Baal

Baal regularly gets mentioned as a golden age of BBC public service broadcasting. A Bertolt Brecht play, starring David Bowie and directed by Alan Clarke best known for productions such as Scum and The Firm.

This is certainly an experimental television production and Clarke has form for that. He also made Penda's Fen.

This is very much like a stage play with Baal singing in between scenes in split screen.

Based in the early part of 20th Century Germany. Baal is a renowned poet, drunk, womaniser and scrounger. At odds with the bourgeois society that he takes advantage of.

Baal is no hero, he looks ill and ragged with his debauchery and cruelty.

The action seemed at a distant to me and I felt the story was not better utilised. It was regarded as a flop at the time of broadcast.

Over the years its reputation has grown. More due to a combination of Bowie and Clarke. I doubt many would had remembered this production if it was not for them. An interesting failure.