Pennies From Heaven is a 1978 BBC Television drama serial by the highly-regarded television playwright Dennis Potter. It was noteworthy for being the first of several Potter productions (The Singing Detective, Lipstick on your Collar ) which mixed the reality of the drama with a dark fantasy content, having several of the main characters burst into miming to popular 1930s songs.

Starring Bob Hoskins in the role that made him a star name in the UK, the serial was directed by Piers Haggard and produced by Kenith Trodd . Co-starring was Gemma Craven as Joan Parker and Cheryl Campbell as Eileen. It was transmitted in six seventy-five minute episodes from March 7 to April 11 1978, on the BBC1 network. In a 2000 poll of industry professionals conducted by the British Film Institute to find the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes of the 20th century, Pennies from Heaven was placed twenty-first.

In 1981, the series was adapted as a film, starring Steve Martin. It was directed by Herbert Ross and Potter adapted his own screenplay, for which he was nominated for the 1981 Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay.

The original television version was released on DVD by BBC Worldwide in 2004.

Charity

"Pennies from heaven" is also the name given to several schemes in which employees can donate the pennies from their pay to charity. These schemes often raise a considerable amount by involving a large number of people, and have been implemented in a number of countries.

External links

• Internet Movie Database entry for 1978 television original
• Internet Movie Database entry for 1981 film version
• BFI TV 100 entry
• Entry at the BFI's Screenonline website
• Deep in Dennis Potter's Forest, American Prospect Magazine.