Editing Dennis Potter (section)

===''The Wednesday Play''===
Potter's career as a television playwright began with ''[[The Wednesday Play#The Confidence Course|The Confidence Course]]'' (''[[The Wednesday Play]]'', 1965) which Potter had begun as a novel.<ref>John R. Cook ''Dennis Potter: A Life on Screen'', Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1998, p.24</ref> An exposé of the [[Dale Carnegie]] Institute, it drew threats of litigation from that organisation.<ref>Carpenter, p. 143</ref><ref>Gilbert (1998), p. 108, 112</ref> Although Potter effectively disowned the play, excluding it from his ''Who's Who'' entry,<ref>W. Stephen Gilbert, ''The Life and Work of Dennis Potter'', p.107n</ref> it used non-naturalistic dramatic devices (in this case breaking the [[fourth wall]]) which would become hallmarks of Potter's subsequent work. ''The Confidence Course'' script was liked by ''Wednesday Play'' script editor Roger Smith who then commissioned Potter to write what became the second Nigel Barton play for the new anthology series.<ref>Carpenter, p.147</ref>  ''[[The Wednesday Play#Alice|Alice]]'' (also 1965), his next transmitted play, chronicled the relationship between [[Lewis Carroll|Charles Lutwidge Dodgson]], better known by his ''nom de plume'', Lewis Carroll, and his muse [[Alice Liddell]]. The play drew complaints from the descendants of Dodgson, and of Macmillan, the publisher, who objected to the way the relationship was depicted.<ref>Gilbert (1998), p. 24</ref> [[George Baker (British actor)|George Baker]] played Dodgson.

Potter's most highly regarded works from this period were the semi-autobiographical plays ''[[The Nigel Barton Plays#Stand Up, Nigel Barton|Stand Up, Nigel Barton!]]'' and ''[[The Nigel Barton Plays#Vote, Vote, Vote for Nigel Barton|Vote, Vote, Vote for Nigel Barton]]'', which featured [[Keith Barron]]. The former recounts the experience of a miner's son attending Oxford University where he finds himself torn between two worlds, culminating in Barton's participation in a television documentary. This mirrored Potter's participation in ''Does Class Matter'' (1958), a television documentary made while Potter was an Oxford undergraduate.<ref>Sergio Angelini [http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/810533/ "Stand Up, Nigel Barton (1965)"], BFI screenonline</ref> The second play features the same character standing as a Labour candidate—his disillusionment with the compromises of electoral politics is based on Potter's own experience.<ref name="Angelini">Sergio Angelini [http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/1041034/index.html "Vote, Vote, Vote, for Nigel Barton (1965)"], BFI xcreenonline</ref> Both plays received praise from critics but aroused considerable tension at the BBC for their potentially incendiary critique of party politics.<ref name="Angelini"/> In his [[James MacTaggart Memorial Lecture]] in 1993, Potter recalled how he was asked by "several respected men at the corporation why I wanted to shit on the Queen."<ref>Dennis Potter ''Occupying Powers'', 1993 {{page needed|date=October 2014}}</ref>