The Black and Blue Lamp (1988)

The Black and Blue Lamp

1988

Drama Comedy TV Movie

Synopsis

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.

Credits

Director

Guy Slater

Cast

Barry Woolgar as Insp. Rogers

Garrick Hagon as Police Surgeon

Ian Brimble as PC Totley

John Woodvine as Supt. Hammond

Karl Johnson as PC "Taffy" Hughes

Kenneth Cranham as Supt. Cherry

Nick Stringer as Sgt. Brooks

Peter Lovstrom as PC Sneed