is conflict between the old order, as represented by the middle-aged officers in Whitehall plus Francis' prudish Uncle Fred and Aunt Vickie, and the new 'rock n roll' generation represented by Hopper and Sylvia. Though chronologically the series is set in the late summer and autumn of 1956 culminating in the invasion of Suez, many of the songs used including the title song were not released until later in the 1950s.
Some of the side themes include the influence of American rock and roll on British society, the gulf between the senior analysts, who are regular army officers, and the conscripted other ranks, the work of Russian playwright Chekhov, and an appreciation of opulent theatre organs. The unusual context – a military culture transplanted into a civil service style office environment – reflects Potter's own national service during the 1950s.

Tags: psychedelic

Review:
I never liked Dennis Potter until I saw this series.
I don't like musicals  the idea of a group of people bursting into spontaneous communal song never appealed to me, but the combination of scenario (a post second world war era where the war is now fought as much in the halls of Whitehall as on the battlefield  and Britain is losing) and music (British 50's) just hit the right note with me (pun intended).
The characters are superb (this was the first thing I ever saw Ewan McGregor in) and the situations genuine.
If you have a vivid imagination and your mind likes to wonder, you will be wonderfully rewarded by watching this Dennis Potter gem!
It has a great fifties soundtrack and music numbers that are choreographed with exciting imagination!
(but maybe Dennis needed to get out a bit more) The characters are well casted, and there performances, are extremely well delivered.
I watched this show when it was first released on television, more than ten years ago, and loved it, and after a recent viewing, found the show had not lost any of it's edge!
Interspersed with some great music of the era, which, for some reason the cast just start singing along to.
Seems silly, and it is, but it works, and adds the right touch to the storyline, reflecting all those times when you wish life was a musical..
It's a shame Dennis Potter is no longer with us, we need more of his ilk to produce top quality TV comedy so we don't have to endure anymore crap we get from across the pond.
I think we're getting there with people like Peter Kay. Would LOYC or Phoenix Nights do well in the States?
Like all of Dennis Potter's work, this shows us what film could & should be.
This is definitely one of my favorite things of all time to watch--what does it for me, though, is the style and synchronization of the various 50's pop songs that are deliciously sprinkled throughout the movie---simply fantastic-----they blend well with the story and its characters and you are always pleasantly surprised when a new song just pops out of someone's mouth at the (sometimes) most inopportune time.
I can't understand why it is not yet out on DVD---I purchased Potter's "Singing Detective" last year and I am anxiously awaiting this one---someone please light a fire under the powers that be in England so that we can all enjoy this treasure in its proper format..
In my view this is one of Potter's most impressive works.
It has been years since I saw the series on television but I remember it became the highlight of my week.
The unpredictable plot and the surreal use of day dreams and 50's music was masterful.Louise Germaine was brilliantly cast as the stunningly beautiful Sylvia.
Even back in the early nineties it was clear that Ewan MrGegor was destined to go on to greater things.Highly recommended viewing..
One of the great Dennis Potter movies.
Super integration of songs and plot, superb acting by all.
This is NOT a movie for children, as none of Potter's work is.
One of the song and dance numbers is integrated into the plot in a most extraordinary way.
Dennis Potter brilliance.
The series shows why the Suez crisis was such a disaster with intelligence officers that prove the assertion that the term "Military Intelligence " is an oxymoron.
This TV series was simply wonderful, for me it's the best that I've seen of Dennis Potter.
I wasn't born at the time that is depicted in the series (the year 1956), but it is all very convincing.Never was boredom funnier than here.
Its really a relief the series has  under the circumstances - a happy and uplifting ending.There are many great characters in this series, the whole cast excel themselves.
I wouldn't be surprised if Potter created uncle Fred with Reginald Halliday Christie in mind.I can highly recommend this series..
I believe that for pure enjoyment,and a little nostalgia,this was Denis Potter's best work and, for me, had more depth than "Pennies From Heaven".
The individual story lines in "Lipstick" in their basic form were entirely believable and the acting by the whole cast excellent..
I found videos of the six episode series for BBC 4 in 93 ' gathering dust on local library shelves.
I've now done this three times and am trying to track down a copy for my own library.I don't understand how these could have been overlooked they are wonderfully brilliant.
Truly well written with that quirky surreal twist that only Dennis Potter can create.I am now on a personal crusade to bring this marvelously entertaining work of art to the attention of anyone who will listen.How can this have been overlooked in the States?
I think this may very well be Dennis Potters best for the small screen.The UK Cast and crew including Ewen McGregor are impeccable,,,, Do yourself a favour and find a copy to view and you two will be singing songs from the 50's again..
Since the first time I ever watched LYC it has remained very special in my memory, so much so that since the recent re-run on UK TV I have come to write my first ever review regarding viewing or reading material.
I am only writing here about the special experience I have received from LYC and not about the plot etc, and wonder how much fun it must have been for the crew and actors to take part in LYC.
Pack up your arms & surrender to mine, and all of the other spontaneous musical moments are truly great.
The only disappointment I have is that it had to end, but I know every now and again I can pull out a copy and view this most wonderful production with an inner feeling that I need to preach to all to sit down and watch Lipstick On You Collar so they to can share this wonderful wonderful experience ..
I think it was Einstein who said that creativity is intelligence having fun.
I do think the three go hand in hand, whether or not the finished work is 'fun'.
In TV, that's Dennis Potter, though his work is closer to the cinema than anything.
I do think this is subpar work compared to Singing Detective, but that's setting up a tough comparison.
Like Celine, it is layered fiction about a real world that stifles youthful dreaming.Youth trapped in menial work, three army guys working in the British War Office and a blonde bombshell, she an usherette in a movie theater, who gets to intimately know all three.
It is fun, in the sense of an exhilarating spirit, because the mind is not bogged down by drama.
He was talking about something like this, letting go of the mind that holds the mind.For me, that is the the look of exhilaration on Ewan McGregor's face as he dreams of being Elvis.
I remember watching this first time round in 1993 (when I was 14) and really enjoying it.
I have recently watching it again - currently free on 4 on demand - and probably liked it even more.
The mini series is set during the Suez Crisis and is wonderfully surreal and amusing - the scenes in the war office when they all burst into song and particularly good (and a brilliant song track from the period).
Definitely one to watch if you have not done so I highly recommend it - much better than Cold Lazarus - which I also watched first time round when it was on TV - but after revisiting this I think I may have to give it another shot.
Also, I just did my about-35 year anniversary reading of Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow, and I know I felt a strong resonance between Pynchon's acid-trip evocation of the late- and post-WWII years and this satire about Post-War Brit (world?) culture decay.Pynchon also is known for having assorted characters break into song at the drop of a situation.Furthermore, he incessantly switches between "reality" and someone's subjective fantasy life.
Not that Potter doesn't in his own right love to do the same, but I'm not sure if it's a matter of influence or just coincidental genius.This is a must-see!.
Very light entertainment - for those that like that sort of thing.
A couple of foreign office clerks are very bored at work and their attention wanders.The 1950's never look like much fun to me.
Give me a time tunnel and the 50's wouldn't be the first number I dial up.With a modest budget and a bit of nerve this series looks back with nostalgia on this buttoned up decade.
This is fun and I love the way McGregor plays the virgin office boy.
Not that he wasn't a bit younger back then.A fun bit of TV fluff although like most of Potter's work it goes on too long..
An entertaining if shallow piece of work and indicative of Potters decline..
Dennis Potter was one of the best UK TV drama writers, a position shared with Alan Bennett.
Unlike the latter, Potters' work to my mind deteriorated as he grew older.
All of his work features repressed sexuality that emerges in accord with situation and opportunity.
In spite of what he had said about enjoying an unbounded sexual life, I believe though he may have yearned for such a life, his work was the nearest he ever got.
The six-partner is set in a changing Britain, and uses the background of the Suez emergency, which was Britain's last act as an imperial power.
It focuses on a military intelligence unit based in the War Office which has an ambiance indicative of the then (less so today) highly class structured society.
Ewan McGreggor in a breakout role plays daydreamer Mick Hopper serving as a clerk/Russian linguist in a Whitehall based military intelligence unit during his last days as a national serviceman.He works with a bully of a Corporal Pete Berry (Douglas Henshall), a socially inept Welshman/office newcomer, Private Francis Francis (Giles Thomas) supporting four stereotypical upper-class officers in the preparation of basic intelligence gleaned from Russian newspapers and documents obtained from outside sources.
During the time that the drama takes place, the team is having to prepare a revised Battle Order although what this is and for whom its to be prepared is not explained (A 'Battle Order' is the organisation of military forces and may be considered to be similar to an businesses functional 'Organisation Chart').The centre of the piece is the relationship each of the men have with Berry's wife the 'dumb blond' Sylvia Berry (Louise Germaine).
As may be expected from Potter, it's the sexual relationships between the three men and the blond which are explored, each being different from the other.
I use the term 'explored' loosely, they are clearly differentiated by extreme differences.Over the six one-hour episodes, a tangled web emerges from which each gets what s/he deserves or desires - you'll need to watch to see who gets what and how!
The interrelationships between these four characters and aspects of Sylvia's private life in which see sells sexual favours to an organist who provides recitals on the organ at the cinema where Sylvia works (played by Roy Hudd) that are at the core of the piece.
Potter did not develop any real background to the characters, they just 'are'.At times, as in Potter's 'Blackeyes', I was of the impression that the nudity featured, both of Sylvia and a winged nude or 'Earth Angel' that Hopper dreams up while at work served no great purpose other than to titillate the audience and Potter especially.
The two couples don't get on.I don't think that the songs to which the characters lip-sync emerge either as subtly during or as relevant towards the piece as they did during Pennies From Heaven especially and tended to have a stand- alone quality, even though for the most part generally plot consistent and well staged.The work was for me entertainment by way of vignettes rather than a developing storyline and it is for that reason that I don't think it ranks among his best works.
It's clearly imitatively of the structure used in Pennies/Detective, but lacking in storyline and plot development.
I suspect not.The work produced by Potter towards and at the time of his early death is not, and perhaps ought not be expected, to be of his best but it remains watchable, entertaining and well produced all the same and is of a quality exceeding most British TV of the time..
...Makes yet another black comedy drama featuring an up and coming actor with a subtext featuring sexual repression and surreal music sequences .
Both of which were turned in to Hollywood movies that flopped Somewhat strangely Potter was held in high regard and was a household name but LIPSTICK ON YOUR COLLAR is plageristic reworking of both PENNIES and DETECTIVE but where as some character from a TV play having a sex scene with a peroxide blonde might have been shocking in the 1970s here it passes without registering .
Oh dear this is also the mini series that set McGregor on to the role of stardom .
Another good reason not to watch it.
may contain a minor spoiler.I recall seeing this musical mini series back in 1994 and I definitely would love to see a repeat of it, but from a different point of view.
It has a brilliant cast and is well directed with a musical rock'n roll number every now and then.
It is set around the lives of those that were involved in the Suez crisis in the 1950's at Whitehall and in someways is similar to the theme of the other British series "YES MINISTER".It's main attention is on the private lives of some of the military private officers and a young attractive Sylvia (performed by Louise Germaine), wife of Cpl. Pete Berry (performed by Douglas Henshall), giving that Diana Dors impression which is well blended with the whole theme of the series and era.
She is not very faithful towards her husband while he is away on duty, which gets the land lady downstairs very irate every time she sits down to have a cup of tea, as she will blast at anyone who knocks on the door requesting for Sylvia, even if it is official.
As for the spoiler, if it wasn't for some sleazy themes, I would have recommended it as a whole family viewing which is a pity, as it is well choreographed, performed and presented.
One of my favourite was the Welsh nerd (Private Francis, well performed by Giles Thomas) giving the impression of a stooge,from his socially inept and typical vulnerability that follows.
My other favourite is the old Wurlitzer organ player who is one of Sylvia's regulars, who ends up in hospital when he accidentaly runs over and kills her husband with his car while tailing her and not being too attentive on the road.
Many comedy performances but it is a great show, highly recommended for adults.
One of the best mini-series ever made..
I had seen Potter's "The Singing Detective" before viewing this.
(No, not the damn Robert Downey Jr. version, but the superb British TV 6-parter.) So I knew I could expect interesting characters, bizarre events, and an unpredictable plot.LOYC has a terrific cast, first and foremost, which was essential (as so often) to be able to pull off this kind of script.
Ewan McGregor, in his very much younger days, presents the best performance of his career (alongside "Trainspotting"); in a way it's a pity that he showed so much promise early on but, although always very likable, he was sub-par in many movies that followed.
The guy that plays the neurotic, stuttering Welshmen is simply brilliant.
The actor who plays the primitive, daft corporal is very good, too.
The middle-aged army guys were played by familiar faces, very good actors, and last, but not least, we have Louise Germaine here playing the femme fatale.
(A couple of nude scenes with her were not a drawback.) I wonder why I've barely seen her anywhere apart from this TV series...The musical sequences may appear strange at first, but once one gets accustomed to them, they actually give us a nice distraction from some of the tension that goes on.
Let's get something straight; Dennis Potter is the greatest writer of television drama in the UK and his work will never be surpassed by anyone.
Potter loved music and as with Pennies from Heaven and The Singing Detective, Lipstick on your collar is heavily marked by the imaginary use of songs of the era.
This was the reason I was attracted to Potter in first place but his work is so much more.
It explores identity in Britain (specifically in the 1950's) and how attitudes were changing from the old guard and the young peoples' desire to be free of the decorum and stuffiness of the British establishment who still thought they were still an important colonial power - hence his exploration of Suez.It is more than a social history lesson, it follows the lives of 3 soldiers and the women they love but it shows their hidden sexual desires and their open ones.
It is a bizarre love triangle which grows to a pentagon and then some.Some might classify it as sexist and objectification of women but that misses the point - so many men hold such views without being able to fulfill them and the frustration of the sexually inadequate or inexperienced is superbly contrasted with those who have "made it" on that front.The music is wonderful, the acting is first class and the darker side of human nature is explored superbly.Not all the women are shallow sex objects and Potter does emphasize the contrast between suitability of one boy for one girl and vice versa.