Am currently watching The Last of the Blonde Bombshells which precedes an Alan Plater tribute on BBC Four. In it the Judi Dench character asks, "What is the best way of honouring the dead?" to which her grand-daughter replies, "That's easy, to go on living."
The Guardian's obituary summed up Plater's significance and character succinctly:
"Alan Plater, who has died of cancer aged 75, was one of a handful of writers, including Jack Rosenthal, Dennis Potter and Simon Gray, who truly made a difference on British television in the golden age of comedy, drama series and the single play. Like the other two Alans – Bennett and Bleasdale – his name guaranteed a quality of humour, heart and humanity, usually matched by high standards of acting and production values. And like them, he was definitely "northern"."
BBC Four say:
"Spanning four decades, writer Alan Plater's work has been described as a meeting of Coronation Street and Chekhov. With his spare dialogue and irreverent attitude, Plater helped introduce an entirely new voice to the world of television drama.
He is perhaps best known for the Beiderbecke Trilogy but has written in all forms and is especially known for his radio, stage and television work and also for his passion for jazz. The principles of jazz are at the very heart of the man and his writing."
Home Cinema has an excellent review of Plater's "gentle, whimsical and very British" classic comedy series The Beiderbecke Trilogy, which is where I first encountered Plater. The dialogue - "Are you eating, boy? You should know by now that eating is forbidden. That's why we supply school dinners" - is particularly sharp in a comedy thriller where there are a couple of brisk walks and a car chase, at slightly less than the speed limit, around a roundabout several times.
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Bix Beiderbecke - I'm Wondering Who.
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