Cold Lazarus

Cold Lazarus is a television play written by Dennis Potter with the knowledge that he was dying from cancer of the pancreas.

Related Topics:
Play - Dennis Potter

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It forms the second half of a pair with the television play Karaoke. The two plays were filmed as a single production by the same team; both were directed by Renny Rye and feature Albert Finney as the writer Daniel Feeld. Both plays were unique in being co-productions between the BBC and Channel 4, something Potter had expressly requested before his death. The show was first aired on Channel 4 in 1996 on Sunday evenings, with a repeat on BBC1 the following day.

Related Topics:
Karaoke - Renny Rye - Albert Finney - BBC - Channel 4 - 1996 - BBC1

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In a distant dystopian future, researchers study the cryonically-preserved head of Daniel Feeld, a twentieth-century writer, attempting to extract and record his memories in a form that can be broadcast as the latest version of reality television.

Related Topics:
Dystopia - Cryonic - Reality television

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As they seek out the writer's most explicit and painful (and therefore most marketable) memories, one of the researchers becomes convinced that the head is regaining consciousness during their experiments.

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Meanwhile, beyond the laboratory, other forces gather.

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