Brimstone And Treacle Review

Not Dennis Potter’s finest hour, but the one that earned him cult status after BBC Director Of Television Programmes Alasdair Milne’s last-minute decision to ban this fiendishly clever rethinking of traditional religious dramaturgy.

Denholm Elliott excels as the seedy fascist father whose misdemeanours prompt his daughter’s mental collapse. But Michael Kitchen overcooks his Satanic visitor and lacks the simmering sense of evil that Sting achieved in Richard Loncraine’s 1982 movie version.